With thy tuneless serenade ?

Had I the power of creation, Well 't had been had Tereus made

As I have of generation, Thee as dumb as Philomel ;

Where I the matter must obey, There his knife had done but well,

And cannot work plate out of clay, In thy undiscovered nest

My creatures should be all like thee, Thou dost all the winter rest,

'Tis thou should'st their idea be: And dreamest o'er thy summer joys,

They, like thee, should thoroughly hate Free from the stormy seasons' noise,

Business, honour, title, state; Free from th' ill thou'st done to me;

Other wealth they should not know, Who disturbs or seeks-out thee?

But what my living mines bestow; Hadst thou all the charming notes

The pomp of kings, they should confess, Of the wood's poetic throats,

At their crownings, to be less All thy art could never pay

Than a lover's humblest guise, What thou hast ta'en froin me away.

When at his mistress' feet he lies. Cruel bird ! thou'st ta'en away

Rumour they no more should mind A dream out of my arms to-day ;

Than men safe landed do the wind; A dream, that ne'er must equall'd be

Wisdom itself they should not hear, By all that waking eyes may see.

When it presumes to be severe; Thou, this damage to repair,

Beauty alone they should admire, Nothing half so sweet or fair,

Nor look at Fortune's vain attire. Nothing half so good, canst bring,

Nor ask what parents it can shew;
Though men say thou bring'st the Spring.

With dead or old 't has nought to do.
They should not love yet all, or any,
But very much and very many :

All their life should gilded be
ELEGY UPON ANACREON;

With mirth, and wit, and gaiety ;

Well remembering and applying WHO WAS CHOAKED BY A GRAPE-STONE. The necessity of dying.

Their cheerful heads should always wear Spoken oy the God of Love.

All that crowns the flowery year : How shall I lament thine end,

They should always laugh, and sing, My best servant and my friend ?

And dance, and strike th' harmonious string i Nay, and, if from a deity

Verse should from their tongue so flow, So much deified as I,

As if it in the mouth did grow, It sound not too profane and odd,

As swiftly answering their command, Oh, my master and my god !

As tunes obey the artful hand. For 'tis true, most mighty poet!

And whilst I do thus discover (Though I like not men should know it)

Th' ingredients of a happy lover, 1 arn in naked Nature less,

'Tis, my Anacreon! for thy sake les by much, than in thy dress.

I of the Grape no mention make. All thy verse is softer far

Till my Anacreon by thee fell, Than the downy feathers are

Cursed Plant ! I lov'd thee well; Of my wings, or of my arrows,

And 'twas oft my wanton use Of my mother's doves or sparrows,

To dip my arrows in thy juice. Sweet as lovers' freshest kisses,

Cursed Plant ! 'tis true, I see, Or their riper following blisses,

The old report that goes of thee — Graceful, cleanly, smooth, and round,

That with giants' blood the Earth All with Venus' girdle bound;

Stain'd and poison'd gave thee birth ; And thy life was all the while

And now thou wreak'st thy ancient spite Kind and gentle as thy style,

On men in whom the gods delight. The smooth-pac'd hours of every day

Thy patron, Bacchus, 'tis no wonder, Glided numerously away.

Was brought forth in flames and thunder ; Like thy verse each hour did pass ;

In rage, in quarrels, and in fights, Sweet and short, like that, it was.

Worse than his tigers, he delights; Some do but their youth allow me,

In all our Heaven I think there be Just what they by Nature owe me,

No such ill-natur'd god as he. The time that's mine, and not their own,

Thou pretendest, traitorous Wine! Tbe certain tribute of my crown :

To be the Muses' friend and mine : When they grow old, they grow to be

With love and wit thou dost begin, Too busy, or too wise, for me.

False fires, alas ! to draw us in ; Thou wert wiser, and didst know

Which, if our course we by them keep, None too wise for love can grow;

Misguide to madness or to sleep : Love was with thy life entwin'd,

Sleep were well, thou'st learnt a way Close as heat with fire is join'd;

To death itself now to betray. A powerful brand prescrib'd the date

It grieves me when I see what fate of thine, like Meleager's, fate.

Does on the best of mankind wait. Th' antiperistasis of age

Poets or lovers let them be, More enflam'd thy amorous rage ;

'Tis neither love nor poesy Thy silver hairs yielded me more

Can arm, against Death's smallest dart, Than even golden curls before.

The poet's head or lover's heart;

But when their life, in its decline,

I'd advise them, when they spy Touches th' inevitable line,

Any illustrious piety, All the world's mortal to them then,

To reward her, if it be she -And wine is aconite to men;

To reward him, if it be he Nay, in Death's hand, the grape-stone proves With such a husband, such a wife; As strong as thunder is in Jove's.

With Acme's and Septimius' life.

All thy remaining life should sunshine be;

The foolish sports I did on thee bestow, Behold! the public storm is spent at last,

Make all my art and labour fruitless now; The sovereign's tost at sea no more,

Where once such fairies dance, no grass doth ever And thou, with all the noble company,

grow. Art got at last to shore. But, whilst thy fellow-voyagers I see

“ When my new mind had no infusion known, Al march'd up to possess the promis'd land, Thou gav'st so deep a tincture of thine own, Thou, still alone, alas ! dost gaping stand

That ever since I vainly try Upon the naked beach, upon the barren sand !

To wash away th' inherent dye:

Long work perhaps may spoil thy colours quite; * As a fair morning of the blessed spring,

But never will reduce the native white : After a tedious stormy night,

To all the ports of honour and of gain, Such was the glorious entry of our king;

I often steer my course in vain ; Enriching moisture drop'd on every thing : Thy gale comes cross, and drives me back again. Plenty he sow'd below, and cast about him light! Thou slack’nest all my nerves of industry, But then, alas ! to thee alone,

By making them so oft to be One of old Gideon's miracles was shown;

The tinkling strings of thy loose minstrelsy. Fa every tree and every herb around

Whoever this world's happiness would see, With pearly dew was crown'd,

Must as entirely cast off thee, And upon all the quicken'd ground

As they who only Heaven desire
The fruitful seed of Heaven did brooding lie,

Do from the world retire.
And nothing but the Muse's fleece was dry. This was my error, this my gross mistake,
It did all other threats surpass,

Myself a demi-votary to make.
When God to his own people said

Thus, with Sapphira and her husband's fate, (The men wbom through long wanderings he had led) | (A fault which I, like them, am taught too late,)

That he would give them ev'n a heaven of For all that I gave up I nothing gain, brass :

And perish for the part which I retain. They look'd up to that Hearen in vain, Thai bounteous Heaven, which God did not re- “ Teach me not then, O thou fallacious Muse! strain

The court, and better king, t'accuse ; Upon the most unjust to shine and rain.

The heaven under which I live is fair,

The fertile soil will a full harvest bear : * The Rachel, for which twice seven years and more | Thine, thine is all the barrenness; if thou

Thou didst with faith and labour serve, Mak'st me sit still and sing, when I should plough. And didst (if faith and labour can) deserve, When I but think how many a tedious year Though she contracted was to thee,

Our patient sovereign did attend Given to another thou didst see

His long misfortunes' fatal end; Given to another, who had store

How cheerfully, and how exempt from fear, of fairer and of richer wives before,

| On the Great Sovereign's will he did depend; And not a Leah left, thy recompense to be! I ought to be accurst, if I refuse Go on; twice seven years more thy fortune try; To wait on his, O thou fallacious Muse! īvice seven years more God in his bounty may Kings have long hands, they say; and, though I be Give thee, to fling away

So distant, they may reach at length to me. Into the court's deceitful lottery :

However, of all the princes, thou But think how likely 'tis that thou,

Should'st not reproach rewards for being small or With the dull work of thy unwieldy plough,

slow; Stould'st in a hard and barren season thrive, | Thou ! who rewardest but with popular breath, Should'st even able be to live;

And that too after death."
Thou, to whose share so little bread did fall,
In that miraculous year, when manna rain’d on all."
Thus spake the Muse, and spake it with a smile,

HYMN TO LIGHT.
Thet seer'd at once to pity and revile.
And to her thus, raising his thoughtful head, FIRST-BORN of Chaos, who so fair didst come
The melancholy Cowley said -

From the old Negro's darksome womb ! " Ah, wanton foe! dost thou upbraid

Which, when it saw the lovely child,
The ills which thou thyself hast made ?

The melancholy mass put on kind looks and When in the cradle innocent I lay,

smil'd; Thou, wicked spirit! stolest me away, And my abused soul didst bear

Thou tide of glory, which no rest dust know, Into thy new-found worlds, I know not where,

But ever ebb and ever flow!
Tby golden Indies in the air;

Thou golden shower of a true Jove!
And ever since I strive in vain

Who does in thee descend, and Heaven to Earth My ravish'd freedom to regain;

make love! A I rebel, still thou dost reign ; Lo! still in verse against thee I complain.

Hail, active Nature's watchful life and health ! There is a sort of stubborn weeds,

Her joy, her ornament, and wealth! Which, if the earth but once, it ever, breeds;

Hail to thy husband, Heat, and thee! No wholesome herb can near them thrive, Thou the world's beauteous bride, the lusty bride No useful plant can keep alive :

groom he!

Say, from what golden quivers of the sky

| The ghosts, and monster-spirits, that did presume Do all thy winged arrows fly?

A body's privilege to assume,
Swiftness and Power by birth are thine:

Vanish again invisibly,
From thy great sire they came, thy sire, the Word And bodies gain again their visibility.
Divine,

All the world's bravery, that delights our eyes, 'Tis, I believe, this archery to show,

Is but thy several liveries ; That so much cost in colours thou,

Thou the rich dye on them bestow'st, And skill in painting, dost bestow,

Thy nimble pencil paints this landscape as thou Upon thy ancient arms, the gaudy heavenly bow.

go'st.

Swift as light thoughts their empty career run, A crimson garment in the rose thou wear'st;
Thy race is finish'd when begun;

A crown of studded gold thou bear'st;
Let a post-angel start with thee,

The virgin-lilies, in their white, And thou the goal of Earth shalt reach as soon as he. Are clad but with the lawn of almost naked light. Thou in the Moon's bright chariot, proud and gay, The violet, Spring's little infant, stands Dost thy bright wood of stars survey!

Girt in thy purple swaddling-bands And all the year dost with thee bring

On the fair tulip thou dost doat; Of thousand flowery lights thine own nocturnal Thou cloth'st it in a gay and party-colour'd coat. spring

With flame condens'd thou do'st thy jewels fix, Thou, Scythian-like, dost round thy lands above And solid colours in it mix : The Sun's gilt tents for ever move,

Flora herself envies to see And still, as thou in pomp dost go,

Flowers fairer than her own, and durable as she. The shining pageants of the world attend thy show.

Ah, goddess! would thou could'st thy hand withhold,

And be less liberal to gold! Nor amidst all these triumphs dost thou scorn

Did'st thou less value to it give, The humble glow-worms to adorn,

Of how much care, alas ! might'st thou poor man And with those living spangles gild

relieve! (O greatness without pride!) the bushes of the field.

To me the Sun is more delightful far,

And all fair days much fairer are. Night, and her ugly subjects, thou dost fright,

But few, ah! wondrous few, there be, And Sleep, the lazy owl of night;

Who do not gold prefer, O goddess ! ev'n to thee. Asham'd, and fearful to appear, They screen their horrid shapes with the black Through the soft ways of Heaven, and air, and sea, hemisphere.

Which open all their pores to thee,

Like a clear river thou dost glide, With them there hastes, and wildly takes th' alarm, And with thy living stream through the close chanOf painted dreams a busy swarm :

nels slide. At the first opening of thine eye The various clusters break, the antic atoms fly

But, where firm bodies thy free course oppose,

Gently thy source the land o'erflows; The guilty serpents, and obscener beasts,

Takes there possession, and does make,
Creep, conscious, to their secret rests : Of colours mingled light, a thick and standing lake.

Nature to thee does reverence pay,
Ill omens and ill sights removes out of thy way. But the vast ocean of unbounded day,

In th' empyræan Heaven does stay.
At thy appearance, Grief itself is said

Thy rivers, lakes, and springs, below, To shake his wings, and rouse his head : From thence took first their rise, thither at last And cloudy Care has often took

must flow. A gentle beamy smile, reflected from thy look.

At thy appearance, Fear itself grows bold;

AGAINST HOPE.
Thy sun-shine melts away his cold.
Encouraged at the sight of thee,

| Hope! whose weak being ruin'd is, To the cbeek colour comes, and firmness to the Alike, if it succeed, and if it miss; knee.

Whom good or ill does equally confound,

And both the horns of Fate's dilemma wound: Ev'n Lust, the master of a harden'd face,

Vain shadow! which does vanish quite, Blushes, if thou be'st in the place,

Both at full noon and perfect night! To Darkness' curtains he retires;

The stars have not a possibility In sympathising night he rolls his smoky fires.

Of blessing thee;

If things then from their end we happy call,
When, goddess ! thou lift'st up thy waken'd head, 'Tis hope is the most hopeless thing of all.

Out of the morning's purple bed,
Thy quire of birds about thee play

Hope! thou bold taster of delight, [quite! And all the joyful world salutes the rising day. Who, whilst thou should'st but taste, devour'st it

Thou bring'st us an estate, yet leav'st us poor,

amor.

Fruition more deceitful is by clogging it with legacies before!

Than thou canst be, when thou dost miss ; The joys which we entire should wed, Men leave thee by obtaining, and straight flee Come deflower'd virgins to our bed;

Some other way again to thee; Ford fortunes without gain imported be,

| And that's a pleasant country, without doubt, Iech mighty custom's paid to thee.

To which all soon return that travel out.
Par joy, like wine, kept close does better taste;
- Intake air before, its spirits waste.
Hope! Fortune's cheating lottery!

CLAUDIAN'S OLD MAN OF VERONA. There for one prize an hundred blanks there be ; land archer, Hope! who tak'st thy aim so far,

DE SEXE VERONENSI, QUI SUBURBIUM NUNQUAM Met still or short or wide thine arrows are !

EGRESSUS EST.
Thin, empty cloud, which th' eye deceives

Felix, qui patriis, &c.
With shapes that our own fancy gives !
A dood, which gilt and painted now appears,

Happy the man, who his whole time doth bound

Within th' enclosure of his little ground.
But must drop presently in tears !
When thy false beams o'er Reason's light prevail,

Happy the man, whom the same humble place | By ignes fatui for north-stars we sail.

(Th' hereditary cottage of his race)
From his first rising infancy has known,

And by degrees sees gently bending down,
Brother of Fear, more gayly clad !

With natural propension, to that earth The merrier fool o' th' two, yet quite as mad :

Which both preserv'd his life, and gave him birth. ir of Repentance! child of fond Desire !

Him no false distant lights, by fortune set,
That blow'st the chymics', and the lovers', fire,

Could ever into foolish wanderings get.
Leading them still insensibly on

He never dangers either saw or fear'd :
By the strange witchcraft of “anon !"

The dreadful storms at sea he never heard.
By three the one does changing Nature, through

He never heard the shrill alarms of war, Her endless labyrinths, pursue ; and th' other chases woman, whilst she goes

| Or the worse noises of the lawyers' bar.

No change of consuls marks to him the year, Late ways and turns than hunted Nature knows.

i The change of seasons is his calendar.
| The cold and heat, winter and summer shows;

| Autumn by fruits, and spring by flowers, he knows; FOR HOPE.

He measures time by land-marks, and has found

For the whole day the dial of his ground. Bere! of all ills that men endure,

A neighbouring wood, born with himself, he sees, se only cheap and universal cure !

And loves his old contemporary trees.
Los captive's freedom, and thou sick man s health! He 'as only heard of near Verona's name,
Does laser's victory, and thou beggar's wealth! And knows it, like the Indies, but by fame.

Thou manna, which from Heaven we eat, Does with a like concernment notice take
To every taste a several meat!

Of the Red-sea, and of Benacus' lake. a strong retreat! thou sure-entail'd estate, Thus health and strength he to a third age enjoys, I och nought has power to alienate !

And sees a long posterity of boys. Then pleasant, honest flatterer! for none

About the spacious world let others roam,
Sater unhappy men, but thou alone !

The voyage, life, is longest made at home.
Hope! thou first-fruits of happiness !
La gentle dawning of a bright success!
e good preparative, without which our joy

THE WISH.
Dnes work too strong, and, whilst it cures, destroy !

Who out of Fortune's reach dost stand, WELL, then ; I now do plainly see
And art a blessing still in hand!

This busy world and I shall ne'er agrec ; hilst thee, her earnest-money, we retain,

The very honey of all earthly joy
We certain are to gain,

Does of all meats the soonest cloy ;
Thether she her bargain break or else fulfil ;

And they, methinks, deserve my pity, Toe only good, not worse for ending ill!

Who for it can endure the stings,

The crowd, and buzz, and murmurings,
Brother of Faith! 'twixt whom and thee
jogs of Heaven and Earth divided be!

Of this great hive, the city.
Thongta Faith be heir, and have the fixt estate,

Ah, yet, ere I descend to th' grave, lby portion yet in moveables is great.

May I a small house and large garden have ! Happiness itself's all one

And a few friends, and many books, both true, In thee, or in possession !

Both wise, and both delightful too! aby the future's thine, the present his !

And, since love ne'er will from me flee, Trine's the more hard and noble bliss : A mistress moderately fair, see apprehender of our joys! which hast

And good as guardian-angels are 1 s long a reach, and yet canst hold so fast !

Only belov'd, and loving me !
Hope! thou sad lovers' only friend!

Oh, fountains ! when in you shall I to Way, that may'st dispute it with the End! Myself, eas'd of unpeaceful thoughts, espy? sur love, I fear, 's a fruit that does delight Oh fields ! oh woods! when, when shall I be made the taste itself less than the smell and sight.

The happy tenant of your shade ?