I

POST SCRIPT.

MUST help my preface by a poftfcript, to tell the reader that there is ten years diftance between my writing one and the other; and that (whatever I thought then, and have fomewhere faid, that I would publish no more poetry) he will find feveral copies of verfes feattered through this edition, which were not printed in the firft Thofe relating to the publick ftand in the order they did before, according to the feveral years in which they were written; however the difpofition of our national affairs, the actions or the fortunes of fome men, and the opinions of others, may have changed. Profe and other human things may take what turn they can; but poetry, which pretends to have fomething of divinity in it, is to be more permanent. Odes once printed cannot well be altered, when the author has already faid that he expects his works fhould live for ever and it had been very foolish in my friend Horace, if, fome years after his "Exegi Monumentum," he should have defired to fce his building taken down again.

The Dedication likewise is re-printed, to the earl of Dorset, in the foregoing leaves, without any alteration; though I had the faireft opportunity, and the ftrongeft inclination, to have added a great deal to it. The blooming hopes, which I faid the world expected from my then very young patron, have been confirmed by

VOL. I.

C

moft

most noble and distinguished first-fruits; and his life is going on towards a plentiful harveft of all accumulated virtues. He has, in fact, exceeded whatever the fondnefs of my wifhes could invent in his favour: his equally good and beautiful lady enjoys in him an indulgent and obliging husband; his children, a kind and careful father; and his acquaintance, a faithful, gene rous, and polite friend. His fellow-peers have attended to the perfuafion of his eloquence; and have been con. vinced by the folidity of his reasoning. He has, long fince, deferved and attained the honour of the garter. He has managed fome of the greatest charges of the kingdom with known ability; and laid them down with entire difintereffment. And as he continues the exercises of thefe eminent virtues (which that he may to a very old age, fhall be my perpetual wish), he may be one of the greatest men that our age, or poffibly our nation, has bred; and leave materials for a panegyrick, not unworthy the pen of fome future Pliny.

From fo noble a fubject as the earl of Dorfet, to fo mean a one as myself, is (I confefs) a very pindaric tranfition: I fhall only fay one word, and trouble the reader no further. I publifhed my poems formerly, as Monfieur Jourdain fold his filk: he would not be thought a tradefman; but ordered fome pieces to be measured out to his particular friends. Now I give up my shop, and difpofe of all my poetical goods at once: I must therefore defire, that the publick would please to take them in the grofs; and that every body would turn over what he does not like.

POEMS

POE M S

By MR. PRIOR.

On Exodus iii. 14. "I am that I am."

AN O D E.

Written 1688, as an Exercife at St. John's College, Cambridge.

M AN! foolish man!

I.

Scarce know'it thou how thyfelf began ;

Scarce haft thou thought enough to prove thou art ;
Yet, fteel'd with study'd boldness, thou dar'ft try
To fend thy doubting reafon's dazzled eye
Through the myfterious gulph of vaft immenfity.
Much thou canft there difcern, much thence impart.
Vain wretch! fupprefs thy knowing pride;
Mortify thy learned luft.

Vain are thy thoughts, while thou thyself art duft.

II.

Let wit her fails, her oars let wisdom lend;
The helm let politic experience guide:

Yet ceafe to hope thy fhort-liv'd bark shall ride
Down fpreading fate's unnavigable tide.
What though ftill it farther tend,

Still 'tis farther from its end;

And, in the bofom of that boundless sea,
Still finds its error lengthen with its way.
III.

With daring pride and infolent delight,

Your doubts refolv'd you boast, your labours crown'd; And, "EYPHKA! your God, forfooth, is found.

Incomprehenfible and infinite.

But is he therefore found? Vain fearcher! no:

Let your imperfect definition show,

That nothing you, the weak definer, know.

IV.'

Say, why should the collected main

Itself within itself contain?

Why to its caverns should it sometimes creep,
And with delighted filence fleep

On the lov'd bofom of its parent deep?

Why should its numerous waters stay

In comely difcipline, and fair array,

Till winds and tides exert their high command!
Then, prompt and ready to obey,

Why do the rifing furges fpread

Their opening ranks o'er earth's fubmiffive head, Marching through different paths to different lands?

V.

Why does the constant sun

With measur'd steps his radiant journies run?
Why does he order the diurnal hours,

To leave earth's other part, and rise in ours?
Why does he wake the correspondent moon,
And fill her willing lamp with liquid light,
Commanding her with delegated powers
To beautify the world, and bless the night?
Why does each animated ftar

Love the juft limits of its proper fphere ?
Why does each confenting fign

With prudent harmony combine
In turns to move, and subsequent appear,
To gird the globe, and regulate the year?

VI.

Man does with dangerous curiofity
Thefe unfathom'd wonders try:
With fancied rules and arbitrary laws

Matter and motion he restrains;

And ftudied lines and fictious circles draws:`
Then with imagin'd fovereignty

Lord of his new hypothefis he reigns.

He reigns how long? till fome ufurper rife;
And he too, mighty thoughtful, mighty wife,
Studies new lines, and other circles fuigns.
From this laft toil again what knowledge flows?
Juft as much, perhaps, as fhows

That all his predeceffor's rules

Were empty cant, all jargon of the schools;