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XIII.

Full many a Youth whofe opening Shoot Teem'd with Poetic Foliage, o'er whose Head Caftalian Dews the gracious Mufe has shed, And promis'd riper Fruit ;

Such the firm Decrees of Fate,

Such the Shortness of his Date,
With the Troop of Phantoms nameless,
In that pious Volume fameless,

Where the triumphant Clouds of Smoke afpire
Sinks in Oblivion's Arms on the funereal Pyre.
XIV.

Far from the Terrors of thy Reign, Curb'd by thy Frown, audacious Genius flies Or, if he impotently dares to rife,

Is levell'd to the Plain;

Nought avails his magic Art

To avert thy vengeful Dart;

And his infolent emprifing;

Thou his vaunting Pow'r defpifing,

Eager his blafted Glories to confound,

Strik❜ft him a breathless Corfe, unpitying, to the Ground. XV.

When + Swinging Slow with Sweepy Sway,

In one fame conftant Tenor run our Rhimes,
Like the fweet Mufick of unvaried Chimes,
In distant due Delay;

+ See WARTON'S Pleasures of Melancholy, a Poem.

T'hen

Then our Vows thou deign'ft to hear,
With a condescending Ear,

Aid, O Goddefs, aid my Numbers,

Let me Share thy Sweeteft Slumbers, While from this Quill, as all along I doze, In Apathy discreet the Stumbling Stanza flows

A Poetical EPISTLE

To *****

Ο

*****, M. A. Student of Christ Church

Mufe,

By the Same.

Un Ufage inconftant t'entraine,
Et la Raifon toujours certaine
Ne t'a point marqué tes Sentiers ?

Mais, non, je ne veux point le croire 3
Le Reproche offense ta Gloire ;

Et fletriroit tous nos Lauriers.

LA MOTTE.

N Thames's Banks, while you with happier Care,
In bolder Notes invite the Aonian Fair-;

Or nobly point, to guide the rifing Youth,
The steep Afcent which scales the Hill of Truth,
With Learning pure Morality impart,

Strengthen the Head, and humanize the Heart;

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Shall fond Prefumption daringly intrude

To grate your polish'd Ear with Accents rude?
Since you, fome leisure Moments to beguile,
Regard my Idleneffes with a Smile;

No fervile Cuftom's narrow Laws revere,
Pleas'd with the Language of a Tongue fincere,
Accept this Prefent like a partial Friend!
Elfe the rafh Trifle juftly might offend.

If e'er my Bofom caught the facred Flame,
Let me remember from what Source it came :
Your Counsel bad me tread this arduous Way,
And deign'd to form the rough mishapen Lay.

Here will I trace where first these Strains began
E'er fleeting Childhood ripen'd into Man.
Can I forget, while Memory holds her Reign,
And fummons forth her bright ideal Train,
Beneath what* Aufpices my earlier Age
Imbib'd the Dictates of the good and Sage?
No, gentle Oufe! for oft I lov'd to stray
Where thy smooth Current winds its fedgy Way:
Full to my View befide thy conscious Stream
Coy Science thence difclos'd her kindling Beam;
In wild Career fpontaneous Numbers flow'd,
As with a Heat, unfelt before, I glow'd.

*Atthe Reverend Mr. CLEAVER'S, Father of the Gentleman to whom this Epiftle is addreffed.

If,

If, aught of Glory, Verfe like mine can give,
Thy Name recorded by the Mufe shall live,
To me far dearer than the boasted Groves
Of proud Lyceum where Illiffus roves:
Though not a Wreath adorn thy modeft Urn,
In thy neglected Meads no Poet burn,
No Lover carve thy Praise on every Tree,
With his Califta fondly joining thee.

Since Glory prompted, and I turn'd my Eyes
To where the Hills of steep Parnaffus rife ;
Since sketch'd by Hope the flattering Landscape grew,
Ere Judgment check'd the Strokes which Fancy drew.
Blindly I ventur'd on a feeble Wing,

Struck the harsh Lyre, and tun'd th' unmeaning String
But when faint gliminering o'er the mighty Theme
The Lamp of Genius vanish'd like a Dream.
In Wisdom's loftier Spheres too weak to rise,
Where wrapt in Clouds abftrufer Science lies!
Unfkilful in the Jargon of the Schools,
And little vers'd in mathematic Rules,
With ardent Curiofity I fought

What modern Art, what antient Nature taught ;
Saw Poetry expand a leafy Shoot

To hide its fapless Trunk, and wafted Root
Obferv❜d Caprice exalt her light Abode,
And mark'd the Sallies of the reigning Mode.

I 4

;

Some

Some will object;" fuch Theme is quite misplaced; "Hence Madam! what haft thou to do with Taste ? "Shall uncommiffion'd Impudence decide

"On Airs and Operas with a Scribler's Pride;

<< And dare to mix with Coxcombs not a few
"Who talk of Matters which they never knew?
Because forfooth I flaunt not in Brocade
To the Ridotto, Court, or Mafquerade?
But hear unmov'd imperious Fashion's Call,
And bring no Surfeit from the midnight Ball,
Nor the flow, tedious, weighty Hours to kill,
All day read Hoyle, all Night attend Quadrille ;
They treat my Notions as th' abfurd Pretence

Of one quite loft to Taste and common Senfe.
Avaunt
"the
ye Witlings," grave Pedant cries;
"Or pay juft Def'rence to the Learn'd and Wife.
"Whoe'er would judge aright of Books, of Men,
"And deal Inftruction with unerring Pen,
"Before he hopes to win the gazing Crowd
"And to the World proclaim his Thoughts aloud :
"Let him in bulky Volumes deeply read
"Drink genuine Knowledge from the Fountain-Head
As one bewildered in profoundest Night,
Who faintly kens fome Vapor's dancing Light,
At Random led: perplex'd by each Remark,
We're left as much as ever in the Dark:

When

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