The Amaranth Or, religious poems; consisting of fables, visions, emblems, etc. Adorned with copper-plates from the best masters [by Walter Harte] |
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INTRODUCTION. |
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 | The Amaranth |  |
160
INTRODUCTION.
Permit me, STANHOPE
, as I form'd thy youth
To classic taste and philosophic truth,
Once more, thy kind attention to engage,
And, dying, leave thee comfort for old-age;
This Hist'ry may eternal truths suggest:—
I've seen thee learned, and would leave thee blest!
One grain of piety avails us more
Than Prussia's laurels, or Potosi's store.
To classic taste and philosophic truth,
Once more, thy kind attention to engage,
And, dying, leave thee comfort for old-age;
This Hist'ry may eternal truths suggest:—
I've seen thee learned, and would leave thee blest!
One grain of piety avails us more
Than Prussia's laurels, or Potosi's store.
How blindly to our misery we run;
Dup'd by false hopes, and by our pray'rs undone!
We want, we wish; we change, we change agen;
Yet know not how to ask, nor what, nor when.
Just so, mis-led by liquor, drunkards stray,
They know they have a road, but miss their way;
Th'existence of their home admits no doubt;
Th'uncertainty—is where to find it out .
Dup'd by false hopes, and by our pray'rs undone!
We want, we wish; we change, we change agen;
Yet know not how to ask, nor what, nor when.
161
They know they have a road, but miss their way;
Th'existence of their home admits no doubt;
Th'uncertainty—is where to find it out .
Zimri ask'd wealth, and wealth o'erturn'd his parts.—
Parents for children pray, which break their hearts.
Contractors, agio-men, for villas sigh;
To-day they purchase, and to-morrow die.
Six cubic feet of earth are all their lot ;
Mourn'd with hypocrisy, with ease forgot.
Their Christian-heirs the pagan-rites employ,
And give the fun'ral ILICET with joy.
Parents for children pray, which break their hearts.
Contractors, agio-men, for villas sigh;
To-day they purchase, and to-morrow die.
Six cubic feet of earth are all their lot ;
Mourn'd with hypocrisy, with ease forgot.
Their Christian-heirs the pagan-rites employ,
And give the fun'ral ILICET with joy.
162
Lelio
would be th'Angelic
of a School;
Kneels down a wit, and rises up a fool.
Weak hands affect to hold the Statesman's scale;
As well the shrimp might emulate a whale.—
Clamb'ring, with stars averse, to Fortune's height
Ambitious Omri rose, and dropp'd down-right—
His paunch too heavy, and his head too light.
Like fall'n Salmoneus, he perceiv'd, at length,
The mean hypocrisy of boasted strength:
To deal like Dennis his vain thunder round,
And imitate inimitable sound.—
Both ways deceitful is the wine of pow'r,
When new, 'tis heady, and, when old, 'tis sow'r.
Ianthe pray'd for beauty; luckless maid!—
An idiot-mind th'angelic form betray'd.
Nature profusely deck'd the out-side pile,
But starv'd the poor inhabitant the while.
D'avenant implor'd the Muses for a tongue:
The Muses lent him theirs. He sweetly sung;
And—[but for Milton ] had more sweetly swung.
Learn hence, he cry'd, “my merry brethren all ,”
Tyburn's agáric stanches wit, and gall.
Kneels down a wit, and rises up a fool.
Weak hands affect to hold the Statesman's scale;
As well the shrimp might emulate a whale.—
Clamb'ring, with stars averse, to Fortune's height
Ambitious Omri rose, and dropp'd down-right—
His paunch too heavy, and his head too light.
Like fall'n Salmoneus, he perceiv'd, at length,
The mean hypocrisy of boasted strength:
To deal like Dennis his vain thunder round,
And imitate inimitable sound.—
Both ways deceitful is the wine of pow'r,
When new, 'tis heady, and, when old, 'tis sow'r.
Ianthe pray'd for beauty; luckless maid!—
An idiot-mind th'angelic form betray'd.
Nature profusely deck'd the out-side pile,
But starv'd the poor inhabitant the while.
163
The Muses lent him theirs. He sweetly sung;
And—[but for Milton ] had more sweetly swung.
Learn hence, he cry'd, “my merry brethren all ,”
Tyburn's agáric stanches wit, and gall.
Others mount Pegasus, but lose their seat:
And break their necks, before they end the heat.
Libanius try'd the streams of eloquence,
But plummet-deep he sunk, un-buoy'd with sense.
Soncinas ask'd the “knack of plotting treason
“Against the crown and dignity of reason .”
By his own art th'artificer was try'd,
And lawyers beat him on the quibbling side.
And break their necks, before they end the heat.
Libanius try'd the streams of eloquence,
But plummet-deep he sunk, un-buoy'd with sense.
Soncinas ask'd the “knack of plotting treason
“Against the crown and dignity of reason .”
By his own art th'artificer was try'd,
And lawyers beat him on the quibbling side.
164
Now hasten, Poet, to begin thy song:
“A tale,” says Prior, “ne'er should be too long.”
Ill-judging is the bard, who slacks his pace
And seeks for flow'rs, when he should run the race;
Or, wand'ring to enchanted castles, sleeps
On beds of down; or Cupid's vigils keeps;
Whilst the main action is by pleasures crost,
And the first purport of th'adventure lost.
Great Wits may scorn the dry poetic law;
Nor from the critic, but from nature, draw:
Each seeming trip, and each digressive start,
Displays their ease the more, and deep-plann'd art:
(All study'd blandishments t'allure the heart.)
Like Santueil's stream, gliding thro' flow'ry plains,
Th'effects are seen: The source unknown remains.
“A tale,” says Prior, “ne'er should be too long.”
Ill-judging is the bard, who slacks his pace
And seeks for flow'rs, when he should run the race;
Or, wand'ring to enchanted castles, sleeps
On beds of down; or Cupid's vigils keeps;
Whilst the main action is by pleasures crost,
And the first purport of th'adventure lost.
Great Wits may scorn the dry poetic law;
Nor from the critic, but from nature, draw:
Each seeming trip, and each digressive start,
Displays their ease the more, and deep-plann'd art:
(All study'd blandishments t'allure the heart.)
Like Santueil's stream, gliding thro' flow'ry plains,
Th'effects are seen: The source unknown remains.
Philip Stanhope, Esq; late Member of Parliament for St. German's in Cornwall, and at present Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Dresden and the Circle of Lower Saxony, &c.
“Hic tibi mortis erunt metæ: Domus alta sub Ida,
“Lyrnessi domus alta;—Solo Laurente sepulcrum.
Virg. Æneid. XII.
“Lyrnessi domus alta;—Solo Laurente sepulcrum.
Virg. Æneid. XII.
“A small space of ground after death contains both rich and poor. Nature produceth us all alike, and makes no distinction at death. Open the grave, view the dead bodies, move the ashes; you will find no difference between the patrician and the peasant, except thus far; that by the magnificence of the tomb of the former you may perceive he had much more to resign and lose than the latter.”
St. Ambrose.Milton interceded, and saved D'avenant, when he was a state-prisoner at Cowe's castle in the Isle of Wight, anno 1650: D'avenant; in return, preserved Milton at the Restoration.
| The Amaranth | |