To the cold shaking paralytic Hand,
Senfelefs of Beauty's Touch, or Love's Command,
Nor longer apt, or able to fulfill
The Dictates of it's feeble Master's Will.
Nought shall the Pfaltry, and the Harp avail,
The pleafing Song, or well repeated Tale;
When the quick Spirits their warm March forbear;
And numbing Coldness has unbrac'd the Ear.
The verdant Rifing of the flow'ry Hill,
The Vale enamell'd, and the Crystal Rill,
The Ocean rolling, and the shelly Shore,
Beautiful Objects, fhall delight no more;
When the lax'd Sinews of the weaken'd Eye
In wat'ry Damps, or dim Suffufion lye.
Day follows Night; the Clouds return again
After the falling of the later Rain:
But to the Aged-blind shall ne'er return
Grateful Viciffitude: He ftill muft mourn
The Sun, and Moon, and ev'ry Starry Light
Eclips'd to Him, and loft in everlafting Night.
Behold where Age's wretched Victim lies:
See his Head trembling, and his half-clos'd Eyes:
Afpice! ut infirmos quatit æger anhelitus artus!
Senfibus obrepunt incerti Oblivia fomni,
Solaque percipitur per acutos Vita dolores.
Tempore prædanti cedent argentea vitæ
Vincula, diffilientque; ruet volventibus annis
Urna levis, longoque ævo labefacta peribit.
Scilicet hæc fati lex eft: moriemur honoris
Expertes, & vana erimus fine nomine turba.
Ufque aliam ex aliâ ftirpem manet exitus idem;
Gens cadit hæc; nova furgit, abit, fequiturq; priorem;
Ævi quæque brevis, terrâque exorta parente,
Mox reditura iterum in veteris primordia terræ.
Sed vultu eniteat meliori Scena; coronet
Alma falus Hominem, & lætos vigor excitet artus.
En! vix exfuperans operofæ longa diei
Tædia, feffus adit jam fole cadente penates :
Sole oriente iterum prodit; labor ufque recurrit,
Arcentique famem & vitam fudore merenti
Perpetuum redeunte die redit actus in orbem.
Forfitan ad noctem reduci fpectacula præbet
Atra domi moriens puer, aut viduata marito
Frequent for Breath his panting Bofom heaves:
To broken Sleeps his remnant Sense He gives;
And only by his Pains, awaking finds He Lives.
Loos'd by devouring Time the filver Cord
Diffever'd lies: unhonor'd from the Board
The Crystal Urn, when broken, is thrown by;
And apter Utenfils their Place supply.
These Things and Thou must share One equal Lot;
Dye and be loft, corrupt and be forgot;
While still another, and another Race
Shall now fupply, and now give up the Place.
From Earth all came, to Earth muft all return;
Frail as the Cord, and brittle as the Urn.
But be the Terror of thefe Ills fupprefs'd:
And view we Man with Health and Vigor blest.
Home He returns with the declining Sun,
His deftin'd Task of Labour hardly done;
Goes forth again with the ascending Ray,
Again his Travel for his Bread to pay,
And find the Ill fufficient to the Day.
Haply at Night He does with Horror fhun
A widow'd Daughter, or a dying Son:
Filia: Vicinum cras luxuriante beatum
Prole videt, nudufque fibi magis inde videtur.
Utque dies pergunt, lacrymabile funus Amici
Ducitur, hoftilifve occurrit pompa triumphi:
Quo fe cunque ferat miser, aut Mala publica turbant
Sollicitum, aut proprii laris Infortunia tangunt :
Virtutis claræ meritis haud præmia folvi
Digna videt; læsamque fidem & temerata pudici
Jura tori queritur, pravo fub Judice litem
Protractam, inversasque haud æquo Interprete leges;
Aut nigras fraudes Magnatum & turpia damnat
Arcana imperii, arbitriumque immane Potentum;
Mordacemve_dolet linguam, quam pectore cauto
Nec fugiat Sapiens, monitis nec frænet amicis.
Hæccine credantur cafu volvente finiftro
Enafci Mala? num pariunt vaga Semina motu
Confufo implicita; an potius fert ordine certo
Lex ftabilis fati, rerumque immobile fædus?
Quin age, fi poteris, nodum mihi Musa resolve;
Anne, inquam, cafu eveniunt, fatone jubenti?
At quacunque genus ducunt de ftirpe, catenis
Heu miferam involvunt animam, variafque coactam
In partes rapiunt, & mille timoribus urgent;
His Neighbor's Off-Spring He To-morrow fees;
And doubly feels his Want in their Increase:
The next Day, and the next he must attend
His Foe triumphant, or his buried Friend.
In ev'ry Act and Turn of Life he feels
Publick Calamities, or Household Ills;
The due Reward to just Desert refus'd,
The Truft betray'd, the Nuptial Bed abus'd,
The Judge corrupt, the long depending Cause,
And doubtful Iffue of mifconftru'd Laws.
The crafty Turns of a dishonest State,
And violent Will of the wrong-doing Great:
The Venom'd Tongue injurious to his Fame,
Which nor can Wisdom shun, nor fair Advice reclaim.
Efteem We thefe, my Friends, Event and Chance, Produc'd as Atoms form their flutt'ring Dance? Or higher yet their Effence may We draw From deftin'd Order, and Eternal Law? Again my Mufe, the cruel Doubt repeat: Spring they, I fay, from Accident, or Fate? Yet fuch, We find, they are, as can controll The fervile Actions of our way'ring Soul;
|