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 escape 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-ftone, 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 disease, or darts afflictive pain:
Variety of deaths confirm her endless reign.
On curft Piava's banks the Goddess stood,
Shew'd her dire warrant to the rising flood;
When what I long must love, and long muft mourn,
With fatal speed was urging his return;
In his dear country, to disperse his care,
And arm himself by reft 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 instant doom.
Hark! the imperious Goddefs is obey'd:
Winds murmur; fnows defcend; and waters spread.
Oh! kinfman, friend-Oh! vain are all the cries
Of human voice, ftrong Destiny replies:
Weep, you on earth; for he shall sleep 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'ft happen on the dreary fhores
To find the object which this verfe deplores,
Cleanfe the pale corpfe with a religious hand
From the polluting weed and common fand;
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 deftin'd hour;
When, yielding to the sentence, breathless thou
And pale fhalt 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. SHINE forth, ye planets, with distinguish'd light, As when ye hallow'd firft this happy night: Again tranfmit your friendly beams to earth, As when Britannia joy'd for Anna's birth. And thou, propitious star, whose sacred power Prefided o'er the monarch's natal hour,
Yielding to none but Cynthia and the Sun;
With thy fair afpect ftill illuftrate heaven;
Kindly preserve 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 wifh of blifs can frame,
Than to enjoy that virtue still the fame.
Entire and fure the monarch's rule must prove,
Who founds her greatnefs 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.
B 4
young Auftrian then her terrors bear,
Great as he is, her delegate in war:
Let him in thunder fpeak to both his Spains,
That in thefe dreadful ifles a woman reigns:
While the bright queen does on her fubjects fhower
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 fhe may
Minerva thus to Perfeus lent her shield;
Secure of conqueft, fent him to the field:
The hero acted what the queen ordain'd;
So was his fame complete, 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 excel,
In acting justly, and in writing well.
Thus whilft fhe did her various power difpofe,
The world was freed from tyrants, wars, and woes : Virtue was taught in verse, and Athens' glory rose..
MONSIEUR BOILEAU DESPREAUX;
OCCASIONED BY THE VICTORY AT BLENHEIM, 1704.
"-Cupidum, Pater optime, vires
"Deficiunt: neque enim quivis horrentia pilis
'Agmína, nec fractâ pereuntes cufpide Gallos"
SINCE, hir'd for life, thy fervile Muse must fing Succeffive conquefts, and a glorious king;
Muft of a man immortal vainly boast,
And bring him laurels, whatsoe'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)
Broke the proud column of thy mafter's praise,
Which fixty winters had confpir'd to raife?
From the loft field a hundred ftandards brought
Muft be the work of Chance, and Fortune's fault :
Bavaria's ftars must be accus'd, which fhone,
That fatal day the mighty work was done
With rays oblique upon the Gallic fun :
Some Dæmon, envying France, misled the fight;
And Mars mistook, though Louis order'd right.
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