Page images
PDF
EPUB

EVIL COMPANY CONTAGIOUS.

LET not false arguments thy reason blind,
For evil converse taints the virtuous mind1.
Page 78.

IMPUDENCE.

He stands in impudence without a peer,

But who postpone the bliss till past their prime,
Must pay large interest for neglect of time.
Page 84.

MATERNAL AFFECTION.

WHY for her children should the wife, express
More fond affection, and the husband less ?

Who scorns to blush, and knows not how to fear. The reason, if I rightly judge, is this,

Page 6.

She knows them her's, and he but thinks them his.

Page 236.

IMPORTUNATE ADVICE.

WHEN well ourselves, we boast the doctor's skill,

And give advice to others that are ill2, . Page 16.

THE DANGERS OF MATRIMONY.

A. WHILE prudence guides, change not, at any
A life of freedom for the married state: [rate,
I ventur'd once to play that desperate game,
And therefore warn you, not to do the same.
B. The counsel may be sage which you advance;
But I'm resolv'd to take the common chance.
A. Mild gales attend that voyage of your life,
And waft you safely thro' the sea of strife:
Not the dire Libyan, or Ægæan sea,
Where out of thirty ships scarce perish three;
But that, where daring fools most dearly pay,
Where all that sail are surely cast away.
Page 22.

THE COMFORTS OF MATRIMONY.
You judge quite wrong to think your fortune

hard;

[too:

Life's troubles, not its blessings, you regard:
Believe me, friend; the race of man can know
No earthly comfort, unallay'd with woe.
Much plague,no doubt,attends a sumptuous wife,
She's the sure torment of her husband's life.
Yet ev❜n from her some benefits accrue.
She brings him sons, she brings him daughters
When ill, her care administers relief,
When fortune frowns, she solaces his grief:
When age or sickness, brings him to his end,
She decently inters him, like a friend.
Think, think on this when slight vexations tease;
The mighty charm will set your heart at ease:
But if you let wild sorrow thus prevail,
And place no comforts in the other scale;
Not weighing gain with loss, nor good with ill,
Still you must murmur, and be wretched still.
Page 122.

THE RICH AND YOUNG SHOULD MARRY. THOSE that are rich, and in the bloom of life, May wed and prove the comforts of a wife;

1 St. Paul has copied this sentence from Menander, Φθείρεσιν ηθη χρησθ' ομιλίαι κακαι, which are the very words of our author.-Evil communications corrupt good manners, 1 Cor. 15. 33. 2 Facile omnes cum volemus ægrotis consilia damus. TER.

VOL. XVI.

[blocks in formation]

IGNIS FATUUS':
GRAMINEOS infra campos, penetralia Floræ
Purpureis opibus redolentia, fumeus aër
Caligat; varios hîc teilus ubere partu
Flammarum ponit fetus, et pinguia venis
Nutrimenta fovet, genitalia semina rerum.
Quæ postquam matris dudum sopita silenti
Incubûere sinu, quoties Titanius ardor
Sævit in æstivas luces, patefacta sub auras
Reddit humus; pars æthereâ regione viarum
Expatiatur ovans; levitas sua sufficit alas.
Pars ignava tenet terræ confinia, sese
Insinuans inter nocturnos undique rores.
Et jam, seu calidis pugnent humentia, vires
Sive bitumineæ rapiant incendia, flamma
Exilit, et vivos imitatur ludicra motus.

Aspice! cùm rebus nox abstulit atra colorem,
Fusus ad irriguas ripas micat igneus humor,
Mobilitate vigens, et eundo flumina verrit
Summa levis, liquidisque sororibus oscula libat.

Jam varios meditans excursus ocyus Euro
Ardet abire fugâ per inane volatile lumen.
Stare loco nescit, saliensque per omnia puncto
Temporis itque reditque vagans sine corpore vita.

Hinc sæpe, obscenos iterat dum noctua cantus,
Nigrantes inter tenebras prope limina Divûm
Tristibus insultat lux importuna sepulchris.
Agros huc gressus si fortè advertat anus quæ,
Igneolos cernit lemures, simulachraque mille
Horret inops animi, stolidi figmenta timoris.
Jamque adeo latè fabellam spargit anilem
Fama volans, trepidat mentes ignobile vulgus.
Scilicet bic animæ tenues, defunctaque vitâ
Corpora, subsiliunt obscurâ nocte per umbram.
Seu Libitina fero visu sua regna pererrat,
Et tumulos numerans lugubres, horrida quassat
Funebres tædas & formidabile lumen.

Quin & mille dolos volvens sub pectore flamma
Avia pervolitat, quam cæcâ nocte viator
Deprensus sectatur ovans; quid cogitet ignis
Nescius heu! Fax ante volans per opaca locorum
Errabunda regit vestigia, perfida tandem
Deferit immersum stagno squalente colonum
Eructantem iras, hirsutaque colla madentem.

Talem flumineæ quondam risêre sorores
Pana Deum Arcadia, taciti Ladonis ad amnem ;
Scilicet hic nymphamcaptans juvenile micantem,
Oscula dum peteret, mediis effusus in undis
Virgine pro tenerâ fædam complectitur ulvam.
Ast ubi jam Phoebi radiis Aurora rubescit
Pulchrior, & stellis acies obtusa videtur,
Purpureo superata die, caput abdit imago,
Et procul in tenues it vita minutula ventos.

WILL WITH A WISP.-
DEEP in the silence of the grassy plains,
Where Flora, drest in purple beauty reigns,
Ambrosial queen of flowerets sweet and fair;
Impregnated with vapours the thick air
Grows stagnant: here at frequent births trans-
Profuse, the living particles of fire, [pire,
Which, from her lap, the Earth prolific flings,
The genial seeds, and origin of things:
These, long time ripening, oft as Titan's ray
Bright-burning blazes on the summer's day,
At length, emerging from the soil, repair,
And sport, capricious, in the fields of air:
Some, lightly mounting in th' etherial sky,
Expatiate freely, and in meteors fly: [sue,
Some, near the ground their vagrant course pur-
And blend delusion with the nightly dew:
For whether from the strife of moist and dry,
Or from bitumen fiery sparkles fly,

Haud secus ignaros duxit Cartesius olim
Philosophos, rapiens deserta per ardua cœcæ
Nature; demum Newtonus luce coruscans
Eoa, mundique sagax arcana tueri,
Materiam pepulit subtilem, egitque sub umbras.

Cantabr. in comitiis prioribus, 1730-1.

This elegant copy of verses was written, as an academical exercise, by my worthy friend, and former tutor, the rev. Richard Oakley, M. A. late fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.

A sudden flame the mingling vapours give,
Which seems, to mortal eyes, to move and live.
Lo! when the beauteous landscape fades in night,
In some irriguous valley, glimmering bright,
The false flame dances, or with quivering gleam,
Skims on the bosom of the winding stream,
Sports with the Naiads, and in wanton play,
Kisses the sisters of the watery way.
Now through the void the vain excursive light,
Fleet as the wind, precipitates its flight,
Unfix'd and volatile with instant bound

'Tis here, 'tis there, and roves the country round.
Oft as the darkling owl renews her song,
In lone church-yards it gleams, the mournful
graves among.

Should some old hag slow hobbling hither tend,
She spies, no doubt, the fiery-flaming fiend;
To her mind's eye a thousand ghosts appear,
The foolish apparitions of her fear.

Then all around tremendous tales are spread,
And the weak vulgar stand appall'd with dread;
For here they deem, depriv'd the golden light,
That spirits wander in the gloom of night;
Or that pale Proserpine, fierce-visag'd, comes
To number all the melancholy tombs,
And dreadful, as she frowns, the deadly dame
Shakes her dire torches tipt with livid flame.

Oft o'er the dreary waste, or boundless plain,
This bright deception leads the nightly swain;
Thoughtless of harm he plods the forest o'er,
Where never wanderer bent his way before,
At length, deluded by the fickle fire,

He sinks absorpt in bogs, and flounces in the
mire.

[ocr errors]

Thus once, where Ladon rolls his silent flood,
Laugh'd the fair Naiads at th' Arcadian god;
A blooming nymph he saw, admir'd, carest,
And when he strove to clasp her to his breast,
Piung'd in the waves among the watery weeds
He lost the virgin, and embrac'd the reeds.

But when the rosy morn her blush displays,
And all the splendour of the stars decays,
The light fantastic phantoms cease to glare,
Lost in the day, and flit in empty air.

Descartes thus, great Nature's wandering
Fallacious led philosophy aside, [guide,
'Till Newton rose, in orient beauty bright, [light,
He rose,
and brought the world's dark laws to
Then subtile matter saw, and vanished at his

sight.

DATUR MUNDORUM PLURALITAS,

A VOYAGE TO THE PLANETS.

BY CHRISTOPHER SMART, M. A.

UNDE labor novus hic menti? Quæ cura quie- WHENCE this new ardor? whence this rage to

Sollicitat, rapiensque extra confinia terræ, [tam
Cœlestes sine more jubet volitare per ignes?
Scilicet impatiens angusto hoc orbe teneri,
Fontenelle, tuos audax imitarier ausus
Gestio, & insolitas spirant præcordia flammas.

Fallor, an ipse venit? Delapsus ab æthere

summo

[fit:

Pegason urget eques, laterique flagellifer instat: Me vocat; & duris desiste laboribus, inquit, "Me duce, carpe viam facilem, tibi singula clarè Expediam, tibi cernere erit, quos sidera nôrunt, Indigenas, cultusque virûm, moresque docebo." Nec mora, pennipedem conscendo jussus, ovansque [orum (Quanquam animus secum volvens exempla priBellerophonteæ pallet dispendia famæ) Post equitem sedeo, liquidumque per aëra labor. -Mercurium petimus primùm: dux talibus in"Aspicias vanæ malesana negotia gentis, Quam mens destituit Titane exusta propinquo. Stramineis viden'? Hic velatus tempora sertis Emicat, & solos reges crepat atque tetrarchas. Ille suam carbone Chloen depingit amator Infelix, ægram rudia indigestaque mentem Carmina demulcent, îndoctaque tibia musas. En! sedet incomptus crines barbataque menta Astrologus, nova qui venatur sidera, solus Semper in obscuro penetrali; multaque muros Linea nigrantes, & multa triangula pingunt. Ecce! sed interea curru flammante propinquat Titan.-Clamo, O me! gelidâ sub rupe, sub umbâ

Siste precor: tantos nequeo perferre calores."

Pegason inde tuo genius felicior astro Appulit, alma Venus. Spirant quam molliter auræ !

Ridet ager, frugum facilis, lascivaque florum
Nutrix; non Euri ruit hic per dulcia Tempe
Vis fera, non Borea: sed blaudior aura Favoni,
Lenis agens tremulo nutantes vertice sylvas,
Usque fovet teneros, quos usque resuscitat, ig-
Hic lætis animata sonis saltatio vivit : [nes.
Hic jam voce ciet cantum, jam pectine, dulces
Musica docta modos: pulchræ longo ordine
nymphæ

Cestivas ducunt choreas, dilecta juventus
Fertatim stipant comites: latè halat amomo
Omne nemus, varioque æterni veris odore:
Cura procul: circumvolitant risusque jocique:
Atque amor est, quodcunque vides. Venus ipsa

volentes

Imperio regit indigenas, hic innuba Phoebe, Irmuba Pallas amet, cupiant servire Catones.

trace [space? New worlds that roll through ether's boundless Snatch'd from the confines of this orb of clay, With emulation fir'd I wing my way, Where Fontenelle first saw the planets roll, And all the god tumultuous shakes my soul. Yes, yes, he comes! and through the sunbright skies [cries, Drives foaming Pegasus; "Cease, cease," he "All meaner tasks; 'tis thine with me to soar, And visit kingdoms unexplor'd before; While I succinctly show each various race, The manners, and the genius of the place." I (though my mind with lively horrour fraught, Thinks on Bellerophon, and dreads the thought) Mount quick behind; the winged courser flies, And cleaves the azure of the liquid skies.

First Mercury, swift circling round the Sun, We reach, when thus my friendly guide begun: "Mark well the genius of this fiery place, The wild amusements of the brainsick race, Whose minds the beams of Titan, too intense, Affect with frenzy, and distract the sense. A monarch here gives subject princes law A mighty monarch, with a crown of straw. Here the lone lover, on the cieling bare, With charcoal paints his Chloe heav'nly fair; In sadly soothing strain rude notes he sings, Or grates harsh discord from the jarring strings. Lo; an astrologer, with filth besmear'd, Rough and neglected, with a length of beard, Pores round his cell for undiscover'd stars, And decks the wall with triangles and squares. Lo! But the radiant car of Phoebus nigh Glows with red ardour, and inflames the sky→→→ Oh! waft me, hide me in some cool retreat; I droop, I sicken with the fervent heat,"

Thence to that milder orb we wing our way,
Where Venus governs with an easy sway.
Soft breathes the air; fair Flora paints the ground,
And fruitful Ceres deals her gifts around.
This blissful Tempe no rough blasts molest,
Of blustering Boreas, or the baleful east ;
But gentle Zephyrs o'er the woodlands stray,
Court the tall trees, and round the branches play,
Their genial gales dispensing as they flow,
To fan those passions which they teach to glow.
Here the gay youth in measur'd steps advance,
While sprightly music animates the dance;
Here the soft sounds of melody inspire
Sighs to the song, and languors to the lyre:
Fair nymphs and amorous swains, a lovely band,
Blend in the dance, light-bounding hand in
hand.

From every grove the buxom Zephyrs bring
The rich ambrosia of eternal spring.

Care dwells not here, their pleasures to destroy,
But laughter, jest, and universal joy:
All, all is love; for Venus reigns confest
The sole sultana of each captive breast:
Cold Cynthia here would Cupid's victim prove

Or the chaste daughter of imperial Jove,
And rigid Cato be the slave of love.

Jamque datum molimur iter, sedesque beatas Multa gemens linquo; & lugubre rubentia Martis

Arva, ubi sanguineæ dominantur in omnia rixæ,
Advehimur, ferro riget horrida turba, geritque
Spiculaque, gladiosque, ferosque in bella dolones.
Pro choreâ, & dulci modulamine, Pyrrhicus illis
Saltus, & horribiles placet ære ciere sonores.
Hic conjux viduata viro longo effera luctu
Flet noctum, solumque torum sterilesque Hyme-

næos

Deplorans, lacerat crines, & pectora plangit : Necquicquam-sponsus ni fortè appareat, hospes Heu! brevis, in somnis, & ludicra fallat imago. Immemor ille tori interea ruit acer in hostem : Horrendum strepit armorum fragor undique campis;

Atque immortales durant in sæcula pugnæ.

Hinc Jovis immensum delati accedimus or.
Illic mille locis exercet sæva tyrannus
[bem.
Imperia in totidem servos, totidemque rebelles:
Sed brevis exercet: parat illi fata veneno
Perjurus, populosque premit novus ipse tyrannus.
Hi decies pacem figunt pretio atque refigunt:
Tum demum arma parant: longe lateque co-
hortes

Extenduntur agris; simul æquora tota teguntur
Classibus, & ficti celebrantur utrinque triumphi.
Foedera mox incunt nunquam violanda: brevique
Belli iterum simulachra cient ! referuntur in al-
Classes, pacificoque replentur milite campi. [tum
Filius hic patri meditatur, sponsa marito,
Servus hero insidias. Has leges scilicet illis
Imposuit natura locis, quo tempore patrem
Jupiter ipse suum solio detrusit avito.
Inde venena viris, perjuria, munera, fraudes,
Suadet opum sitis, & regnandi dira cupido.

Saturni tandem nos illætabilis ora Accipit: ignavum pecus hic per opaca locorum Pinguescunt de more, gravi torpentque veterno. Vivitur in specubus: quis enim tam sedulus,

arces

Qui struat ingentes, operosaque mænia condat? Idem omnes stupor altus habet, sub pectore fixus. Non studia ambitiosa Jovis, variosve labores Mercurii, non Martis opus, non Cyprida norunt. Post obitum, ut perhibent, sedes glomerantur in istas

Qui longam nullas vitam excoluêre per artes; Sed Cerere & Baccho pleni, somnoque sepulti Cunctarum duxêre æterna oblivia rerum. [rum, Non avium auditur cantus, non murmur aquaMugitusve boum, aut pecorum balatus in agris: Nudos non decorant segetes, non gramina campos.

Sylva, usquam si sylva, latet sub monte nivali, Et canet viduata comis: hic noctua tantùm Glisque habitat, bufoque & cum testudine, talpa. Flumina dum tardè subterlabentia terras

Now through the destin'd fields of air we fly And leave those happy mansions with a sigh: Thence the dire coast we reach, the dreary plains, [reigns: Where Mars, grim god, and bloody Discord The host in arms embattled sternly stands, The sword, the dart, the dagger in their hands. Here no fair nymphs to silver sounds advance, But buskin'd heroes form the Pyrrhic dance. And brazen trumpets, terrible from far, With martial music fire the soul to war. Here mourns the lovely bride her husband fled, The sterile nuptials, the deserted bed, Sighs the long nights, and, frantic with despair, Beats her soft breast, and rends her flowing hair: In vain she sighs, in vain dissolves in tearsIn sleep, perchance, the warrior lord appears, A fleeting form that glides before her sight, A momentary vision of the night. Mean while, regardless of her tender woe, The hardy husband rushes on the foe: Harsh sounds of war through regions distant rage, And fights immortal last from age to age.

1

Hence through the boundless void we nimbly

move,

And reach the wide-extended plains of Jove.
Here the stern tyrant sways an iron rod;
A thousand vassals tremble at his nod.
How short the period of a tyrant's date!
The poisonous phial speeds the work of fate:
Scarce is the proud, imperious tyrant dead,
But, lo! a second lords it in his stead.
Here peace, as common merchandize is sold,
Heav'n's first, best blessing, for pernicious gold:
War soon succeeds, the sturdy squadrons stand
Wide o'er the fields, a formidable band:
With numerous fleets they crowd the groaning
main,

And triumph for the victories they feign:
Again in strict alliances unite,

Till Discord raise the phantom of a fight;
Again they sail; again the troops prepare
Their falchions for the mockery of war.
The son inhuman seeks his father's life,
The slave his master's, and her lord's the wife.
With vengeance thus their kindling bosoms fire,
Since Jove usurp'd the sceptre of his sire.
Hence poisons, bribes, frauds, perjuries, betray;
And thirst of gold, and avarice of sway.

At length we land, vast fields of ether crost,
On Saturn's cold, uncomfortable coast;
In dismal gloom here drones inactive lull
The lazy hours, lethargically dull.
In caves they live; were sluggards ever known
To raise a citadel, or build a town?
The same deep stupor, through the lifeless whole,
Chills in the breast, and freezes in the soul..
These never know th' ambitious schemes of Jove,
Their breasts not fire-fraught Mercury can move,
Mars cannot spur to war, nor Venus woo to love,
Here rove those souls, 'tis said, when life departs,
Who left uncultivated useful arts;
But stupify'd with plenty and repose,
Dreamt out long life in one continued doze!
No feather'd songsters, with sweet-warbled
Attune to melting melody the plains, [strains
No flocks, no herds here feed in pastures wide,
No fountains musically-murmuring glide;
Th' ungenial waste no tender herbage yields,
No harvests wave luxuriant in the fields.

[blocks in formation]

adfert

Quidquam opis Anglorum doctæ vicinia gentis.
Sic quondam, ut perhibent, stupuit Baotica tel-
Vicinâ licet Antycirâ, nihil inde salutis, [lus
Nil tulit hellebori Zephyrus, cum sæpe per
æquor

Felicem ad Lesbon levibus volitaverit alis,
Indigenæ mellita ferens suspiria Flora.

Porticus illa vides? Gothicis suffulta columnis, Templi aditus, quàm laxa patet! custodia qualis Ante fores! quatuor formæ sua tollere miris Ora modis! en! torva tuens stat limine in ipso, Personam Logices induta, Sophistica, denis Cincta Categoriis; matrem quæ maxima natu Filia Materiem agnoscit-quantum instar in ipsâ est !

[blocks in formation]

You'll see, within the centre of the land,
The fane of Dulness, of prodigious size,
Emerging from a sable cloud arise.

A leaden tower upheaves its heavy head,
Large leaden arches press the slimy bed,
The soft soil swells beneath the load of lead.
Old Matter here erected this abode,
At Folly's impulse, to the slothful god.
Here the majestic drone delights to stay,
Slumbering the dull, inactive hours away;
Here still, unless by foreign force imprest,
She holds the sceptre of eternal rest.

Their habitation here those monsters keep,
Whom Matter father'd on the god of Sleep:
Here Zoilus, with cankering envy pale,
Here Mævius bids his brother Bavius, hail;
Bold atheist leaders head their senseless mobs,
Spinoza, Pyro, Epicurus, Hobbes.

How can the Muse recount the numerous crew
Of frequent dunces crowding on the view?
Nor can learn'd Albion's sun that burns so bright,
Illuminate the realms involv'd in night,
Boeotia thus remain'd, in days of yore,
Senseless and stupid, tho' the neighbouring shore
Afforded salutary hellebore:

No cure exhal'd from Zephyr's buxom breeze,
That gently brush'd the bosom of the seas,
As oft to Lesbian fields he wing'd his way.
Fanning fair Flora, and in airy play
Breath'd balmy sighs, that melt the soul away.

Behold that portico! how vast, how wide!
The pillars Gothic,wrought with barbarous pride:
Four monstrous shapes before the portal wait,
Of horrid aspect, centries to the gate:
Lo! in the entrance, with disdainful eye,
In Logick's dark disguise, stands Sophistry:
Her very front would common sense confound,
Encompass'd with ten categories round :

« EelmineJätka »