Can nature then, fuch fudden fhocks, fuftain?
Nature thus ftruck, all reafon pleads in vain!
Though late, from reafon yet he draws relief,
Dwells on her memory; but difpels his grief.
Love, wealth, and fame (tyrannic paffions all!)
No more entlame him, and no more enthral. 26
He feeks no more, in Rufus' hall, renown;
Nor envies Pelf the jargon of the gown;
But pleas'd with competence, on rural plains,
His wifdom courts that eafe his worth obtains, 30
Would private jars, which fudden rife, encrease?
His candour fmiles all difcord into peace.
To party forms is public weal refign'd?
Each steady patriot-virtue fteers his mind,
Calin, on the beach, while maddening billows

rave,

35

40

He gains philofophy from every wave;
Science, from every object round, he draws;
From various nature, and from nature's laws.
He lives o'er every pat hiftoric age;
He calls forth ethics from the fabled page.
Him evangelic truth, to thought excites;
And him, by turns, each claffic Mufe delights.
With wit well-natur'd; wit, that would difdain
A pleafure rifing from another's pain;
Social to all, and moft of blifs poffeft, -
When moft he renders all, around him, bleft:
To unread 'fquires illiterately gay;
Among the learn'd, as learned full as they;
With the polite, all, all-accomplish'd cafe,
By nature form'd, without deceit, to pleafe. 50
Thus fhines thy youth; and thus my friend,

elate

45

Then weds with Tame; and thefe, O London, fee

Swelling with naval pride, the pride of thee! Wide, deep, unfullied Thames, meandering. glides.

And bears thy wealth on mild majestic tides. 10
Thyips, with gilded palaces that vie,
In glittering pomp, firike wondering China's

eye;

21

And thence returning bear, in fplendid state,
To Britain's merchants, India's eastern freight.
India, her treasures from her western fhores, 15
Due at thy feet, a willing tribute pours;
Thy warring navies diftant nations awe,
And bid the world obey thy righteous law.
Thus fhine thy marly fons of liberal mind;
Thy change deep-bufied, yet as courts refin'd;
Councils, like fenates, that enforce debate,
With fluent eloquence and reason's weight.
Whofe patriot virtue, lawlefs power controls;
Their British emulating Roman fouls.
Of thefe the worthieft ftill felected ftand,
Still lead the fenate, and ftill fave the land;
Social, not felfish, here, O Learning, trace
Thy friends, the lovers of all human race!
In a dark bottom funk, O Bristol now,
With native malice, lift thy lowering brow! 30
Then as fome hell-born fprite in mortal guife,
Borrows the fhape of goodness and belies,
All fair, all fmug, to yon proud hall invite,
To feaft all frangers ape an air polite !
From Cambria draia'd, or England's weftern

coaft,

25

35

Not elegant, yet coftly banquets boast!
Revere, or feem the ttranger to revere;
Praife, fawn, profefs, be all things but fincere ;
Infidious now, our bofom-fecrets fteal,
And thefe with fly farcattic facer reveal.
Prefent we meet thy fneaking treacherous (miles;
The harmless abfent ftill thy fneer reviles;
Such as in thee all parts fuperior find,

40

The fneer that marks the fool and knave com bin'd;

45

When melting pity would afford relief.
The ruthless ineer that infult adds to grief.
What friendship canst thou boaft? what honours

claim?

To thee each franger owes an injur❜d name.
What fmiles thy fons muft in their foes excite!
Thy fons, to whom all difeord is delight;
From whom eternal mutual railing flows;
Who in each other's crimes, their own expofe;
Thy fons, though crafty, deaf to wifdom's call;
Defpifing all men, and defpis'd by all;
Sons, while thy cliffs a ditch-like river laves, 55
Rude as thy rocks, and muddy as thy waves,
Of thoughts as narrow as of words immenfe,.
As full of turbulence as void of fenfe?
Thee, thee, what fenatorial fou}; adorn!
Thy natives fure would prove a fenate's feorn. (o
Do ftrangers deign to ferve thee; what their
praite?

Their generous fervices thy murmurs raise,
What fend malign, that o'er thy air prefides,
Around from breaft to breaft inherent glides,

Kk

And, as he glides, there fcatters in a trice The lurking feeds of every rank device? · Let foreign youths to thy indentures run! Each, each will prove, in thy adopted fon, Proud, pert, and dull-though brilliant from schools,

once

70

Will fcorn all learning's as all virtues rules;
And, though by nature friendly, honeft, brave,
Turn a fly, felfifh, fimpering, tharping knave.
Boaft petty-courts, where 'ftead of fluent cafe,
Of cited precedents and learned pleas;
Stead of fage counsel in the dubious caufe,
Attornies, chattering wild, burlefque the laws
(So fhameless quacks, who doctors rights invade,
(Of jargon and of poifon form a trade.

75

So canting coblers, while from tubs they teach,
Buffoon the gospel they pretend to preach.) 80
Boaft petty courts, whence rules new rigour
draw,

Unknown to Nature's and to Statute-law;
Quirks that explain all saving rights away,
To give th' attorney and the catchpoll prey.
Is there where law too rigorous may deicend, 85
Or charity her kindly hand extend?
Thy courts, that, fhut when pity would redrefs,
Spontaneous open to inflict diftrefs.

Try mifdemeanours!all thy wiles employ,
Not to chaftife th' offender, but destroy

90

95

ICO

Boaft fwarming veffels, whofe plebeian ftate
Owes not to merchants but mechanics freight.
Boaft nought but pedlar-fleets-in war's alarm,
Unknown to glory, as unknown to arms.
Beaft thy bafe * Tolfey, and thy turn-fpit dogs,
Thy Halliers horfes and thy human hogs:
Upftarts and mushrooms, proud, relentless
bearts;

Thou blank of fciences! thou dearth of arts!
Such foes as learning once was doom'd to fee!
Huns, Goths, and Vandal, were but types of

thee.

106

Proceed, great Bristol, in all-righteous ways, And let one Juftice heighten yet thy praife; Still fpare the catamite, and swinge the whore. And be, whate'er Gomorrha was before.

111

By many a petty lord poffefs'd, But ne'er fince feated in one fingle breast! 'Tis you who must this land fubdue, The mighty conqueft's left for you, The conqueft and discovery too; Search out this Utopian ground, Virtue's Terra Incognita, Where none ever led the way,

A place where the merchants used to meet to tranfact their affairs before the Exchange was erefied. See Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XIII. p. 496. Halliers are the persons who drive cr own the Sledges, which are here used instead of carts.

Nor ever fince but in defcriptions found,

Like the philofopher's stone, With rules to fearch it, yet obtain❜d by none.

II.

We have too long been led aftray; Too long have our misguided fouls been taught With rules from mufty morals brought, 'Tis you must put us in the way; Let us (for fhame!) no more be fed With antique reliques of the dead, The gleanings of philosophy, Philofophy, the lumber of the fchools, The roguery of alchemy;

And we, the bubbled fools,

Spend all our prefent life in hopes of golden rules.

III.

But what does our proud ignorance Learning call?

We oddly Plato's paradox make good,
Our knowledge is but mere remembrance all;
Remembrance is our treaiure and our
food;

Nature's fair table-book, our tender fouls,
We fcrawl all o'er with old and empty rules,
Stale memorandums of the fchools:
For Learning's mighty treasures look
In that deep grave a book;

Think that the there does all her treafures hide, And that her troubled ghost still haunts there fince e dy❜d.

Confine her walks to colleges and fchools;

Her priests, her train, and followers fhew As if they all were fpe&tres too! They purchase knowledge at th' expence Of common breeding, common sense, And grow at once scholars and fools; Affe& ill-manner'd pedautry, Rudeness, ill-nature, incivility,

And, fick with dregs of knowledge grown, Which greedily they swallow down, Still caft it up, and naufeate company.

The wily fhifts of state, thofe jugglers' tricks,
Which we call deep defigns and politicks
(As in a theatre the ignorant fry,

Because the cords efcape their eye,
Wonder to fee the motions fly);
Methinks, when you expofe the scene,
Down the ill-organ'd engines fall;

Off fly the vizards, and difcover all :

How plain I fee through the deceit ! How fhallow, and how grofs, the cheat! Look where the pully's tied above! Great God! (faid I) what have I feen!

On what poor engines move The thoughts of monarchs, and designs of states! What petty motives rule their fates!

How the mouse makes the mighty mountain

shake!

The mighty mountain labours with its birth,
Away the frighten'd peasants fly,
Scar'd at th' unheard-of prodigy,
Expect fome great gigantic fon of earth;
Lo! it appears!

See how they tremble! how they quake! Out starts the little beaft, and mocks their idle fears.

VIII.

Then tell, dear favourite Mufe!
What ferpent's that, which still reforts,
Still lurks in palaces and courts?

Take thy unwonted flight,

And on the terrace light.

See where the lies!

See how the rears her head,

And rolls about her dreadful eyes,
To drive all virtue out, or look it dead!
'Twas fure this bailifk fent Temple thence,
And though as fome ('tis faid) for their defence
Have worn a cafement o'er their skin,
So he wore his within,

Made up of virtue and tranfparent innocence;
And though he oft renew'd the fight,
And almost got priority of fight,

He ne'er could overcome her quite
(In pieces cut, the viper ftill did re-unite),

Till, at laft, tir'd with lofs of time and eafe, Refolv'd to give himself, as well as country, peace.

IX.

Sing, belov'd Mufe! the pleasures of retreat,
And in fome untouch'd virgin ftrain
Shew the delights thy fifter Nature yields ;
Sing of thy vales, fing of thy woods, fing of
thy fields;

Go publish o'er the plain
How mighty a profelyte you gain !
How noble a reprifal on the great!

How is the Mufe luxuriant grown!
Whene'er she takes this flight,
She foars clear out of fight.
Thefe are the paradifes of her own:
(The Pegafus, like an unruly horse,
Though ne'er fo gently led

To the lov'd patture where he us❜d to feed,
Runs violently o'er his ufual courfe.)

Wake from thy waaton dreams,

Come from thy dear-lov'd ftreams,
The crooked paths of wandering Thames!
Fain the fair nymph would stay,
Oft' fhe looks back in vain,
Oft' 'gainst her fountain does complain,

And foftly fteals in many windings down,
As loth to fce the hated court and town,
And murmurs as the glides away.

X.

In this new happy feene

Are nobler fubjects for your learned pen;
Here we expect from you

More than your predeceffor Adam knew;
Whatever moves our wonder, or our sport,
Whatever ferves for innocent emblem's of the

court;

How that which we a kernel fee (Whofe well-compacted forms efcape the light, Unpierc'd by the blunt rays of fight)

Shall ere long grow into a tree; Whence takes it its incrcafe, and whence its birth. Or from the fun, or from the air, or from the earth,

Where all the fruitful atoms lie;

XI.

Shall I believe a fpirit fo divine

Was caft in the fame mould with mine? Why then does Nature fo unjuttly share Among her elder fons the whole eftate, And all her jewels and her plate?

Poor we! cadets of Heaven, not worth her care, Take up at beft with lumber and the leavings of a fare:

Some the birds 'prentice to the spade,
Some to the drudgery of a trade,

Some he does to Egyptian bor dage draw,
Bids us male bricks, yet fends us to look out for
ftraw:

Some fhe condemns for life to try To dig the leaden mines of deep philofophy: Me fe has to the Mufe's gallics tied, In vain I ftrive to cross this fpacious main, In vain I tug and pull the car, And, when I almoit reach the there, Straight the Mufe turns the helm, and I launch out again :

And yet to feed my pride,

Whene'er I mourn, ftops my complaining breath, With promise of a mad reverfon after death, XII.

Then, Sir, accept this worthlefs verse,
The tribute of an humble Mufe,
'Tis all the portion of my niggard ftars;
Nature the hidden spark did at my birth infuse,
And kindled firft with indolence and ease;

And, fince too oft' debauch'd by praife,
'Tis now grown an incurable difeafe:
In vain to quench this foolish fire I try
In wifdem and philofophy;

In vain all wholefome herbs I fow,
Where nought but weeds will grow.
Whate'er I plant (like corn on barren earth)
By an equivocal birth

Seeds, and runs up to poetry.

How fome go downward to the root, Some more ambitiously upwards fly, And form the leaves, the branches, and the You ftrove to cultivate a barren court in vain, Your garden's better worth your noble pain, Here mankind fell, and hence must rise again.

Had you by dull fucceffion gain'd your crown
(Cowards are Monarchs by that title made),
Part of your merit Chance would call her own.
And half your virtues had been loft in fhade.
But now your worth its juft reward frall have :
What trophies and what triumphs are your duc;
Who could fo well a dying nation fave,

At once deferve a crown, and gain it too!
You faw how near we were to ruin brought,
You faw th impetuous torrent rolling on;
And timely on the coming danger thought,

Which we could neither obviate, nor fhun. Britannia ftript from her fole guard the laws, Ready to fall Rome's bloody facrif.ce; You ftraight ftept in, and from the ntonfter's jaws Did bravely fnatch the lovely, helpless prize. Nor this is all; as glorious is the care

To preferve conquefts, as at first to gain : In this your virtue claims a double share,

Which what it bravely won, does well maintain.

Your arm has now your rightful title show'd,

An arm on which all Europe's hopes depend, To which they look as to fome guardian God, That muft their doubtful liberty defend. Amaz'd, thy action at the Boyne we fee!

When Schomberg farted at the vast design: The boundless glory all redounds to thee, Th' impulfe, the fight, th' event, were wholly thine.

The brave attempt does all our foes difarm;

You need but now give orders and command, Your name fall the remaining work perform, And fpare the labour of your conquering hand. France does in vain her feeble arts apply,

To interrupt the fortune of your courie: Your influence does the vain attacks defy

Of fecret malice, or of open force. Boldly we hence the brave commencement date Of glorious deeds, that muft all tongues employ:

William's the pledge and earneft given by Fate Of England's glory, and her lafting joy.

ODE

TO THE ATHENIAN SOCIETY.

Moor-Park, Feb. 14, 1691,
I.

As when the deluge first began to fall,
That mighty ebb never to flow again
(When this huge body's moisture was fo great,
It quite o'ercame the vital heat);
That mountain which was higheft, first of all
Appear'd above the univerfal main,
To blefs the primitive failor's weary fight!
And 'twas perhaps Parnaffus, if in height
It be as great as 'tis in fame,

And nigh to Heaven as is its name:
So, after th' inundation of a war,

When Learning's little houfhold did embark
With her world's fruitful fyftem in her facred ark,
At the firft ebb of noife and fears,
Philofophy's exalted head appears;
And the Dove-Mufe will now no longer ftay,
But plumes her filver wings and flies away;
And now a laurel wreath the brings from far,
To crown the happy conqueror,

To fhew the flood begins to cease,
And brings the dear reward of victory and peace.
II.

The eager Muse took wing upon the waves' decline.

When War her cloudy afpect juft withdrew, When the bright fun of Peace began to frine, And for a while in heavenly contemplation fat On the high top of peaceful Ararat ;

And pluck'd a laurel branch (for laurel was the frft that grew,

The firft of plants after the thunder, storm, and rain);

And thence, with joyful nimble wing,
Flew dutifully back again,

And made an humble chiaplet for the King *.
And the Dove-Mufe is Hed once more

(Glad of the victory, yet frighten'd at the war); And now difcovers from afar

A peaceful and a flourishing shore:
No fooner did the land

On the delightful strand,

Than ftraight the fees the country all around, Where fatal Neptune rul'd erewhile,

Scatter'd with flowery vales, with fruitful gardens crown'd,

And many a pleasant wood!

As if the univerfal Nile

Had rather water'd it than drown'd:

It feems fome floating piece of paradife,

Preferv'd by worder from the food,-
Long wandering through the deep, as we are told
Fam'd Delos did of old,

And the tranfported Mufe imagin'd it
To be a fitter birth-place for the God of wit,
Or the much-talk'd oracular grove;
When with amazing joy the hears

An unknown mufck all around

Charming her greedy ears

With many a heavenly forg

Of nature and of art, of deep philosophy `and love,

Whilft angels tune the voice, and God infpires the tongue.

In vain fe catches at the empty found, In vain pursues the mufic with her longing eye, And courts the wanton echoes as they fly. III.

Pardon, ye great unknown, and far-exalted men. The wild excurtions of a youthful pen†;

*The Ole I writ to the King in Ireland, SWIFT, See p. 11.

See Swift's very remarkable Tetter to the Athe nian Society, in the "Supplement to his Works,” N