The Works of Richard Owen Cambridge Including several pieces never before published: with an account of his life and character, by his son, George Owen Cambridge |
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 | The Works of Richard Owen Cambridge |  |
27
SOCIETY;
ADDRESSED TO HENRY BERKELEY, ESQ.
[_]
This Poem was intended to delineate the character of Mr. Berkeley, but being unfinished at the time of his death, the Author never could prevail upon himself to complete it.
SOCIETY! Our being's noblest end!
To thee, with claims unequal, all pretend:
From angels or the heav'n-instructed man,
To the wild Tartar's unconnected clan:
From the vast elephant, or savage bear,
To abject reptiles, and those insects spare
That wing invisibly the crouded air.
To thee, with claims unequal, all pretend:
From angels or the heav'n-instructed man,
To the wild Tartar's unconnected clan:
From the vast elephant, or savage bear,
To abject reptiles, and those insects spare
That wing invisibly the crouded air.
Select are thy delights, serene thy joys;
How falsely sought in numbers and in noise!
Too sober for th' ambitious or the vain;
Too delicate for folly's tasteless train.
These, while they seek thee in the tents of shame,
Bring foul dishonour on thy sacred name;
Who think to find thee in the harlot's bow'r,
Or loud with Wassel in the midnight hour.
Misjudge not then the philosophic mind,
Deaf to thy call, to thy endearments blind:
Since not thyself the wise, retir'd, disclaim,
But that vain phantom which usurps thy name.
How falsely sought in numbers and in noise!
Too sober for th' ambitious or the vain;
Too delicate for folly's tasteless train.
These, while they seek thee in the tents of shame,
Bring foul dishonour on thy sacred name;
Who think to find thee in the harlot's bow'r,
Or loud with Wassel in the midnight hour.
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Deaf to thy call, to thy endearments blind:
Since not thyself the wise, retir'd, disclaim,
But that vain phantom which usurps thy name.
Is there a man whom conscious worth inspires;
Whom wisdom touches with her faintest fires;
Whose nicer sense could brook the drunkard's cries,
The gamester glorious in his shameful prize;
The dull recital of the sportsman hear,
Or bigot roar of noisy faction bear?
Whom wisdom touches with her faintest fires;
Whose nicer sense could brook the drunkard's cries,
The gamester glorious in his shameful prize;
The dull recital of the sportsman hear,
Or bigot roar of noisy faction bear?
O! should my soul her choicest wish declare,
And form to bounteous heav'n her ardent prayer,
Nor numerous vassals that obsequious wait
In servile crouds, to swell the pomp of state;
Nor wealth nor pow'r, nor would she fame require,
One perfect Friend should bound her full desire;
Learn'd though polite, though noble free from pride,
Virtue his guard, and honour be is guide:
Not so severely rigid to restrain
Mirth's genial friends, and laughter's jocund train;
But free to speak with temper or with fire
What Pallas dictates, or the Nine inspire;
Let no attainment seem too great an height
For his aspiring mind's ambitious flight:
No useful arts, tho' vulgar or minute,
Beneath his pains, unworthy his pursuit.
May zeal direct those pains to noblest ends,
Zeal for his God, his country, and his friends;
Exalted genius animate his soul,
And sense, the stable basis of the whole.
[OMITTED]
And form to bounteous heav'n her ardent prayer,
Nor numerous vassals that obsequious wait
In servile crouds, to swell the pomp of state;
Nor wealth nor pow'r, nor would she fame require,
One perfect Friend should bound her full desire;
Learn'd though polite, though noble free from pride,
Virtue his guard, and honour be is guide:
Not so severely rigid to restrain
Mirth's genial friends, and laughter's jocund train;
But free to speak with temper or with fire
What Pallas dictates, or the Nine inspire;
Let no attainment seem too great an height
For his aspiring mind's ambitious flight:
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Beneath his pains, unworthy his pursuit.
May zeal direct those pains to noblest ends,
Zeal for his God, his country, and his friends;
Exalted genius animate his soul,
And sense, the stable basis of the whole.
| The Works of Richard Owen Cambridge | |