 | Satires And Biography |  |
PARENTAL DIDACTICS.
THE crooked Phrygian an apt tale has told,
(And I'm notoriously attach'd to tales),
How a decrepid, hairless pated Dad
Call'd his high-mettled younglings 'bout his bed:
Delineated all the arts of Life
And made them scavoir vivres ere he died.
Thus did the Sire, and even thus will I:
Come ye Ingrates, ye feeble, fluttering tribe,
Knit in a feather'd conclave and receive
At once my valediction and my wit.
(And I'm notoriously attach'd to tales),
How a decrepid, hairless pated Dad
Call'd his high-mettled younglings 'bout his bed:
Delineated all the arts of Life
And made them scavoir vivres ere he died.
Thus did the Sire, and even thus will I:
Come ye Ingrates, ye feeble, fluttering tribe,
Knit in a feather'd conclave and receive
At once my valediction and my wit.
To live with comfort, ye must live with care,
Humanity's adulterate, false and foul;
In all the conflicts of vicissitude
Lose not your equanimity of mind:
(Who argues vehement resigns his shield)
Nor pain nor passion can impel the wise
To wound that honor which they owe—themselves!
When the horizon in the west is dimm'd,
When Phæton's beamy father silent sinks
And gradual draws his crimson mantle down,
Leaving the mountains robeless and forlorn:
When Cynthia steals on Contemplation's eye,
Tipping with silver the perturbed wave;
When the blue Hemisphere is studded o'er
With planetary gems and sparkling stars,
And Flora bids her motley drooping race
Expand their foliage and receive the dew:
And ye, obedient to the curfew's knell
Retire, in groups, to renovate and roost:
Be retrospective on the Hours consum'd
And let a sense of mercy make ye meek:
Humility's the origin of Peace;
Peace to the thought's like Onus to the plant,
Diffusing vigor, beauty, grace, and worth:
When the worn understanding lacks her aid,
How less than nothing is the local badge,
The azure ribbon or the rubric sash,
Or that fam'd magic girdle Britain's chiefs
Solicit to indent the firm-wrought knee:
Where Peace is not, such gew-gaws are but vain!
Humanity's adulterate, false and foul;
In all the conflicts of vicissitude
Lose not your equanimity of mind:
(Who argues vehement resigns his shield)
Nor pain nor passion can impel the wise
To wound that honor which they owe—themselves!
When the horizon in the west is dimm'd,
When Phæton's beamy father silent sinks
And gradual draws his crimson mantle down,
Leaving the mountains robeless and forlorn:
When Cynthia steals on Contemplation's eye,
Tipping with silver the perturbed wave;
When the blue Hemisphere is studded o'er
With planetary gems and sparkling stars,
And Flora bids her motley drooping race
Expand their foliage and receive the dew:
And ye, obedient to the curfew's knell
Retire, in groups, to renovate and roost:
Be retrospective on the Hours consum'd
And let a sense of mercy make ye meek:
Humility's the origin of Peace;
Peace to the thought's like Onus to the plant,
Diffusing vigor, beauty, grace, and worth:
When the worn understanding lacks her aid,
18
The azure ribbon or the rubric sash,
Or that fam'd magic girdle Britain's chiefs
Solicit to indent the firm-wrought knee:
Where Peace is not, such gew-gaws are but vain!
Was the unmeasur'd ring of Knowledge mine,
Could I indite like Locke, or think like Kaimes:
I'd pour a flood of Science in your ears,
Should make ye reverenc'd by each sapient knot,
That arrogates prescriptive privilege!
The Sorbonne, or La Crusca, or Arcades,
The Parses, Scheics, Verbiests and Copts
Pandects and Bramins, Molhas and Cantabs,
Casy and Sedre, Maronite and Monk,
Peripatetic, Arian and Soph,
Stoici and far fam'd Dilettanti,
And that high royal corps snug and sublime,
Who muz majestic in the court ycleped Crane:
But a-propos—of them I've heard a tale;
Hear it, and judge how Wisdom may be foil'd.
Could I indite like Locke, or think like Kaimes:
I'd pour a flood of Science in your ears,
Should make ye reverenc'd by each sapient knot,
That arrogates prescriptive privilege!
The Sorbonne, or La Crusca, or Arcades,
The Parses, Scheics, Verbiests and Copts
Pandects and Bramins, Molhas and Cantabs,
Casy and Sedre, Maronite and Monk,
Peripatetic, Arian and Soph,
Stoici and far fam'd Dilettanti,
And that high royal corps snug and sublime,
Who muz majestic in the court ycleped Crane:
But a-propos—of them I've heard a tale;
Hear it, and judge how Wisdom may be foil'd.
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