ON HER BEAUTIFUL TRANSCRIPT OF HORACE'S ODE "AD LIBRUM SUUM."
FOR A STONE ERECTED AT THE SOWING OF A GROVE OF OAKS AT CHILLINGTON, THE SEAT OF T. GIFFARD, ESQ. 1790.
OTHER stones the era tell
When some feeble mortal fell; I stand here to date the birth Of these hardy sons of earth.
Which shall longest brave the sky, Storm and frost-these Oaks or I? Pass an age or two away,
I must moulder and decay; But the years that crumble me Shall invigorate the tree, Spread its branch, dilate its size, Lift its summit to the skies.
Cherish honour, virtue, truth, So shalt thou prolong thy youth: Wanting these, however fast Man be fixed, and formed to last, He is lifeless even now,
Stone at heart, and cannot grow.
FOR A STONE ERECTED ON A SIMILAR OCCASION AT THE SAME PLACE IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR.
Reader! behold a monument
That asks no sigh or tear, Though it perpetuate the event Of a great burial here.
ON HER KIND PRESENT TO THE AUTHOR, A PATCHWORK QUILT of HER OWN MAKING.
THE Bard, if e'er he feel at all, Must sure be quickened by a call Both on his heart and head,
To pay with tuneful thanks the care And kindness of a lady fair
Who deigns to deck his bed.
A bed like this, in ancient time, On Ida's barren top sublime,
(As Homer's Epic shows), Composed of sweetest vernal flowers, Without the aid of sun or showers, For Jove and Juno rose.
Less beautiful, however gay, Is that which in the scorching day Receives the weary swain,
Who, laying his long scythe aside, Sleeps on some bank with daisies pied, Till roused to toil again.
What labours of the loom I see!
Looms numberless have groaned for me! Should every maiden come
To scramble for the patch that bears The impress of the robe she wears, The bell would toll for some.
And oh, what havoc would ensue ! This bright display of every hue
All in a moment fled !
As if a storm should strip the bowers Of all their tendrils, leaves, and flowers,-- Each pocketing a shred.
Thanks, then, to every gentle fair, Who will not come to peck me bare As bird of borrowed feather, And thanks to one, above them all, The gentle fair of Pertenhall, Who put the whole together.
ON THE LATE INDECENT LIBERTIES TAKEN WITH THE REMAINS OF THE
"ME too, perchance, in future days, "The sculptured stone shall show, "With Paphian myrtle, or with bays "Parnassian on my brow.
"But I, or ere that season come,
Escaped from every care,
"Shall reach my refuge in the tomb, "And sleep securely there."*
So sang, in Roman tone and style, The youthful bard, ere long Ordained to grace his native isle With her sublimest song.
Who then but must conceive disdain, Hearing the deed unblest
Of wretches who have dared profane His dread sepulchral rest?
Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones Where Milton's ashes lay,
That trembled not to grasp his bones And steal his dust away!
O ill-requited bard! neglect Thy living worth repaid, And blind idolatrous respect As much affronts thee dead.
IN MEMORY OF THE LATE JOHN THORNTON, ESQ.
POETS attempt the noblest task they can, Praising the Author of all good in man, And, next, commemorating worthies lost, The dead in whom that good abounded most.
Thee, therefore, of commercial fame, but more Famed for thy probity from shore to shore; Thee, THORNTON ! worthy in some page to shine, As honest and more eloquent than mine, I mourn; or, since thrice happy thou must be, The world no longer thy abode, not thee. Thee to deplore were grief misspent indeed; It were to weep that goodness has its meed, That there is bliss prepared in yonder sky, And glory, for the virtuous when they die. What pleasure can the miser's fondled hoard Or spendthrift's prodigal excess afford, Sweet as the privilege of healing woe By virtue suffered combating below?
* Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus Nectens aut Paphia myrti aut Parnasside lauri Fronde comas-At ego securâ pace quiescam. MILTON in Manso
That privilege was thine; Heaven gave thee means To illumine with delight the saddest scenes, Till thy appearance chased the gloom, forlorn As midnight, and despairing of a morn. Thou hadst an industry in doing good, Restless as his who toils and sweats for food; Avarice in thee was the desire of wealth By rust unperishable or by stealth; And if the genuine worth of gold depend On application to its noblest end,
Thine had a value in the scales of Heaven, Surpassing all that mine or mint had given. And, though God made thee of a nature prone To distribution boundless of thy own, And still by motives of religious force Impelled thee more to that heroic course, Yet was thy liberality discreet,
Nice in its choice, and of a tempered heat, And though in act unwearied, secret still, As in some solitude the summer rill Refreshes, where it winds, the faded green, And cheers the drooping flowers, unheard, unseen. Such was thy charity; no sudden start, After long sleep, of passion in the heart, But steadfast principle, and, in its kind, Of close relation to the Eternal Mind, Traced easily to its true source above,
To Him whose works bespeak His nature Love. Thy bounties all were Christian, and I make This record of thee for the Gospel's sake: That the incredulous themselves may see Its use and power exemplified in thee.
"I COULD be well content, allowed the use
Of past experience, and the wisdom gleaned From worn-out follies, now acknowledged such,
To recommence life's trial, in the hope
Of fewer errors, on a second proof!"
Thus, while grey evening lulled the wind, and called Fresh odours from the shrubbery at my side,
Taking my lonely winding walk, I mused,
And held accustomed conference with my heart; When from within it thus a voice replied:
"Couldst thou in truth? and art thou taught at length
This wisdom, and but this, from all the past? Is not the pardon of thy long arrear, Time wasted, violated laws, abuse
Of talents, judgments, mercies, better far Than opportunity vouchsafed to err With less excuse, and, haply, worse effect?" I heard, and acquiesced: then to and fro Oft pacing, as the mariner his deck, My gravelly bounds, from self to human kind I passed, and next considered, What is man? Knows he his origin? can he ascend
By reminiscence to his earliest date? Slept he in Adam? and in those from him Through numerous generations, till he found At length his destined moment to be born? Or was he not, till fashioned in the womb?
Deep mysteries both! which schoolmen must have toiled To unriddle, and have left them mysteries still.
It is an evil incident to man,
And of the worst, that unexplored he leaves Truths useful and attainable with ease, To search forbidden deeps, where mystery lies Not to be solved, and useless if it might. Mysteries are food for angels; they digest With ease, and find them nutriment; but man, While yet he dwells below, must stoop to glean His manna from the ground, or starve, and die.
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