Angling Sports In Nine Piscatory Eclogues. A New Attempt To introduce a more pleasing Variety and Mixture of Subjects and Characters into Pastoral. On the Plan of its primitive Rules and Manners. Suited to the Entertainment of Retirement, and the Lovers of Nature in rural Scenes. With an Essay in Defence of this Undertaking. By Moses Browne. The Third Edition, Corrected, and very much improved |
 |
THE DEDICATION. |
 |
 | Angling Sports |  |
vii
THE DEDICATION.
With Genius blest, with Sciences adorn'd,
Free Dodington! polite in gen'rous arts,
A Muse, allow'd to boast thy gracing smile,
Courts, thus indulg'd, thy mild, familiar ear.
Physician of the melancholy mind,
Deprest by Fortune's weight, sure comforter
Of drooping merit lab'ring in despair.—
Nobility! be better than a name.
Nobility!—pure Mirrour of all good!
Or of all bad extreme! words cannot paint
The pow'r of thy beneficence divine,
When freely flowing from the open heart;
Extract of highest worth without alloy.
Pleas'd, could I wish with devious steps enlarg'd
To visit here a full illustrious train,
Endear'd by ties of soft humanity;
A Court where brightest constellations shine.
Nor, Patron, let thy prais'd humility
Suspect this strain, the sycophantic wile
Of Bard insidious: Me, nor learnt in arts
Of servile fraud, to barter truth for smiles;
Grateful where once oblig'd—but far remov'd
From hateful flattery, with low submiss
To sue to empty title, and debase
Her steady principles, for sordid praise
Of the Great Vulgar: Happy to persist
Unvarying, only to the foremost names
Of choice observant, self-devoted—Yours,
And Hertford's, lov'd of ev'ry gentle Muse.
Free Dodington! polite in gen'rous arts,
A Muse, allow'd to boast thy gracing smile,
Courts, thus indulg'd, thy mild, familiar ear.
Physician of the melancholy mind,
Deprest by Fortune's weight, sure comforter
Of drooping merit lab'ring in despair.—
Nobility! be better than a name.
Nobility!—pure Mirrour of all good!
Or of all bad extreme! words cannot paint
The pow'r of thy beneficence divine,
When freely flowing from the open heart;
Extract of highest worth without alloy.
Pleas'd, could I wish with devious steps enlarg'd
To visit here a full illustrious train,
Endear'd by ties of soft humanity;
A Court where brightest constellations shine.
Nor, Patron, let thy prais'd humility
viii
Of Bard insidious: Me, nor learnt in arts
Of servile fraud, to barter truth for smiles;
Grateful where once oblig'd—but far remov'd
From hateful flattery, with low submiss
To sue to empty title, and debase
Her steady principles, for sordid praise
Of the Great Vulgar: Happy to persist
Unvarying, only to the foremost names
Of choice observant, self-devoted—Yours,
And Hertford's, lov'd of ev'ry gentle Muse.
O, haste the gen'rous work that waits thy hands!
The Muse's sons, a hapless suff'ring race,
Loyal to Courts and Kings; be these thy care
To succour, from an ill-requiting age.
But far away be the rude rout repell'd
Of trading Poetasters, pest'ring swarm,
That ever at the gates of palaces
With their loose-fashion'd rhimes, officious throng
Obtrusive, and the lib'ral ear restrain
From merit—friendless—aw'd—abash'd—deign these
Distinction; and the modest genius prompt
Encourage. By this gentle pattern form'd,
Gallus and Pollio, ancient names, inclin'd
To worthy Verse a fav'ring ear; nor less
Mæcenas, and Agrippa, and renown'd
Augustus, glory of Saturnian climes.
Thus Britain too may boast of equal fame;
Patriots, to cherish worth and lib'ral arts.
Somers nor thought it scorn, nor Halifax,
Great Names, to patronize deserving Song;
Nor Dorset, who so well could grace the Lyre.
Thou too, indulgent of poetic worth
The Muse attests, and of her favour'd train
Not one be found unwitness to thy praise.
Nor, of the rural theme contemptuous, scorn
An humble Verse, tho' of the wat'ry race,
And Fisher's sports descriptive, labour new.
The fam'd Sicilian Swain his oaten reed
To Ptolemy attun'd, and Maro's Song
Made lowly shades deserve a Consul's care.
So might but thine the piscatory Strain
Engage, and to its aid invok'd appear
His present Genius, while I sing to thee.
Nor less delightful shou'd th' unlofty lay
Be then esteem'd, that sings of Fishy Lakes
Bank'd with green shade; Peace-visited retreats,
The Anglers Haunts, and lonely-loving Bard's
Tranc'd, in sweet musing: Hither led of old,
Prophetic of celestial truth, fam'd Seers
Were wont, observant of th' inspiring call,
To hasten and, with vacant minds enlarg'd,
Attend the heav'nly charge; and mightiest Kings
Have here their careful Diadems exchang'd.
—Ah me! will ever the unpitying Fates
To Poets most disast'rous, with one wish,
One humble wish! so might it but succeed,
Suffice my ling'ring hopes; desirous long
Of Solitude, soft Banisher of care—
Enrapt I languish for the wish'd retreat,
Deny'd to my unhappy choice—For me
Hard-lotted hours with chearless round renew.
Except, when by the Poet's page enlarg'd,
I wander far thro' classic shades renown'd;
O'er, Helicon, thy hallow'd walk, and thine
Green Ida, seat of desolated Troy:
Eternal names in antiquated Song.
O! lead me where the Cypress high embow'rs
With pleasing shade, where thick'ning groves surround,
The Lotus and the all-obscuring Pine.
To fruitful Chios, or th' Arvisian shade,
Plenteous of chearing Bacchus: or thy shores,
Kind Latium, let my loosen'd fancy range:
Præneste, Mother of the genial Vine,
Cool Bajæ, and Peligni, rich in streams,
And Cuma, nam'd of rest and sweet repose.
Here, to the rural choice at large resign'd,
Hortensius liv'd, fam'd Orator; and erst
The Senate's and the Consul's lasting pride
Fam'd Cicero, retir'd from Toils and Rome.
Pleas'd with his change he bid adieu to courts,
Nor, oft the humble Angle wou'd disdain
To tend at hours contemplative; to thought
Kind minister. Shall I forget to hail
Linternum, where, devote to solitude,
Immortal Scipio spent his peaceful days:
Lov'd Scipio, darling of the Roman name!
Thus haply Thou, might Britain so permit,
Would pass thy smooth unruffled hours; nor so
Should she be wanting of thy patriot cares,
For ever wakeful found —
The Muse's sons, a hapless suff'ring race,
Loyal to Courts and Kings; be these thy care
To succour, from an ill-requiting age.
But far away be the rude rout repell'd
Of trading Poetasters, pest'ring swarm,
That ever at the gates of palaces
With their loose-fashion'd rhimes, officious throng
Obtrusive, and the lib'ral ear restrain
From merit—friendless—aw'd—abash'd—deign these
Distinction; and the modest genius prompt
ix
Gallus and Pollio, ancient names, inclin'd
To worthy Verse a fav'ring ear; nor less
Mæcenas, and Agrippa, and renown'd
Augustus, glory of Saturnian climes.
Thus Britain too may boast of equal fame;
Patriots, to cherish worth and lib'ral arts.
Somers nor thought it scorn, nor Halifax,
Great Names, to patronize deserving Song;
Nor Dorset, who so well could grace the Lyre.
Thou too, indulgent of poetic worth
The Muse attests, and of her favour'd train
Not one be found unwitness to thy praise.
Nor, of the rural theme contemptuous, scorn
An humble Verse, tho' of the wat'ry race,
And Fisher's sports descriptive, labour new.
The fam'd Sicilian Swain his oaten reed
To Ptolemy attun'd, and Maro's Song
Made lowly shades deserve a Consul's care.
x
Engage, and to its aid invok'd appear
His present Genius, while I sing to thee.
Nor less delightful shou'd th' unlofty lay
Be then esteem'd, that sings of Fishy Lakes
Bank'd with green shade; Peace-visited retreats,
The Anglers Haunts, and lonely-loving Bard's
Tranc'd, in sweet musing: Hither led of old,
Prophetic of celestial truth, fam'd Seers
Were wont, observant of th' inspiring call,
To hasten and, with vacant minds enlarg'd,
Attend the heav'nly charge; and mightiest Kings
Have here their careful Diadems exchang'd.
—Ah me! will ever the unpitying Fates
To Poets most disast'rous, with one wish,
One humble wish! so might it but succeed,
Suffice my ling'ring hopes; desirous long
Of Solitude, soft Banisher of care—
Enrapt I languish for the wish'd retreat,
Deny'd to my unhappy choice—For me
xi
Except, when by the Poet's page enlarg'd,
I wander far thro' classic shades renown'd;
O'er, Helicon, thy hallow'd walk, and thine
Green Ida, seat of desolated Troy:
Eternal names in antiquated Song.
O! lead me where the Cypress high embow'rs
With pleasing shade, where thick'ning groves surround,
The Lotus and the all-obscuring Pine.
To fruitful Chios, or th' Arvisian shade,
Plenteous of chearing Bacchus: or thy shores,
Kind Latium, let my loosen'd fancy range:
Præneste, Mother of the genial Vine,
Cool Bajæ, and Peligni, rich in streams,
And Cuma, nam'd of rest and sweet repose.
Here, to the rural choice at large resign'd,
Hortensius liv'd, fam'd Orator; and erst
The Senate's and the Consul's lasting pride
Fam'd Cicero, retir'd from Toils and Rome.
Pleas'd with his change he bid adieu to courts,
xii
To tend at hours contemplative; to thought
Kind minister. Shall I forget to hail
Linternum, where, devote to solitude,
Immortal Scipio spent his peaceful days:
Lov'd Scipio, darling of the Roman name!
Thus haply Thou, might Britain so permit,
Would pass thy smooth unruffled hours; nor so
Should she be wanting of thy patriot cares,
For ever wakeful found —
My Lyre untun'd,
Unstrung—I on thy sacred Laurel here
Suspend —
Unstrung—I on thy sacred Laurel here
Suspend —
An off'ring, votive to thy Fame.
| Angling Sports | |