Loud was the Hymenean fong ;
The violated dame * walk'd smilingly along,
And in the midst of the most sacred dance,
As if enamour'd of his fight,
Often the caft a kind admiring glance
On the bold struggler for delight;
Who afterwards appear'd so moderate and cool,
As if for public good alone he fo defir'd to rule.
But, oh that this were all which we can urge
Against a Roman of fo great a foul!
And that fair truth permitted us to purge
His fact, of what appears fo foul!
Friendship, that facred and sublimest thing!
The nobleft quality, and chiefcft good,
(In this dull age scarce understood)
Infpires us with unusual warmth her injur'd rites to fing."
Affift, ye angels! whose immortal bliss,
Though more refin'd, chiefly confifts in this.
How plainly your bright thoughts to one another fhine!
Oh! how ye all agree in harmony divine!
The race of mutual love with equal zeal ye run,
A course, as far from any end, as when at first begun.
Ye faw, and fmil'd upon this matchlefs pair,
Who ftill betwixt them did so many virtues share,
Some which belong to peace, and some to strife,
Those of a calm, and of an active life,
That all the excellence of human-kind
Concurr'd to make of both but one united mind,
Which Friendship did so fast and closely bind,
Not the leaft cement could appear by which their fouls were join'd.
tye which holds our mortal frame,
Which peor unknowing we a foul and body name,
Seems not a compofition more divine,
Or more abftrufe, than all that does in friendship shine.
VII.
From mighty Cæfar and his boundless grace,
Though Brutus, once at leaft, his life receiv'd;
Such obligations, though fo high believ'd,
Are yet but flight in fuch a cafe,
Where friendship fo poffeffes all the place,
There is no room for gratitude; fince he,
Who fo obliges, is more pleas'd than his fav'd friend can be.
Juft in the midft of all this noble heat,
While their great hearts did both fo kindly beat,
That it amaz'd the lookers-on,
And forc'd them to fufpect a father and a fon *; (Though here ev'n Nature's self still feem'd to be outdone)
From fuch a friendship unprovok'd to fall
Is horrid, yet I wish that fact were all
Which does with too much cause Ungrateful Brutus call.
*Cæfar was fufpected to have begotten Brutus.
In coolest blood he laid a long defign
Against his best and dearest friend;
Did ev'n his foes in zeal exceed,
To spirit others up to work so black a deed;
Himself the centre where they all did join.
Cæfar, mean time, fearless, and fond of him,
Was as induftrious all the while
To give fuch ample marks of fond esteem,
As made the graveft Romans smile
To fee with how much eafe love can the wife beguile..
He, whom thus Brutus doom'd to bleed,
Did, fetting his own race afide,
Nothing lefs for him provide,
Than in the world's great empire to fucceed :
Which we are bound in juftice to allow,
Is all-fufficient proof to fhow,
That Brutus did not ftrike for his own fake: And if, alas! he fail'd, 'twas only by mistake..
YIELD, I yield, and can no longer stay
My eager thoughts, that force themselves away,
Sure none infpir'd (whofe heat tranfports them ftill
Above their reason, and beyond their will)
Can firm against the strong impulfe remain;
Cenfure itself were not fo fharp a pain.
Let vulgar minds submit to vulgar fway;
What Ignorance shall think, or Malice say,
To me are trifles; if the knowing few,
Who can fee faults, but can see beauties too,
Applaud that genius which themselves partake,
And fpare the Poet for the Mufe's fake.
The Mufe, who raises me from humble ground,
To view the vast and various world around :
How faft I mount! in what a wondrous way,
I grow tranfported to this large furvey!
I value earth no more, and far below
Methinks I fee the bufy pigmies go.
My foul entranc'd is in a rapture brought
Above the common tracks of vulgar thought:
With fancy wing'd, I feel the purer air,
And with contempt look down on human care.
Airy Ambition, ever foaring high,
Stands first expos'd to my cenforious eye.
Behold fome toiling up a flippery hill,
Where, though arriv'd, they must be toiling ftill:
Some, with unsteady feet, just fallen to ground,
Others at top, whose heads are turning round.
To this high sphere it happens still that some,
The most unfit, are forwardeft to come;
Yet among these are princes forc'd to chufe,
Or feek out fuch as would perhaps refuse.
Favour too great is fafely plac'd on none,
And foon becomes a dragon or a drone;
Either remifs and negligent of all,
Or elfe imperious and tyrannical.
The Mufe infpires me now to look again,
And fee a meaner fort of fordid men
Doating on little heaps of yellow duft;
For that defpifing honour, eafe, and luft.
Let other bards, expreffing how it shines,
Defcribe with envy what the miser finds;
Only as heaps of dirt it seems to me,
Where we fuch defpicable vermin fee,
Who creep through filth a thousand crooked ways,
Infenfible of infamy or praise :
Loaded with guilt, they still pursue their course, Not ev'n restrain'd by love or friendship's force.
Not to enlarge on such an obvious thought, Behold their folly, which tranfcends their fault! Alas! their cares and cautions only tend To gain the means, and then to lofe the end.
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