The Works, In Verse and Prose, of Leonard Welsted ... Now First Collected. With Historical Notes, And Biographical Memoirs of the Author, by John Nichols |
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HORACE, BOOK I. ODE III.
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 | The Works, In Verse and Prose, of Leonard Welsted |  |
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HORACE, BOOK I. ODE III.
To the Yacht that is to bring over the Marquis of Blandford.
May Beauty's Goddess guide thy way!
The bright twin-stars dispense their ray!
The Sire of winds the winds compose,
All but the gale that northward blows!
O Yacht, that all my hopes dost bear,
Entrusted with great Marlborough's heir!
O guard the darling of the land,
And give him safe to Dover's strand!
The bright twin-stars dispense their ray!
The Sire of winds the winds compose,
All but the gale that northward blows!
O Yacht, that all my hopes dost bear,
Entrusted with great Marlborough's heir!
O guard the darling of the land,
And give him safe to Dover's strand!
Oak was his heart, his breast with steel
Thrice mail'd, that first the brittle keel
Committed to the murtherous deep;
Nor dreaded battling winds, that sweep
The flood, the Hyads stormy train,
Nor furious South, of Adria's main
The lawless monarch, be his will
T' enrage the gulphy wave, or still:
All fear of death did he repell,
Who, tearless, saw the billows swell;
Saw the fell monsters floating by,
And rocks, deaf to the seaman's cry!
Vain has Almighty Wisdom plac'd,
For earth's fix'd bourne, the watery waste;
If impious men the art have found
T' o'erleap th' inviolable mound:
Bold man, that all things dares assay,
Through crimes forbidden makes his way.
Bold Japhet's race, of human-kind
The curse, celestial fire purloin'd;
The fire celestial ill-obtain'd,
Straight, the wan lingering Phthisis reign'd;
Came Fevers, with pestiferous breath,
A spotted legion! and slow Death,
Far off before, though sure decreed,
Catch'd up his steps, and march'd with speed.
Presuming Dædalus! he tried
Through air, with wings to man deny'd,
To journey; rash Alcmena's son
The barriers broke of Acheron.
To deeds stupendous mortals rise;
We ev'n in folly brave the skies,
Nor suffer Jove, through stubborn pride,
To lay th' uplifted bolt aside.
Thrice mail'd, that first the brittle keel
Committed to the murtherous deep;
Nor dreaded battling winds, that sweep
179
Nor furious South, of Adria's main
The lawless monarch, be his will
T' enrage the gulphy wave, or still:
All fear of death did he repell,
Who, tearless, saw the billows swell;
Saw the fell monsters floating by,
And rocks, deaf to the seaman's cry!
Vain has Almighty Wisdom plac'd,
For earth's fix'd bourne, the watery waste;
180
T' o'erleap th' inviolable mound:
Bold man, that all things dares assay,
Through crimes forbidden makes his way.
Bold Japhet's race, of human-kind
The curse, celestial fire purloin'd;
The fire celestial ill-obtain'd,
Straight, the wan lingering Phthisis reign'd;
Came Fevers, with pestiferous breath,
A spotted legion! and slow Death,
Far off before, though sure decreed,
Catch'd up his steps, and march'd with speed.
Presuming Dædalus! he tried
Through air, with wings to man deny'd,
To journey; rash Alcmena's son
The barriers broke of Acheron.
To deeds stupendous mortals rise;
We ev'n in folly brave the skies,
Nor suffer Jove, through stubborn pride,
To lay th' uplifted bolt aside.
| The Works, In Verse and Prose, of Leonard Welsted | |