The Works of Horace In English Verse By several hands. Collected and Published By Mr. Duncombe. With Notes Historical and Critical |
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 | The Works of Horace In English Verse |  |
348
The Same EPISTLE Imitated.
[Dear Sir, to all my Trifles you attend]
By Mr. Christopher Pitt.
To John Pitt, Esq;
Dear Sir, to all my Trifles you attend,
But drop the Critic to indulge the Friend;
And with most Christian Patience lose your Time,
To hear me preach, or pester you with Rhyme.
But drop the Critic to indulge the Friend;
And with most Christian Patience lose your Time,
To hear me preach, or pester you with Rhyme.
Here with my Books or Friends I spend the Day,
But how at Kingston pass your Hours away?
Say, shall we see some Plan with ravish'd Eyes,
Some future Pile in Miniature arise?
(A Model to excell, in every Part,
Judicious Jones, or great Palladio's Art)
Or some new Bill, that, when the House is met,
Shall claim their Thanks, and pay the Nation's Debt?
But how at Kingston pass your Hours away?
Say, shall we see some Plan with ravish'd Eyes,
Some future Pile in Miniature arise?
(A Model to excell, in every Part,
Judicious Jones, or great Palladio's Art)
Or some new Bill, that, when the House is met,
Shall claim their Thanks, and pay the Nation's Debt?
Or do you study, in the silent Wood,
The sacred Duties of the Wise and Good?
Nature, who form'd you, nobly crown'd the Whole
With a strong Body, and as firm a Soul.
The Praise is yours to finish every Part,
With all th'Embellishments of Taste and Art.
Some see in canker'd Heaps their Riches roll'd;
Your Bounty gives new Splendor to your Gold.
The sacred Duties of the Wise and Good?
Nature, who form'd you, nobly crown'd the Whole
With a strong Body, and as firm a Soul.
349
With all th'Embellishments of Taste and Art.
Some see in canker'd Heaps their Riches roll'd;
Your Bounty gives new Splendor to your Gold.
Could your dead Father hope a greater Bliss,
Or your surviving Parent more than this?
Than such a Son; a Lover of the Laws,
And ever true to Honour's glorious Cause;
Who scorns all Parties, though by Parties sought,
Who greatly thinks, and nobly speaks his Thought,
With all the chaste Severity of Sense,
Truth, Judgment, Wit, and manly Eloquence.
So in his Youth great Cato was rever'd,
By Pompey courted, and by Cæsar fear'd;
Both he disdain'd alike with godlike Pride;
For Rome and Liberty he liv'd—and died!
Or your surviving Parent more than this?
Than such a Son; a Lover of the Laws,
And ever true to Honour's glorious Cause;
Who scorns all Parties, though by Parties sought,
Who greatly thinks, and nobly speaks his Thought,
With all the chaste Severity of Sense,
Truth, Judgment, Wit, and manly Eloquence.
So in his Youth great Cato was rever'd,
By Pompey courted, and by Cæsar fear'd;
Both he disdain'd alike with godlike Pride;
For Rome and Liberty he liv'd—and died!
The future Time is never in our Power;
Then 'tis clear Gain to snatch the present Hour.
Break from your serious Thoughts, and laugh away
In Pimpern Walls one idle easy Day.
You'll find your rhyming Kinsman well in Case,
For ever fix'd to this delicious Place;
Though not like L--- with Corpulence o'er-grown;
For he has twenty Cures—and I but one.
Then 'tis clear Gain to snatch the present Hour.
Break from your serious Thoughts, and laugh away
In Pimpern Walls one idle easy Day.
You'll find your rhyming Kinsman well in Case,
For ever fix'd to this delicious Place;
350
For he has twenty Cures—and I but one.
| The Works of Horace In English Verse | |