IV.

Here then let my ambition rest,
May I be moderately blest,
When I the laws of love obey:
Let but my pleasure and my pain,
In equal balance ever reign,

Or mount by turns and sink again.
And share just measures of alternate sway,
So Damon lives, and ne'er complains;
Scarce can we hope diviner scenes,
On this dull stage of clay;

The tribes beneath the Northern Bear
Submit to darkness half the year,
Since half the year is day.

ON THE DEATH OF

The Duke of Gloucester, just after

Mr. DRYDEN.

1700.0

AN EPIGRAM.

DRYDEN is Dries of a future king.

RYDEN is dead; Dryden alone could sing

Now Glo'ster dies: Thus lesser heroes live
By that immortal breath that poets give;

And scarce receive the muse: but William stands,
Nor asks his honours from the poet's hands,
William shall shine without a Dryden's praise,
His laurels are not grafted on the bays.

An Epigram of MARTIAL to CIRINUS.

Sic tua Cirini, promas epigrammata vulgo,
Ut mecum possis, &c.

INSCRIBED TO

MR. JOSIAH HORT.

NOW LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.

1694.

So smooth your numbers, friend, your verse so

sweet,

So sharp the jest, and yet the turn so neat,

That with her Martial Rome would place Cirine,
Rome would prefer your sense and thought to mine.
Yet modest, you decline the public stage,
To fix your friend alone amidst th' applauding age.
So Maro did; the mighty Maro sings

In vast heroic notes of vast heroic things
And leaves the ode to dance upon his Flaccus strings.
He scorn'd to daunt the dear Horation lyre
Though his brave genius flash'd Pindaric fire,
And at his will could silence all the Lyric quire.
So to his Varjus he resign'd the praise
Of the proud buskin and the tragic bays,
When he could thunder with a loftier vein,
And sing of gods and hero's in a bolder strain.

A handsome treat, a piece of gold or so,
And compliments will every friend bestow;
Rarely a Virgil, a Cirene we meet,
Who lays his laurels at inferior feet,
And yields the tenderest point of honour, Wit.

Q

EPISTOLA

Fratri suo dilecto R. W. I. W. S. P. D.

RURSUM tuas, amande Frater, accepi literas, eodem fortasse momento, quo meæ ad te pervenerunt ; idemque qui to scribentem vidit diés, meum äd epistolare munus excitavit Calamum; non inane est inter nos fraternum nomen,unicus enim spiritus nos intus animat,agitque,& concordes in ambobus efficit motus : O utinam crescat indies; & vigescat mutua charitas : faxit, Deus, ut amor sui nostra incendat & defacet pectora, tune etenim & alternis pure amicitia flammis erga nos invicem Divinum in modum ardebimus; contemplemur JESUM noserum,cœleste illud & adoi an dum exemplar charitatis. Ille est.

QU

quondam æterno delapsus ab æthere vultus Induit humanos, ut posset corpore nostras (Heu miseras) suffere vices; sponsoris obivit Munia, & in sese tabulæ maledicta Minacis Transtulit, & sceleris pœnas hominisque reatum.

Ecce jace desertus humi, diffusus in herbam
Integer, innocuas versus sua sidera palmas
Et placidum attollens vultum, nec ad oscula patris
Amplexus solitosve; artus nudatus amictu
Sidereos, & sponte sinum patefactus ad iras
Numinis armati. Pater, hic infige* sagittas,
"Hæc, ait, iratum sorbebunt pectora ferrum,
"Abluat æthereus mortalia crimina sanguis."

Dixit, & horrendam fremuere tonitrua cile Infensusque Deus: (quem jam posuisse paternum

Musa queri vellet nomen, sed & ipsa fragores Ad tantos pavefacta silet,) jam dissilit æther, Pandunturque fores, ubi duro carcere regnat, JRA, & pœnarum thesauros mille coercet, Inde ruunt gravidi vesano sulphure nimbi, Centuplicisque volant contorta volumina flammæ In caput immeritum; diro hic sub pondere pressus Restat, compressos dumque ardens explicat artus Purdureo vestes tinctæ sudore madescunt. Nec tamen infando vindex regina labori Segnius incumbit, sed lassos increpat ignes Acriter, & somno languentem suscitat † ensem: Surge, age, divinum pete pectus, & imbue sacro "Flumine mucronem; vos hinc, mea spicula, late "Ferrea per totum dispergite tormina Christum, Immensum tolerare valet; ad pondere pœnæ "Sustetanda hominem suffulciet incola Numen. "Et tu sacra decas legum, violata tabella, "Ebibe vindictam; vasta satiabere cæde, "Mortalis culpæ pensabit dedecus ingens Permistus Deitate cruor.".

66

66

Sic fata, immiti contorquet vulnere dextra Dilaniatque sinus; sancti penetralia cordis Panpuntur, sævis avidus dolor involat alis, Atque audax mentem scrutator, & Illia mordetz Interia servator § ovat, victorque doloris Eminet, illustri †+ perfusus membra cruore, Exultatque miser fieri; nam fortius illum. Urget patris honos, & non vincenda voluptas Servandi miseros sontes: O nobilis ardor Poenarum! O quid non mortalia pectora cogis Durus amor? Quid non celestia?

* Luke xxii. 44.
§ Col. ii. 15.

† Zech. xiii. 7. tt Luke xxii. 24.

Ad subsidat phantasia, vanescant imagines; nescio quo me proripuit amens musa: Volui quatuor lineas pedibus astringere, &ecce! numeri crescunt in immensum: dumque concitato genio laxavi frana, vereor ne juvenilis impetus theologiam læserit, & audax nimis imaginatio. Heri allata est ad me epistola indicans matrem meliuscule se habere, licet ignis febrilis non prorsus deseruit mortale ejus domicilium. Plu. ra volui, sed turgidi & crescentes versus noluere pulra & coarctarunt scriptionis limites. Vale amice frater, &in studio pietatis & artis medice strenuus de

curre.

Datum a museo meo Londini xvto Kalend.
Febr. Anno salutis crɔɔcXCN.

Fratris E. W. olim navigaturo.

Felix, pedo prospero
I frater, trabe pinea
Sulces æquora corula
Pandas carbasa flatibus
Quæ tuto reditura sint
Non te monstra natantia
Ponti carnivora incolæ
Prædentur rate naufraga.

SEPT. 30, 169

Navis, tu tibi creditum
Fratrem dimidium mei,
Salvum fer per inhospital
Ponti regna, per avios
Tractus, & liquidum chaos.
Nec te sorbeat horrida.
Syrtis, nec scopulus minax
Rumpat roboreum latus.
Captent mitia amina.