457 HORE LTRICE. POEMS, Chiefly of the LYRIC Kind, In THREE BOOK S. SACRED I. TO DEVOTION and PIETY. II. TO VIRTUE, HONOUR and FRIENDSHIP. III. To the MEMORY of the DEAD. By I. WAT T S, D... D. The NINTH EDITION, Corrected. Si non Uraniê Lyram Cæleftem cohibet, nec Polyhymnia Humanum refugit tendere Barbiton. HOR. Od. I. imitat. ̓Αθάνατον μὲν πρῶτα Θεόν, νόμῳ ὡς διάκειται, Τίμα, (καὶ σέβε αὐτὸν) ἔπειθ ̓ Ἥρωας ἀγαύεις, Τές τι Καταχθονίας. PYTHAG. Aur. Car. DUBLIN: Printed for W. WHETSTONE and B. EDMOND, in Damefreet, near Crane-lane, M,DCC,LIII. THE PREFACE. I T has been a long Complaint of the vir tuous and refined World, that Poefy whofe Original is Divine, fhould be enflaved to Vice and Profaneness; that an Art infpired from Heaven, fhould have fo far loft the Memory of its Birth-place, as to be engaged in the Interefts of Hell. How unhappily is it perverted from its moft glorious Defign! How bafely has it been driven away from its proper Station in the Temple of God, and abused to much Dishonour! The Iniquity of Men has constrained it to serve their vileft Purposes, while the Sons of Piety mourn the Sacrilege and the Shame. THE eldest Song which Hiftory has brought down to our Ears, was a noble Act of Worship paid to the God of Ifrael, when his Right Hand became glorious in Power; when thy Right Hand, O Lord, dafbed in Pieces the Enemy: he Chariots of PHARAOH and his Hofts were A 2 caft caft into the Red-Sea; Thou didst blow with thy Wind, the Deep covered them, and they fank as Lead in the mighty Waters, Exod. xv. This Art was maintained facred through the following Ages of the Church, and employed by Kings and Prophets, by DAVID, SOLOMON, and ISAIAH, in defcribing the Nature and the Glories of God, and in conveying Grace or Vengeance to the Hearts of Men. By this Method they brought fo much of Heaven down to this lower World, as the Darkness of that Dispensation would admit: And now and then a divine and poetic Rapture lifted their Souls far above the Level of that OEconomy of Shadows, bore them away far into a brighter Region, and gave them a Glimpse of Evangelic Day. The Life of Angels was harmoniously breathed into the Children of ADAM, and their Minds raised near to Heaven in Melody and Devotion. at once. In the younger Days of Heathenifm the Mufes were devoted to the fame Service: the Language in which old HESIOD addresses them is this: Μᾶσαι Πιερίηθεν ἀοιδῆσι κλείουσαι, Δεῦτε, Δῖ ἐννέπετε σφέτερον πατές ὑμνείουσαι. Pierian Mufes, fam'd for beavenly Lays, Defcend, and fing the God your Father's Praife. nd And he purfues the Subject in ten pious Lines, which I could not bear to transcribe, if the Afpect and Sound of fo much Greek were not terrifying to a nice Reader. But fome of the latter Poets of the Pagan World have debafed this Divine Gift; and many of the Writers of the firft Rank, in this our Age of National Chriftians, have, to their eternal Shame, furpaffed the vileft of the Gentiles. They have not only difrobed Religion of all the Ornaments of Verse, but have employed their Pens in impious Mischief, to deform her native Beauty, and defile her Honours. They have expofed her most facred Character to Drollery, and dressed her up in a moft vile and ridiculous difguife, for the Scorn of the ruder Herd of Mankind. The Vices have been painted like fo many Goddesses, the Charms of Wit have been added to Debauchery, and the Temptation heightened where Nature needs the strongest Restraints. With Sweetness of Sound, and Delicacy of Expreffion, they have given a Relish to Blafphemies of the harfheft, kind; and when they rant at their Maker in fonorous Numbers, they fancy themselves to have acted the Hero well. THUS almost in vain have the Throne and the Pulpit cried Reformation; while the Stage and licentious Poems have waged open War with the pious Design of Church and State. A 3 The |