While then for thofe illuftrious bards we mourn,
The Mufe fhall vifit thy DISTINGUISH'D URN;
With copious tears bedew the facred ground,
And plant the never-fading bay around.

60

Here through the gloom, afpiring bards explore Thefe awful relicks, and be vain no more: Learning, and wit, and fame itself must die; VIRTUE alone can towering reach the sky. This crown'd his life. Admire not, heaven in view, 56 He to the glorious prize with transport flew. A fate fo bleft should check our ftreaming woe, He reigns above, his works furvive below.

J. BUNCE,

Late of Trinity-Hall,
Cambridge.

IN

IN MEMORIAM VIRI CLARISSIMI

JOHANNIS HUGHES.

OCCIDIT heu nimium fato fublatus acerbo,

Occidit onidûm decus ille dolorque fororum! Quæ te, magne, tuis rapuit fors afpera, vates ? Quo fugis, ah! noftras nunquam rediturus in oras ! En! tibi ferali crinem cinxêre cupreffo, Et circum cineres Paraaffia numina lugent. Ipfa tuam flet adhuc, flebitque Britannia mortem : Te patria expofcit, foecundaque criminis ætas. Non tua te pietas, non candida vita, nec artes Ingenue, duro juvenem eripuêre fepulchro !

15

Sed tibi mors longos nequicquam inviderit annos, Dum maneant claræ monumenta perennia famæ, Dirceufque volet fuperas fuus ales in auras. * Spernis trita fonans plectrum, tenuifque camœnæ Haud petis auxilium : terris te plena relictis Mens rapit impavidum, cœlique per ardua ducit. Jam procul ex oculis gentes & regna recedunt; Jam tellus perit, & punctum vix cernitur orbis. At vos, immenfi placidiffima lumina mundi, Sol, Luna, æterno meritas O! pangite laudes Auctori dominoque; fuis concuffa tremiscat Sedibus, & magnum agnofcat Natura Parentem, Dum vates arcana, parum fententia vulgi Ut ftet follicitus, fublimi carmine pandit ! Qualis verborum pompa ! ut ruit ore profundo Fervidus, ingenii caleat cum Spiritus ingens !

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25

Nec

Hæc, & proxima alludunt ad fublimia illa authoris noftri Poemata, quibus Tituli, HYMNUS AD CREATOREM MUNDI, & ECSTASIS.

Nec minor incedis, tragico indignufive cothurno. Dum tuus Arabicos Phocyas ruit acer in hoftes, Quis non æqualis toto fub pectore flammas Concipit, & fimili laudis fervefcit amore! O qualis linguæ divina potentia! quali Arte trahis faciles animos; feu pectora flecti Dura jubes, & pulchræ acuis virtutis honore; Sive intus placidos Eudocia concitet ignes ; Ah nimium, nimium infelix Eudocia! quem non Sors tua fæva movet ? madidi vectigal ocelli Quis neget? infauftos quis non deploret amores? O femper damnata pati fata aspera virtus ! At tibi quis fenfus, quæ mens, Eudocia, cum jam Extrahit infixam Phocyas tua flamma fagittam, Securus fati, vitamque ex vulnere fundit ? Quis fatis ingenium comis miretur Abudæ ?

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35

40

Quam piger ad poenas, miferumque benignus in hof

tem !

Exemplar vel Chriftiadis imitabile, mores

Digni etiam meliore fide! O quam, nube remotâ 45 Erroris, tanti eniteant pietatis honores !

Sed quid ego plura hîc laudare nitentia pergam? Tota nitet, pulchro tota ordine fabrica furgit,

Et delectamur paffim, paffimque monemur.

Amabilis Juvenis, hujus Carminis Author, Obiit 26 Decem. 1730; Anno tatis 19. "Nox atra caput trifti circumvolat umbrâ." VIRG.

PRO

PROLOGUE

TO THE MEMORY OF

M R.

HUGHES.

Spoken by Mr. MILWARD, on the Revival of The SIEGE of DAMASCUS, at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, 22 March, 1734-5.

HERE force and fancy, with united charms,

Mingle the sweets of love with war's alarms. Our author fhows, in Eastern pomp array'd, The conquering hero and the constant maid. None better knew, fuch noble heights to foar, Though Phædra, and though Cato charm'd before. While in the luftre of his glowing lines, Th' Arabian paradife so gaily fhines, With winy rivers, racy fruits fupply'd, And beauties sparkling in immortal pride, Gallants, you'll own that a refiftless fire Did justly their enamour'd breasts inspire.

At first, a numerous audience crown'd this play, And kind applauses mark'd its happy way,

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10

While He,like his own Phocyas, snatch'd from view,15
To fairer realms with ripen'd glory flew.
Humane, though witty; humble, though admir'd;
Wept by the great, the virtuous fage expir'd!

Still may the bard, beneath kind planets born,
Whom every Grace and every Mufe adorn,
Whofe fpreading fame has reach'd to foreign lands,
Receive fome tribute too from British hands.

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THE

HEAR, Britain, hear a rough unpra&tis'd

tongue!

Though rough my voice, the Muse inspires the fong, The heaven-born Mufe; ev'n now the fprings her

flight,

And bears my raptur'd soul through untrac'd realms

of light.

We mount aloft, and, in our airy way,
Retiring kingdoms far beneath furvey,
Amid the rest a ípacious tract appears,
Obscure in view, and on its vifage wears

Black hovering mifts, which, thickening by degrees,
Extend a louring ftorm o'er earth and feas.
But, lo! an Eastern light, arifing high,
Drives the tempestuous wreck along the sky!
Then thus the Mufe-Look down, my fon! and fee
The bright proceffion of a deity!

5

She fpoke; the storm dispers'd; vanish'd the night; 15
And well-known Europe stands difclos'd to fight.
Of various states, the various bounds appear;
There wide Hifpania, fruitful Gallia here;
Belgia's moist foil, confpicuous from afar,

And Flandria, long the field of a destructive war.
C

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Germania