Poems on Several Occasions With Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII. An Epistle. By Mrs. Elizabeth Tollet. The Second Edition |
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The Praise of Astronomy, from the first Book of Ovid's Fasti.
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 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
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The Praise of Astronomy, from the first Book of Ovid's Fasti.
Felices animos quibus hæc cognoscere primis.—
O happy Souls who first aspir'd to climb,
With glorious Cares, the heav'nly Seats sublime!
Who rais'd aloft the Head, to leave behind
The Crimes and Pleasures that debase Mankind.
Nor cou'd the Cyprian Dame, or flowing Bowls,
Enerve their gen'rous Breasts, or dull their Souls:
Nor the laborious Duties of the Bar;
Nor more heroic Dangers of the War.
Nor them the Fumes of light Ambition warm'd,
Nor Glory them with painted Beauties charm'd;
Nor them sollicited the mean Desire,
That shining Dross and Golden Dust inspire:
But to our Eyes the distant Stars they brought;
And boundless Æther circumscrib'd in Thought.
'Tis not by Ossa on Olympus thrown,
Tho' to the Stars aspires the topmost Cone
Of Pelion, pil'd on both, the Skies we gain:
'Tis thus that Science can the Heav'ns obtain.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |