So, manners decent and polite, The same we practis'd at first sight, Must save it from declension. The man who hails you Tom-or Jack, To pardon, or to bear it. Some friends make this their prudent plan66 Say little, and hear all you can ?" Safe policy, but hateful. So barren sands imbibe the show'r, They whisper trivial things, and small; Things serious, deem improper; These samples (for alas! at last Pursue the theme, and you shall find A principal ingredient. True friendship has, in short, a grace That proves it heav'n-descended: ON THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE [To the March in Scipio.] WRITTEN WHEN THE NEWS ARRIVED [September, 1782.] TOLL for the brave! The brave that are no more, All sunk beneath the wave, Fast by their native shore! Eight hundred of the brave, Whose courage well was tried, Had made the vessel heel, And laid her on her side. at was not in the battle; No tempest gave the shock; She sprang no fatal leak; She ran upon no rock. His sword was in his sheath; When Kempenfelt went down, With twice four hundred men. Weigh the vessel up, Once dreaded by our foes! And mingle with our cup, The tear that England owes. Her timbers yet are sound, And she may float again, Full-charg'd with England's thunder, And plough the distant main. But Kempenfelt is gone, His victories are o'er ; And he and his eight hundred, Shall plough the wave no more. 10* IN SUBMERSIONEM NAVIGII, CUI GEORGIUS REGALIS NOMEN, INDITUM. PLANGIMUS fortes. Periere fortes, Patrium propter periere littus His quater centum; subito sub alto Navis, innitens lateri, jacebat, Plangimus fortes. Nimis, heu, caducam Magne, qui nomen, licet incanorum, Non hyems illos furibunda mersit, Navitæ sed tum nimium jocosi Et quiescebat calamoque dextram im- Vos, quibus cordi est grave opus piumque, Et putrescentes sub aquis amicos Reddite amicis! Hi quidem (sic dis placuit) fuere : SONG ON PEACE. WRITTEN IN THE SUMMER OF 1763, AT THE REQUEST OF LADY AUSTEN, WHO GAVE THE SENTIMENT. Air-"My fond shepherds of late," &c. No longer I follow a sound; No longer a dream I pursue : I have sought thee in splendour and dress, An humble ambition and hope The voice of true wisdom inspires : "Tis sufficient, if Peace be the scope, And the summit of all our desires. Peace may be the lot of the mind That seeks in it meekness and love; But rapture and bliss are confin'd To the glorified spirits above. |