Skip directly to:Main content Main navigation

University of Virginia Library

Matthew Prior. Dialogues of the Dead and Other Works

in Prose and Verse. The Text Edited by A. R. Waller

Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

collapse section

DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD AND OTHER WORKS IN PROSE AND VERSE

collapse section

A SUPPLEMENT TO Mr. Prior's POEMS. Consisting Of such Pieces as are Omitted in the late Collection of his Works, and Others, now first Published, from his Original Manuscripts, in the Custody of his Friends.

To the Right Honourable the Countess Dowager of DEVONSHIRE, ON A Piece of Wissin's; Whereon were all her Grandsons Painted.

The Female PHAETON.

The Judgment of VENUS.

SONG To his Mistress.

AN EPISTLE TO Sir Fleetwood Sheppard.

A SATIRE ON THE Modern Translators.

A Satire upon the Poets, in Imitation of the Seventh Satire of Juvenal.

collapse section

[POEMS FROM THE New Collection, 1725]

Epitaph Extempore.

collapse section

THE Turtle and the Sparrow.

APPLICATION OF THE TURTLE and SPARROW.

VERSES Spoke to the Lady Henrietta-Cavendish Holles Harley, In the LIBRARY of St. John's College, Cambridge

PROLOGUE TO THE ORPHAN.

THE CONVERSATION,

COLIN's MISTAKES.

collapse section

[MISCELLANEOUS POEMS ETC., FROM THE COLLECTION OF DRIFT]

Considerations on part of the 88th Psalm.

ON THE TAKING OF NAMUR, 1692.

TO A CHILD of QUALITY, FIVE YEARS OLD, The AUTHOR Forty.

THE FORTUNE-TELLER.

CUPID Turned STROLLER.

DAPHNE and APOLLO.

PROLOGUE, SPOKEN BY Lord BUCKHURST, AT WESTMINSTER-SCHOOL,

[THE SECRETARY.]

UPON THIS PASSAGE IN SCALIGERIANA.

Gabriel and his Wives.

Richard and Nelly.

CUPID IN AMBUSH.

The Priest and the Shepherd.

ON A FART, LET IN THE HOUSE of COMMONS.

On Hall's Death.

THE WANDERING PILGRIM.

THE ADVICE OF VENUS.

CUPID TURNED PLOWMAN.

HUSBAND AND WIFE.

CHAST FLORIMEL.

THE OLD GENTRY.

THE Insatiable PRIEST.

DOCTORS Differ.

PONTIUS AND PONTIA.

Cautious Alice.

TO A POET of Quality, PRAISING THE Lady HINCHINBROKE.

TRUTH TOLD AT LAST.

TWO BEGGARS Disputing their Right to an Oyster they had Found; a Lawyer thus decides the Cause.

FOR My own Monument.

TO My Lord HARLEY.

A LETTER TO The Honourable LADY Miss Margaret-Cavendish-Holles-Harley.

TRUTH AND FALSHOOD.

Nelly's Picture.

PROLOGUE FOR DELIA's PLAY.

CUPID's Promise.

Lamentation for DORINDA.

ON A PRETTY MADWOMAN.

The Torment of ABSENCE.

THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT TO PHYLLIS.

Upon a FRIEND, WHO HAD A Pain in his Left-Side.

collapse section

THE EXAMINER. 7 SEPTEMBER 1710

To the Earl of Godolphin.

collapse section

[MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, FROM THE COLLECTION OF EVANS, INCLUDING TWENTY-FOUR SONGS.]

collapse section

I.

II.

II. PARTING WITH FLAVIA.

III.

IV.

IV. TO PHILLIS.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

VIII. A TWO PART SONG.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVI. LES ESTREINES.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XIX. ADVICE TO A LADY.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

TO THE REV. DR. FRANCIS TURNER, BISHOP OF ELY WHO HAD ADVISED A TRANSLATION OF PRUDENTIUS.

THE REMEDY WORSE THAN THE DISEASE.

EPIGRAM, EXTEMPORE.

EPIGRAM ON BISHOP ATTERBURY.

ON BISHOP ATTE[R]BURY'S BURYING THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, MDCCXX.

LINES WRITTEN UNDER THE PRINT OF TOM BRITTON, the Small-coal-man, PAINTED BY Mr. WOOLASTON.

WRITTEN IN LADY HOWE'S OVID'S EPISTLES.

AN EPISTLE, MDCCXVI.

ANOTHER EPISTLE.

TRUE'S EPITAPH.

UPON Playing at OMBRE, WITH TWO LADIES.

ON MY BIRTH-DAY.

collapse section

POEMS FROM THE LONGLEAT MSS.

To a Lady Sleeping.

Charity never faileth.

collapse section

There be Those that leave Their Names behind them.

I.

II.

III.

Many Daughters have done well, But Thou Excellest them all.

On the Coronation.

Not Writing to K. P.

Arria and Petus out of Martial.

To the Countess of Dorset walking in a Garden.

To the E. of D. upon His Marriage.

Journey to Copt-Hall.

On Mr Fleetwood Shephards Killing the French K***

Advice to the Painter, Upon the defeat of the Rebels in the West, and the Execution of the late D. of Monmouth.

To the Bishop of Rochester Upon His Account of the Whiggish Conspir[a]cy by His late Majesty's order.

collapse section

To the E. of Dorset on the Birth of His Son.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

A Hymn to the Spring.

A Session of the Poets

To a Friend on his Marriage.

Letter to J****

To Dr F********* in a Letter to Beverley disswading him from drinking Waters.

[Inspired Wit.]

Epistle to Lord ---.

To My Lady Exeter, on New Years day.

[Answer to an] Orange.

[Great Nassau rise from Beauty]

The same Varied.

A Hymn to Venus, upon a Marriage.

A new Answer to an Argument against a Standing-Army.

[A Ballad of Vigour.]

Seneca, Troas. Act 2d.

Translated from the Original French.

[Reality and Image.]

Verses Intended for Lock and Montaigne.

Fragments Written At Down-Hall.

Fragments for Alma.

The World was 200 Year in the Dark following Aristotle.

Written under a Picture painted by Mr Howard.

True Statesmen.

On the Marchioness of Caermarthen.

Virgils Georgic 4 Verse 511 Qualis ------ implet

Answer to the Female Phaeton.

In a Window in Lord Villiers house.

To a Painter (fragments).

A Prologue intended to the Play of Chit Chat, but never finished.

Prelude to a Tale from Boccace in blank Verse.

PREDESTINATION.

[Fragment from Britanicus.]

Translation of an Epitaph upon Gilbert Glanville Bishop of Rochester as written in Rochester Cathedral.

From Ronsard's Franciade Book the IVth Folio 465.

[Fragments in Prose and Verse.]

[Jinny the Just.]

collapse section

FRAGMENTS FROM PRIOR'S LETTERS, ETC.

FROM A LETTER TO THE EARL OF DORSET.

ON THE DEATH OF QUEEN MARY.

WRITTEN IN THE LIBRARY, [Wimpole] Dec. 2, 1720. M.P.

collapse section

POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO PRIOR

AN ANSWER TO THE Curious MAID. A TALE.

collapse section

THE LYON AND THE FOX.

An EPISTLE from the Elector of BAVARIA to the FRENCH King, after the Battle of Ramillies.

An Apology to a Lady, who told me, I cou'd not love her heartily, because I had lov'd others.

Against Modesty in Love.

On a young Lady's going to Town in the Spring.

When the Cat's away, The Mice may play.

A FABLE OF THE WIDOW AND HER CAT.

A Paraphrase on the French.

collapse section

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

298

A Hymn to the Spring.

I

Fairest Child of flowing time,
Earths refreshment, Heav'ns delight,
Beauties honor, Natures prime
Joy of our Soul, and glory of our sight!
O bridle in the posting hours;
Thy too precipitated course restrain,
Cast out thy blossoms, spread thy flow'rs,
Augment our pleasure, and prolong thy reign.
For t'were impiety to wish Thee gone,
Tho Summer next and all her fruits come on.

II

All, thy absent Deity
With repeated Pray'rs implore;
All rejoice, thy Presence nigh,
Behold thy Miracles, and bless thy Pow'r.
The Farmer from thy looks receives
The blooming promise of a fruitful Year:
The Lover from thy bounty weaves
An early Honor for his Mistress' hair:
The sullen Warrior smiles, to see thee spread
The future Pride of his ennobled head.

III

Senseless as the Year we lye,
'Till kind spring's enlivening fires
Wakens our activity,
Improves our Joys, and heightens our desires.
For thee ev'n Venus we'l despise
Thou brighter Queen of Harmony and Love!
And Thee too born above the skies
Without a fictious Metaphor we'l prove:
For what is Heav'n but bright recesses, where
A constant Spring inriches all the Year?