Hi quidem (sic dis placuit) fuere :
Sed ratis, nondum putris, ire possit
Rursus in bellum, Britonumque nomea
Tollere ad astra
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 :
O happiness! not to be found,
Unattainable treasure, adicu!
I have sought thee in splendour and dress,
In the regions of pleasure and taste;
I have sought thee, and seem'd to possess,
But have prov'd thee a vision at last.
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.
Poace 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.
The vast majestick globe,
So beauteously array'd In nature's various robe,
With wondrous skill display'd,
Is to a mourner's heart
A dreary wild at best;
It flutters to depart,
And longs to be at rest.
* Also written at the request of Lady Austen.
SELECTED FROM AN OCCASIONAL POEM, ENTITLED
On Friendship! Cordial of the human breast
So little felt, so fervently profess'd!
Thy blossoms deck our unsuspecting years;
The promise of delicious fruit appears:
We hug the hopes of constancy and truth,
Such is the folly of our dreaming youth;
But soon,
alas detect the rash mistake
That sanguine inexperience loves to make,
And view with tears th' expected harvest lost,
Decay'd by time, or wither'd by a frost.
Whoever undertakes a friend's great part
Should be renew'd in nature, pure in heart,
Prepared for martyrdom, and strong to prove
A thousand ways the force of genuine love.
He may be call'd to give up health and gain,
T'exchange content for trouble, ease for pain,
To echo sigh for sigh, and groan for groan,
And wet his cheeks with sorrows not his own.
The heart of man, for such a task too frail,
When most relied on, is most sure to fail;
And, summon'd to partake its fellow's wo,
Starts from its office, like a broken bow.
Vot'ries of business, and of pleasure, prove
Faithless alike in friendship and in love.
Retir'd from all the circles of the gay,
And all the crowds, that bustle life away,
To scenes, where competition, envy, strife,
Beget no thunder-clouds to trouble life.
Let me, the charge of some good angel, find
One, who has known, and has escaped mankind;
Polite, yet virtuous, who has brought away
The manners, not the morals, of the day :
With him, perhaps with her, (for men have known
No firmer friendships than the fair have shown,)
Let me enjoy, in some unthought-of spot,
All former friends forgiven, and forgot,
Down to the close of life's fast fading scene,
Union of hearts, without a flaw between.
'Tis grace, 'tis bounty, and it calls for praise,
If God give health, that sunshine of our days'
And if he add, a blessing shared by few,
Content of heart, more praises still are due-
But if he grant a friend, that boon possess'd
Indeed is treasure, and crowns all the rest;
And giving one, whose heart is in the skies,
Born from above, and made divinely wise,
He gives, what bankrupt nature never can,
Whose noblest coin is light and brittle man,
Gold, purer far than Ophir ever knew,
A soul, an image of himself, and therefore true
IN BREVITATEM VITÆ SPATII HOMINIBUS CONCESSI.
HEI mihi! Lege rata sol occidit atque resurgit,
Lunaque mutatæ reparat dispendia formæ,
Astraque, purpurei telis extincta diei,
Rursus nocte vigent. Humiles telluris alunni
Graminis herba verens, et florum picta propago,
Quos crudelis hyems lethali tabe peredit,
Cum Zephyri vox blanda vocat, rediitque sereni
Temperies anni, fœcundo, e cespite surgunt.
Nos domini rerum, nos, magna et pulchra minati,
Cum breve ver vitæ robustaque transiit ætas,
Deficimus; nec nos ordo revolubilis auras
Reddit in æthercas, tumuli neque claustra resolvit
TRANSLATION OF THE FOREGOING.
SUNS that set, and moons that wane,
Rise, and are restor'd again,
Stars that orient day subdues,
Night at her return renews.
Herbs and flowers, the beauteous birth
Of the genial womb of carth,
Suffer but a transient death
From the winter's cruel breath
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