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Poems original and translated

By John Herman Merivale ... A new and corrected edition with some additional pieces
Merivale, John Herman (1779-1844)

 I. 
VOL. I
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[section]
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VOL. II
  
ORLANDO IN RONCESVALLES,
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IMITATIONS AND PARODIES.
  
SONG.—“COULD A MAN BE SECURE.”
  
FROM THE LAY OF A TROUBADOUR.
  
SONG.—“SINCE FIRST I SAW YOUR FACE.”
  
CHARADE.
  
THE ROADMAKERS:
  
ADDITIONAL STANZAS FOR 1836.
  
SONG.—“THERE'S NOUGHT BUT CARE ON EVERY HAN'.”
  
BALLAD—IN IMITATION OF DR. WATTS.
  
THE ROAD TO GLORY.
  
A NEW SONG UPON WHIG AND TORY.
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SACRED AND SCRIPTURAL.
  
PROVERBS, CHAP. I. v. 20–31.
  
ECCLESIASTICUS, CHAP. I.
  
WISDOM OF SOLOMON, CHAP. II.
  
[Great Universal Father—Thou]
  
[Father of mercies, God of might]
  
[Almighty God! before Thy Throne]
  
[Thou Great First cause of life and light]
  
“EVIL, BE THOU MY GOOD.”
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OCCASIONAL VERSES.
  
EPITAPH.
  
ANOTHER EPITAPH.
  
TO A SON ENTERING COLLEGE.
  
FROM AN UNPUBLISHED POEM.
  
ODE ON THE DELIVERANCE OF EUROPE. 1814.
  
FOR THE GENERAL FAST. 1832.
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SONNETS. 1834–5.
 I. 
SONNET I.
 II. 
SONNET II.
 III. 
SONNET III.
 IV. 
SONNET IV.
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A CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND,
  
PROLOGUE.
  
INVASION OF JULIUS CÆSAR. BEF. CHR. 55.
  
SECOND CENTURY.
  
THIRD CENTURY.
  
FOURTH CENTURY.
  
FIFTH CENTURY.
  
SIXTH CENTURY.
  
SEVENTH CENTURY.
  
EIGHTH CENTURY.
  
NINTH CENTURY.
  
THE HEPTARCHY UNITED.
  
TENTH CENTURY.
  
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
  
THE NORMAN CONQUEST.
  
TWELFTH CENTURY.
  
THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
  
FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
  
FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
  
SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
  
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
  
EPILOGUE.

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SONG.—“COULD A MAN BE SECURE.”

Could a man be aware
Of the turmoil and care
That a life of ambition attend,
Would he not cast away
Every thought of to-day,
And trifle and dream without end?
Were the miser but told,
Once or ere he grow old,
“All the treasure you leave will be lost—
All the wealth that you've stored
Can no premium afford
To your ashes, nor profit your ghost”—
Could the soldier's stern eye
'Mid the battle descry,
Thro' the cannon's loud thunder and smoke,
What a shade of a shade
Is the idol he made,
And the altar he built, what a joke—
Could the sage, nigh his urn,
His vain learning unlearn,
But this one piece of knowledge to scan;
250

That, howe'er he may prize
The keen sight of his eyes,
Yet the blindest of creatures is man—
Would the miser persist
Still in closing his fist,
The soldier his phantom embrace,
Or again at his book
The philosopher look,
And the same endless diagrams trace?
Then no longer upbraid
That boon Nature has made
Stupid mortals to delve and to spin;
Were their labours untried,
And their books laid aside,
They'd soon fade and grow rotten within.
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