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To Mr. MASON.

By WILLIAM WHITEHEAD, Efq;

B

I.

ELIEVE me, MASON, 'tis in vain

Thy fortitude the torrent braves;

Thou too must bear th' inglorious chain;

The world, the world will have its flaves.
The chosen friend, for converse sweet,
The small, yet elegant retreat,

Are peaceful unambitious views
Which early fancy loves to form,
When aided by th' ingenuous Muse,
She turns the philofophic page,
And fees the wife of every age
With Nature's dictates warm.

II.

But ah! to few has Fortune given
The choice, to take or to refuse;
To fewer ftill indulgent Heaven

Allots the very will to choose.
And why are varying schemes prefer'd?
Man mixes with the common herd,

By

By custom guided to pursue

Or wealth, or honors, fame, or ease; What others wish he wishes too,

Nor, from his own peculiar choice,

'Till ftrengthen'd by the public voice, His very pleasures please.

How oft, beneath fome hoary fhade
Where Cam glides indolently flow,
Haft thou, as indolently laid,

Prefer'd to Heav'n thy fav'rite vow:
Here, here forever let me stay,

"Here calmly loiter life away,

"Nor all those vain connections know

"Which fetter down the free-born mind

"The flave of intereft, or of fhew;
"Whilft yon gay tenant of the grove,

"The happier heir of Nature's love,
"Can warble unconfin'd."

IV.

Yet fure, my friend, th' eternal plan
By truth unerring was defign'd;
Inferior parts were made for man,
But man himself for all mankind.

Then by th' apparent judge th' unseen;
Behold how rolls this vaft machine

To one great end, howe'er withstood,
Directing its impartial courfe.

All labour for the general good.
Some stem the wave, fome till the foil,

By choice the bold, th' ambitious toil,
The indolent by force...

V.

That bird, thy fancy frees from care,
With many a fear, unknown to thee,
Muft rove to glean his fcanty fare

From field to field, from tree to tree :

His lot, united with his kind,
Has all his little joys confin'd;

The Lover's and the Parent's ties

Alarm by turns his anxious breast; Yet, bound by fate, by inftinct wife, He hails with fongs the rifing morn, And pleas'd at evening's cool return He fings himself to rest.

VI.

And tell me, has not Nature made

Some stated void for thee to fill,

Some

"

Some fpring, fome wheel which asks thy aid
To move, regardless of thy will?
Go then, go feel with glad surprise
New blifs from new connections rife

"Till, happier in thy wider sphere,

Thou quit thy darling schemes of ease
Nay, glowing in the full career

Ev'n wish thy virtuous labours more;
Nor 'till the toilfome day is o'er
Expect the night of peace.

ODE. To INDEPENDENCY.

By Mr. MASON.

I.

HERE, on my native fhore reclin'd,

While Silence rules this midnight hour,

I woo thee, GODDESS. On my musing mind
Defcend, propitious Power!

And bid these ruffling gales of grief fubfide:
Bid my calm'd foul with all thy influence shine;
As yon chafte Orb along this ample tide
Draws the long luftre of her filver line,

While the hush'd breeze its laft weak whisper blows, And lulls old HUMBER to his deep repose.

II.

Come to thy Vot'ry's ardent pray'r,

In all thy graceful plainness drest
No knot confines thy waving hair,
No zone thy floating veft.
Unfullied Honor decks thine open brow,
And Candor brightens in thy modeft eye:
Thy blush is warm Content's ætherial glow,
Thy smile is Peace; thy step is Liberty:
Thou scatter'ft bleffings round with lavish hand,
As Spring with carelefs fragrance fills the land.
III.

As now o'er this lone beach 1 ftray;

*

Thy fav'rite Swain oft ftole along,

And artless wove his Doric lay,

Far from the busy throng.

Thou heard'st him, Goddess, strike the tender ftring,
And badft his foul with bolder paffions move:
Strait these refponfivé fhores forgot to ring,

With Beauty's praise, or plaint of flighted Love;

* Andrew Marvell, born at Kingston upon Hull in the Year 1620.

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