Poems on Several Occasions With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachylides, Anacreon, &c. To which is prefix'd A Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing. In a letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb ... The Third Edition. To which is added, Poems on the Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene, the Electoral Prince of Hannover, with other Poems. Never before Printed |
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| A Prefatory Discourse. |
 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
A Prefatory Discourse.
[For tho' retiring to the Western Isles]
For tho' retiring to the Western Isles,
At the long Distance of five thousand Miles,
You've chang'd dear London for your Native Seat;
At the long Distance of five thousand Miles,
You've chang'd dear London for your Native Seat;
And think Barbadoes is a safe Retreat;
You highly err: Nor is the Wat'ry Fence
Sufficient Guard against Impertinence.
The Muse, which smiles on jingling Bards, like Me,
You highly err: Nor is the Wat'ry Fence
Sufficient Guard against Impertinence.
The Muse, which smiles on jingling Bards, like Me,
Has always Winds to waft her o'er the Sea.
Blow on, ye Winds, and o'er th' Atlantick Main,
Bear to my Gen'rous Friend this thankful Strain.
Blow on, ye Winds, and o'er th' Atlantick Main,
Bear to my Gen'rous Friend this thankful Strain.
[Born to surprize the World, and teach the Great]
Born to surprize the World, and teach the Great
The slippery Danger of exalted State,
Victorious Marlbro to Ramilly flies;
Arm'd with new Lightning from bright ANNA's Eyes.
The slippery Danger of exalted State,
Victorious Marlbro to Ramilly flies;
Arm'd with new Lightning from bright ANNA's Eyes.
Wonders like These, no former Age has seen;
Subjects are Heroes, where a Saint's the QUEEN.
Subjects are Heroes, where a Saint's the QUEEN.
[For to display our Candour and our Sence]
For to display our Candour and our Sence,Is to discover some deep Excellence.
The Critick's faulty, while the Poet's free;
They raise the Mole hill, who want Eyes to see
[Rules they can write, but, like the College Tribe]
Rules they can write, but, like the College Tribe,Take not that Physick which their Rules prescribe.
I scorn to praise a plodding, formal Fool,
Insipidly correct, and dull by Rule:
Homer, with all his Nodding, I would chuse,
Before the more exact Sicilian Muse.
Who'd not be Dryden; tho' his Faults are great,
Sooner than our Laborious Laureat?
Not but a decent Neatness, I confess,
In Writing is requir'd, as well as Dress.
Yet still in both the unaffected Air
Will always please the Witty and the Fair.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |