The fafe retreat of every lurking mouse;
Derided, fhunn'd; the lumber of my house!
Thy robe how chang'd from what it was before!
Thy velvet robe, which pleas'd my fires of yore!
'Tis thus capricious Fortune wheels us round;
Aloft we mount-then tumble to the ground.
Yet grateful then, my conftancy I prov'd;
I knew thy worth; my friend in rags I lov'd;
I lov'd thee, more; nor, like a courtier, fpurn'd
My benefactor, when the tide was turn’d.

With confcious fhame, yet frankly, I confefs,
That in my youthful days-I lov'd thee less.
Where vanity, where pleafure call'd, I ftray'd;
And every wayward appetite obey'd.

But fage experience taught me how to prize
Myfelf; and how, this world: the bade me rife
To nobler flights, regardless of a race

Of factious emmets; pointed where to place
My blifs, and lodg'd me in thy foft embrace.
Here on thy yielding down I fit fecure;
And, patiently, what heaven has fent, endure;
From all the futile cares of business free;
Not fond of life, but yet content to be:
Here mark the fleeting hours; regret the past;
And seriously prepare to meet the laft.

So fafe on fhore the penfion'd failor lies;
And all the malice of the ftorm defies:
With ease of body bleft, and peace of mind,
Pities the reftlefs crew he left behind;

}

Whilft,

Whilft, in his cell, he meditates alone

On his great voyage, to the world unknown.

A

S o'er Afteria's fields I rove,

The blissful feat of peace and love,
Ten thoufand beauties round me rife,
And mingle pleafure with furprize.
By nature blest in every part,
Adorn'd with every grace of art,
This paradife of blooming joys
Each raptur'd fenfe, at once, employs.

II.

But when I view the radiant queen,.
Who form'd this fair enchanting scene;
Pardon, ye grots! ye crystal floods!
Ye breathing flowers! ye fhady woods!
Your coolness now no more invites ;
No more your murmuring ftream delights;
Your fweets decay, your verdure 's flown;
My foul's intent on her alone.

PARA

PARAPHRASE upon a FRENCH SONG.

"Venge moi d'une ingrate maitresse,
"Dieu du vin, j'implore bon yvresse.”

KIND relief in all my pain,

Jolly Bacchus hear my prayer,
Vengeance on th' ingrateful fair!
In thy fmiling cordial bowl,
Drown the forrows of my foul,
All thy deity employ,

Gild each gloomy thought with joy,
Jolly Bacchus! fave, oh save,
From the deep devouring grave,
A poor, despairing, dying fwain.
Hafte away,

Is the not one of your immortal race ?—
Fly, ye winged Cupids, fly,

Dart like lightning through the sky:

Impavidum ferient ruinæ."

DEAR knight, how great a drudge is he

Who would excel in poetry!

And yet how few have learnt the art,

T' inform the head, or touch the heart!

Some, with a dry and barren brain,

Poor rogues

! like coftive lap-dogs strain;

While others with a flux of wit,

The reader and their friends befh-t.

HOR.

Would you (Sir Knight) my judgement know?

He ftill writes worst who writes fo-fo.

In this the mighty fecret lies,

To elevate, and to furprize?

Thus

Thus far my pen at random run,

The fire was out, the clock struck one.

When, lo! strange hollow murmurs from without,
Invade my ears. In every quarter rouz'd,

The warring winds rufh from their rocky caves
Tumultuous; the vapours dank, or dry,

Beneath their standards rang'd, with lowering front
Darken the welkin. At each dreadful fhock
Oaks, pines, and elms, down to their mother earth
Bend low their fuppliant heads: the nodding towers
Menace deftruction, and old Edrick's house
From its foundation fhakes. The bellying clouds
Burst into rain, or gild their sable skirts
With flakes of ruddy fire; fierce elements
In ruin reconcil'd! redoubled peals

Of ceafelefs thunder roar. Convulfions rend
The firmament. The whole creation ftands
Mute and appall'd, and trembling waits its doom.
And now perhaps, dear friend, you wonder
In this dread fcene of wind, rain, thunder,
What a poor guilty wretch could do ;
Then hear-(for, faith, I tell you true)
I water'd, fhook my giddy head,
Gravely broke wind, and went to bed.

Upon MIRANDA's leaving the Country.

T

HE fun departing hides his head,

The lily and the rose are dead,
The birds forget to fing;