ADDITIONAL POEMS,

NOT IN MR. MASON'S EDITION.

VERSES

ON THE MARRIAGE OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES.

IGNARE nostrum mentes, et inertia corda,
Dum curas regum, et sortem miseramur iniquam,
Quæ solio affixit, vetuitque calescere flammâ
Dulci, quæ dono divum, gratissima serpit
Viscera per, mollesque animis lene implicat æstus ;
Nec teneros sensus, Veneris nec præmia nôrunt,
Eloquiumve oculi, aut facunda silentia linguæ :
Scilicet ignorant lacrymas, sævosque dolores,
Dura rudimenta, et violentiæ exordia flammæ;
Scilicet ignorant, quæ flumine tinxit amaro
Tela Venus, cacique armamentaria Divi,
Irasque, insidiasque, et tacitum sub pectore vulnus;
Namque sub ingressu, primoque in limine Amoris
Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;
Intus habent dulces Risus, et Gratiæ sedem,
Et roseis resupina toris, roseo ore Voluptas :
Regibus huc faciles aditus; communia spernunt
Ostia, jamque expers duris custodibus istis
Panditur accessus, penetraliaque intima Templi.
Tuque Oh! Angliacis, Princeps, spes optima regnis,
Ne tantum, ne finge metum ; quid imagine captus
Hæres, et mentem pictura pascis inani?
Umbram miraris: nec longum tempus, et ipsa
Ibit in amplexus, thalamosque ornabit ovantes.
Ille tamen tabulis inhians longum haurit amorem,
Affatu fruitur tacito, auscultatque tacentem
Immemor artificis calami, risumque, ruboremque
Aspicit in fucis, pictæque in virginis ore:
Tanta Venus potuit; tantus tenet error amantes.
Nascere, magna Dies, qua sese Augusta Britanno
Committat Pelago, patriamque relinquat amoenam

Cujus in adventum jam nunc tria regna secundos
Attolli in plausus, dulcique accensa furore
Incipiunt agitare modos, et carmina dicunt:
Ipse animo sedenim juvenis comitatur euntem
Explorat ventos, atque auribus aëra captat,
Atque auras, atque astra vocat crudelia; pectus
Intentum exultat, surgitque arrecta cupido :
Incusat spes ægra fretum, solitoque videtur
Latior effundi pontus, fructusque morantes.
Nascere, Lux major, qua sese Augusta Britanno
Committat juveni totam, propriamque dicabit;
At citius (precor) Oh! cedas melioribus astris :
Nox finem pompæ, finemque imponere curis
Possit, et in thalamos furtim deducere nuptam ;
Sufficiat requiemque viris, et amantibus umbras;
Adsit Hymen, et subridens cum matre Cupido
Accedant, sternantque toros, ignemque ministrent;
Ilicet haud pictæ incandescit imaginæ formæ
Ulterius juvenis, verumque agnoscit amorem.
Sculptile sicut ebur, faciemque arsisse venustam
Pygmaliona canunt; ante hanc suspiria ducit,
Alloquiturque amens, flammamque et vulnera narrat;
Implorata Venus jussit cum vivere signum,
Fœminæam inspirans animam; quæ gaudia surgunt,
Audiit ut primæ nascentia murmura linguæ,
Luctari in vitam, et paulatim volvere ocellos
Sedulus, aspexitque novâ splendescere flammâ ;
Corripit amplexu vivam, jamque oscula jungit
Acria confestim, recipitque rapitque; prioris
Immemor ardoris, Nymphæque oblitus eburnæ.

SONG.*

THO. GRAY, Pett. Coll.

THYRSIS, when he left me, swore
In the Spring he would return-
Ah! what means the op'ning flower?
And the bud that decks the thorn?
"Twas the nightingale that sung!
'Twas the lark that upward sprung!

* This was written, at the request of Miss Speed, to an old air
of Geminiani: the thought from the French.

Idle notes! untimely green!

Why such unavailing haste?
Gentle gales and sky serene

Prove not always winter past...

Cease my doubts, my fears to move—

Spare the honour of my love.

THE INQUIRY.*

WITH Beauty, with Pleasure surrounded, to languish-
To weep without knowing the cause of my anguish ;
To start from short slumbers, and wish for the morning-
To close my dull eyes when I see it returning;

Sighs sudden and frequent, looks ever dejected—

Words that steal from my tongue, by no meaning connected!
Ah, say, fellow swains, how these symptoms befel me?
They smile, but reply not-Sure Delia can tell me!

TOPHET:

AN EPIGRAM.

[Mr. Etough,t of Cambridge University, was a person as remarkable for the eccentricities of his character, as for his personal appearance. A Mr. Tyson, of Bene't College, made an etching of his head, and presented it to Mr. Gray, who wrote under it the following lines.]

THUS Tophet looked; so grinned the brawling fiend,
Whilst frighted prelates bow'd, and call'd him friend.
Our mother-church, with half-averted sight,
Blush'd as she bless'd her grisly proselyte;
Hosannas rung through Hell's tremendous borders,
And Satan's self had thoughts of taking orders.

IMPROMPTU,

Suggested by a View, in 1766, of the Seat and Ruins of a deceased
Nobleman, at Kingsgate, Kent.

OLD, and abandon'd by each venal friend,

H―d form'd the pious resolution
To smuggle a few years, and strive to mend

A broken character and constitution.

These amatory lines having been found among the MSS. of Gray, but bearing no title, we have ventured, for the sake of uniformity in this volume, to prefix the above. The lines themselves will be found in a note in the second volume of Warton's Edition of Pope's Works.

+ Some information respecting this gentleman (who was Rector of Therfield, Herts, and of Colmworth, Bedfordshire) will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. LVI. p. 25. 281.

On this congenial spot he fix'd his choice;

Earl Goodwin trembled for his neighb’ring sand;
Here sea-gulls scream, and cormorants rejoice,

And mariners, though shipwreck'd, dread to land.
Here reign the blust'ring North and blighting East,
No tree is heard to whisper, bird to sing;
Yet Nature could not furnish out the feast,
Art he invokes new horrors still to bring.

Here mould'ring fanes and battlements arise,
Turrets and arches nodding to their fall;
Unpeopled monast❜ries delude our eyes,
And mimic desolation covers all.

"Ah!" said the sighing peer," had B-te been true,
Nor M-'s, R-'s, B-'s, friendship vain,

Far better scenes than these had blest our view,

46

And realized the beauties which we feign.

Purged by the sword, and purified by fire,
Then had we seen proud London's hated walls;
Owls would have hooted in St Peter's choir,
And foxes stunk and litter'd in St Paul's."

THE CANDIDATE;

OR, THE CAMBRIDGE COURTSHIP.*

WHEN sly Jemmy Twitcher had smugg'd up his face,
With a lick of court white-wash, and pious grimace,
A wooing he went, where three sisters of old
In harmless society guttle and scold.

Lord! sister, says Physic to Law, I declare,
Such a sheep-biting look, such a pick-pocket air!
Not I for the Indies!-You know I'm no prude,-
But his name is a shame,—and his eyes are so lewd!
Then he shambles and straddles so oddly-I fear—
No-at our time of life 'twould be silly, my dear.

I don't know, says Law, but methinks for his look
"Tis just like the picture in Rochester's book;

This jeu d'esprit was written a short time previous to the election of a High Steward of the University of Cambridge, for which office the noble lord alluded to made an active canvass.

Then his character, Phyzzy,-his morals—his life-
When she died, I can't tell, but he once had a wife.
They say he's no Christian, loves drinking and w -g,
And all the town rings of his swearing and roaring!
His lying and filching, and Newgate-bird tricks ;-
Not I-for a coronet, chariot and six.

-g:

Divinity heard, between waking and dozing,
Her sisters denying, and Jemmy proposing:
From table she rose, and with bumper in hand,
She stroked up her belly, and stroked down her band-
What a pother is here about wenching and roaring!
Why, David loved catches, and Solomon w-
Did not Israel filch from th' Egyptians of old
Their jewels of silver and jewels of gold?
The prophet of Bethel, we read, told a lie ;
He drinks- -so did Noah ;-he swears-so do I:
To reject him for such peccadillos, were odd;
Besides, he repents- for he talks about G**—
[To Jemmy]

Never hang down your head, you poor penitent elf;
Come buss me-I'll be Mrs. Twitcher myself.

Containing a description of a Descent into the Mines.*
THROUGH subterraneous passages they went,
Earth's inmost cells and caves of deep descent;

Onward they pass, where ripening minerals flow,
And embryo metals undigested glow;

Where gems break through the night with glittering beam,

Or paint the margin of the costly stream:

All stones of lustre shoot their vivid ray,

Or mix attempered in a various day :

There the soft emerald smiles, of verdant hue;

There rubies flame with sapphire's heavenly blue;
The diamond there attracts the wond'rous sight,
Proud of its thousand dies and luxury of light!'

* See Appendix to Otter's Life of Dr. E. D. Clarke.