Part 18 (2/2)
For 'tis in this Resides true bliss; True bliss, a deity severe!
”When temper leans To gayer scenes, And serious life void moments spares, The sylvan chase My sinews brace!
Or song unbend my mind from cares!
”Nor shun, my soul!
The genial bowl, Where mirth, good nature, spirit, flow!
Ingredients these, Above, to please The laughing G.o.ds, the wise, below.
”Though rich the vine, More wit than wine, More sense than wit, good-will than art, May I provide!
Fair truth, my pride!
My joy, the converse of the heart!
”The gloomy brow, The broken vow, To distant climes, ye G.o.ds! remove!
The n.o.bly soul'd Their commerce hold With words of truth and looks of love!
”O glorious aim!
O wealth supreme!
Divine benevolence of soul!
That greatly glows, And freely flows, And in one blessing grasps the whole;
”Prophetic schemes, And golden dreams, May I, unsanguine, cast away!
Have, what I have!
And live, not leave, Enamour'd of the present day!
”My hours my own!
My faults unknown!
My chief revenue in content!
Then, leave one beam Of honest fame!
And scorn the labour'd monument!
”Unhurt my urn!
Till that great turn When mighty nature's self shall die!
Time cease to glide, With human pride, Sunk in the ocean of eternity.”
A PARAPHRASE ON PART OF THE BOOK OF JOB.(25)
To the Right Honourable Thomas Lord Parker, Baron of Macclesfield, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, etc. etc.
My Lord,
Though I have not the honour of being known to your lords.h.i.+p, I presume to take a privilege which men of retirement are apt to think themselves in possession of, as being the only method they have of making their way to persons of your lords.h.i.+p's high station without struggling through mult.i.tudes for access. I may possibly fail in my respect to your lords.h.i.+p, even while I endeavour to show it most; but if I err, it is because I imagined I ought not to make my first approach to one of your lords.h.i.+p's exalted character with less ceremony than that of a dedication. It is annexed to the condition of eminent merit, not to suffer more from the malice of its enemies, than from the importunity of its admirers; and perhaps it would be unjust, that your lords.h.i.+p should hope to be exempted from the troubles, when you possess all the talents, of a patron.
I have here a fair occasion to celebrate those sublime qualities, of which a whole nation is sensible, were it not inconsistent with the design of my present application. By the just discharge of your great employments, your lords.h.i.+p may well deserve the prayers of the distressed, the thanks of your country, and the approbation of your royal master: this indeed is a reason why every good Briton should applaud your lords.h.i.+p; but it is equally a reason why none should disturb you in the execution of your important affairs by works of fancy and amus.e.m.e.nt. I was therefore induced to make this address to your lords.h.i.+p, by considering you rather in the amiable light of a person distinguished for a refined taste of the polite arts, and the candour that usually attends it, than in the dignity of your public character.
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