Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock :: :: University of Virginia Library

Poems by the Late Reverend Dr. Thomas Blacklock

Together with an Essay on the Education of the Blind. To Which is Prefixed A New Account of the Life and Writings of the Author

Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

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To Mr. THOMAS BLACKLOCK.

AN EPISTLE FROM Dr. BEATTIE, TO THE Reverend Mr. THOMAS BLACKLOCK.

POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

HORACE, ODE I. IMITATED.

PSALM I.

An HYMN to the SUPREME BEING,

PSALM CXXXIX.

An HYMN to DIVINE LOVE.

An HYMN to BENEVOLENCE.

An HYMN to FORTITUDE.

THE WISH SATISFIED.

To HAPPINESS.

On EUANTHE's ABSENCE.

To a Young Gentleman bound for Guinea.

An IRREGULAR ODE.

To a COQUETTE.

On the Refinements in Metaphysical Philosophy.

To Mrs. R--- On the Death of a promising Infant.

An ODE.

To HEALTH:

To a little Girl whom I had offended:

To LESBIA.

A TRANSLATION of an Old SCOTTISH SONG.

SONG

The RAVISH'D SHEPHERD.

A PASTORAL SONG.

On the Death of STELLA;

A PASTORAL.

The PLAINTIVE SHEPHERD.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

The WISH: An Elegy.

On the Death of Mr. POPE.

ELEGY:

A SOLILOQUY

Miss ------ to the AUTHOR.

To Miss A. H. on her Marriage.

To the Reverend Mr. Jameson.

An EPITAPH, on his Father.

To Mrs. Anne Blacklock, the Author's Mother.

PROLOGUE to OTHELLO

PROLOGUE to HAMLET

To a Gentleman, who asked my Sentiments of him.

The Author's PICTURE.

ADDRESS TO THE LADIES,

HORACE, Ode XIII. Book I.

To a LADY, With HAMMOND's ELEGIES;

ODE to AMYNTA.

An ELEGY.

To John M'Laurin, Esq; (now Lord Dreghorn, one of the Senators of the College of Justice).

EXTEMPORE VERSES,

To the Reverend Mr. Spence, late Professor of Poetry at Oxford.

To Dr. BEATTIE.

To the Rev. Dr. OGILVIE.

To a FRIEND, of whose Health and Success the Author had heard, after a long Absence.

The GENEALOGY of NONSENSE.

ODE, on Melissa's Birth-day.

ODE to AURORA.

To Dr. EVANS.

To Mr. DALZEL, Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh.

To Dr. DOWNMAN, in London.

To the SAME.

To MELISSA.

On Dr. BLACKLOCK's Birth-day.

From Dr. DOWNMAN to Mrs. BLACKLOCK.

From Dr. DOWNMAN to Dr. BLACKLOCK.

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179

To a LADY, With HAMMOND's ELEGIES;

An Elegy.

O Form'd at once to feel and to inspire
The noblest passions of the human breast,
Attend the accent of love's fav'rite lyre,
And let thy soul its moving force attest.

Expressive passion, in each sound convey'd,
Shall all its joy disclose, and all its smart;
Reason to modest tenderness persuade,
Smooth ev'ry thought, and tranquilize the heart.

False is that wisdom, impotent and vain,
Which scorns the sphere by heav'n to men assign'd,
Which treats love's purest fires with mock disdain,
And, human, soars above the human kind.

Silent the muse of elegy remain'd,
Her plaints untaught by nature to renew,
Whilst sportive art delusive sorrows feign'd,
With how much ease distinguish'd from the true!

180

Ev'n polish'd Waller mourns the constant scorn
Of Saccharissa, and his fate in vain:
With love his fancy, not his heart is torn;
We praise his wit, but cannot share his pain.

Such force has nature, so supremely fair,
With charms maternal her productions shine;
The vivid grace and unaffected air,
Proclaim them all her own, and all divine.

Should youthful merit in such strains implore,
Let beauty still vouchsafe a gentle tear.
What can the soul, with passion thrill'd, do more?
The song must prove the sentiment sincere.

Cold cunning ne'er, with animated strain,
To other breasts can warmth unfelt impart:
We see her labour with industrious pain,
And mock the turgid impotence of art.