The Works of Mr. Robert Gould In Two Volumes. Consisting of those Poems [and] Satyrs Which were formerly Printed, and Corrected since by the Author; As also of the many more which He Design'd for the Press. Publish'd from his Own Original Copies [by Robert Gould] |
 | 1. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
| XXII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXV. |
| XXVI. |
| XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
| XXIX. |
| XXX. |
| XXXI. |
|
|
To Charles Duncomb Esq, On his Enlargement.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
 | The Works of Mr. Robert Gould |  |
To Charles Duncomb Esq, On his Enlargement.
Nor shall the Bells alone the Tydings tell,
But on that Theme consenting Laureats dwell:
All Sounds beside have but a dying blast,
But Notes the Muses strike for ever last.
But on that Theme consenting Laureats dwell:
All Sounds beside have but a dying blast,
But Notes the Muses strike for ever last.
Nor do they only give the Hero Fame,
When in high Flights they reach th'Æthereal Frame,
But oft descend, and sport with humbler Game;
In our Domestick Grief and Pleasure share,
Revive our Hope, and silence ev'ry Care.
When in high Flights they reach th'Æthereal Frame,
But oft descend, and sport with humbler Game;
In our Domestick Grief and Pleasure share,
Revive our Hope, and silence ev'ry Care.
At once Resistless, yet at once so Mild,
We find our Anguish eas'd, our Rage beguil'd:
Thro' all the Passions they the Soul conduct,
Like Beauty charm, and like a God instruct.
We find our Anguish eas'd, our Rage beguil'd:
Thro' all the Passions they the Soul conduct,
Like Beauty charm, and like a God instruct.
86
Yet see their Fate, and with what causeless Rage
They're trampl'd on by a Licentious Age;
Contempt and Scorn is all their Followers get,
So vain 'tis to be good, so dang'rous to have Wit.
They're trampl'd on by a Licentious Age;
Contempt and Scorn is all their Followers get,
So vain 'tis to be good, so dang'rous to have Wit.
'Tis true, too oft aspiring Insolence
Does take the Chair, prescribing Laws to Sense:
Bold Sycophants that vend Adulte'rate Writ,
And, praising Vice, profane the Name of Wit.
That they may Honours to themselves procure,
Pull down the Barriers to Despotick Pow'r:
By base and servile wresting of the Text,
They're Flatt'rers first, and State Projectors next.
The Free-born Muse in nobler Toil delights,
Nor gives a Poets Name to Parasites.
Does take the Chair, prescribing Laws to Sense:
Bold Sycophants that vend Adulte'rate Writ,
And, praising Vice, profane the Name of Wit.
That they may Honours to themselves procure,
Pull down the Barriers to Despotick Pow'r:
By base and servile wresting of the Text,
They're Flatt'rers first, and State Projectors next.
The Free-born Muse in nobler Toil delights,
Nor gives a Poets Name to Parasites.
Not so the Ancient Bards employ'd their Zeal,
To plot and ravage on the Common Weal;
With beardless Counsels pushing Slav'ery on,
Nor private laught at publick Mischiefs done;
Gave no Applause where Merit was not giv'n,
Nor screw'd up proud Prerogative to Heav'n.
Ah! Sidney, and thou greater Rawleigh rise,
Hold the just Mirror to Britannia's Eyes,
Or with the Muses FREEDOM finds her Doom,
Like Pompey with the LIBERTIES of Rome.
To plot and ravage on the Common Weal;
With beardless Counsels pushing Slav'ery on,
Nor private laught at publick Mischiefs done;
Gave no Applause where Merit was not giv'n,
Nor screw'd up proud Prerogative to Heav'n.
Ah! Sidney, and thou greater Rawleigh rise,
Hold the just Mirror to Britannia's Eyes,
Or with the Muses FREEDOM finds her Doom,
Like Pompey with the LIBERTIES of Rome.
But how can Verse escape when Worth like yours
(While such preside) ev'n Law so ill secures?
Nor that, your Wit, Experience, or Estate,
Cou'd save you from their Legislative Hate.
Rather by these, so eminently high,
You stood the more conspicuous to their Eye,
For Envy hates to see Prosperitie.
In Sanguine Seasons such their Harvest make,
Like Ahab kill, and then Possession take:
Men that by Fortune's Caprice madly rise
Bold with Success, and but at Random wise,
Ground keen by Ava'rice, we but vainly lay
Right, Reason, Law, or Gospel in their Way.
They cut thro' all, to Grandeur heedless drive,
Yet to the Point that they propose arrive:
While cooler Heads, that sigh for Albion's Fate,
Wonder to see such Rashness steer the State.
Ev'n vast Assemblies take from them their Bent,
And those that chose 'em truely represent.
But 'tis impossible their Luck shou'd last;
Already we may see their Total Cast,
And present Time look frowning on the Past.
(While such preside) ev'n Law so ill secures?
Nor that, your Wit, Experience, or Estate,
Cou'd save you from their Legislative Hate.
Rather by these, so eminently high,
You stood the more conspicuous to their Eye,
For Envy hates to see Prosperitie.
In Sanguine Seasons such their Harvest make,
Like Ahab kill, and then Possession take:
87
Bold with Success, and but at Random wise,
Ground keen by Ava'rice, we but vainly lay
Right, Reason, Law, or Gospel in their Way.
They cut thro' all, to Grandeur heedless drive,
Yet to the Point that they propose arrive:
While cooler Heads, that sigh for Albion's Fate,
Wonder to see such Rashness steer the State.
Ev'n vast Assemblies take from them their Bent,
And those that chose 'em truely represent.
But 'tis impossible their Luck shou'd last;
Already we may see their Total Cast,
And present Time look frowning on the Past.
As Milo riving Oaks, was made at length
A Sacrifice to rash advent'rous Strength;
So he like Ruin on his Head will draw
That rends, Despotically Kings from Law:
They once will meet, the Peoples Suff'rings seen,
And crush the Audacious Ministers between.
A Sacrifice to rash advent'rous Strength;
So he like Ruin on his Head will draw
That rends, Despotically Kings from Law:
They once will meet, the Peoples Suff'rings seen,
And crush the Audacious Ministers between.
Such were the Men who their dark Snares did pitch;
And you must be Obnoxious—as y'are Rich;
Tho' Twenty Years (enough to prove Thee just)
You well discharg'd an Honourable Trust.
In thy Pursuit we might their Rancour find,
For Blood how did the deep-mouth'd Beagles wind?
No other Business cou'd their Thoughts beguile,
So pleas'd to think they had you in the Toil.
The Gene'ral Hunt was up, the Sky in Storms,
And Falshood, Proteus-like, shew'd all her Forms:
Seiz'd, Cast, Confin'd; so thick the Torrent fell,
It was half Treason but to wish Thee well.
Thus to the grinning Mob they gave your Name.
Aspers'd with all th'Opprobrious Terms of Shame.
The utmost Odiums were upon Thee thrown,
Worse than your Foes cou'd wish, or Spite wou'd own.
What in this Lab'rinth but a Hand Divine
Cou'd guide you, and convey the Clue to thine!
Prest with a Weight that wou'd have Atlas bent,
You broke thro' all, approv'd and Innocent.
Ah! who but You (tho' Truth can much perform)
Cou'd e'er have thought to weather out the Storm!
Or who but the Castalian Sisters did
So far see forward, among Causes hid,
As to be confident in that Extreme,
Thy SAFETY once wou'd be their noble Theme?
And you must be Obnoxious—as y'are Rich;
Tho' Twenty Years (enough to prove Thee just)
You well discharg'd an Honourable Trust.
In thy Pursuit we might their Rancour find,
For Blood how did the deep-mouth'd Beagles wind?
No other Business cou'd their Thoughts beguile,
So pleas'd to think they had you in the Toil.
The Gene'ral Hunt was up, the Sky in Storms,
And Falshood, Proteus-like, shew'd all her Forms:
Seiz'd, Cast, Confin'd; so thick the Torrent fell,
It was half Treason but to wish Thee well.
Thus to the grinning Mob they gave your Name.
Aspers'd with all th'Opprobrious Terms of Shame.
The utmost Odiums were upon Thee thrown,
88
What in this Lab'rinth but a Hand Divine
Cou'd guide you, and convey the Clue to thine!
Prest with a Weight that wou'd have Atlas bent,
You broke thro' all, approv'd and Innocent.
Ah! who but You (tho' Truth can much perform)
Cou'd e'er have thought to weather out the Storm!
Or who but the Castalian Sisters did
So far see forward, among Causes hid,
As to be confident in that Extreme,
Thy SAFETY once wou'd be their noble Theme?
They saw thy Innocence wou'd be too weak
The Snares of thy Confed'rate Foes to break:
What was her Strength such active Spite t'engage?
Or what her Mildness to so bold a Rage?
They Saw how Friendship here wou'd interpose.
They saw it too victorious in the Close:
With your Defence that did its Forces join,
Secure, when Peterborough's VOTE was thine:
Who wou'd but HE with dang'rous Pow'r contend,
And grapple with such odds, to save a Friend?
But for that Pilot on the Rock y'ad split,
Brought to the Port by his unweari'd Wit.
His Eloquence this Admiration draws,
That yet he never spoke but gain'd the Cause.
This noble Action shall preserve his Name,
And thine retrieving, give his own to Fame;
Where with illustrious Rays it long shall shine,
The Glory HIS, but the Advantage Thine:
The Snares of thy Confed'rate Foes to break:
What was her Strength such active Spite t'engage?
Or what her Mildness to so bold a Rage?
They Saw how Friendship here wou'd interpose.
They saw it too victorious in the Close:
With your Defence that did its Forces join,
Secure, when Peterborough's VOTE was thine:
Who wou'd but HE with dang'rous Pow'r contend,
And grapple with such odds, to save a Friend?
But for that Pilot on the Rock y'ad split,
Brought to the Port by his unweari'd Wit.
His Eloquence this Admiration draws,
That yet he never spoke but gain'd the Cause.
This noble Action shall preserve his Name,
And thine retrieving, give his own to Fame;
Where with illustrious Rays it long shall shine,
The Glory HIS, but the Advantage Thine:
But in this Place, O Duncomb! joyn with Me,
And aid the Muse as HE has aided thee:
Give her Directions how to tune her Voice,
And reach a Subject Truth hath made her Choice.
Tell in what Strains his Valour shou'd be writ,
And how I must expatiate on his Wit:
Thou thy rich Thoughts can'st vary several Ways,
Yet never want Materials for his Praise:
Shew how his secret Vertues I may find,
And dive to the Recesses of his Mind;
Where the bright Seeds of Worth a quick'ning lie,
That look so lovely and that soar so high;
That to the World I may unclose the Scene,
And suit my Verse to the Immortal Theme.
And aid the Muse as HE has aided thee:
Give her Directions how to tune her Voice,
And reach a Subject Truth hath made her Choice.
89
And how I must expatiate on his Wit:
Thou thy rich Thoughts can'st vary several Ways,
Yet never want Materials for his Praise:
Shew how his secret Vertues I may find,
And dive to the Recesses of his Mind;
Where the bright Seeds of Worth a quick'ning lie,
That look so lovely and that soar so high;
That to the World I may unclose the Scene,
And suit my Verse to the Immortal Theme.
Next to our View his beaut'ous Consort bring,
To sing of her that can so sweetly sing;
Whose tuneful Voice all other Musick makes
An unharmonious Sound when e'er she speaks.
But here the Work no more thy Aid requires,
For who can't write when such a Form inspires!
What ever Good can of her Sex be shewn
In Theory or Practice all's her own:
Sweet as the Blasts that in Arabia bear
Their wond'rous Odours thro' the Spicy Air
Where e'er she goes the Fragrance fixes there.
Modest as Blushes that from Children flow
E'er they th'Intent of diff'rent Sexes know.
Her Wit can conquer every thing it meets,
Yet like the Bee, it only preys on Sweets;
Without ill Nature, easily 'tis born,
You see the Rose and need not fear the Thorn.
Her ev'ry Grace, her ev'ry Action charms,
Like Joy it pleases! and like Life it warms!
O only blest! O only happy HE
That does possess what w'are so rapt to see!
To sing of her that can so sweetly sing;
Whose tuneful Voice all other Musick makes
An unharmonious Sound when e'er she speaks.
But here the Work no more thy Aid requires,
For who can't write when such a Form inspires!
What ever Good can of her Sex be shewn
In Theory or Practice all's her own:
Sweet as the Blasts that in Arabia bear
Their wond'rous Odours thro' the Spicy Air
Where e'er she goes the Fragrance fixes there.
Modest as Blushes that from Children flow
E'er they th'Intent of diff'rent Sexes know.
Her Wit can conquer every thing it meets,
Yet like the Bee, it only preys on Sweets;
Without ill Nature, easily 'tis born,
You see the Rose and need not fear the Thorn.
Her ev'ry Grace, her ev'ry Action charms,
Like Joy it pleases! and like Life it warms!
O only blest! O only happy HE
That does possess what w'are so rapt to see!
Forgive me, Sir, that I so long digress;
But who that honours Beauty cou'd do less?
'Tis hard to think on that Illustrious Pair,
And not to fix our Contemplation there:
If you your self on such a Theme wou'd stray,
You'll pardon me for losing of my Way.
But who that honours Beauty cou'd do less?
90
And not to fix our Contemplation there:
If you your self on such a Theme wou'd stray,
You'll pardon me for losing of my Way.
| The Works of Mr. Robert Gould | |