To sway the judgment, while he fooths the ear; To curb mad paffion in its wild career; "To wake by fober touch the useful lyre, “And rule, with reason's rigour, fancy's fire: "Be this the poet's praife. And this poffeft, Take, Dulness and thy dunces! take the rest. "Come then that honeft fame; whofe temp'rate ray "Or gilds the fatire, or the moral lay; "Which dawns, tho' thou, rough DONNE! hew out "the line: But beams, fage HORACE! from each strain of thine. “Oh if like these, with conscious Freedom bold, "One Poet more his manly measures roll'd, Like thefe led forth th' indignant Mufe to brave "The venal statesman, and the titled flave; "To ftrip from frontless Vice her ftars and ftrings, "Nor spare her basking in the smile of Kings: "If grave, yet lively; rational, yet warm; Clear to convince, and eloquent to charm; "He pour'd, for Virtue's caufe, ferene along "The pureft precept, in the fweetest song: "If, for her cause, his heav'n-directed plan ❝ Mark'd each meander in the maze of man ; "Unmov'd "Unmov'd by sophistry, unaw'd by name, "Yes, if his foul to reason's rule refign'd, "And taught Mankind in reas'ning Pride's defpite, "That God IS WISE, and ALL THAT IS IS RIGHT; "If this his boaft, pour here the welcome lays; "Praise less than this is mockery of praise." "To pour that praise be mine," fair VIRTUE cry'd And fhot, all radiant, thro' an op'ning cloud. But ah! my Mufe, how will thy voice express Th' immortal ftrain, harmonious, as it flow'd? Ill fuits immortal ftrain a doric drefs: And far too high already hast thou foar'd, Enough for thee, that, when the lay was o'er, The goddess clasp'd him to her throbbing breast. But what might that avail? Blind Fate before Had op'd her fhears, to cut his vital thread! And who may dare gainfay her ftern beheft? Now thrice he wav'd the hand, thrice bow'd the head, And figh'd his foul to rest. Now Now wept the Nymphs; witness, ye waving shades! Witness, ye winding ftreams! the Nymphs did weep: The heav'nly Goddess too with tears did steep Her plaintive voice, that echo'd thro' the glades; And, "cruel gods," and, "cruel ftars," fhe cry'd: Nor did the shepherds, thro' the woodlands wide, On that fad day, or to the pensive brook, Or filent river, drive their thirsty flocks: Nor did the wild-goat brouze the shrubby rocks: And Philomel her custom'd oak forfook: And roses wan were wav'd by zephyrs weak, As Nature's felf was fick : And ev'ry lily droop'd its filver head. Sad sympathy! yet sure his rightful meed, Who charm'd all nature: well might Nature mourn Thro' all her choiceft fweets MUSAUS dead. ΙΜΙΤΑΤΙΟΝ. Now wept the Nymphs, &c.] Extinctum Nymphæ crudeli funere Daphnim Cum, complexa fui corpus miferabile nati, Atque deos atque aftra vocat crudelia Mater. Non ulli paftos illis egêre diebus Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina; nulla neque amnem Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam. VIRG. Ecl. 5. Here Here end we, Goddefs! this your fhepherd fang; All as his hands an ivy chaplet wove. Oh! make it worthy of the facred Bard; And make it equal to the fhepherd's love: Thus the fond fwain his doric date effay'd, Manhood's prime honours rifing on his cheek: Trembling he ftrove to court the tuneful maid With ftripling arts, and dalliance all too weak, Unseen, unheard, beneath an hawthorn shade. But now dun clouds the welkin 'gan to ftreak; And now down-dropt the larks, and ceas'd their ftrain They ceas'd, and with them ceas'd the shepherd fwain. IMITATION. Here end we, Goddess! &c.] Hæc fat erit, Divæ, veftrum cecinisse Poetam, Dum fedet, et gracili fifcellam texit hibifco, Pierides: vos hæc facietis maxima Gallo: VIRG. Ecl. 10. O DE S. |