At tardus eris, errabis: tranfiit aetas

Quam cito! non fegnis ftat remeatve dies. Quam cito purpureos deperdit terra colores!

Quam cito formofas populus alba comas! Quam jacet, infirmae venere ubi fata senectae, !

Qui prius Eleo eft carcere miffus equus Vidi ego jam juvenem, premeret quum ferior aetas, Moerentem ftultos praeteriiffe dies.

Crudeles Divi! ferpens novus exuat annos ?

Formae non ullam Fata dedere moram ? Solis acterna eft Phoebo, Bacchoque juventas : Tam decet intonfus crinis utrumque Deum.

25.

૩૦

Tu,

26. So late a Victor.] See an admirable Dissertation upon this Subject by the late Mr. Weft, prefixed to his Tranflation of Pindar.

29. Te partial Gods.] It is reported by Naturalifts, that Serpents or Snakes, upon eating a certain Herb, called Maratos, caft their Skin and renew their Age. Ovid has a Thought like this in his Ars Amand.

Anguibus excutitur tenui cum pelle vetuftas,
Nec faciunt cervos cornua jacta fenes;
Noftra fine auxilio fugiunt bona, &c.

which Mr. Congreve has thus englished,

Lib. 3.

The Snake his Skin, the Deer his Horns, may cast,
And both renew their Youth and Vigour past ;

But no Receipt can human-kind relieve,
Doom'd to decrepid Age without Reprieve.

DART.

This is a good poetical Illustration, but Philofophy difclaims it, Serpents, and most of the reptile Kind, do in

deed

Nor be too flow; your Slowness you'll deplore;

Time pofts; and, oh! Youth's Raptures foon are o'er:
Now Forests bloom, and purple Earth looks gay;
Bleak Winter blows, and all her Charms decay:
How foon the Steed to Age's Stiffness yields,

So late a Victor in th' Olympic Fields ?

I've seen the Aged oft lament their Fate,
That fenfeless they had learnt to live too late.
Ye partial Gods, and can the Snake renew,

25

His youthful Vigour and his burnish'd Hue?

30

But Youth and Beauty paft; is art in vain
To bring the coy Deserters back again?

POET.

Jove gives alone the Powers of Wit and Wine, In Youth immortal, spite of Years, to shine.

Priapus

deed caft their Coats (exuvia) but they do not thereupon grow young again, no more than a Bird does after moulting.

The Fugacity of Beauty is a Topic which almost every Love-writer, fince the Days of Tibullus, has used to his Mistress whenever the demurred; and yet Mr. Prior, in his Manner of applying it, has made it entirely his own. Take heed, my Dear, Youth flies apace;

As well as Cupid, Time is blind;

Soon must thofe Glories of thy Face

The Fate of vulgar Beauties find

The thousand Loves that arm thy potent Eye,

Muft drop their Quivers, flag their Wings, and die.

33. Jove gives alone.] Bacchus was much celebrated, both by the Greek and Roman Poets, for his Beauty. Anacreon honours him with the Epithet xaños, and Nafo makes him the following fine Compliment.

Tu, puero quodcumque tuo tentare libebit,

Cedas: obfequio plurima vincit amor.

Neu comes ire neges, quamvis via longa paretur, 35
Et Canis arenti torreat arva fiti.

Quamvis praetexens picta ferrugine coelum,
Venturam admittat imbrifer arcus aquam.

Vel fi caeruleas puppi volet ire per undas,
Ipfe levem remo per freta pelle ratem.
Nec te poeniteat duros fubiiffe labores;

Aut opere infuetas adteruiffe manus.
Nec, velit infidiis altas fi claudere valles,
Dum placeas, humeri retia ferre negent.
Si volet arma, levi tentabis ludere dextra,

Saepe dabis nudum, vincat ut ille, latus.
Tunc tibi mitis erit: rapias tunc cara licebit

Ofcula; pugnabit, fed tamen apta dabit. Rapta dabit primo: mox adferet ipfe roganti.

40

45

Poft etiam collo fe inplicuiffe volet.

59

Heu male nunc artes miferas haec faecula tractant.

Jam tener adfuevit munera velle puer.

At

-Tibi enim inconfumpta juventus,

--

Tu puer aeternus, tu formofiffimus alto

Confpiceris cuelo, tibi cum fine cornibus adftas
Virgineum caput est.

Apollo's Beauty is commonly known. Bacchus, as well as Cupid and Minerva, is always represented with long yellow Hair; and hence the Epithet Xpvooxomos, which fome of the Poets have bestowed on him.

37. Go pleas'd where'er fhe goes.] This Thought is finely imitated by that sweet elegiac Poet Joannes Secundus.

Illius

PRIAPUS.

Yield prompt Compliance to the Maid's Defires; 35
A prompt Compliance fans the Lover's Fires :

Go pleas'd where'er fhe goes, tho' long the Way,
Tho' the fierce Dog-Star dart his fultry Ray;
Tho' painted Iris gird the bluish Sky,

And fure portends, that ratling Storms are nigh: 40
Or, if the Fair-one pant for fylvan Fame,

Gay drag the Meshes, and provoke the Game:
Nay, should she chufe to risk the driving Gale;
Ply, ply an Oar, and agile hand the Sail:

No Toil, tho' weak, tho' fearful, thou forbear; 45
No Toils fhould tire you, and no Dangers fcare:
Occafion fmiles, then fnatch an ardent Kifs;
The Coy may struggle, but will grant the Blifs:
The Blifs obtain'd, the fictious Struggle paft;
Unbid, they'll clasp you in their Arms at last,

POET.

Alas! in fuch degenerate Days as thefe,

No more Love's gentle Wiles the Beauteous please!

Illius imperio ventos patiemur et imbres,
Ibimus et folas nocte filente vias,

Nec grave frigus erit, nec folftitium, licet in me
Fervidus ingeminet fidera ficca puer

Illa volet comitem fibi, me quocunque fequemur
Qua via nulla rotae pervia nulla rati.

50

El. 3.

Lib. I.

If

48. The Coy may Struggle.] Horace has beautifully applied

this Thought to Lycimnia,

Dum

At tibi, qui venerem docuifti vendere primus,

Quifquis es, infelix urgeat offa lapis. Pieridas, pueri, doctos et amate poëtas.

Aurea nec fuperent munera Pieridas.

Carmine purpurea eft Nifi coma: carmina ni fint,

Ex humero Pelopis non nituiffet ebur.

55

Quem referent Mufae, vivet: dum robora tellus,
Dum coelum ftellas, dum vehet amnis aquas. 60

At qui non audit Mufas, qui vendit amorem ;
Idaeae currus ille fequatur Opis.

Et tercentenas erroribus expleat urbes ;

Et fecet ad Phrygios vilia membra modos. Blanditiis vult effe locum Venus ipfa querelis

Supplicibus, miferis fletibus illa favet.

Dum flagrantia detorquet ad ofcula
Cervicem, aut facili fævitia negat.

Quae pofcente magis gaudeat eripi

Interdum rapere occupat.

65

Haec

Boileau has done great Justice to this Thought in his L'Art Poetique, Chant. 2. and Mr. Francis seems to have caught the Soul of Horace when he tranflated it.

65. The Fair, whofe Beauty.] If Poetry bestows Immortality on Charms, which would otherwife fade, it is eminently the Intereft of the Fair-Sex to keep well with the Poets. Propertius and Ovid impute to their own Verses, what Tibullus more modestly afcribes to Poetry in general. Indeed Beauty is the Parent of Poetry; and if the British Bards have fürpaffed their Brethren on the Continent, it is chiefly owing to the fuperior Charms of our fair country Women.

The Images, expreffive of Beauty, when immortalised by Song, fhould here have been such as were more appropriated

to