ELEGY II.

On the MAUSOLEUM of AUGUSTUS.

A

To the Right Honourable

George Buffy Villiers, Viscount Villiers.

Written at ROME, 1756.

MID these mould'ring walls, this marble round,
Where slept the Heroes of the Julian name,
Say, fhall we linger still in thought profound,
And meditate the mournful paths to fame?

What though no cyprefs fhades, in funeral rows,
No fculptur'd urns, the laft records of Fate,
O'er the shrunk terrace wave their baleful boughs,
Or breathe in ftoried emblems of the great;

Yet not with heedlefs eye will we furvey

The scene though chang'd, nor negligently tread;

These variegated walks, however gay,

Were once the filent manfions of the dead.

It is now a garden belonging to Marchefe di Corré.

In

every fhrub, in every flow'ret's bloom

That paints with different hues yon fmiling plain,

Some Hero's afhes iffue from the tomb,

And live a vegetative life again.

For matter dies not, as the Sages fay,

But fhifts to other forms the pliant mass, When the free spirit quits its cumbrous clay, And fees, beneath, the rolling Planets pass.

Perhaps, my Villiers, for I fing to Thee, Perhaps, unknowing of the bloom it gives, fair fcion of Apollo's tree

In

yon

The facred duft of young Marcellus lives.

Pluck not the leaf-'twere facrilege to wound
Th' ideal memory of so sweet a shade;

In these fad feats an early grave he found,

b

And the first rites to gloomy Dis convey'd.

Witness thou Field of Mars, that oft hadft known His youthful triumphs in the mimic war,

Thou heardst the heart-felt universal groan

When o'er thy bofom roll'd the funeral car.

He is faid to be the first perfon buried in this monument, • Quantos ille virûm magnam Mavortis ad urbem Campus aget gemitus!

Witness

Witness & thou Tuscan stream, where oft he glow'd
In fportive strugglings with th' oppofing wave,
Faft by the recent tomb thy waters flow'd

While wept the wife, the virtuous, and the brave.

O loft too foon!-yet why lament a fate

By thousands envied, and by Heaven approv❜d.
Rare is the boon to those of longer date
To live, to die, admir'd, esteem'd, belov'd.

Weak are our judgments, and our paffions warm,
And flowly dawns the radiant morn of truth,
Our expectations haftily we form,

And much we pardon to ingenuous youth.

Too oft we fatiate on th' applause we pay
To rifing Merit, and refume the Crown;
Full many a blooming genius, fnatch'd away,
Has fallen lamented who had liv'd unknown.

For hard the task, O Villiers, to sustain

Th' important burthen of an early fame;
Each added day fome added worth to gain,
Prevent each wifh, and answer every claim.

-Vel quæ, Tyberine, videbis
Funera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem!

VIRG.

Be

Be thou Marcellus, with a length of days!
But O remember, whatfoe'er thou art,
The most exalted breath of human praise

To please indeed muft echo from the heart.

Though thou be brave, be virtuous, and be wife,
By all, like him, admir'd, efteem'd, belov'd,
'Tis from within alone true Fame can rife,
The only happy is the Self-approv❜d.

EL EGY III.

To the Right Honourable

George Simon Harcourt, Vifc. Newnham.

Written at ROME, 1756.

ES, noble Youth, 'tis true; the fofter arts,

YES

The sweetly-founding string, and pencil's pow'r,

Have warm'd to rapture even heroic hearts,
And taught the rude to wonder, and adore.

For

For Beauty charms us, whether she appears
In blended colours; or to foothing found
Attunes her voice; or fair proportion wears

In yonder fwelling dome's harmonious round.

All, all the charms; but not alike to all
'Tis given to revel in her blissful bower;
Coercive ties, and Reafon's powerful call

Bid fome but taste the fweets, which fome devour.

When Nature govern'd, and when Man was young,
Perhaps at will th' untutor'd Savage rov'd,

Where waters murmur'd, and where clusters hung
He fed, and flept beneath the shade he lov❜d.

But fince the Sage's more fagacious mind,

By Heaven's permiffion, or by Heaven's command, To polish'd ftates has focial laws affign'd, And general good on partial duties plann'd,

Not for ourselves our vagrant fteps we bend.

As heedlefs Chance, or wanton Choice ordain;

On various stations various tasks attend,

And Men are born to trifle or to reign.