She comes! he comes! fhe rushes in my veins ! At once all Venus enters, and at large fhe reigns! Cyprus no more with her abode is bleft; I am her palace, and her throne my breast. Of favage Scythian arms no more I write, Of Parthian archers, who in flying fight,

And make rough war their sport; Such idle themes no more can move, Nor any thing but what's of high import: And what's of high import, but love? Vervain and gums, and the green turf prepare; With wine of two years old your cups be fill'd : After our facrifice and prayer,

The goddess may incline her heart to yield.

STANZAS

IN IMITATION OF HORACE,

LIB. 11. ODE XIV.

"Eheu fugaces, Pofthume, Pofthume, "Labuntur anni, &c."

1.

An! no, 'tis all in vain, believe me 'tis,
This pious artifice.

Not all these prayers and alms can buy
One moment tow'd eternity.
Eternity! that boundless race,

Which Time himself can never run

Swift as he flies, with an unweary'd pace):

Which, when ten thousand, thousand years are

done,

Is ftill the fame, and ftill to be, begun.

Fix'd are those limits, which prescribe A short extent to the most lasting breath;

And though thou could'st for facrifice lay down Millions of other lives to fave thy own,

'Twere fruitless all; not all would bribe One fupernumerary gafp from death.

11.

In vain's thy inexhausted store

Of wealth, in vain thy power; Thy honours, titles, all must fail, Where piety itself can nought avail. The rich, the great, the innocent, and juft, Muft all be huddled to the grave, With the most vile and ignominious slave, And undiftinguish'd lie in duit. In vain the fearful flies alarms, In vain he is fecure from wounds of arms,

Thou must, alas! thou muft, my friend; (The very hour thou now doft fpend In ftudying to avoid, brings on thy end) Thou must forego the dearcfl joys of life; Leave the warm bofom of thy tender wife, And all the much-lov'd offspring of her womb, To moulder in the cold embraces of a tomb. All must be left, and all be loft; Thy house, whofe ftately structure fo much coft, Shall not afford

Room for the ftinking carcase of its lord. Of all thy pleasant gardens, grots, and bowers, Thy costly fruits, thy far-fetch'd plants and flowers,

Nought fhalt thou fave;

Or but a sprig of rofemary fhalt have,

To wither with thee in the grave: The rest shall live and flourish, to upbraid Their tranfitory master dead.

IV.

Then fhall thy long-expecting heir
A joyful mourning wear :

And riot in the waste of that estate

Which thou haft taken fo much pains to get.
All thy hid ftores he fhall unfold,

And fet at large thy captive gold.
That precious wine, condemn'd by thee
To vaults and prifons, fhall again be free:
Bury'd alive though now it lies,
Again fhall rife;

Again its sparkling surface show,
And free as element profufely flow.

With fuch high food he shall set forth his feasts,
That cardinals fhall wish to be his guests;
And pamper'd prelates fee
Themselves outdone in luxury.

IN IMITATION OF HORACE,

ODE IX. LIB. 1.

"Vides ut alta, &c."

I.

BLESS me, 'tis cold! how chill the air!
How naked does the world appear!
But fee (big with the offspring of the north)
The teeming clouds bring forth :
A shower of solt and fleecy rain
Falls, to new-clothe the earth again.
Behold the mountain tops around,
As if with fur of ermins crown'd;

And lo! how by degrees
The univerfal mantle hides the trees

In hoary flakes, which downward fly,
As if it were the autumn of the sky :

Seek not to know to-morrow's doom;
That is not ours, which is to come :
The prefent moment's all our store;
The next fhould Heaven allow,
Then this will be no more;

So all our life is but one inftant now.
Look on each day you've past
To be a mighty treasure won;
And lay each moment out in halte;
We're fure to live too fast,
And cannot live too foon.
Youth doth a thousand pleasures bring,
Which from decrepit age will fly;
The flowers that flourish in the (pring,
In winter's cold embraces die.

IV.

Now Love, that everlasting boy, invites
To revel while you may, in foft delights:
Now the kind nymph yields all her charms,
Nor yields in vain to youthful armis.
Slowly the promises at night to meet,

But eagerly prevents the hour with fwifter feet.
To gloomy groves and fhades obfcure the flies,
There veils the bright confeffion of her eyes.
Unwillingly the stays,

Would more unwillingly depart,
And in foft fighs conveys
The whispers of her heart.
Still fhe invites and ftill denies,

And vows fhe'll leave you if you're rude;
Then from her ravifher the flies,

But flies to be purfu'd;

If from his fight fhe does herfelf convey,
With a feign'd laugh fhe will herself betray,
And cunningly inftruct him in the way.

SONG.

I.

I LOOK'D, and I figh'd, and I wish'd I could speak,
And very fain would have been at her;
YOL. Vil.

Occafioned by a Lady's having writ Verfes in commeRdation of a Poem which was written in praise of another Lady.

HARD is the task, and bold th' adventurous flight,
Of him, who dares in praife of beauty write;
For when to that high theme our thoughts afcend,
'Tis to detract, too poorly to commend.
And he, who, praifing beauty, does no wrong,
May boat to be fuccefsful in his fong:
But when the fair themfelves approve his lays,
And one accepts, and one vouchfafes to praise;
His wide ambition knows no farther bound,
Nor can his mule with brighter fame be crown'd.

Begin the powerful fong, ye facred nine,
Your inruments and voices join;
Harmony, peace, and fweet deûre,
In every breast inspire.
Revive the melancholy drooping heart,
And soft repofe to reftiefs thoughts impart.
Appeate the wrathful mind,

To dire revenge, and death inclin'd:
With balmy founds his boiling blood affuage,
And melt to mild remorfe his burning rage.
'fis done; and now tumultuous paffions cease;
And all is hufh'd, and all is peace.
The weary world with welcome eafe is bleft,
By nufic lall'd to pl afing reft.

See the forfaken fair, with ftreaming eyes,
Her parting lover mourn;

She weeps, the fighs, despairs, and dies, And watchful waftes the lonely livelong nights Bewailing past delights

That may no more, no never more return

O facth her cares

With fofteft. fwecteft airs, Till victory and peace restore Her faithful lover to her tender breaft, Within her folding arms to reft,», Thence never to be parted more, No never to be parted more.

CHORUS.

Let victory and peace reftore Her faithful lover to her tender breaft, Within her folding arms to rest, T'hence never to be parted more, No never to be parted more.

VIII.

Enough, Urania, heavenly fair!
Now to thy native fkies repair,
And rule again the ftarry fphere;
Cecilia comes, with holy rapture fill'd,

To cafe the world of care,

Cecilia, more than all the muses skill'd!
Phoebus himself to her muft yield,
And at her feet lay down
His golden harp and laurel crown.
The foft cnervate lyre is drown'd.
In the deep organ's more majeftic fourd.
In peals the fwelling notes afcend the skies,
Perpetual breath the fwelling notes supplies,
And lafting as her name,

Who form'd the tuneful frame, Th' immortal mufic never dics.

GRAND CHORUS.

Cecilia, more than all the mufes skill'd,
Phoebus himself to her must yield,
And at her feet lay down
His golden harp and laurel crown.
The foft enervate lyre is drown'd
In the deep organ's more majestic found.
In peals the fwelling notes afcend the kies,
Perpetual breath the fwelling notes supplies,

And lafling as her name,
Who form'd the tuneful frame,
Th' immortal mufic never dies..

And both improv'd by pureft wit, to reach
At all that study or that time can teach, ‹
But to what height muft his amazement rife,
When, having read the work, he turns his eyes
Again to view the foremost opening page,
And there the beauty, fex, and tender age,
Of her beholds, in whofe pure mind arofe
T'h'æthereal fource from whence this current flows!
When prodigies appear, our reafon fails,
And fuperftition o'er philofophy prevails.
Some heavenly miniftci we ftrait conclude,
Some angel-mind with female form endued,
To make a fhort abode on earth, was fent
(Where no perfection can be permanent)
And, having left her bright example here,
Was quick recall'd, and bid to dilappear.
Whether around the throne, eternal hymns
She fings amid the choir of feraphims;
Or fome refulgent ftar informs, and guides,
Where fhe, the bleft intelligence, prefides;.
is not for us to know who here remain;
For 'twete as impious to inquire as vain :
And all we ought, or can, in this dark state,
Is, what we have admir'd, to imitate.

VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF

GRACE LADY GETHIN, Occafioned by reading her Book, entitled,

RELIQULE GETIINIANE.

AFTER a painful life in ftudy spent,
The learn'd themselves their ignorance lament ;
And aged men, whofe lives exceed the fpace
Which Teems the bound preferib'd to mortal race,
With hoary heads, their fhort experience grieve,
As doom'd to die before they learn'd to live..
So hard it is true knowledge to attain,
So trail is life, and fruitlefs human pain!
Whoe'er on this reflects, and then beholds,
With ftrict attention, what this book unfolds,
With admiration ftruck, fhall question who
So very long could live, fo much to know?
For to complete the finifh'd piece appears,
What learning feoms combin'd with length of years;

TO MR. DRYDEN,

ON HIS TRANSLATION OF PERSIUS.

As when of old heroic story tells,
Of knights imprifon'd long by magic fpells,
Till future time, the deftin'd hero' fend,
By whom the dire enchantment is to end:
Such feems this work, and fo referv'd for thee,
Thou great revealer of dark, poefy. `

Those fullen clouds, which have for ages paft,
O'er Perfius' too-long fuffering mufe been caft,
Difperfe, and fly before thy facred pen,
And, in their room, bright tracks of light are seen.
Sure Phœbus' felf thy fwelling breast infpires,
The god of mufic, and poetic fires:

Elfe, whence proceeds this great furprise of light! How dawns this day, forth from the wonb of Light!