University of Virginia Library

FRAGMENTARY AND UNDATED POEMS

42 [Translation from Statius,

Thebaid IX 319–27]

Crenaeus, whom the nymph Ismenis bore
To Faunus on the Theban river's shore,
With new-born heat amidst his native stream
Exults in arms, which cast an iron gleam.
In this clear wave he first beheld the day;
On the green bank first taught his steps to stray,
To skim the parent flood and on the margin play:
Fear he disdains and scorns the power of fate,
Secure within his mother's watery state.
The youth exulting stems the bloody tide,
Visits each bank and stalks with martial pride,
While old Ismenus' gently-rolling wave
Delights the favourite youth within its flood to lave.
Whether the youth obliquely steers his course
Or cuts the downward stream with equal force,
The indulgent river strives his steps to aid.

43 [Verse Fragments]

Gratitude

The Joy that trembles in her eye
She bows her meek & humble head
[OMITTED] in silent praise
[OMITTED] beyond the power of Sound.

(Mr Pope dead)

[OMITTED] and smart beneath the visionary scourge
—'tis Ridicule & not reproach that wounds
Their vanity & not their conscience feels
[OMITTED]
A few shall [OMITTED]
The cadence of my song repeat
& hail thee in my words.

44 [Impromptus]

[The Bishop of Chester]

The Bishop of Chester
Though wiser than Nestor
And fairer than Esther,
If you scratch him will fester.

[Here lies Edmund Keene Lord Bishop of Chester]

Here lies Edmund Keene Lord Bishop of Chester,
He eat a fat goose and could not digest her—

[Here lies Mrs Keene, the Bishop of Chester]

Here lies Mrs Keene, the Bishop of Chester,
She had a bad face which did sadly molest her.

[Here lives Harry Vane]

Here lives Harry Vane,
Very good claret and fine champagne.

[When you rise from your dinner as light as before]

When you rise from your dinner as light as before,
'Tis a sign you have eat just enough and no more.

45 [Couplet about Birds]

There pipes the woodlark, and the song-thrush there
Scatters his loose notes in the waste of air.

46 [Lines on Dr Robert Smith]

Do you ask why old Focus Silvanus defies,
And leaves not a chestnut in being?
'Tis not that old Focus himself has got eyes,
But because he has writ about seeing.

47 Satire on the Heads of Houses;

or, Never a Barrel the Better Herring