With the Tragedy of CATO, Νου. 1714.
THE muse that oft, with sacred raptures, fir'd,
Has gen'rous thoughts of liberty inspir'd,
And, boldly rising for Britannia's laws,
Engag'd great Cato in her country's cause,
On you submissive waits, with hopes assur'd,
By whom the mighty blessing stands secur'd,
And all the glories that our age adorn,
Are promis'd to a people yet unborn.
No longer shall the widow'd land bemoan
A broken lineage, and a doubtful throne;
But boast her royal progeny's increase,
And count the pledges of her future peace.
Oh, born to strengthen, and to grace our isle!
While you, fair princess, in your offspring smile,
Supplying charms to the succeeding age,
Each heav'nly daughter's triumphs we presage:
Already see th' illustrious youths complain,
And pity monarchs doom'd to sigh in vain.
Thou too, the darling of our fond desires,
Whom Albion, opening wide her arms, requires
With manly valour and attractive air,
Shalt quell the fierce, and captivate the fair.
Oh, England's younger hope! in whom conspire
The mother's sweetness and the father's fire;
For thee, perhaps, ev'n now of kingly race
Some dawning beauty blooms in ev'ry grace,
Some Carolina, to Heav'n's dictates true,
Who, while the scepter'd rivals vainly sue,
Thy inborn worth with conscious eyes shall see,
And slight th' imperial diadem for thee.
Pleas'd with the prospect of successive reigns,
The tuneful tribe no more in daring strains
Shall vindicate, with pious fears opprest,
Endanger'd rights and liberty distrest:
To milder sounds each muse shall tune the lyre,
And gratitude, and faith to kings inspire,
And filial love; bid impious discord cease,
And sooth the madd'ning factions into peace;
Or rise ambitious in more lofty lays,
And teach the nation their new monarch's praise,
Describe his awful look, and godlike mind,
And Caesar's power with Cato's virtue join'd.
Mean while, bright princess, who with graceful ease,
And native majesty art form'd to please,
Behold those arts with a propitious eye,
That suppliant to their great protectress fly;
Then shall they triumph, and the British stage
Improve her manners, and refine her rage,
More noble characters expose to view,
And draw her finish'd heroines from you.
Nor you the kind indulgence will refuse,
Skill'd in the labours of the deathless muse:
The deathless muse with undiminish'd rays
Through distant times the lovely dame conveys:
To Gloriana Waller's harp was strung;
The queen still shines, because the poet sung.
Even all those graces in your frame combin'd,
The common fate of mortal charms may find;
(Content our short-liv'd praises to engage,
The joy and wonder of a single age,)
Unless some poet in a lasting song
To late posterity their fame prolong,
Instruct our sons the radiant form to prize
And see your beauty with their father's eyes.
BIOGRAPHY, in the wide memorials of human existence, never expatiated upon a fairer life, than that of this amiable Author. While the writer of this sketch laments the penury of common articles which he will not repeat, he regrets more feelingly his want of power to add to the memorabilia of so great a man. The few circumstances recorded of him are upon the minds of ALL-and very becomingly are they so; for they furnish out a lesson by which all may learn to LIVE WELL.
He has had the best praise of poetry, and the superior tribute of prose, solemn and sublime, for it is the prose of YOUNG. The great Author of the Night Thoughts hangs with religious rapture upon the death-bed of ADDISON, as the consummation of his character-the edifying close of Christian resignation.
There is but one event in the life of ADDISON which calls upon me for investigation or remark -" that conduct towards POPE, which produced "the famous portrait of ATTICUS." The charges
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