Hail, tree of knowledge! thy leaves fruit! which well Doft in the midft of paradife arife, Oxford! the Mufe's paradife, From which may never fword the blefs'd expel! Hail, Wit's illuftrious Galaxy! 'T had happier been for him, as well as me; For when all, alas! is done, We books, I mean, You books, will prove to be For, though fome errors will get in, Where thousand lights into one brightnefs fpread; Leaving the greffer parts for converfation, Unconfus'd Babel of all tongues! which e'er That could fpeak, or this could hear. The beatific Bodley of the Deity; You, general-council of the priests of Fame, The humbleft deacon of her train? A chain which will more pleasant seem to me Will ye to bind me with thole mighty names Like an Apocrypha with holy Writ? As when a feat in heaven Is to an unmalicious finner given, Who, cafting round his wondering cye, And faints, who martyrs liv'd below; He doubts almoft his ftation there; His foul fays to itself, "How came I here?" It fares no otherwife with me, With hardship they, and pain, And bufinefs, which the Mufes hate, He might perhaps have thriven then, As the best blood of man's employ'd in generation. SITTING AND O D E. DRINKING IN THE CHAIR MADE OUT OF THE RELICS OF SIR FRANCIS HEER up, my mates, the wind does fairly Clap on more fail, and never spare;, Farewell all lands, for now we are In the wide fea of drink, and merrily we go. We round the worid are failing now. And gain fuch experience, and spy too With gold there the veffel we'll flore, What do I mean? What thoughts do me mifguide? Their fancy'd journeys in the air, As I fail round the ocean in this chair! "Tis true; but yet this chair which here you fee, For all its quiet now, and gravity, Has wander'd and has travel'd more Than ever beaft, or fish, or bird, or ever tree, before: In every air and every fea 't has been, "I has compafs'd all the earth, and all the heavens 't has feen. Let not the Pope's itfelf with this compare, The pious wanderer's fleet, fav'd from the flame And took them for its due), A fquadron of immortal nymphs became : Only Drake's facred veffel (which before Had done and had feen more Than thofe have done or feen, Ev'n fince they Goddeffes and this a Star has been) As a reward for all her labour past, Is made the feat of reft at last. Let the cafe now quite alter'd be, And, as thou went'ft abroad the world to fee, An old wheel of that chariot to fee, Which Phaeton fo rafhly brake: Yet what could that fay more than these remains of Drake? Great relick! thou too, in this port of ease, (The great trade-wind which ne'er docs fail) Shall drive thee round the world, and thou fhalt run, As long around it as the fun. The ftraights of Time too narrow are for thee; UPON THE DEATH OF THE EARL OF BALCARRES. IS folly all, that can be faid, By living mortals, of th' immortal dead, And I'm afraid they laugh at the vain tears we fhed. "Tis as if we, who stay behind In expectation of the wind, Should pity those who pafs'd this ftreight before," Ah, happy man! who art to fail no more! Though ne'er fo fair and calm it be; Balcarres, who but th' other day "Did all our love and our refpect command; "At whofe great parts we all amaz'd did stand; "Is from a storm, alas! caft fuddenly on land "S If you will fay-Few perfons upon earth Did, more than he, deferve to have And ancestors, whofe fame 's fo widely spread- All I can answer, is, That I allow The privilege you plead for; and avow That, as he well deferv'd, he doth enjoy it now. Though God, for great and righteous ends, Which his unerring Providence intends Erroneous mankind fhould not understand, Would not permit Balcarres' hand, (That once with so much industry and art Had clos'd the gaping wounds of every part) To perfect his distracted nation's cure, Or ftop the fatal bondage 'twas t' endure; Yet for his pains he foon did him remove, From all th' oppreffion and the woe Of his frail body's native foil below, To his foul's true and peaceful country above: So Godlike kings, for fecret causes known Sometimes, but to themselves alone, One of their ableft minifters elect, And fent abroad to treaties, which they' intend Shall never take effect; But though the treaty wants a happy end, The happy agent wants not the reward, For which he labour'd faithfully and hard; His juft and righteous mafter calls him home, And gives him, near himself, fome honourable room, Noble and great ́endeavours did he bring To fave his country, and restore his king; And, whilst the manly half of him (which thofe Who know not Love, to be the whole suppose) The beauteous half, his lovely wife, If I believe that fuch was he, Whom, in the storms of bad fuccefs, And all that Error calls unhappiness, His virtue and his virtuous wife did still accompany! With these companions 'twas not ftrange He faw around the hurricanes of ftate, How in this cafe 'tis certain found, That Heav'n ftands ftill, and only earth goca round. OD E. UPON DR. HARVEY, OY Nature (which remain'd, though aged COY grown, A beauteous virgin ftill, enjoy'd by none, When Harvey's violent paflion fhe did fee, Took fanctuary, like Daphne, in a tree : There Daphne's lover stop'd, and thought it much For which the eye-beams' point doth fharpnefs want, His paffage after her withstood. wood Of lives endow'd with fenfe fhe took her flight; Of man's maander all the purple reaches måde, Where turning head, and at a bay, Thus by well-purged ears was the o'erheard to fay: "Here fure fhall I be fafe" (faid fhe) "None will be able fure to fee "This my retreat, but only He "Who made both it and me. "The heart of man what art can e'er reveal? "A wall impervious between Thus Harvey fought for Truth in Truth's own book, And wifely thought 'twas fit, But on th' eriginal itself to look. Methinks in Art's great circle others stand And dance, like fairies, a fantastic round, His noble circle of the blood had been untrod- Great Doctor! th' art of curing's cur'd by thee, Purg'd of old errors by thy care, It now will strong and healthful prove; O cruel lofs! as if the golden fleece, With fo much coft and labour bought, Had funk ev'n in the ports of Greece. And ten times easier 'tis To rebuild Paul's, than any work of his : For, though his wit the force of age withstand, "And doth the heart of man ev'n from itself Will fure have her revenge on him at laft. conceal." She fpoke: but, ere fhe was aware, And held this flippery Proteus in a chain, He the young practice of new life did fee, It for a living wrought, both hard and privately. The noble scarlet dye of blood; Or brought into it, to fet up the trade; From all the fouls that living buildings rear, He fo exactly does the work furvey, W ODE FROM CATULLUS. ACME AND SEPTIMIUS. HILST on Septimius' panting breast The God of Love, who flood to hear him Acme, enflam'd with what he said, To this beft God, and ne'er retain So may thy paffion last for me, runs, But like life, through every part. This good omen thus from heaven Their loves and lives (all four) embrace, If the Gods would please to be -Quod optanti divûm promittere nemo Auderet, volvenda dies, en, attulit ultro."-VIRG. Now bleffings on you all, ye peaceful ftars, Which meet at laft fo kindly, and difpenfe Your univerfal gentle influence To calm the ftormy world, and still the rage of wars! Nor, whilft around the continent Plenipotentiary beams ye fent, Did your pacific lights difdain The world apart, o'er which do reign Your feven fair brethren of great Charles's-wain; No ftar amongst ye all did, I believe, Such vigorous afliftance give, As that which, thirty years ago, Aufpicious ftar! again arife, And take thy noon-tide station in the skies, "Twas a right feafon; and the very ground Felicity and innocence again. Shall we again (good Heaven!) that bleffed pair behold, Which the abufed people fondly fold For the bright fruit of the forbidden tree, By fecking all like Gods to be? Will Peace her halcyon neft venture to build Upon a fhore with fhipwrecks fill'd, And truft that fea, where the can hardly fay She 'as known thefe twenty years one calmy day? Ah! mild and gall-lefs dove, Which doft the pure and candid dwellings love, Still canft thou think it white? Will ever fair Religion appear In thefe deformed ruins? will the clear Where a High Court of Justice e'er has been? And Bradshaw's bloody ghoft, affright her there, Then may Whitehall for Charles's feat be fit, Of all, methinks we leaft fhould fee Is ftill enough to make her flay, *The ftar that appeared at noon, the day of the to St. Paul's, to give thanks to God for that king's birth, juft as the king his father was riding blefling. Or, fhe might juftlier be afraid Left that great ferpent, which was all a tail Should a third time perhaps prevail Your fears are caufelefs all, and vain, Along with you plenty and riches go, With a warm fruitful wind o'er all the country ( blow. Honour does as ye march her trumpet found, A various complicated ill, Whofe every fymptom was enough to kill; 'Tis happy, which no bleeding does endure, That the three dreadful angels we, Of famine, fword, and plague, fhould here cftablifh'd fee (God's great triumvirate of defolation!) We fear'd that the Fanatic war, "His blood be upon ours and on our children's head." We know, though there a greater blood was fpilt, 'Twas fcarcely done with greater guilt. We know thofe miferies did befal Whilft they rebell'd against that Prince, whom all The rest of mankind did the love and joy of mankind call. Already was the shaken nation Into a wild and deform'd chaos brought, And it was hafting on (we thought) Even to the laft of ills-annihilation: When, in the midft of this confufed night, Lo! the bleft Spirit mov'd, and there was light; For, in the glorious General's previous tay, We faw a new created day: We by it faw, though yet in mifts it fhone, And with the marks of good fuccefs Sign his allowance of their wickednefs? Vain men! who thought the Divine Power to find In the fierce thunder and the violent wind: In the ftill voice of Peace he came at laft! May by the claws of the great fiend be done: He who had feen the noble British heir, Of brothers, heavenly good! and filters, heavenly fair! Might have perceiv'd, methinks, with eafe (But wicked men fee only what they pleafe) That God had no intent t' extinguish quite The pious king's eclipfed right. He who had feen how by the Power Divine Might, methinks, plainly understand, Th' Almighty mercy would at laft Ought to be entail'd by right of birth; |