weave his garland by the best model he could find; with what success, beyond his own amusement, must be left to judges less partial to him than either his acquaintance or his friends.-If any of those should be so candid as to approve the variety of subjects he has chosen, and the tenderness of sentiment he has endeavoured to impress, he begs the metre also may not be too suddenly condemned. The public ear, habituated of late to a quicker measure, may perhaps consider this as heavy and languid; but an objection of that kind may gradually lose its force, if this measure should be allowed to suit the nature of Elegy. If it should happen to be considered as an objection with others, that there is too much of a moral cast diffused through the whole; it is replied, that he endeavoured to animate the poetry so far as not to render this objection too obvious, or to risk excluding the fashionable reader; at the same time never deviating from a fixed principle, that poetry without morality is but the blossom of a fruit-tree. Poetry is indeed like that species of plants which may bear at once both fruits and blossoms; and the tree is by no means in perfection without the former, however it may be embellished by the flowers which surround it, ELEGIES, ON DIFFERENT OCCASIONS. Tantum inter densas, umbrosa cacumina, fagos VIRG. HE ARRIVES AT HIS RETIREMENT IN THE COUNTRY, AND TAKES OCCASION TO EXPATIATE IN PRAISE OF SIMPLICITY. To a friend. FOR rural virtues, and for native skies, I bade Augusta's venal sons farewell; O may that Genius which secures my rest, O loved Simplicity! be thine the prize! So fair a fountain, or so loved a stream. Praise the soft hours that gave thee to her arms; Paint thy proud scorn of every vulgar care, When hope exalts thee, or when doubt alarms. Where with Enone thou hast worn the day, The faithful Muse shall meet thee in the grove. ON POSTHUMOUS REPUTATION. O GRIEF of griefs! that Envy's frantic ire To deck the cold insensate shrine with bays. And fondly graces Hammond's mournful bier. Though weeping virgins haunt his favour'd urn, Renew their chaplets and repeat their sighs; Though near his tomb Sabæan odours burn, The loitering fragrance will it reach the skies? No; should his Delia votive wreaths prepare, Delia might place the votive wreaths in vain; Yet the dear hope of Delia's future care Once crown'd his pleasures and dispell'd his pain. Yes-the fair prospect of surviving praise, Can every sense of present joys excel; For this great Hadrian chose laborious days, Through this, expiring, bade a gay farewell. Shall then our youths, who Fame's bright fabric raise, To life's precarious date confine their care! O teach them you, to spread the sacred base, To plan a work through latest ages fair? Is it small transport, as with curious eye You trace the story of each Attic sage, To think your blooming praise shall time defy? Shall waft, like odours, through the pleasing page? To mark the day when, through the bulky tome, Around your name the varying style refines? And readers call their lost attention home, Led by that index where true genius shines? Ah! let not Britons doubt their social aim, Whose ardent bosoms catch this ancient fire; Cold interest melts before the vivid flame, And patriot ardours but with life expire. ON THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF A CERTAIN LEARNED ACQUAINTANCE. IF proud Pygmalion quit this cumbrous frame, Funereal pomp the scanty tear supplies; Whilst heralds loud, with venal voice, proclaim, 'Lo! here the brave and the puissant lies.' When humbler Alcon leaves his drooping friends, Pageant nor plume distinguish Alcon's bier; The faithful Muse with votive song attends, And blots the mournful numbers with a tear. |