 | Poems on several occasions |  |
AN EPISTLE TO MY LORD ORRERY, 1738.
From banks of Ex or Loman shall I soar?
Where bard of Westminster ne'er sang before;
And where, if angry foes their threats maintain,
No Westminster shall ever sing again.
No climate this to tempt heroic flight.
Or raise a genius up to Pindar's height:
Yet even here I'll try, in humbler style,
To please you as a friend, if not as Boyle.
Where bard of Westminster ne'er sang before;
And where, if angry foes their threats maintain,
No Westminster shall ever sing again.
No climate this to tempt heroic flight.
Or raise a genius up to Pindar's height:
595
To please you as a friend, if not as Boyle.
A friend! what's that? what can the word intend?
Who can explain the barbarous term “a friend?”
'Tis hardly English: glossaries profound
May teach the' importance of the sacred sound;
But not to you, who friendship dare to show
To fortunes moderate, and to fortunes low;
From modest worth disdaining to recede,—
Southern in years, or Sheridan in need.
Let miscreants, cast in base, inferior mould,
Avoid the needy, and despise the old:
Though he that virtuous age with judgment eyes
Will find more cause to envy than despise;
While willing nature gently wears away,—
The calm, still evening of a cloudless day;
Nor scenes of guilt perplex the dying hour,
Ill-weaved ambition, or ill-managed power.
Who can explain the barbarous term “a friend?”
'Tis hardly English: glossaries profound
May teach the' importance of the sacred sound;
But not to you, who friendship dare to show
To fortunes moderate, and to fortunes low;
From modest worth disdaining to recede,—
Southern in years, or Sheridan in need.
Let miscreants, cast in base, inferior mould,
Avoid the needy, and despise the old:
Though he that virtuous age with judgment eyes
Will find more cause to envy than despise;
While willing nature gently wears away,—
The calm, still evening of a cloudless day;
Nor scenes of guilt perplex the dying hour,
Ill-weaved ambition, or ill-managed power.
Say, how shall wisdom's care our lives dispose,
To end with safety, and with rapture close?
In duty's paths unfailing hope is found,
Built by sound learning on religion sound.
For this from Ireland Orrery repairs,
To trust to' Eliza's walls his darling heirs.
She favour'd musty books and grammar-rules,
And liked the' impartial levelling of schools,
Where boys with prayer-books and with psalms they breed,
And teach to reverence and rehearse their creed;
Nor teach in vain, when public care we find
With private prudence and affection join'd;
When the pleased father leads the ready son
At once by precept and example on,
And female sweetness trains the rising mind
To all the softer virtues of mankind.
To end with safety, and with rapture close?
In duty's paths unfailing hope is found,
Built by sound learning on religion sound.
For this from Ireland Orrery repairs,
To trust to' Eliza's walls his darling heirs.
She favour'd musty books and grammar-rules,
And liked the' impartial levelling of schools,
Where boys with prayer-books and with psalms they breed,
And teach to reverence and rehearse their creed;
596
With private prudence and affection join'd;
When the pleased father leads the ready son
At once by precept and example on,
And female sweetness trains the rising mind
To all the softer virtues of mankind.
Twice-happy Boyle! again ordain'd to prove
The chaste endearments of connubial love!
Twice-happy sons! again allow'd to share
The tender safeguard of a mother's care!
For not that sacred title truth denies,
Where love all-powerful nature's place supplies.
A stepmother exact, exempt from fault,
'Tis easier to be than to be thought.
Yet many fair have risen in spotless fame,
Whom calumny back-wounding durst not blame.
Such may your consort long your household bless,
Diffusing and receiving happiness;
From their reserved fanatic sourness far
Who wage with laughter everlasting war;
Who purest faith in deepest frowning place,
And take ill-nature for a sign of grace;
Who cause the straying feet yet more to stray,
And vex with needless thorns the narrow way!
In her, true, genuine cheerfulness you see,
Not stifling, but adorning, piety;
While inward joys in open looks appear,
And the clear conscience makes the forehead clear.
The chaste endearments of connubial love!
Twice-happy sons! again allow'd to share
The tender safeguard of a mother's care!
For not that sacred title truth denies,
Where love all-powerful nature's place supplies.
A stepmother exact, exempt from fault,
'Tis easier to be than to be thought.
Yet many fair have risen in spotless fame,
Whom calumny back-wounding durst not blame.
Such may your consort long your household bless,
Diffusing and receiving happiness;
From their reserved fanatic sourness far
Who wage with laughter everlasting war;
Who purest faith in deepest frowning place,
And take ill-nature for a sign of grace;
Who cause the straying feet yet more to stray,
And vex with needless thorns the narrow way!
In her, true, genuine cheerfulness you see,
Not stifling, but adorning, piety;
While inward joys in open looks appear,
And the clear conscience makes the forehead clear.
Perhaps you'll ask me, how so well I know:
I answer short, “Her husband told me so.”
Proof plain and strong! for, if he pass his word,
I dare believe him, though a wit and lord.
Suggested thus by him, a stranger's line
As his may please her, though it fails as mine.
I answer short, “Her husband told me so.”
597
I dare believe him, though a wit and lord.
Suggested thus by him, a stranger's line
As his may please her, though it fails as mine.
| Poems on several occasions | |