Talesque visus, quos vident in somniis Juvenes poetæ, dum celebris rivuli Securi ad oram vespere æstivo jacent. Tunc ad theatra demigrem frequentia Jonsone, si tu, docte soccum proferas; Sive Ille musæ filiu fundat scnos, Quam dulcè, quam felicitèr, temerarios! Curæque carmen semper antidotos modis Mentem relaxet involutam Lydiis; Oh! sim perenni emancipatus carmini, Quod tentet usque ad intimum cor emicans, Auresque gratis detinens ambagibus Pedibus legatis suaviter rectat moras, Dum liquida vox, labyrinthus ut, deflectitur Dolo perita et negligenti indust, iâ, Variaque cæcos arte nodes explicat, Animam latentem qui coercent musices; Adeo ut quiete expergefactus aureà Toros relinquat ipse Thrax amaranthinos, Medioque tales captet Elysio sonos, Quales avaram suadeant Proserpinam Nullà obligatam lege sponsam reddere. His si redundes gaudiis, prudentis est, Lætitia, tecum velle vitain degere.
Such sights as youthful poets dream On summer eves, by haunted stream. Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learned sock be on, Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, Warble his nat ve wood-notes wild. And ever against eating cares. Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to iminor: al verse,
Such as the meeting soul may pierce, lo notes, with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out, With wanton heed, and giddy cunning, The melting voice thro' mazes running, Untwisting all the chains that tye The hidden soul of harmony: That Orpheus' self may heave his head From golden slumber on a bed Of heap'd Elysian flow'rs, and hear Such strains as would have won the ear Of Pluto, to have quite set free His half-regain'd Eurydice. These delights, if thou canst give, Mirth, with thee I mean to live.
DATUR MUNDORUM PLURALITAS.
UNDE labor novus hic menti? Quæ cura quietam Sollicitat, rapiensque extra confinia terræ, Coelestes sine more jubet volitare per ignes? Scilicet impatiens angusto hec orbe teneri, Fontinelle, tuos audax imitarier ausus Gestio, & insolitas spirant præcordia flammas.
Fallor, an ipse venit! Delapsus ab æthere
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 (Quanquam animus secum volvens exempla prio- Bellerophonteæ pallet dispendia famæ) [rum Post equitem sedeo, liquidumque per aëra labor. --Mercurium petimus primum: duxtalibus insit; "Aspicias vanæ malesana negotia gentis, Quam mens destituit Titane exust propinquo. Stramineis viden'? Hic velatus tempora sertis Emicat, & solos reges crepat atque tetrarchas, Ille suam carbone Ch'oen depingit amator Infelix, ægram rudia indigestaque mentem Carmina demulcent, indoctaque tibia musas. En! sedet incomptus crines barbataque menta
Translated by the Rev. Mr. Fawkes, A. M. SAY, what uncommon cares disturb my rest, And kindle raptures foreign to my breast? From Earth's low confines lift my mind on high, To trace new worlds revolving in the sky? Yes I'm impatient of this orb of clay; And boldly dare to meditate my way, Where Fontinelle first saw the planets roll, And all the God tumu'tuous shakes my soul. 'Tis he! He comes! and thro' the sun-bright
Drives foaming Pegasus, and thus he cries: "Cease, cease, dear youth, too studiously emAnd wing with me the unresisting void; [ploy'd, 'Tis thine with me round other worlds to soar, And visit kingdoms never known before : While I succinctly show each various race, The manners and the genius of the place." I (tho' my mind with lively horrour fraught, Thinks on Bellerophon, and shudders at the thought)
Mount quick the winged steed: he springs, he flies, Shoots thro' the yielding air, and cleaves the liquid skies!
-First, swift Cyllenius, 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 brain-sick 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. There sits a lover, sad in pensive air, And like the dismal image of despair, With charcoal paints his Chloe heav'nly fair. In sadly-soothing strain rude notes he sings, And strikes harsh numbers from the jarring
Ridet ager, frugum facilis, lascivaque florum Nutrix; non Euri ruit hic per dulcia Tempe Vis fera, non Borea; sed blandior aura Favonî, Lenis agens tremulo nutantes vertice sylvas, Usque fovet teneros, quos usque rescuscitat, ignes. Hic lætis animata sonis Saltatio vivit : Hic jam voce ciet, cantum, jam pectine, dulces Musica docta modos: pulchræ longo ordine nymphæ
Festivas ducunt choreas, dilecta juventus Certatim stipant comites: latè halat amomo Omke nemus, varioque æterni veris odore: Cura procul circumvol tant risusque jocique : Atque amor est, quocunque vides. Venus ipsa
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 walls 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 faint, I sicken with the fervent heat."
Thence to that milder orb we wing our way, Where Venus governs with an easy sway. Soft breaths the air; fair Flora paints the ground, And laughing Ceres deals her gifts around. This blissful Tempe no rough blasts molest, Of blust'ring Boreas, or the baleful East; But gentle Zephyrs o'er the woodlands stray, Court the tall trees, and round the branches Etherial gales dispensing as they flow, [play, To fan those passions which they teach to glow. Here the gay youth in measur'd steps advance, While sprightly music animates the dance; There the sweet melody of sounds admire,
Sigh with the song, or languish to the lyre: Fair nymphs and amorous youths, a lovely band, Blend in the dance, light-bounding hand in hand.
From ev'ry 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 wou'd Cupid's victim prove, Or the chaste daughter of imperial Jove, And Cato's virtue be the slave of love.
But now through destin'd fields of air we fly, And leave those mansions not without a sigh: Thence the dire coast we reach, the dreary plains, Where Mars, grim god, and bloody discord reigns.
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 the lone bride bewails her absent lord, The sterile nuptials, the deserted board, Sighs the long nights, and frantic with despair, Beats her bare breast, and rends her flowing hair In vain she sighs, in vain dissolves in tears- In sleep, perhaps, the warrior lord appears, A fleeting form that glides before her sight, A momentary vision of the night. Meanwhile, regardless of her anxious pray'r, The hardy husband sternly stalks to war; Our ears the clang of ringing armour rends, And the immortal battle never ends.
Hence through the boundless void we nimbly
And reach the wide-extended plairs 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 pois'nous 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:
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 enimtam sedulus, arces Qui struat ingentes, operosaque mænia condat? Idem omnes stupor altus habet, sub pectore fixus. Non studia ambitiosa Jovis, variosque labores Mercurii, non Martis opus, non Cyprida nôrunt. 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. Non avium auditur cantus, non murmur aquarum, Mugitusve 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 Pigram undam volvunt, & sola papavera pascunt: Quorum lentus odor, lethæaque pocula somnos Suadent perpetuos, circumfusæque tenebræ.
Horrendo visu obstupui: quin Pegason ipsum Defecére animi: sensit dux, terque flagello Insonuit clarùm, terque altâ voce morantem Increpuit: secat ille cito pede lævia campi Etherei, Terraque secundâ allabitur aurą.
Cantabr. in Comitiis prioribus, 1740-1.
With num'rous fleets they croud the groaning And triumph for the victories they feign: [main, Again in strict alliances unite,
Till discord raise again 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 inaster's, and her lord's the wife. With vengeance thus their kindling bosoms fire, Since Jove usurp'd the sceptre of his sire Thence poisons, perjuries, and bribes betray; Nor other passions do their souls obey Than thirst of gold, and avarice of sway.
At length we land, vast fields of ether crost, On Saturn's cold uncomfortable coast; Here in the gloom the pamper'd sluggard's lull The lazy hours, lethargically dull. In caves they live; for who was ever known So wise, so sedulous to build a town; The same stupidity infects the whole, Fix'd in the breast, and center'd in the soul, These never feel th' ambitious fires of Jove, To industry not Mercury can move, Mars cannot spur to war, nor Venus woo to love, Here rove those souls, 'tis said, when life departs, Who never cultivated useful arts; But stupify'd with plenty and repose, Dreamt out long life in one continual dose! No feather'd songsters, with sweet-warbled strains
Attune to melting melody the plains, No flocks wide past'ring bleat, nor oxen low; No fountains musically murm'ring flow; Th'ungenial waste no tender herbage yields, No harvests wave luxuriant in the fields. Low lie the groves, if groves this land can boast, Chain'd in the fetters of eternal frost, Their beauty wither'd, and their verdure lost. Dull animals inhabit this abode,
The owl, mole, dormouse, tortoise, and the toad. Dull rivers deep within their channels glide,
And slow roll on their tributary tide: Nor ought th' unvegetative waters feed, But sleepy poppy and the slimy reed; Whose lazy fogs, like Lethe's cups, dispense Eternal slumbers of dull indolence.
Aghast I stood, the drowsy vapours lull My soul in gloom, ev'n Pegasus grew dull. My guide observ'd, and thrice he urg'd his speed,
Thrice the loud lash resounded from the steed; Fir'd at the stroke, he flies with slacken'd rein Swift o'er the level of the liquid plain, Guides me with gentle gale, and lights on Earth again,
MATERIES GAUDET VĮ INERTIÆ.
VERVECUM in patria, quà latè Hibernica squalent Arva inarata, palus horrenda voragine crebrà Ante oculos jacet; haud illic impune viator Per tenebras iter instituat; tremit undique tellus Sub pedibus malefida, vapores undique densos Sudat humus, nebulisque amicitur tristibus herba.
THE TEMPLE OF DUllness. Translated by the same Hand,
Ix Ireland's wild, uncultivated plains, Where torpid sloth, and foggy dulness reigns, Full many a fen infests the putrid shore, And many a gulph the melancholy moor. Let not the stranger in these regions stray, Dark is the sky and perilous the way; [ground, Beneath his foot-steps shakes the trembling Dense fogs and exhalations hover round, And with black clouds the tender turf is crown'd.
Materies peperit somno patre, lavidus iste Zoilus, & Bavio non impar Mævius; audax Spinoza, & Pyrrho, cumque Hobbesio Epicurus. Ast omnes valeat quæ Musa referre? frequentes Esque adeo videas hebetes properare ?-nec adfert
Quidquam opis Anglorum doctæ vicinia gentis. Sic quondam, ut perhibent, stupuit Boeotica tellus Vicina licet Antycirâ, nihil inde salutis, [æquor Nil tulit hellebori Zephyrus, cum sæpe per Felicem ad Lesbon levibus volitaverit alis, Indigen mellita ferens suspiria Flora.
Porticus illa vides? Gothicis suffulta columnis, Templi aditus, quàm laxa patet! custodia qualis. Ante fores! quatuor formæ sua tollere miris Pra modis! en! torva tuens stat limire in ipso Personam Logices induta Sophistica, denis Cincta categoriis, matrem quæ maxima natu Filia Materiem agnoscit quantum instar in ipsâ est!
Grande caput, tenues oculi, cutis arida produnt Fallacem rete una mánus tenet, altera fustem. Vestis arachneis sordit circumdata telis, Queis gaudet labyrinthæos dea callida nodos. Aspicias jam funereo gradientem incessu- Quàm lentè cælo Saturni volvitur astrum, Quàm lentè saltaverunt post Orphea montes, Quàm lentè, Oxonii, solemnis pondera cænæ Gestant tergeminorum abdomina bedellorum.
Proxima deinde tenet loca sorte insana Ma- [pillos, thesis, Nuda pedes, chlamydem discincta, incompta ca- Immemor externi, punctoque innixa reclinat. Ante pedes vario inscriptam diagrammate arenam Cernas, rectis curva, atque intertexta rotunda Schemata quadratis-queis scilicet abdita rerum Pandere se jactat solam, doctasque sorores Fastidit, propriæque nihil non arrogat arti. Iliam olim, duce Neuntono, tum tendit ad astra, Atheriasque domos superûm, indignata volantem
Here shou'dst thou rove, by fate's severe command,
And safely reach the centre of the land; Thine eyes shall view, with horror and surprize, The fane of Dulness, of enormous size, Emerging from the sable cloud arise. A leaden tow'r upheaves its heavy head, Vast leaden arches press the slimy bed, The soft soil swells beneath the load of lead. Old Matter here erected his abode, At Folly's impulse, to the slothful god. And here the drone lethargic loves to stray, Slumb'ng the dull, inactive hours away; For still, unless by foreign force imprest, The languid goddess holds her state of rest.
Their habitation here those monsters keep; Whom Matter father'd on the god of sleep: Here Zoilus, with cank'ring envy pale, Here Mævius bids his brother Bavius, hail: Spiroza, Epicure, and all those mobs Of wicked wits, from Pyrrho down to Hobbes. How can the Muse recount the numerous crew Of frequent fools that crowd upon the view? Nor can learn'd Albion's sun that burns so clear, Disperse the dulness that involves them here. Bastia thus remain'd, in days of yore, Senseless and stupid, though the neighb'ring [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 barb'rous pride Four monstrous shapes before the portal wait, Of horrid aspect, centry to the gate; Lo! in the entrance, with disdainful eye, In Logic's dark disguise, stands Sophistry: Her very front would common sense confound, Encompass'd with ten categories round: She from old Matter, the great mother, came, By birth the eldest-and how like the dame! Her shrivel'd skin, small eyes, prodigious pate, Denote her shrewd and subtle in debate: This hand a net, and that sustains a club, Tentangle her antagonist, or drub. The spider's toils, all o'er her garment spread, Imply the mazy errours of her head. Behold her marching with funereal pace, Slow as old Saturn rolls thro' boundless space, Slow as the mighty mountains mov'd along, When Orpheus rais'd the lyre-attending song: Or, as at Oxford, on some gaudy day, Fat beadles, in magnificent array, With big round bellies bear the pond'rous treat, And heavily lag on, with the vast load of meat. The next, mad Mathesis; her feet all bare, Ungirt, untrimm'd, with dissoluted hair: No foreign object can her thoughts disjoint; Reclin'd she sits, and ponders o'er a point. Before her, lo! inscrib'd upon the ground, Strange diagrams th' astonish'd sight confound, Right lines and curves, with figures square and round.
With these the monster, arrogant and vain, Boasts that she can all mysteries explain, And treats the sacred sisters with disdain. She, when great Newton sought his kindred skies, Sprung high in air, and strove with him to rise
Turba mathematicûm retrahit, pœnasque repo
Detinet in terris, nugisque exercet ineptis.
Tertia Microphile, proles furtiva parentis Divinæ; produxit enim commixta furenti Diva viro Physice-muscas & papiliones Lustrat inexpletum, collumque & tempora rident Floribus, & fungis, totâque propagine veris. Rara oculis nugarum avidis animalia quærit Omne genus, seu serpit humi, seluludit in undis, Seu volitans tremulis liquidum secat aëra pennis. O! ubi littoribus nostris felicior aura Polypon appulerit, quanto cava templa Stuporis Mugitu concussa trement, reboabit & ingens Pulsa palus! Plausu excipiet dea blanda secundo Microphile ante omnes; jamnon crocodilon adorat; Non bombyx, conchæve juvant: sed polypon ardet, Solum polypon ardet,-& ecce! faceta feraci Falce novos creat assidue, pascitque creatos, Ah! modo dilectis pascit nova gaudia muscis.
In vain-the mathematic mob restrains Her flight, indignant, and on Earth detains; E'er since the captive wretch her brains employs On trifling trinkets, and on gewgaw toys.
Microphile is station'd next in place, The spurious issue of celestial race; From heav'nly Physice she took her birth, Her sire a madman of the sons of Farth; On flies she pores with keen unvaried sight, And moths and butterflies, her dear delight: Mushrooms and flow'rs, collected on a string, Around her neck, around her temples cling, With all the strange production of the spring. With greedy eyes she'll search the world to find Rare uncouth animals of every kind; Whether along the humble ground they stray, Or nimbly sportive in the waters play, Or through the light expanse of ether fly, And with fleet pinions cleave the liquid sky. Ye gales, that gently breathe upon our shore, O! let the polypus be wafted o'er;
How will the hollow dome of dulness ring, With what loud joy receive the wond'rous thing! Applause will rend the skies, and all around The quivering quagmires bellow back the sound; How will Microphile her joy attest,
And glow with warmer raptures than the rest? This will the curious crocodile excel,
The weaving worm, and silver-shining shell,
No object e'er will wake her wonder thus
As polypus, her darling polypus:
Lo! by the wounds of her creating knife New polypusses wriggle into life, Fast as they rise, she feeds with ample store Of once rare flies, but now esteem'd no more.
The fourth dire shape from mother Matter Dulness her sire, and Atheism her name, [came, In her no glimpse of sacred sense appears, Depriv'd of eyes, and destitute of ears; And yet she brandishes a thousand tongues, And blasts the world with air-infecting lungs. Curs'd by her sire, her very words are wounds, No grove re-echoes the detested sounds. Whate'er she speaks all nature proves a lye, The Earth, the Heav'ns, the starry spangled sky, Proclaim the wise, eternal Deity:
The congregated waves in mountains driven Roar in grand chorus to the Lord of Heaven; Thro' skies serene the glorious thunders roll, Loudly pronounce the God, and shake the sounding pole.
A river, murmuring from Lethæan source, Full to the fane directs its sleepy course; The pow'r of Dulness, leaning on the brink, Here calls the multitude of fools to drink, Swarming they crowd to stupify the skull, With frequent cups contending to be dull. Me, let me taste the sacred stream, I cry'd, With out-stretch'd arm-the Muse my boon de ny'd,
And sav'd me from the sense-intoxicating tide.
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