L

ODE XIII.

To LYCE.

By RICHARD RODERICK, Efq

YCE, at length my Vows are heard,
My Vows fo oft to Heaven preferr'd ;
Welcome, thy filver'd Hairs!

In vain thy Affectation gay,
To hide the manifeft Decay;

In vain thy youthful Airs!

If ftill thy Cheeks preferve a Blush,

With Heat of Wine, not Youth, they fluff,
Unamiable Stain !

If ftill thou warbleft, harfh the Note,

When trembling Age shakes in the Throat
Th' involuntary Strain.

Think'ft thou, can these my Love prolong
(Ungrateful Blush! untuneful Song !)
Or rival Hebe's Charms ?
Hebe melodious, Hebe fair,

For Judgment fwells her rapt'rous Air,
And Youth her Blushes warms.

The rofy Cheek, the Forehead smooth,
Thofe native Ornaments of Youth,

Once loft, are loft for aye:

No

No Art can smooth, no Paint repair
The furrow'd Face; no Diamond's Glare
Give Luftre to Decay.

What now of all which once was thine,
Feature, Complection, Mien divine,
Remains the Senfe to charm?
Why now command they not my Love?
Once they prevail'd; though Cynara ftrove
Their Empire to disarm.

Cynara!-alas, thou much-lov'd Name!
Thou, full of Beauty, full of Fame,

Found'ft an untimely Urn!

While Lyce, 'reft of every Grace

T'enrich the Mind, t'adorn the Face,
Still lives the public Scorn!

NOTES.

When the Dutchefs of Portsmouth told the first Duke of Ormonde that the hoped to fee his Head cut off, he calmly replied, ' And I hope to see your Grace an OLD WOMAN.

2 The contemptuous Sneer at the Conclufion of the Original is preferved in the English; but a graver Turn is given to it, instead of the more ludicious one of Horace.

O DE XIV.

To AUGUSTUS CESAR.

By Mr. DUNCOMBE, Sen.

How

OW fhall the Senate, how the People's
Care,

To faithful Annals thy Exploits confign,
What worthy Monuments prepare,

To make thy Virtues shine,

And to each future Age thy fpreading Glory bear?

O greatest Prince, that in his annual Round

I

The Sun surveys; whom late, though void of Fear,

The fierce Vindelici have found

Invincible in War,

And felt thee less in Fiction than by Deeds renown'd.

For Drufus led thy conquering Legions on ;
And oft the 3 wild Genaunian Nation broke:
The nimble Breunians too, o'erthrown, 1.
Confefs the Roman Yoke;

And their ftrong Alpine + Forts his matchlefs Cou

rage won.

Next, elder Nero claims the like Applause,
Who the huge Rhaetians, dreadful in the

Field,

With Slaughters tir'd: In Freedom's Caufe,
Unknowing how to yield,

They generous Victims fell for their dear Coun try's Laws.

As furious Aufter's unrefifted Course

Provokes the Billows when the 7 Pleïads glow Through parting Clouds; with equal Force, He dauntless charg❜d the Foe,

And, 'midst the Heat of Battle, urg'd his foaming Horse.

8

Or as horn'd' Aufidus the Bounds difdains, Which guide him, rolling through Apulia's

States,

When, fwell'd with melting Snow or Rains,
He, rifing, 10 meditates

Swift with his Torrent-floods to deluge all the
Plains;

So Claudius, rapid in his wide Career,

Forc'd the Barbarians, "cas'd in Steel, to

yield,

And, with fmall 12 Lofs, from Front to Rear,
Mow'd down the standing Field,

While with thy Counfel, Arms, and Gods, he led the War.

For on 14 that Day when Egypt's empty Throne Hail'd Thee her Lord, the Fates who love to blefs,

And thy unrival'd Title own,

By fifteen Years Succefs,

On that returning Day they now thy Glory crown.

The fierce 5 Cantabrian, not to be o'ercome

But by thy Arms, the 16 Indian and the "Mede, The 18 Scythian, lurking now at home,

Juftly thy Prowess dread,

O tutelary God of Italy and Rome!

The Nile's myfterious Springs thy Grace implore,
The rapid 20 Tigris, the wide 2 Danube bends

To Thee! Ev'n to the 22 British Shore
Thy awful Sway extends,

Where Tempests rage, and 23 monster-teeming
Billows roar !

Thy Name Iberia's hardy Sons alarms;

Alarms the 24 Gauls, who Death undaunted

meet :

The wild 25 Sicambrian lays his Armsy

Submiffive, at thy Feet;

While Thirst of Blood no more his favage Vengeance charms.

NOTES.