Major Pack's Poetical Remains Published from his Original Manuscripts. To which are Added, translations from Catullus, Tibullus, and Ovid. With an Essay on the Roman elegiac poets, &c. [by Richardson Pack] |
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 | Major Pack's Poetical Remains |  |
29
A SHORT REPLY TO A LONG SERMON .
Aberdeen, October 25, 1728.
From your harsh Morals, Learned Sir, refrain;
Nor take the Name of Vanity in vain:
Too well my Suff'rings your Reflections prove;
Afflict not with Despair dejected Love:
Few and false Joys, and frequent real Pain,
Is what I know already, and complain.
Nor take the Name of Vanity in vain:
Too well my Suff'rings your Reflections prove;
Afflict not with Despair dejected Love:
Few and false Joys, and frequent real Pain,
Is what I know already, and complain.
If then an useful Convert you would make,
Preach to the Fair, and tell her for my Sake,
That Life's Transitory Dream soon past;
Bid her lay hold on each short Bliss in hast;
For Conquest only, let her not employ
Her pow'rful Charms but timely to enjoy:
E'en her sweet Face, that lovely Red and White,
Whose bare Idea fires me as I write;
Shall feel each fading Feature soon decay,
And sink at last to cold neglected Clay:
Then add what Cowley has so well exprest,
The Best itself, is but in Season Best.
Preach to the Fair, and tell her for my Sake,
30
Bid her lay hold on each short Bliss in hast;
For Conquest only, let her not employ
Her pow'rful Charms but timely to enjoy:
E'en her sweet Face, that lovely Red and White,
Whose bare Idea fires me as I write;
Shall feel each fading Feature soon decay,
And sink at last to cold neglected Clay:
Then add what Cowley has so well exprest,
The Best itself, is but in Season Best.
R. P.
| Major Pack's Poetical Remains | |