 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 | Poems on several occasions |  |
518
I.
Bassoon, flute, cornet, fiddle, voice,Humane or human, choice delight is:
Rapt up to heaven and angels' joys,
We spurn the world that out of sight is.
Nor had our poet been to blame,
To give his readers better bargain,
All kind of instruments to name
Betwixt a Jew's-harp and an organ.
II.
That “long nor king nor god can pleaseThe stubborn, murmuring British nation,”
Is just like simile of Bayes,
And wants a little application.
519
Their Ignoramus-men relied on,
This truth, express'd in Tory strain,
Flow'd from the matchless pen of Dryden:—
III.
“A pamper'd people, whom, debauch'd with ease,No king can govern, and no god can please,”
Handel can calm, as when Aurora's beams
Dispel vain phantoms and delusive dreams;
Though vainer phantom cannot be
Dispell'd, or verier dream, than she.
“The Graces with his finger move,
Inspiring concord, joy, and love;”
Though moving Graces can no more be found
Than Fairies dancing upon Christian ground.
Whate'er your sermons or your prose may be,
At least half-heathen is your poetry.
| Poems on several occasions | |