Whofe angel-form, with radiant beam,
Pictur'd in Fancy's fairy-dream,
Seem'd o'er Europa's ravag'd land,
Prompt to extend her influence bland,
Calm the rude clangors of the martial lay,
And hail with gentler note our monarch's natal day?
For, lo! on yon devoted fhore,
Still through the bleeding ranks of war,
His burning axles fteep'd in gore,
Ambition drives his iron car.
Still his eyes, in fury roll'd,
Glare on fields by arms o'er run;
Still his hands rapacious hold
Spoils injurious inroad won;
And, fpurning with indignant frown
The fober olive's proffer'd crown,
Bids the brazen trumpet's breath
Swell the terrific blast of destiny and death.
Shrinks Britain at the found? Though, while her eye
O'er Europe's defolated plains fhe throws,
Slow to avenge, and mild in victory,
She mourns the dreadful scene of war and woes;
Yet, if the foe, misjudging, read
Difmay in Pity's gentleft deed,
And, conftruing mercy into fear,
The blood-ftain'd arm of battle rear,
By infult rous'd in juft refentment warm,
She frowns defiance on the threat'ning storm;
And, far as Ocean's billows roar,
By ev'ry wave encircled fhore,
From where o'er icy feas the gaunt wolf
To coafts perfumed by aromatic groves;
As proudly to the ambient sky
In filken folds her mingled croffes fly;
The foothing voice of Peace is drown'd
Awhile in war's tumultuous found,
And ftrains, from Glory's awful clarion blown,
Float in triumphant peal around Britannia's throne.
ODE to BERTIE GREATHEED, intended to counteract the effect of the mistaken and querulous Picture of Human Nature, drawn by Mr. GRAY in his ODE on a distant prospect of ETON COLLEGE.
[From an ODE to a Boy at ETON, with three SONNETS, and one EPIGRAM, by WILLIAM PARSONS, ESQ.]
Mox etiam pectus præceptis format amicis,
Afperitatis, et invidia corrector, et iræ,
Rectè facta refert.
'E tho' mistaken kindness doom'd
(So will'd a mother's care
Ere yet the buds of genius bloom'd)
To breathe my native air;
Forbade to cull the fairer flowers
That thrive in Academic bowers,
And clip'd my youth's afpiring wings;
-Envious of Fancy's brighter day,
I trod th' inglorious private way
To Learning's hidden fprings!
Thee, BERTIE! happier fates attend,
Nor is it thine to mourn
From thee the father and the friend
By death, untimely, torn!
Thee, BERTIE! worthy of thy fire!
Let generous emulation fire
HOR. Epift. Lib. 2. Ep. I.
With high-born pride, with ardor keen,
Like heroes in th' Olympic race,
Still to affert the foremost place
In ETON's Crouded scene!
To" chafe the rolling circle's speed,"
To" urge the flying ball,"
Thro' yielding waves the way to lead,
The fluttering bird enthrall,
Or fearful fnatch the truant joy;
These may thy vacant hours employ.
-But ftrenuous feek a nobler prize,
To charm when thou no more art young;
Nor think, whate'er a GRAY has fung,
"'Tis FOLLY to be WISE!"
Tho' Paffion and Disease may rage
In Man with baleful strife,
Tho' numerous Ills, in riper age,
Caft their black fhade o'er life,
All is not Grief-w hat forg can tell
The heart-expanding thoughts that fwell
The pure, and lore-enlighten'd, breast!-
The joy the genuine Patriot feels;
Or he who wounds of Sorrow heals,
In confcious Virtue bleft!
The joy to nurse the liberal Arts!
Thro' Nature's sweets to rove!
What Science, or the Mufe, imparts!
Friendship, or wedded Love!
-For feeling minds, and judging eyes,
Fountains of blifs unnumber'd rife,
And thro' their hallow'd course refine.
-The gifts unbounded Bounty strews
'Tis more than Folly to refufe;
'Tis impious to repine!
To Youth its fports, to Age its calm,
Indulgent Heav'n bestows,
With forrow mingles comfort's balm,
And action with repofe.
Disease from Sloth, or Pleafure fprings,
Yet, with fedate Reflection, brings
Warm Hope, to footh the mental strife,
Who whifpers foft to Care, or Pain,
For prefent lofs, a future gain,
For death, immortal life!
What to avoid, and what pursue,
Has Man no rule affign'd?
No arms, high-temper'd to fubdue
"The vultures of the mind?”
-Oh blind to Truth! tho' free of Will!
Thou mak'ft thy own misfortunes ftill
Whom thy own paffions ftill controul.
-Arm but thy will-their rage defy!
The dire Promethean terrors fly,
And leave th' unfhaken foul!
Not words alone, but thoughts acquire!
And great examples know!
Till GREECE and ROME's extinguish'd fire
In Thee revived fhall glow!
-Mark, worthy of the general trust,
An ARISTIDES, wife, and juft,
To others mild, himself fevere !
To wealth unmoved-Oh glorious boast!
His funeral at the public cost,
Graced by the public tear!
Not SPAIN and AFRIC's fpoils combin'd
So SCIPIO's worth difplay'd,
As when he, felf-fubdued, refign'd
The fair Iberian maid!
-Nor lefs he fhone, when youth was filed;
Not all his former triumphs fhed
A lovelier luftre round his name!
-Him Meditation most could please ;
In filent thought, and learned ease,
He closed a life of Fame !
To Poets, who mislead our youth,
Let gaudier wreaths belong,
Yet one again fhall" stoop to truth,
"And moralize his fong."
While Heav'n decrees us here below
A mingled maze of joy and woe;
(Howe'er the plaintive Sophifts moan)
Well to enjoy the profperous hour,
Well to endure Affliction's power,
Are WISDOM's lot alone!
ILLUSTRATION of " the INFLUENCE of LOCAL ATTACHMENT with refpect to HOME."
[From a Poem under that Title.]
ERE, where, defcending from the lea-worn clifts
In his own heavy cloud of darkness clad,
Full oft his watery pennons Aufter lifts
And wraps the extenfive ifle in fudden fhade,
Tho' vernal funbeams were effus'd, to glad
Our landscapes, from Cornubia vein'd with ore
To Scotia's heaths that triumph in the plaid;
The Briton ftill prefers his changeful fhore
To Egypt's cloudlefs plains where no rude tempefts roar.
Yes! o'er his acres the green barley-blade
He values more than fields of clustering rice;
And rather flapes his way thro' plafhy glade
Where crackles, at each step, the sheeted ice,
Than mid gay groves of caffia, that entice
The foul to pleafure, far diffufing balm :
To him more dear the oak-crown'd precipice,
Than the deep verdure of date-crested palm,
Where all is lap'd in eafe, one languor-breathing calm,
To him more fweet thro' afhen woods to rove,
As eddying winds the foliage round him whirl,
Than cull the bloffoms of an orange-grove
Skirted by rofe-tree bowers, where rivulets purl.
Mid bafil tufts, and odorous breezes curt
The stream befprent with many a filver lote;
While, on the fmooth canal, light ships unfurl
Their fportive fails, and gently as they float,
Flutter the billing doves, and croud the neighbouring cote.
While the gay-gilded mofque fhines, half-conceal'd
By tamarinds and the broad-leav'd fycamore,
And, as beneath their trembling verdure veil'd,
Airs, Eden-born, delicious incenfe pour,
Softening the fervours of the fummer-hour!
While rich pomegranates bid their cooling feeds:
To the parcht palate a keen fense restore,
And, round each whispering iflet of cane reeds
Its melon's grateful pulp the tepid water feeds.
Not ivory palaces, their roofs inlaid
With maffy gold, where thrones of coral glow,
Starr'd with the gems of Ormuz; not the fhade
Ambrofial, waving its peach-flowers that blow
To pearly grapes, and kifs the turf below,
The genuine fon of Albion could induce
His dairy-meads, his fallows to forego:
Not all the fruits, that bloom o'er every fluice,
Would, in his mind, outvie the redftreak's vermeil juice,
Nor, if to innocence a gentle fmile
Beam, placid as the May's mild morning break;
If, with a modeft blush, to mark our ifle,
Mantle to veins of azure the fair cheek;
Are not the charms of foreign beauty weak,
Beauty, that wantons with voluptuous air?
Can jetty ringlets that adorn the neck,
Sleek as they gliften to the funny glare,
Rival, O Albion's dames, your amber-brightening hair?
Yet pleasure views, and trembles at the gaze,
Thofe gloffy treffes their luxuriance spread
To rofeate effences; the diamond-blaze
Of many a crefcent on the turban'd head,
Or the pearl-luftre as by rainbows fed;
The full dark eye; the panting of the breast,
Through gaufe that feems to kindle; limbs that fhed
Purpureal light by filken folds careft,
And the rich zone that checks the thin tranfparent veft.
See, as the rofe-lipt Almé weave the dance,
To melting airs they move, in amorous play;
Or, arch with nods and wreathed fmiles, they glance
Their nimble feet to frolic meafures gay:
|