Page images
PDF
EPUB

How would the frozen stream of action cease!
What is the pulse of this so busy world?
The love of pleasure : that, thro' ev'ry vein,
Throws motion, warmth, and shuts out death from lise.

Tho' various are the tempers of mankind,
Pleasure's gay family holds all in chains.
Some most affect the black, and some the fair;
Some honest pleasure court, and some obscene.
Pleasures obscene are various, as the throng
Of passions that can err in human hearts,
Mistake their objects, or transgress their bounds.
Think you there's but one whoredom ? whoredom all,
But when our reason licenses delight,
Dost doubt, Lorenzo ? thou shalt doubt no more.
Thy father chides thy gallantries, yet hugs
An ugly, common harlot in the dark,
A rank adulterer with others' gold;
And that hag, Vengeance, in a corner charms.
Hatred her brothel has, as well as Love,
Where horrid epicures debauch in blood.
Whate'er the motive, Pleasure is the mark;
For her the black assassin draws his sword ;
For her dark statesmen trim their midnight lamp,
To which no single sacrifice may fall ;
For her the saint abstains, the miser starves;
The Stoic proud, for Pleasure, pleasure scorn’d;
For her, Affliction's daughters grief indulge,

And find, or hope, a luxury in tears;
For her guilt, shame, toil, danger, we defy,
And, with an aim voluptuous, rush on death,
Thus universal her despotic pow'r.

And as her empire wide, her praise is just.
Patron of Pleasure! Doter on delight!
I am thy rival: pleasure I profess;
Pleasure the purpose of my gloomy song.
Pleasure is nought but Virtue's gayer name;
I wrong her still, I rate her worth too low :
Virtue the root, and pleasure is the flow'r,
And honest Epicurus' foes were fools.

But this sounds harsh, and gives the wise offence,
If o'erstrain'd wisdom still retains the name.
How knits austerity her cloudy brow,

And blames, as bold and hazardous, the praise
Of pleasure, to mankind, unprais'd, too dear!
Ye modern Stoics! hear my soft reply;
Their senses men will trust: we can't impose,
Or, if we could, is imposition right?
Own honey sweet; but, owning, add this sting,
"When mix'd with poison it is deadly too."
Truth never was indebted to a lie.

Is nought but virtue to be prais'd as good?
Why then is health preferr'd before disease?
What Nature loves is good, without our leave;
And where no future drawback cries," Beware,"

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

Pleasure, tho' not from, virtve, should prevail :
"Tis balm to life, and gratitude to Heav'na
How cold our thanks for bounties unenjoy'd!
The love of Pleasure is man's eldest born,
Born in his cradle, living to his tomb.
Wisdom, her younger sister, though more grave,
Was meant to minister, and not to mar,
Imperial Pleasure, queen of human hearts.

Lorenzo! thou, her Majesty's renown'd,
Tho' uncoift counsel, learned in the world!
Who think'st thyself a Murray, with disdain
May'st look on me: yet, my Demosthenes!
Canst thou plead Pleasure's cause as well as I?
Know'st thou her nature, purpose, parentage ?
Attend my song, and thou shalt know them all;
And know thyself; and know thyself to be
(Strange truth!) the most abstemious man alive.
Tell not Calista, she will laugh thee dead,
Or send thee to her hermitage with L-,
Absurd presumption! thou, who never knew'st
A serious thought! shalt thou dare dream of joy ?
No man e'er found a happy life by chance,
Or yawn'd it into being with a wish;
Or with the snout of grov'lling Appetite
E'er smelt it out, and grubb'd it from the dirt.
An art it is, and must be learnt; and learnt
With unremitting effort, or be lost,

And leaves us perfect blockheads in our bliss.
The clouds may drop down titles and estates;
Wealth may seek us; but wisdom must be sought;
Sought before all; but (how unlike all else

We seek on earth!) 'tis never sought in vain.

First, Pleasure's birth, rise, strength, and grandeur, see:
Brought forth by Wisdom, nurs'd by Discipline,
By Patience taught, by Perseverance crown'd,
She rears her head majestic; round her throne,
Erected in the bosom of the just,

Each virtue, listed, forms her manly guard.
For what are virtues? (formidable name!)
What but the fountain or defence of joy!
Why then commanded? need mankind commands,
At once to merit and to make their bliss?
Great Legislator! scarce so great as kind!
If men are rational, and love delight,
Thy gracious law but flatters human choice":
In the transgression lies the penalty;
And they the most indulge who most obey.
Of Pleasure, next, the final cause explore:
Its mighty purpose, its important end.

Not to turn human brutal, but to build

Divine on human, Pleasure came from heav'n:
In aid to reason was the goddess sent,

To call up all its strength by such a charm.
Pleasure first succours virtue; in return,

Virtue gives Pleasure an eternal reign.

What but the pleasure of food, friendship, faith,
Supports life natral, civil, and divine ?
'Tis from the pleasure of repast we live ;
'Tis from the pleasure of applause we please ;
'Tis from the pleasure of belief we pray :
(All pray'r would cease, if unbeliev'd the prize)
It serves ourselves, our species, and our God;
And to serve more is past the sphere of man.
Glide then forever Pleasure's sacred stream!
Thro’Eden, as Euphrates ran,

it

runs,
And fosters ev'ry growth of happy life;
Makes a new Eden where it flows, but such
As must be lost, Lorenzo! by thy fall.

- What mean I by thy fall ”—Thou'lt shortly see,
While Pleasure's nature is at large display'd,
Already sung her origin and ends.
Those glorious ends by kind, or by degree,
When Pleasure violates, 'tis then a vice,
And vengeance too; it hastens into pain.
From due refreshment life, health, season, joy;
From wild excess, pain, grief, distraction, death;
Heav'n's justice this proclains, and that her love.
What greater evil can I wish my fre,
Than his full draught of pleasure from a cask
Unbroach'd by just authority, unguag'd
By temperance, by reason vnrefin'd ?
A thousand demons lurk within the lee.
Leav'n, others, and ourselves! uninjur'd these,

.

« PreviousContinue »