Our term of life depends not on our deed :
Before our birth our funeral was decreed.
Nor aw'd by forefight, nor mifled by chance,
Imperious Death directs his ebon lance;
Peoples great Henry's tombs, and leads up Holben's dance.
Alike must every state and every age
Suftain the univerfal tyrant's rage:
For neither William's power, nor Mary's charms,
Could or repel or pacify his arms.
Young Churchill fell, as life began to bloom;
And Bradford's trembling age expects the tomb :
Wifdom and eloquence in vain would plead
One moment's refpite for the learned head:
Judges of writings and of men have dy'd;
Mæcenas, Sackville, Socrates, and Hyde:
And in their various turns the fons muft tread
Thofe gloomy journies which their fires have led.,
The ancient Sage, who did fo long maintain,
That bodies die, but fouls return again,
With all the births and deaths he had in store,
Went out Pythagoras, and came no more.
And modern Afgyll, whofe capricious thought
Is yet with ftores of wilder notions fraught,
Too foon, convinc'd, fhall yield that fleeting breath,
Which play'd fo idly with the darts of death.
Some from the ftranded veffel force their way;
Fearful of fate, they meet it in the fea :
Some, who efcape the fury of the wave,
Sicken on earth, and fink into a grave :
In journies or at home, in war or peace,
By hardships many, many fall by ease.
Each changing feafon does its poifon bring;
Rheums chill the winter, agues blast the spring :
Wet, dry, cold, hot, at the appointed hour,
All act fubfervient to the tyrant's power:
And, when obedient Nature knows his will,
A fly, a grape-stone, or a hair, can kill.
For restless Proferpine for ever treads
In paths unfeen, o'er our devoted heads;
And on the fpacious land, and liquid main,
Spreads flow difeafe, or darts afflictive pain :
Variety of deaths confirm her endless reign.
On curft Piava's banks the Goddefs ftood,
Shew'd her dire warrant to the rifing flood;
When what I long muft love, and long must mourn,
With fatal fpeed was urging his return;
In his dear country, to difperfe his care,
And arm himself by rest for future war ;
To chide his anxious friends officious fears,
And promife to their joys his elder years:
Oh! deftin'd head! and oh! fevere decree !
Nor native country thou, nor friend, fhalt fee;
Nor war haft thou to wage; nor year to come:
Impending death is thine, and inftant doom.
Hark! the imperious Goddess is obey'd : Winds murmur; fnows defcend; and waters spread, Oh! kinfinan, friend-Oh! vain are all the cries Of human voice, ftrong Destiny replies:
Weep, you on earth; for he fhall fleep below:
Thence none return, and thither all must go.
Whoe'er thou art, whom choice or bufinefs leads To this fad river, or the neighbouring meads; If thou may'st happen on the dreary fhores To find the object which this verse deplores, Cleanfe the pale corpfe with a religious hand From the polluting weed and common sand; Lay the dead Hero graceful in a grave (The only honour he can now receive), And fragrant mould upon his body throw, And plant the warrior-laurel o'er his brow : Light lie the earth, and flourish green the bough. So may juft Heaven fecure thy future life From foreign dangers and domestic strife! And, when th' infernal judge's dismal power From the dark urn fhall throw thy destin❜d hour When, yielding to the fentence, breathless thou And pale shalt lie, as what thou buriest now; May fome kind friend the piteous object see, And equal rites perform to that which once was thee !
Spoken at COURT before the QUEEN,
On her MAJESTY'S Birth-Day, 1704.
HINE forth, ye planets, with diftinguish'd light,
As when ye hallow'd first this happy night:
Again tranfmit your friendly beams to earth,
As when Britannia joy'd for Anna's birth.
And thou, propitious star, whofe facred power
Prefided o'er the monarch's natal hour,
Thy radiant voyages for ever run,
Yielding to none but Cynthia and the Sun;
With thy fair afpect still illustrate Heaven;
Kindly preferve what thou haft greatly given:
Thy influence for thy Anna we implore:
Prolong one life; and Britain asks no more.
For virtue can no ampler power express,
Than to be great in war, and good in peace:
For thought no higher wish of blifs can frame,
Than to enjoy that virtue ftill the fame.
Entire and fure the monarch's rule muft prove,
Who founds her greatness on her fubjects love;
Who does our homage for our good require;
And orders that which we should first defire:
Our vanquish'd wills that pleafing force obey,
Her goodness takes our liberty away,
And haughty Britain yields to arbitrary fway.
Let the young Auftrian then her terrors bear,
Great as he is, her delegate in war :
Let him in thunder speak to both his Spains,
That in thefe dreadful ifles a woman reigns:
While the bright queen does on her fubjects shower
The gentle bleffings of her fofter power;
Gives facred morals to a vicious age,
To temples zeal, and manners to the stage;
Bids the chafte Mufe without a blush appear;
And Wit be that which Heaven and the may hear.
Minerva thus to Perfeus lent her fhield;
Secure of conqueft, fent him to the field:
The hero acted what the queen ordain'd;
So was his fame compleat, and Andromede unchain'd.
Mean time, amidst her native temples fate
"The Goddefs, ftudious of her Grecian's fate,
Taught them in laws and letters to excell,
In acting juftly, and in writing well.
Thus whilst she did her various power dispose,
The world was freed from tyrants, wars, and woes:
Virtue was taught in verfe, and Athens' glory rose.
To Monfieur BOILEAU DESPREAUX; Occafioned by the Victory at BLENHEIM, 1704.
Cupidum, pater optime, vires
"Deficiunt: neque enim quivis horrentia pilis Agmina, nec fra&â pereuntes cufpide Gallos”—
SINCE, hir'd for life, thy fervile Mufe muft fing
Succeffive conquests, and a glorious king;
Muft of a man immortal vainly boast,
And bring him laurels, whatfoe'er they coft:
What turn wilt thou employ, what colours lay
On the event of that fuperior day,
In which one English fubject's profperous hand
So Jove did will; fo Anna did command)
|