The Works of Hildebrand Jacob ... Containing Poems on Various Subjects, and Occasions; With the Fatal Constancy, a Tragedy; and Several Pieces in Prose. The Greatest Part Never Before Publish'd |
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| VII. | EPISTLE VII.
To --- |
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 | The Works of Hildebrand Jacob |  |
117
EPISTLE VII. To ---
Concerning Travel, and Education.
—Tali Auxilio—
Tempus eget—
Tempus eget—
Your
Son near eighteen Years of Age,
Too tall for School, or a Court Page,
(Tho oft your Neighbour, his good Grace,
Promis'd his Godson such a Place,
Sets out: no matter; you have Friends,
And something better Ned attends
At his Return from foreign Land,
Where now he's sent by your Command.
Too tall for School, or a Court Page,
(Tho oft your Neighbour, his good Grace,
Promis'd his Godson such a Place,
Sets out: no matter; you have Friends,
And something better Ned attends
At his Return from foreign Land,
Where now he's sent by your Command.
He's gone; but, with an aching Mind,
To leave his darling Hounds behind;
The weary Task performs in haste,
And thinks his Time, and Labour waste,
Impatient, restless, and in pain,
Till he can hunt at home again;
Remembring nothing that he sees,
But Rivers, Steeples, Hills, and Trees;
For how shou'd the raw Country 'Squire
A Taste for the fine Arts acquire,
Or Rome, or Raphael's Hand admire?
To leave his darling Hounds behind;
118
And thinks his Time, and Labour waste,
Impatient, restless, and in pain,
Till he can hunt at home again;
Remembring nothing that he sees,
But Rivers, Steeples, Hills, and Trees;
For how shou'd the raw Country 'Squire
A Taste for the fine Arts acquire,
Or Rome, or Raphael's Hand admire?
His Tutor, a meer Scholar bred,
With College Mutton duely fed,
Stranger to all Fatigue before,
Consents to post half Europe o'er,
And guard the Lad from foreign Vice,
Lewd Women, Popery, and Dice,
So that your Parish be his Prize,
When the good, old Incumbent dies;
All his Ambition a good Stock
To plough Church Lands; a docile Flock;
A fruitful Spouse; a House, that's clean;
Perhaps in Time to be a Dean:
With Thoughts like these, all Tongues unknown,
But Classic Latin, and his own,
He went, and grudges all his Pains,
Till Cam or Isis he regains.
With College Mutton duely fed,
Stranger to all Fatigue before,
Consents to post half Europe o'er,
And guard the Lad from foreign Vice,
Lewd Women, Popery, and Dice,
So that your Parish be his Prize,
When the good, old Incumbent dies;
All his Ambition a good Stock
To plough Church Lands; a docile Flock;
119
Perhaps in Time to be a Dean:
With Thoughts like these, all Tongues unknown,
But Classic Latin, and his own,
He went, and grudges all his Pains,
Till Cam or Isis he regains.
This Mentor, this Telemachus,
For one another fitted thus,
In all the Inns where they have lain,
The wish'd Politeness needs must gain.
For one another fitted thus,
In all the Inns where they have lain,
The wish'd Politeness needs must gain.
Thus, while retir'd with your good Wife,
You lead a frugal, Country Life,
And mortgage Farms for ready Pelf,
To keep young Master like himself.
The Youth in Search of Knowledge goes,
And ev'ry Road exactly knows;
Learns how wild Boars the Germans take;
What Fishes fill Geneva's Lake;
Each Prince, or Post-Boy that he meets
Can name, and all the Paris Streets.
This is the best you must expect;
For, shou'd our Guard his Charge neglect,
Things may go worse,—the 'Squire suppose
At his Return without a Nose;
Or forc't on Marriage to some poor
Coquet, or cast Venetian Whore;
Or to a Coxcomb from a Clown
Improv'd, 'twill add to his Renown!
You lead a frugal, Country Life,
And mortgage Farms for ready Pelf,
To keep young Master like himself.
The Youth in Search of Knowledge goes,
And ev'ry Road exactly knows;
Learns how wild Boars the Germans take;
What Fishes fill Geneva's Lake;
Each Prince, or Post-Boy that he meets
Can name, and all the Paris Streets.
120
For, shou'd our Guard his Charge neglect,
Things may go worse,—the 'Squire suppose
At his Return without a Nose;
Or forc't on Marriage to some poor
Coquet, or cast Venetian Whore;
Or to a Coxcomb from a Clown
Improv'd, 'twill add to his Renown!
Had it not better been to stay,
And Educate the good, old Way,
With solid Learning store his Mind
From Books, he left unread behind,
The Structure well contriv'd within,
Th' external Ornaments begin;
Nor, like a vain, fond Architect,
A gaudy Frontispiece erect,
And all the useful Rooms neglect,
And Educate the good, old Way,
With solid Learning store his Mind
From Books, he left unread behind,
The Structure well contriv'd within,
Th' external Ornaments begin;
Nor, like a vain, fond Architect,
A gaudy Frontispiece erect,
And all the useful Rooms neglect,
Thus when he came indeed of Age,
Grew curious himself, and sage,
You might have chose your Heir to send
Abroad with our experienc'd Friend,
Who, like Ulysses, has been out
Some Years, and rang'd the World about,
To read Mankind, their Manners know,
Nor Vice's Slave, nor Pleasure's Foe:
Of Him he might have learnt to live,
And form a Taste—but you'll forgive.
Grew curious himself, and sage,
121
Abroad with our experienc'd Friend,
Who, like Ulysses, has been out
Some Years, and rang'd the World about,
To read Mankind, their Manners know,
Nor Vice's Slave, nor Pleasure's Foe:
Of Him he might have learnt to live,
And form a Taste—but you'll forgive.
The dark'ning Age declines apace:
With Tears I think upon the Race
Our future Progeny must breed,
And fear, our Grandsons will not read.
With Tears I think upon the Race
Our future Progeny must breed,
And fear, our Grandsons will not read.
| The Works of Hildebrand Jacob | |