Inextricable, nor will aught avail
Their Arts, or Arms, or Shapes of lovely Hue;
The Wafp infidious, and the buzzing Drone,
And Butterfly proud of expanded Wings
Diftinct with Gold, entangled in her Snares,
Ufelefs Refiftance make: With eager Strides,
She tow'ring flies to her expected Spoils;
Then, with envenomed Jaws the vital Blood
Drinks of reluctant Foes, and to her Cave
Their bulky Carcaffes triumphant drags.
So pafs my Days. But when Nocturnal Shades
This World invelop, and th' inclement Air
Perfuades Men to repel benumming Frofts
With pleasant Wines, and crackling Blaze of Wood;
Me, lonely fitting, nor the glimmering Light
Of make-weight Candle, nor the joyous Talk
Of loving Friend delights; distress'd, forlorn,
Amidft the Horrors of the tedious Night,
Darkling I figh, and feed with dismal Thoughts
My anxious Mind; or fometimes mournful Verfe
Indite, and fing of Groves and Myrtle Shades,
Or desperate Lady near a purling Stream,
Or Lover pendent on a Willow Tree.
Mean while I labour with eternal Drought,
And restless wish, and rave; my parched Throat
Finds no Relief, nor heavy Eyes Repose:
But if a flumber haply does invade
My weary Limbs, my Fancy 's ftill awake,
Thoughtful of Drink, and eager, in a Dream,
Tipples imaginary Pots of Ale,
In vain; awake I find the fettled Thirst
Still gnawing, and the pleafing Fantom curfe.
Thus do I live, from Pleasure quite debarr'd,
Nor tafte the Fruits that the Sun's genial Rays
Mature, John-Apple, nor the downy Peach;
Nor Walnut in rough-furrow'd Coat fecure,
Nor Medlar-Fruit, delicious in Decay:
Afflictions great! yet greater ftill remain:
My Galligafkins that have long withstood
The Winter's Fury, and incroaching Frofts,
By Time fubdu'd, (what will not Time fubdue!)
An horrid Chafm difclofe, with Orifice
Wide, discontinuous; at which the Winds
Eurus and Aufter, and the dreadful Force
Of Boreas, that congeals the Cronian Waves,
Tumultuous enter with dire chilling Blafts,
Portending Agues. Thus a well-fraught Ship
Long fail'd fecure, or thro' th' Ægean Deep,
Or the Ionian, 'till cruising near
The Lilybean Shore, with hideous Crush
On Scylla, or Charybdis (dangʼrous Rocks!)
She strikes rebounding, whence the shatter'd Oak,
So fierce a Shock unable to withstand,
Admits the Sea; in at the gaping Side
The crowding Waves gush with impetuous Rage,
Refiflefs, overwhelming; Horrors feize
The Mariners, Death in their Eyes appears,
They ftare, they lave, they pump, they fwear, they pray:
(Vain Efforts!) ftill the battering Waves rush in,
Implacable, till delug'd by the Foam,
The Ship finks found'ring in the vaft Abyss.
A Panegyric on OXFORD ALE.
BY A GENTLEMAN OF OXFORD.
Mea nec Falernæ
Temperant vites, neque Formiani
ALM of my Cares, fweet Solace of Toils, my
Hail JUICE benignant! O'er the coftly Cups
Of Riot-ftirring Wine, unwholfome Draught,
Let Pride's loose Sons prolong the wafteful Night;
My fober Ev'ning let the Tankard blefs,
With Toaft embrown'd, and fragrant Nutmeg fraught,
While the rich Draught with oft-repeated Whiffs
Tobacco mild improves. Divine repaft!
Where no crude Surfeit, or intemperate Joys
Of lawless Bacchus reign; but o'er my Soul
A Calm Lethean creeps; in drowsy Trance
Each Thought fubfides, and sweet Oblivion wraps
My peaceful Brain, as if the leaden Rod
Of magic Morpheus o'er mine Eyes had shed
Its opiate Influence. What tho' fore Ills
Opprefs, dire Want of chill-difpelling Coals
Or chearful Candle, (fave the Make-Weight's Gleam
Haply remaining) heart-rejoicing ALE
Chears the fad Scene, and every Want fupplies.
Meantime, not mindless of the daily Task
Of Tutor fage, upon the learned Leaves
Of deep SMIGLECIUS much I meditate;
While ALE inspires, and lends its kindred Aid,
The thought-perplexing Labour to pursue,
Sweet Helicon of Logic! But if Friends
Cogenial call me from the toilfome Page,
To Pot-house I repair, the facred Haunt,
Where, ALE, thy Votaries in full refort,
Hold Rites Nocturnal. In capacious Chair
Of monumental Oak and antique Mould,
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