Return, O Jove! the age of gold restore
Why choose to dwell where storms and thunders roar?
At least, thou, Phoebus! moderate thy speed!
Let not the vernal hours too swift proceed,
Command rough winter back, nor yield the pole
Too soon to Night's encroaching long control'
Who, while he spent his Christmas in the country, sent the Author a poetical epistle, in which he requested that his verses, if not so good as usual, might be excused on account of the many feasts to which his friends invited him, and which would not allow him leisure to finish them as he wished.
WITH no rich viands overcharg'd, I send
Health, which perchance you want, my pamper'd friend;
But wherefore should thy muse tempt mine away
From what she loves, from darkness into day?
Art thou desirous to be told how well
I love thee, and in verse? verse cannot tell.
For verse has bounds, and must in measure move,
But neither bounds nor measure knows my love.
How pleasant, in tny lines described, appear
December's harmless sports, and rural cheer!
French spirits kindling with cerulean fires,
And all such gambols as the time inspires '
Think not that wine against good verse offends, The muse and Bacchus have been always friends,
Nor Phoebus blushes sometimes to be found
With ivy, than with laurel, crown'd.
The Nine themselves ofttimes have join'd the song
And revels of the Bacchanalian throng;
Not even Ovid could in Scythian air
Sing sweetly-why? no vine would flourish there.
What in brief numbers sung Anacreon's muse?
Wine, and the rose, that sparkling wine bedews.
Pindar with Bacchus glows-his every line
Breathes the rich fragrance of inspiring wine,
While, with loud crash o'erturn'd, the chariot lies,
And brown with dust the fiery courser flies.
The Roman lyrist steep'd in wine his lays
So sweet in Glycera's, and Chloe's praise.
Now to the plenteous feast and mantling bowl
Nourish the vigour of thy sprightly soul;
The flowing goblet makes thy numbers flow,
And casks not wine alone, but verse bestow.
Thus Phoebus favours, and the arts attend,
Whom Bacchus, and whom Ceres, both befriend.
What wonder, then, thy verses are so sweet,
In which these triple powers so kindly meet!
The lute now also sounds, with gold inwrought,
And touch'd with flying fingers nicely taught,
In tap'stried halls, high roof'd, the sprightly lyre
Directs the dancers of the virgin choir.
If dull repletion fright the Muse away,
Sights, gay as these, may rore invite her stay;
And, trust me, while the iv'ry keys resound,
Fair damsels sport, and perfumes steam around,
Apollo's influence, like ethereal flame,
Shall animate at once thy glowing frame,
And all the Muse shall rush into thy breast,
By love and musick's blended pow'rs possess'd,
For num'rous power's like Elegy befriend,
Hear her sweet voice, and at her call attend;
Her Bacchus, Ceres, Venus, all approve,
And, with his blushing mother, gentle Love ·
Hence to such bards we grant the copious use
Of banquets, and the vine's delicious juice.
But they who demi-gods and heroes praise,
And feats perform'd in Jove's more youthful days,
Who now the counsels of high heaven explore,
Now shades, that echo the Cerberean roar,
Simply let these, like him of Samos live,
Let herbs to them a bloodless banquet give;
In beechen goblets let their bev'rage shine,
Cool from the crystal spring, their sober wine!
Their youth should pass, in innocence, secure
From stain licentious, and in manners pure,
Pure as the priest, when rob'd in white he stands,
The fresh lustration ready in his hands.
Thus Limus liv'd, and thus, as poets write,
Tiresias, wiser for his loss of sight!
Thus exil'd Chalcas, thus the bard of Thrace,
Melodious tamer of the savage race!
Thus train'd by temp'rance, Homer led, of yore,
His chief of Ithaca from shore to shore,
Through magick Circe's monster-peopled reign,
And shoals insidious with the syren train;
And through the realus, where grizzly spectres dwell,
Whose tribes he fetter d in a gory spell;
For these are sacred bards, and, from above,
Drink large infusions from the mind of Jove!
Wouldst thou, (perhaps 'tis hardly worth thine ear, Wouldst thou be told my occupation here? The promised King of peace employs my pen, Th' eternal cov'nant made for guilty men, The new-born Deity with infant cries Filling the sordid hovel, where he lies; The hymning angels, and the herald star, That led the Wise, who sought him from afar, And idols on their own unhallow'd shore Dash'd, at his birth, to be rever d no more:
This theme on reeds of Albion I rehearse : The dawn of that blest day inspir'd the verse; Verse, that reserv'd in secret shall attend Thy candid voice my critick, and my friend
Composed in the Author's 19th year.
As yet a stranger to the gentle fires,
That Amathusia's smiling queen inspires,
Not seldom I derided Cupid's darts,
And scorn'd his claim to rule all human hearts.
"Go, child,” I said, "transfix the tim'rous dove '
An easy conquest suits an infant love;
Enslave the sparrow, for such prize shall be
Sufficient triumph to a chief like thee!
Why aim thy idle arms at human kind?
Thy shafts prevail not 'gainst the noble mind."
The Cyprian heard, and, kindling into ire, (None kindles sooner) burn'd with double fire.
It was the spring, and newly risen day Peep'd o'er the hamlets on the first of May; My eyes, too tender for the blaze of light, Still sought the shelter of retiring night, When love approach'd in painted plumes array'd, Th' insidious god his rattling darts betray'd, Nor less his infant features and the sly, Sweet intimations of his threat'ning eye. Such the Sigeian boy is seen above,
Filling the goblet for imperial Jove;
Such he, on whom the nymphs bestow'd their charms,
Hylas, who perish'd in a Naiad's arms,
Angry he seem'd, yet graceful in his ire,
And added threats, not destitute of fire.
"My power," he said, "by others' pain alone,
'Twere best to learn now learn it by thy own!
With those, who feel my power, that pow'r attest!
And in thy anguish be my sway confess'd !
I vanquish'd Phoebus, though returning vain
From this new triumph o'er the Python slain,
And, when he thinks on Daphne, even he
Will yield the prize of archery to me.
A dart less true the Parthian horseman sped,
Behind him kill'd, and conquer'd as he fled;
Less true th' expert Cydonian, and less true
The youth, whose shaft his latent Procris slew.
Vanquish'd by me see huge Orion bend,
By me Alcides, and Alcides' friend.
At me should Jove himself a bolt design,
His bosom first should bleed transfix'd by mine.
But all thy doubts this shaft will best explain,
Nor shall it reach thee with a trivial pain,
Thy Muse, vain youth! shall not thy peace ensure,
Nor Phoebus' serpent yield the wound a cure.”
He spoke, and, waving a bright shaft in air, Sought the warm bosom of the Cyprian fair.
That thus a child should bluster in my ear,
Provok'd my laughter, more than mov'd my fear,
I shunn'd not, therefore, publick haunts, but stray d
Careless in city, or suburban shade;
And passing, and repassing, nymphs, that mov`d
With grace divine, beheld where'er I rov'd.
Bright shone the vernal day, with double blaze,
As beauty gave new force to Phœbus' rays;
By no grave scruples check'd I freely ey'd
The dang'rous show: rash youth my only guide;
VOL. III.
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