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The Works of the Right Honourable Sir Chas. Hanbury Williams

... From the Originals in the Possession of His Grandson The Right Hon. The Earl of Essex and Others: With Notes by Horace Walpole ... In Three Volumes, with Portraits

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HOR. LIB. II. ODE XVI.—Otium Divos, &c. IMITATED:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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221

HOR. LIB. II. ODE XVI.—Otium Divos, &c. IMITATED:

INSCRIBED TO THE EARL OF BATH.

IN each ambitious measure crost,
Each friend that should support you lost,
By Faction's tempest rudely tost:
At length you ask the gods for ease.
But what avails your pious care,
Your heart pour'd out in endless prayer,
Ease is not venal tho' you are,
As wealth may tempt, or titles please.
For not the Treasurer, Staff, and all
That Orford grasp'd before his fall,
Or his successor Pelham shall,
Can ease the self-devoted mind.
Care flies into the rooms of State,
Nor can the slaves that on him wait
Drive the curst phantom from the Gate:
Care stays, when none else dare, behind.

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How happier at his frugal board
Lives the plebian tho' no lord,
His father's wealth his only hoard;
Who acts within his proper sphere;
Whilst honest Morpheus o'er his brows,
His choicest wildest poppies strows,
And sleep, the gods best gift, bestows,
Unbroke by avarice or fear.
Why flies our arrow to those heights?
Our feeble thread spun by the Fates,
Each hour the fatal Scissars waits,
Nor will one moment's pause afford!
We bustle to be raised on high,
New lands explore, new suns descry,
Alas! 'twere well could self, too, fly,
And lose the squire in the lord.
Beyond the present hour forbear,
The following is not worth your care;
In life's contracted span how rare,

223

To see one man completely blest!
See, Orford wisely laying down,
Nor giving foes one parting frown,
Whilst peace his latest hours shall crown;
And good old Wilmington at rest.
With twice ten thousand pounds a year,
You yet may live, and taste good cheer,
Tho' you'll ne'er be Lord Treasurer,
So you repent you of that sin;
Whilst I, as others will, no doubt,
When **** returns with many a shout,
Shall laugh to see your friends trot out,
As shamefully as they came in.