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Mr. Cooke's Original Poems

with Imitations and Translations of Several Select Passages of the Antients, In Four Parts: To which are added Proposals For perfecting the English Language
Cooke, Thomas (1703-1756)

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[dedication]
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PART the First, CONTAINING ESSAYS, TALES, AND A RHAPSODY On Virtue and Pleasure.
  
AN ESSAY ON NOBILITY.
  
AN ESSAY ON THE Antient and Modern State of Great Britain, and on the Posture of Affairs in Europe in the Years 1734, and 1735.
  
THE KNIGHTS of the BATH, A TALE.
  
Philander and Cydippe, A TALE.
  
WILL. SOMERS, A TALE.
  
A RHAPSODY ON Virtue and Pleasure, TO JAMES REYNOLDS, Esq; Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
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PART the Second, CONTAINING EPISTLES, ODES, FABLES, SATIRES, LOVE-ELEGYS, PROLOGUES, EPILOGUES, and EPIGRAMS.
 1. 
EPISTLES the First, TO Mrs. COLSTON, On the Death of her only Son.
 2. 
EPISTLE the Second, TO Mr. LEONARD WELSTED, On the Death of his only Daughter.
 3. 
EPISTLE the Third, To the right honourable Thomas Earl of Pembroke at Wilton.
 4. 
EPISTLE the Fourth, To the honourable Lord George Johnston.
 5. 
EPISTLE the Fifth, To the right honourable Thomas Earl of Pembroke, Occasioned by The Death of Dr. Samuel Clarke.
 6. 
EPISTLE the Sixth, To the right reverend Dr. Benjamin Hoadley, On his being translated from the Bishoprick of Salisbury to Winchester.
 7. 
EPISTLE the Seventh, To his Grace The Duke of Somerset at Petworth.
 8. 
EPISTLE the Eighth, TO James Vernon Esq;
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ODES.
 1. 
ODE the First, TO Mr. John Mottley in the Country.
 2. 
ODE the Second, To Phillis.
 3. 
ODE the Third, To the Same.
 4. 
ODE the Fourth, To the Same.
 5. 
ODE the Fifth, To the Same.
 6. 
ODE the Sixth, To the Same.
 7. 
ODE the Seventh, To the Same.
 8. 
ODE the Eighth, To the Same.
 9. 
ODE the Ninth, To Celia.
 10. 
ODE the Tenth, To the Same.
 11. 
ODE the Eleventh, To Melissa.
 12. 
ODE the Twelfth, To the Same.
 13. 
ODE the Thirteenth. SYLVIA.
 14. 
ODE the Fourteenth. BELLAMIRA.
 15. 
ODE the Fifteenth. THALIA.
 16. 
ODE the Sixteenth. DINA.
 17. 
ODE the Seventeenth. LONDON.
 18. 
ODE the Eighteenth. ON THE Birth of Lord Herbert In the Year 1734.
 19. 
ODE the Nineteenth. A New Year's Ode, or Ballad, For the Year 1741.
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[FABLES.]
 1. 
FABLE the First. The Rose and the Lilly.
 2. 
FABLE the Second. The Ass.
 3. 
FABLE the Third. The Lark.
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[SATIRES.]
 1. 
SATIRE the First. Love and Old Age.
 2. 
SATIRE the Second. Love and Old Age.
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[ELEGIES.]
 1. 
ELEGY the First. On Retirement.
 2. 
ELEGY the Second. On the Same.
 3. 
ELEGY the Third. On seeing Bellamira's Picture.
 4. 
ELEGY the Fourth. To Bellamira.
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[PROLOGUES.]
 1. 
PROLOGUE the First. To Penelope, A Burlesque Opera, performed in the Year 1728.
 2. 
PROLOGUE the Second. Spoke on opening the new Theatre in the Hay-market with Dryden's Spanish Friar.
 3. 
PROLOGUE the Third. Spoke by Mr. Henry Giffard, on opening the new Theatre in Goodman's-Fields the 31st of October 1729.
 4. 
PROLOGUE the Fourth. TO LOVE and REVENGE,
 5. 
PROLOGUE the Fifth. To the Devil to pay,
 6. 
PROLOGUE the Sixth. Spoke by Mr. Milward to the Country Wife.
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[EPILOGUES.]
 1. 
EPILOGUE the First. Spoke by Mrs. Younger in the Character of the Country Wife.
 2. 
EPILOGUE the Second. To Penelope, Spoke by Minerva.
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[EPIGRAMS.]
 1. 
EPIGRAM the First. To Phillis.
 2. 
EPIGRAM the Second. To the Same.
 3. 
EPIGRAM the Third. To the Same.
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PART the Third. THE BATTEL OF THE POETS, In Two CANTOS.
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THE BATTEL of the POETS.
 I. 
CANTO I.
 II. 
CANTO II.
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PART the Fourth, CONTAINING PARAPHRASES, IMITATIONS, AND TRANSLATIONS, Of several Parts of the Antients.
  
THE Lamentation of David for Saul and Jonathan,
  
Psalm the 97th paraphrased.
  
Psalm the 137th paraphrased.
  
A HYMN, From Psalm the 145th.
  
Simonides on Human Life Paraphrased.
  
To a Friend, In Imitation of Horace to Martius Censorinus, Book IV, Ode VIII.
  
An Imitation of the same. To a Foe.
  
Ode the 4th of the Epodes, On Menas, Imitated.
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THE EPISODE of Thersites, Translated From the second Book of the ILIAD of HOMER.
  
THERSITES, From the second Book of the Iliad.
  
TYRTÆUS on MARTIAL Virtue.
  
ANACREON. Ode the First.
  
ANACREON To the Grasshopper.
  
An EPIGRAM From the GREEK.
  
ACCIUS.
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TRANSLATIONS From CATULLUS.
  
To Cornelius Nepos.
  
To Himself.
  
To Alphenus.
  
Of Lesbia.
  
To Lesbia.
  
From the Epithalamium On the Nuptials of Thetis and Peleus.
  
Of ARRIUS.
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[Translations from Virgil.]
  
A Description of Spring from the second Book of Virgil's Georgics.
  
The 6th Ode of the 1st Book of Horace. To Varius.
  
Of the Instability of Things.
  
MARTIAL.
  
Epistle the Ninth. TO Dr. Edward Milward,
  
Ode the Twentyeth. TO The honourable Master Robert Petre a Day old, 1741.
  
The Twenty-fourth Ode of the first Book of Horace imitated and paraphrased, on the Death of Sir William Windham Bart.

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266

TRANSLATIONS From CATULLUS.

To Cornelius Nepos.

My Friend, where shall the Poet chuse
One worthy his facetious Muse?
To whom's the gilded Volume due,
Adorn'd with polish'd Leaves, and new?
To whom, my best of Friends, but you?
For you Cornelius, you my Friend,
Would oft' my trifling Song commend,
You who, of all our Land, would dare,
(A Task, O! Jove, he well could bear!)
To swell the learn'd and labour'd Page
With Worthys pass'd of ev'ry Age.
Accept this Verse, whate'er it be,
Such as it is, 'tis due to thee;
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Which, Maid of Arts the Guardian, give
To future Times the Pow'r to live.

To Himself.

Catullus give your Follys o'er,
And wretched seek what's loss'd no more:
Propitious Days 'e'rewhile were thine,
When I could call the fair one mine,
When eager of the Chace I view'd
Her Steps with Joy, and quick pursu'd:
Such was my Love, and such my Pain,
As none shall ever cause again.
Too swiftly did the Moments glide
In Sports you sought, nor she deny'd.
Propitious Days were truly thine,
When I could call the fair one mine.
No more in vain your Hours employ;
The Nymph to all you wish is coy;
No longer watch her Steps in vain,
Nor make your Life a Life of Pain;
Resolve to act the manly Part,
And drive the Poyson from your Heart.
Farewel my Love, here ends your Reign,
Catullus is himself again;
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With his Consent unsought you fly;
He'll ask no more what you'd deny;
But think, now thou art false to me,
What Sorrow is reserv'd for thee.
What Gallant will receive you now?
Or who prefer of Love the Vow?
Who now shall court the treach'rous Kiss,
That leaves the Token of the Bliss?
Catullus act the manly Part,
And keep the Poyson from your Heart.

To Alphenus.

Alphenus say can you a Friend deceive,
And him, tho true, without Reluctance leave?
Tell me, perfidious Man, Alphenus say,
Can you a Friend forsake, and then betray?
Have not the Pangs of Guilt your Bosom seiz'd?
Think not with impious Acts the Gods are pleas'd;
But these are Thoughts which never plagu'd thy Breast,
Who basely left me, and when much distress'd.
What can we do amidst a Race unjust,
Where find a Man regardful of his Trust?
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The Heart of Friendship you seduc'd from me,
As if no Danger could arise from thee;
But now, a Traytor to the social Ty,
Your Actions give your former Vows the Ly;
Nor Words, nor Deeds, retracted longer bind,
Your Words retracted, and your Deeds, are Wind.
You may forget, and live a Wretch abhor'd,
But know the Gods remember, and record;
Faith well remembers, rev'rend Deity,
Who will exact due Penitence from thee.

Of Lesbia.

To Lesbia when I speak she turns away,
And always answers short to what I say;
Oft' as we meet to chide she never fails,
And in her Visits at Catullus rails:
I from my Soul believe, or let me dy,
That Lesbia views me with a Lover's Eye:
But I am ask'd, whence I so vain am grown:
I judge of her Behaviour from my own;
I always rail at her, but let me dy,
If I don't view her with a Lover's Eye.
270

To Lesbia.

You wish, my Life, in the soft Hours of Love,
Our Flame may constant burn, and mutual prove;
Ye Gods, if from her Heart her Wishes came,
Grant it to end but with our vital Flame.
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From the Epithalamium On the Nuptials of Thetis and Peleus.

Ye Fair attend not with a faithful Ear,
Nor hope the Words of Man can be sincere;
He vows, he swears, and begs to be believ'd;
And ye too easy trust, and are deceiv'd;
He in the Gust of Love will Truth defy,
Will promise all he can, and dread no Ly,
Till he has slak'd the Raging of his Mind;
When that is over all his Vows are Wind.
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Of ARRIUS.

When Arrius should the Word commodious name,
From his distended Jaws chommodious came:
Whene'er he spoke of an insidious Slave,
He surely call'd him an hinsidious Knave;
And, when he spoke, he thought 'twas wond'rous well,
If he pronounc'd hinsidious with a Swell:
So would his Mother, and her Sire, have spoke,
And so his Grandame, when she Silence broke,
So all his Race would, I believe indeed,
Down to his Uncle, who, a Slave, was freed.
When Arrius into Syria was sent,
All Ears, which us'd to hear him, were content:
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Those horrid Sounds no longer now they fear;
Those Words flow smoothly, nor offend the Ear:
But, when he cross'd th'Ionian Seas again,
I've plow'd, says Arrius, the Hionian Main.
 

The Reader may see some Remarks on this Epigram in my Proposals for perfecting the English Language.

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