And cambric handkerchiefs reward the song. * Let constant vigilance thy footsteps guide, And wary circumspection guard thy side; Then shalt thou walk unharmed the dang'rous night, The scolding huckster shall not o'er thee moan, Though you through cleanlier alleys wind by day, To shun the hurries of the public way, Yet ne'er to those dark paths by night retire; 85 115 120 125 130 Nor sneering alewives bid thee turn again. * * * * Let not the chairman, with assuming stride, Whose flambeau gilds the sashes of Pell-mell, Make my knee tremble with the jarring blow. 5 IO FABLE XLV. -THE POET AND THE ROSE I HATE the man who builds his name Thus prudes, by characters o'erthrown, When we some other nymph disarm. A Poet sought the sweets of May, Go, Rose, my Chloe's bosom grace; With never-fading love! There, Phoenix-like, beneath her eye, 15 20 Know, hapless flower, that thou shalt find 25 More fragrant roses there; I see thy with'ring head reclined With envy and despair! One common fate we both must prove; You die with envy, I with love. Spare your comparisons, replied An angry Rose who grew beside. Of all mankind, you should not flout us; In ev'ry love-song roses bloom, We lend you colour and perfume. Does it to Chloe's charms conduce, 30 35 40 To found her praise on our abuse? To wither, envy, pine, and fade? MR. POPE'S WELCOME FROM GREECE I LONG hast thou, friend, been absent from thy soil, Like patient Ithacus at siege of Troy; I have been witness of thy six years' toil, Thy daily labours and thy night's annoy, 5 Lost to thy native land with great turmoil, On the wide sea, oft threatening to destroy: Methinks with thee I've trod Sigæan ground, And heard the shores of Hellespont resound. II Did I not see thee when thou first sett'st sail IO To seek adventures fair in Homer's land? Did I not see thy sinking spirits fail And wish thy bark had never left the strand? Even in mid ocean often didst thou quail And oft lift up thy holy eye and hand, 15 Praying the virgin dear and saintly choir, Back to the port to bring thy bark entire. III Cheer up, my friend, thy dangers now are o'er; Methinks nay, sure the rising coasts appear; Hark how the guns salute from either shore IV Now pass we Gravesend with a friendly wind, And Tilbury's white fort, and long Blackwall; Facetious Disney greet thee first of all: I see his chimney smoke, and hear him say: V 'Come in, my friends, here shall ye dine and lie, And here shall breakfast and here dine again, And sup and breakfast on (if ye comply) For I have still some dozens of champagne:' His voice still lessens as the ship sails by; VI Oh, what a concourse swarms on yonder quay! |