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 | A collection of original poems |  |
1
To TWO SISTERS on their Wedding-day.
An EPISTLE.
By Mr Blacklock.
Dear Ladies, whilst the nuptial hour at hand
Must all your time, and all your thoughts demand,
Though all the Nine my tuneful strain inspir'd,
My heart though all the force of friendship fir'd,
Though warm'd with transport for my lovely theme,
I wou'd not long your kind attention claim;
Yet let me join the gratulating throng,
And breathe to Heav'n one ardent wish in song:
That all your future days, serene and bright,
May flow distinguish'd by sincere delight;
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And Heav'n's best blessings on your heads descend;
That love and joy may on each period wait,
While hoary Time unrolls the page of fate;
Till all who hear your destiny admire,
Nore more from Heav'n to make them bless'd require;
Till tender mothers, who your lot survey,
Thus in the fondness of their souls shall pray:
“May my fair daughter, or my fav'rite son,
“Be bless'd, and live and love as these have done.”
Estimate of Human Greatness.
In imitation of a French epigram.
By the same.
One night I dream'd, and dreams may oft prove true,
That to this foolish world I bade adieu.
With solemn rites, and decent grief deplor'd,
My friends to mother-earth her gift restor'd.
But O! eternal insult to my shade,
Close by a vile plebeian corse was laid!
Enrag'd, confin'd, I try'd to shift my ground;
But all attempts were unsuccessful found.
Be gone, gross lump, I cry'd, in high disdain,
No slave of abject birth shall here remain.
Be distant far—to nobler names gives way,
And mix with vulgar dust thy sordid clay.
3
Now learn the impotence of wealth and pride;
Hereditary names and honours, here,
With all their farce and tinsel disappear.
In these dark realms, Death's reptile heralds trace
From one sole origin all human race:
On all the line one equal lot attends;
From dust it rises, and to dust descends.
Here pale Ambition, quitting pomp and form,
Admits her last—best counsellor, a worm.
Here Nature's charter stands confirm'd alone;
The grave is less precarious than the throne.
Then seek not here pre-eminence and state,
But own and bless th'impartial will of Fate;
With life, its errors, and its whims resign,
Nor think a beggar's title worse than thine.
To her Grace the Duchess of HAMILTON, on her recovery from childbed, after the birth of the MARQUIS of CLYDESDALE.
By the same.
Hail! Nature's loveliest work and darling care,
Whose worth and beauty equal praises claim,
Form'd Heav'n's supreme beneficence to share,
A nation's wonder, and a mother's name.
Whose worth and beauty equal praises claim,
Form'd Heav'n's supreme beneficence to share,
A nation's wonder, and a mother's name.
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No venal muse with mercenary praise,
Insults thy taste, or wounds thy modest ear;
When Heav'n, or heav'nly beauty prompts her lays,
As high the theme, the tribute flows sincere.
Insults thy taste, or wounds thy modest ear;
When Heav'n, or heav'nly beauty prompts her lays,
As high the theme, the tribute flows sincere.
Bless'd be the hours, which, with auspicious flight,
Restore thy former health and native bloom;
To bid the wishing world its eyes delight,
And Fame, with all her mouths, thy praise resume.
Restore thy former health and native bloom;
To bid the wishing world its eyes delight,
And Fame, with all her mouths, thy praise resume.
O may the infant product of thy pain,
Beyond a mother's wish to greatness rise;
The cloudless glories of his race sustain,
On earth belov'd, and honour'd in the skies.
Beyond a mother's wish to greatness rise;
The cloudless glories of his race sustain,
On earth belov'd, and honour'd in the skies.
Fraught with the richest, noblest gifts of fate,
Serenely gay may all thy moments roll;
To crown thy days let ev'ry pleasure wait,
Bright as thy charms, and spotless as thy soul.
Serenely gay may all thy moments roll;
To crown thy days let ev'ry pleasure wait,
Bright as thy charms, and spotless as thy soul.
ODE on a favourite LAP-DOG.
To Miss G--- J---.
By the same.
Pretty, sportive, happy creature,
Full of life, and full of play,
Taught to live by faithful Nature,
Never canst thou miss thy way.
Full of life, and full of play,
Taught to live by faithful Nature,
Never canst thou miss thy way.
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By her dictates kind instructed,
Thou avoid'st each real smart;
We, by other rules conducted,
Lose our joy to show our art.
Thou avoid'st each real smart;
We, by other rules conducted,
Lose our joy to show our art.
Undisguis'd, each reigning passion
When thou mov'st or look'st we see;
Were the same with us the fashion,
Happy mortals would we be!
When thou mov'st or look'st we see;
Were the same with us the fashion,
Happy mortals would we be!
May her favour still pursue thee,
Who propos'd thee for my theme;
Till superior charms subdue thee,
And inspire a nobler flame.
Who propos'd thee for my theme;
Till superior charms subdue thee,
And inspire a nobler flame.
In each other bless'd and blessing,
Years of pleasure let them live;
Each all active worth possessing,
Earth admires, or Heav'n can give.
Years of pleasure let them live;
Each all active worth possessing,
Earth admires, or Heav'n can give.
To a successful rival, who said ironically, he pitied the author.
An ODE.
By the same.
Thou pity! fond unthinking boy,
Falsely elate with distant joy,
Did e'er thy heart the kind emotion know,
Th'endearing pangs of sympathetic wo!
Falsely elate with distant joy,
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Th'endearing pangs of sympathetic wo!
Yes; as on Nile's prolific shore,
The monsters, cloy'd with recent gore,
Sad o'er the reeking carnage howling lie,
Such tears, sincere as thine, o'erflow the murd'rer's eye.
The monsters, cloy'd with recent gore,
Sad o'er the reeking carnage howling lie,
Such tears, sincere as thine, o'erflow the murd'rer's eye.
O lost to virtue! lost to shame!
Beneath fair Friendship's holy name,
Impious to tempt, and subtle to betray,
While heav'n and earth the daring crime survey.
Beneath fair Friendship's holy name,
Impious to tempt, and subtle to betray,
While heav'n and earth the daring crime survey.
What devil arm'd thy front with steel,
To feign a grief thou ne'er couldst feel;
Without a blush, the faithless sigh to heave,
And mourn the mortal stab thy own curs'd dagger gave?
To feign a grief thou ne'er couldst feel;
Without a blush, the faithless sigh to heave,
And mourn the mortal stab thy own curs'd dagger gave?
But if to Heav'n's impartial throne,
The piercing sigh and bitter groan,
For just redress, on angel-wings arise,
Then dread the blasting vengeance of the skies.
The piercing sigh and bitter groan,
For just redress, on angel-wings arise,
Then dread the blasting vengeance of the skies.
Ah, where will rage my soul impell?
How high the tide of fury swell?
Fool! thus to curse the man whose ev'ry smart
Must pierce thy inmost soul, must wound Clarinda's heart.
How high the tide of fury swell?
Fool! thus to curse the man whose ev'ry smart
Must pierce thy inmost soul, must wound Clarinda's heart.
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Cato Uticensis to his wife at Rome.
By the same.
In distant regions, Freedom's last retreat,
Where Rome and she their final crisis wait,
Cato reflects how much he once was blest,
And greets with health the fav'rite of his breast.
Where Rome and she their final crisis wait,
Cato reflects how much he once was blest,
And greets with health the fav'rite of his breast.
Oh! when my soul with retrospective eyes
Beholds each scene of past enjoyment rise,
Ere vice and Heav'n's irrevocable doom
Shook the firm basis of imperial Rome,
What horrors must this patriot heart congeal!
What must a father and an husband feel!
Ye moments, destin'd to eternal flight,
Who shone on each domestic blessing bright,
Who saw me with earth's legislators join'd,
Balance the sacred rights of human kind,
No more my soul your bless'd return must know,
Consign'd to fetters, infamy and wo;
Expell'd from Rome, and all that's dear, we fly
Through fruitless deserts, and a flaming sky,
Where thunders roar incessant, lightnings glare,
And plagues unnumber'd taint the boundless air;
Where serpents, children of eternal night,
Ensure perdition with their mortal bite;
Where burning sands to heav'n in surges roll,
And scorching heats evaporate the soul.
Yet pleas'd these harsh extremes of fate we bear;
For Liberty, Heav'n's noblest gift, is here.
Unaw'd by pow'r, from venal shackles free,
Our hands accomplish what our hearts decree.
Yet here, where anguish, want, and horror reign,
The heav'nly power explores a seat in vain.
Ambitious blood-hounds hold her close in view,
Faithful to scent, and active to pursue.
See o'er the spacious globe their course they bend;
See conquest and success their steps attend.
Oceans in vain to stop their passage flow,
And mountains rise in everlasting snow.
Obsequious billows own tyrannic sway,
And storms have learn'd to flatter and obey.
Eternal Pow'rs! whose will is Nature's guide,
Who o'er high heav'n and earth and hell preside,
Must then that plan of liberty expire,
Which patriot bosoms more than life desire?
Is public happiness for ever fled,
For which the sage explor'd and hero bled?
Shall Pompey's blood the coast of Egypt stain?
Shall civil slaughter load Pharsalia's plain?
With reeking gore shall plunder'd temples flow?
Is Jove or Cæsar god of all below?
Be curs'd the time when Pleasure and her train,
O'er Rome extended first their fatal reign;
For O! 'twas then, in that detested hour,
That first the lust of treasure and of power
From public welfare could our views divert,
And quench each virtue in the human heart.
Beholds each scene of past enjoyment rise,
Ere vice and Heav'n's irrevocable doom
Shook the firm basis of imperial Rome,
What horrors must this patriot heart congeal!
What must a father and an husband feel!
Ye moments, destin'd to eternal flight,
Who shone on each domestic blessing bright,
Who saw me with earth's legislators join'd,
Balance the sacred rights of human kind,
No more my soul your bless'd return must know,
Consign'd to fetters, infamy and wo;
Expell'd from Rome, and all that's dear, we fly
Through fruitless deserts, and a flaming sky,
Where thunders roar incessant, lightnings glare,
And plagues unnumber'd taint the boundless air;
Where serpents, children of eternal night,
Ensure perdition with their mortal bite;
Where burning sands to heav'n in surges roll,
And scorching heats evaporate the soul.
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For Liberty, Heav'n's noblest gift, is here.
Unaw'd by pow'r, from venal shackles free,
Our hands accomplish what our hearts decree.
Yet here, where anguish, want, and horror reign,
The heav'nly power explores a seat in vain.
Ambitious blood-hounds hold her close in view,
Faithful to scent, and active to pursue.
See o'er the spacious globe their course they bend;
See conquest and success their steps attend.
Oceans in vain to stop their passage flow,
And mountains rise in everlasting snow.
Obsequious billows own tyrannic sway,
And storms have learn'd to flatter and obey.
Eternal Pow'rs! whose will is Nature's guide,
Who o'er high heav'n and earth and hell preside,
Must then that plan of liberty expire,
Which patriot bosoms more than life desire?
Is public happiness for ever fled,
For which the sage explor'd and hero bled?
Shall Pompey's blood the coast of Egypt stain?
Shall civil slaughter load Pharsalia's plain?
With reeking gore shall plunder'd temples flow?
Is Jove or Cæsar god of all below?
Be curs'd the time when Pleasure and her train,
O'er Rome extended first their fatal reign;
For O! 'twas then, in that detested hour,
That first the lust of treasure and of power
From public welfare could our views divert,
And quench each virtue in the human heart.
12
An ELEGY.
Inscribed to C--- S---, Esq;
By the same.
O Friend, by ev'ry sympathy endear'd,
Which soul with soul in sacred ties unite,
The hour arrives, so long, so justly fear'd,
Brings all its woes, and sinks me with their weight,
Which soul with soul in sacred ties unite,
The hour arrives, so long, so justly fear'd,
Brings all its woes, and sinks me with their weight,
For now from heav'n my unavailing pray'r
Toss'd devious mingles with the sportive gale;
No tender arts can move my cruel fair,
Nor all Love's silent eloquence prevail.
Toss'd devious mingles with the sportive gale;
No tender arts can move my cruel fair,
Nor all Love's silent eloquence prevail.
Though from my lips no sound unmeaning flows,
Though in each action fondness is exprest,
No kind returns e'er terminate my woes,
Nor heave th'eternal pressure from my breast.
Though in each action fondness is exprest,
No kind returns e'er terminate my woes,
Nor heave th'eternal pressure from my breast.
Too well the weakness of my heart I knew,
Too well Love's pow'r my soul had felt before;
Why did I then the pleasing ill pursue,
And tempt the malice of my fate once more?
Too well Love's pow'r my soul had felt before;
Why did I then the pleasing ill pursue,
And tempt the malice of my fate once more?
Conscious how few amongst the fair succeed,
Who boast no merit but a tender heart,
Why was my soul again to chains decreed,
To unrewarded tears, and endless smart?
Who boast no merit but a tender heart,
Why was my soul again to chains decreed,
To unrewarded tears, and endless smart?
13
The siren Hope, my tardy pace to chear,
In gay presage the short'ning prospect drest,
With art fallacious brought the object near,
And lull'd each rising doubt in fatal rest.
In gay presage the short'ning prospect drest,
With art fallacious brought the object near,
And lull'd each rising doubt in fatal rest.
I saw Success, or thought at least I saw,
Beck'ning with smiles to animate my speed:
Reason was mute, impress'd with trembling awe;
Nor Memory one precedent cou'd plead.
Beck'ning with smiles to animate my speed:
Reason was mute, impress'd with trembling awe;
Nor Memory one precedent cou'd plead.
How curs'd is he who never learn'd to fear
The keenest plagues his cruel stars portend!
Till o'er his head the black'ning clouds appear,
And heav'n's collected storms at once descend.
The keenest plagues his cruel stars portend!
Till o'er his head the black'ning clouds appear,
And heav'n's collected storms at once descend.
What further change of fortune can I wait?
What consummation to the last despair?
She flies, yet shows no pity for my fate;
She sees, yet deigns not in my griefs to share.
What consummation to the last despair?
She flies, yet shows no pity for my fate;
She sees, yet deigns not in my griefs to share.
Yet the kind heart where tender passions reign,
Will catch the softness when it first appears,
Explore each symptom of the suff'rer's pain,
Sigh all his sighs, and number all his tears.
Will catch the softness when it first appears,
Explore each symptom of the suff'rer's pain,
Sigh all his sighs, and number all his tears.
This tribute from humanity is due,
What then, just Heav'ns! what should not love bestow?
Yet though the fair insensible I view,
For others bliss I wou'd not change my woe.
What then, just Heav'ns! what should not love bestow?
Yet though the fair insensible I view,
For others bliss I wou'd not change my woe.
14
O blind to wisdom! to reflection blind,
At length to reason and thyself return;
See Science wait thee with reception kind,
Whose frown or absence no fond lovers mourn.
At length to reason and thyself return;
See Science wait thee with reception kind,
Whose frown or absence no fond lovers mourn.
Bounteous and free to all who ask her aid,
Her sacred light anticipates their call,
Points out the precipice to which they stray'd,
And with maternal care prevents their fall.
Her sacred light anticipates their call,
Points out the precipice to which they stray'd,
And with maternal care prevents their fall.
Daughter of God! whose features all express
Th'eternal beauty whence thy being sprung,
I to thy sacred shrine my steps address,
And catch each sound from thy heav'n-prompted tongue.
Th'eternal beauty whence thy being sprung,
I to thy sacred shrine my steps address,
And catch each sound from thy heav'n-prompted tongue.
O take me wholly to thy fond embrace,
Through all my soul thy heav'nly beams effuse!
Thence ev'ry cloud of pleasing error chase,
Adjust her organs, and enlarge her views.
Through all my soul thy heav'nly beams effuse!
Thence ev'ry cloud of pleasing error chase,
Adjust her organs, and enlarge her views.
Hence ever fix'd on virtue and on thee,
No lower wish shall her attention claim,
Till, like her sacred parent, pure and free,
She rise to native heaven from whence she came.
No lower wish shall her attention claim,
Till, like her sacred parent, pure and free,
She rise to native heaven from whence she came.
15
The chronicle of a Heart.
In imitation of Cowley.
By the same.
I
How often my heart has by love been o'erthrown,What grand revolutions its empire has known,
You ask me, dear friend; then attend the sad strain,
Since you bid me renew such ineffable pain.
Derry down, down, hey derry down.
II
For who that has got e'er an eye in his pate,So dismal a tale without tears can relate;
Or who such dire annals recall to his mind,
Without bursting in sighs, both before and behind?
III
This kingdom, as authors impartial have told,At first was elective, but afterwards sold;
For experience will show whoe'er pleases to try,
That kingdoms are venal when subjects can buy.
IV
Lovely Peggy, the first in succession and name,Was early invested with honour supreme;
But a bold son of Mars, who grew fond of her form,
Swore himself into grace, and surpris'd her by storm.
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V
Maria succeeded in honour and place,By laughing and squeezing, and song and grimace;
But her favours, alas, like her carriage, were free,
Bestow'd on the whole male creation but me.
VI
Next Marg'ret the second attempted the chace;Though the small pox and age had enamell'd her face,
She sustain'd her pretence sans merite et sans loix,
And carried her point by a Je ne scais quoi.
VII
The heart which so tamely acknowledg'd her sway,Still suffer'd in silence, and kept her at bay,
Till old Time had at last so much mellow'd her charms,
That she dropt with a breeze in a liv'ryman's arms.
VIII
The next easy conquest, Belinda, was thine,Obtain'd by the musical tinkle of coin:
But she, more enamour'd of sport than of prey,
Had a fish in her hook which she wanted to play.
IX
High hopes were her baits; but if truth were confess'd,A good still in prospect is not good possess'd;
For the fool found too late he had taken a tartar,
Retreated with wounds, and begg'd stoutly for quarter.
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X
Urania came next, and with subtle address,Discover'd no open attempts to possess:
But when fairly admitted, of conquest secure,
She acknowledg'd no law but her will and her pow'r.
XI
For seven tedious-years, to get rid of her chain,All force prov'd abortive, all stratagem vain,
Till a youth with much fatness and gravity blest,
Her person detain'd by a lawful arrest.
XII
To a reign so despotic, though guiltless of blood,No wonder a long interregnum ensu'd;
For an ass, though the patientest brute of the plain,
Once jaded and gall'd, will beware of the rein.
XIII
Now the kingdom stands doubtful itself to surrender,To Cloe the sprightly, or Celia the slender:
But if once it were out of this pitiful case,
No law but the Salic henceforth shall take place.
22
SONG. Inscribed to a Friend.
In imitation of Shenstone.
By Mr Blacklock.
I
Cease, cease, my dear friend, to exploreFrom whence, and how piercing my smart;
Let the charms of the nymph I adore,
Excuse, and interpret my heart:
Then how much I admire, you shall prove,
When like me you are taught to admire;
And imagine how boundless my love,
When you number the charms that inspire.
II
Than sunshine more dear to my sight,To my life more essential than air,
To my soul she is perfect delight,
To my sense all that's pleasing and fair.
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With transport applaud ev'ry charm,
And swear that the breast must be cold,
Which a beam so intense cannot warm.
III
Ah! say, will she slightly foregoA conquest, though humble, yet sure?
Will she leave a poor shepherd to wo,
Who for her ev'ry bliss would procure?
Alas! too presaging my fears,
Too jealous my soul of its bliss;
Methinks she already appears,
To foresee, and elude my address.
IV
Does my boldness offend my dear maid?Is my fondness loquacious and free?
Are my visits too frequently paid;
Or my converse unworthy of thee?
Yet when grief was too big for my breast,
And labour'd in sighs to complain,
Its struggles I oft have supprest,
And silence impos'd on my pain.
V
And oft, while, by tenderness caught,To my charmer's retirement I flew,
I reproach'd the fond absence of thought,
And in blushing confusion withdrew.
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Though simple and aukward my mien;
Yet still, shouldst thou deign to be kind,
What a wonderful change might be seen!
VI
Ah, Strephon! how vain thy desire,Thy numbers and music how vain,
While merit and fortune conspire
The smiles of the nymph to obtain?
Yet cease to upbraid the soft choice,
Though it ne'er should determine for thee,
If thy heart in her joy may rejoice,
Unhappy thou never canst be.
| A collection of original poems | |