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A

COLLECTION

OF THE

Moft Natural
Natural and
and Sublime
THOUGHTS, of the best ENGLISH
POETS.

I

ABSENCE. See Parting.

Mourn in Abfence, Love's eternal Night, Dryd. Pal.& Arc.
It was not kind,

To leave me, like a Turtle, here alone,

To droop, and mourn the Abfence of my Mate.
When thou art from me ev'ry Place is defart,
And I methinks am favage and forlorn.

Thy Prefence only 'tis can make me blefs'd;

Heal my unquiet Mind, and tune my Soul.

Otw. Orph.

Love reckons Hours for Months, and Days for Years;

And ev'ry little Absence is an Age.

Dryd. Amphit.

The tedious Hours move heavily away,

Otw. Cai. Mar.

And each long Minute feems a lazy Day.

For thee the bubbling Springs appear'd to mourn,

And whisp'ring Pines made Vows for thy Return. Dryd. Virg.
Night muft involve the World till the appear;

The Flow'rs in painted Meadows hang their Heads ;
The Birds awake not to their morning Songs,
Nor early Hinds renew their conftant Labour:
Ev'n Nature feems to flumber till her Call,
Regardless of th'Approach of any other Day.

Row. Uly

Winds murmur'd thro' the Leaves your fhort Delay,

And Fountains o'er their Pebbles chid your ftay:
But, with your Prefence chear'd, they cease to mourn,

And Walks wear fresher Green at your Return. Dryd. State of Inn.
The Joys of Meeting pay the Pangs of Abfence,

Elfe who could bear it?

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When thy lov'd Sight fhall blefs my Eyes again,
Then will I own I ought not to complain,

Since that sweet Hour is worth whole Years of Pain. Row.Tam.

I charge thee loiter not, but hafte to bless me ;

Think with what eager Hopes, what Rage I burn,
For ev'ry tedious Minute how I mourn:*

Think how I call thee cruel for thy Stay,

}

(Ulyff

And break my Heart with Grief for thy unkind Delay. Rom. Fly fwift, ye Hours, you measure Time for me in vain,

Till you bring back Leonidas again:

Be fwifter now, and to redeem that Wrong,

When he and I are met be twice as long. Dryd. Mar. A-la-mode. While in divine Panthea's charming Eyes,

I view the naked Boy that basking lies,

I grow
God! fo bleft, fo bleft am I
With facred Rapture and immortal Joy!
But, abfent, if the fhines no more,
And hides the Sun that I adore,
Strait, like a Wretch defpairing, I
Sigh, languifh in the Shade, and die.
Oh! I were loft in endless Night,

If her bright Prefence brought not Light;
Then I revive, bleft as before,

"

The Gods themselves can not be more! For Paffion by long Abfence does improve, And makes that Rapture which before was Love.

ADVICE.

When things go ill, each Fool prefumes t'advise,
And if more happy, thinks himself more wife:
All wretchedly deplore the present State;
And that Advice feems beft which comes too late.

Rech:

Step.

[Sedl. Ant. & Cleop.

Take found Advice, proceeding from a Heart, Sincerely yours, and free from fraudful Art.

EGEON.

Egeon, when with Heav'n he ftrove,

Stood oppofite in Arms to mighty Jove;

Mov'd all his hundred Hands, provok'd the War,
Defy'd the forky Lightning from afar :

Dryd. Virg.

At fifty Mouths his flaming Breath expires,
And Flath for Flafh returns, and Fires for Fires;
In his right Hand as many Swords he weilds,
And takes the Thunder on as many Shields.
Briaren call'd in Heav'n, but mortal Men below.
By his Terreftrial Name Egeon know

Dryd, Virg.

Dryd. Hom.

EOLUS: See Winds, Storm.

The God, who does in Caves constrain the Winds,

Can

Can with a Breath their clam'rous Rage appeafe,
They fear his Whistle, and forfake the Seas.

Yet once indulg'd, they fweep the Main,
Deaf to the Call, or hearing hear in vain.
They bent on Mifchief bear the Waves before,
And not content with Seas, infult the Shore ;
When Ocean, Air, and Earth at once engage,
And rooted Forefts fly before their Rage,
At once the clashing Clouds to Battel move,'
And Lightnings run across the Fields above.
In Times of Tempeft they command alone,
And he but fits precarious on the Throne.

Dryd. Ovid.

Eolus, to whom the King of Heav'n
The Pow'r of Tempefts and of Winds has giv'n;
Whofe Force alone their Fury can reftrain,
And smooth the Waves, or fwell the troubled Main:

The Jailor of the Wind,

Whofe hoarfe Commands his breathing Subjects call;
He boafts and blufters in his empty Hall.

ETNA.

Mount Etna thence we spy,

Known by the fmoaky Flames which cloud the Sky.
By turns a pitchy Cloud fhe rowls on high;
By turns hot Embers from her Entrails fly,

And Flakes of mounting Flames that lick the Sky.
Oft from her Bowels maffy Rocks are thrown,
And fhiver'd by the Force, come Piecemeal down.
Oft liquid Lakes of burning Sulphur flow,
Fed from the fiery Springs that boil below.
Enceladus, they fay, transfix'd by Jove,

With blafted Wings came tumbling from above;
And where he fell th'avenging Father drew

This flaming Hill, and on his Body threw :

As often as he turns his weary Sides,

Dryd. Virg.

He shakes the folid Ifle, and Smoke the Heavens hides.
Here prefs'd Enceladus with mighty Loads,

Vomits Revenge in Flames against the Gods:
Thro' Etna's Jaws he impudently threats,
And thund'ring Heav'n with equal Thunder beats.
So Contraries on Etna's Top conspire ;

Here hoary Frofts, and by them breaks out Fire.
A Peace fecure the faithful Neighbours keep;
Th'imbolden'd Snow next to the Flame does fleep.
As when the Force

Of fubterranean Wind tranfports a Hill,
Torn from Pelorus, or the fhatter'd Side
Of thund'ring Etna, whofe combuftible

(Dryd. Virg.

Cr. Lucr.

Cexl.

And

And fuel'd Entrails thence conceiving Fire,
Sublim'd with min'ral Fury, aid the Winds,
And leave a finged Bottom all involv'd

With Stench and Smoke.

The Four AGES of the World.

GOLDEN AGE.

The Golden Age was firft, when Man yet new,
No Rule, but uncorrupted Reafon, knew;
And with a native Bent did Good purfue.
Unforc'd by Punishment, unaw'd by Fear,
His Words were fimple, and his Soul fincere :
Needlefs was written Law, where none opprefs'd,
The Law of Man was written in his Breast.
No fuppliant Crowds before the Judge appear'd,
No Court erected yet, nor Gaufe was heard;
But all was fafe, for Confcience was their Guard.
The Mountain Trees in diftant Profpect please ;
E'er yet the Pine defcended to the Seas;
E'er Sails were fpread new Oceans to explore,
And happy Mortals, unconcern'd for more,
Confin'd their Wifhes to their native Shore.

No Walls were yet, nor Fence, nor Moat, nor Mound;
Nor Drum was heard, nor Trumpet's angry Sound;
Nor Swords were forg'd: But void of Care and Crime,
The foft Creation flept away their Time.

The teeming Earth, yet guiltless of the Plough,
And unprovok'd, did fruitful Stores allow.
Content with Food which Nature freely bred,
On Wildings and on Strawberries they fed;
Cornels and Bramble-berries gave the rest,
And falling Acorns furnifh'd out a Feast.
The Flow'rs unfown in Fields and Meadows reign'd,
And Western Winds immortal Spring maintain'd.
In following Years the bearded Corn enfu'd
From Earth unask'd, nor was that Earth renew'd.
From Veins of Vallies Milk and Nectar broke,
And Honey fweated thro' the Pores of Oak.
SILVER AGE.
But when Good Saturn, banifh'd from above,
Was driv'n to Hell, the World was under Jove:
Succeeding Times a filver Age behold,
Excelling Brafs, but more excell'd by Gold.
Then Summer, Autumn, Winter, did appear,
And Spring was but a Seafon of the Year.
The Sun his annua! Courfe obliquely made,
Good Days contracted, and enlarg'd the bad.
The Air with fultry Heats began to glow,

Milt:

}

}

The Wings of Winds were clog'd with Ice and Snow: And

And fhiv'ring Mortals, into Houfes driven,
Sought Shelter from th'Inclemency of Heaven.
Their Houses then were Caves, or homely Steds,
With twining Oziers fenc'd, and Mofs their Beds.
Then Ploughs for Seed the fruitful Furrows broke,
And Oxen labour'd firft beneath the Yoke.

BRAZEN AGE.

To this came next in Course the Brazen Age; A warlike Off-fpring, prompt to bloody Rage, Not impious yet.

IRON AGE.

Hard Steel fucceeded tin,
And ftubborn, as the Metal, were the Men.
Truth, Modefty, and Shame, the World forfook,
Fraud, Avarice,. and Force, their Places took :
Then Sails were fpread to ev'ry_Wind that blew,
Raw were the Sailors, and the Depths were new.
Trees rudely hollow'd did the Waves fuftain,
E'er Ships in Triumph plow'd the watry Main.
Then Land-marks limited to each his Right,
For all before was common as the Light:
Nor was the Ground alone requir'd to bear
Her annual Income to the crooked Share;
But greedy Mortals rummaging her Store,
Dig'd from her Entrails firft the precious Ore ;
(Which next to Hell the prudent Gods had laid,)
And that alluring Ill to fight difplay'd:

Thus curfed Steel, and more accurfed Gold,

Gave Mischief Birth, and made that Mischief bold;
And double Death did wretched Man invade,

By Steel affaulted, and by Gold betray'd.

Now, brandifh'd Weapons glitt'ring in their Hands,
Mankind is broken loofe from moral Bands.
No Rights of Hofpitality remain,

The Gueft, by him that harbour'd him, is flain:
The Son-in-Law pursues his Father's Life;
The Wife her Husband murthers, he the Wife:
The Stepdame Poyfon for the Son prepares;
The Son inquires into his Father's Years;
Faith flies, and Piety in Exile mourns,
And Juftice, here opprefs'd, to Heav'n returns.
Silver Age.

E'er this no Peafant vex'd the peaceful Ground,
Which only Turfs and Greens for Altars found:
No Fences parted Fields; nor Marks, nor Bounds
Diftinguish'd Acres of litigious Grounds:
But all was common, and the fruitful Earth
Was free to give her unexacted Birth.

Dryd. Ovid.

Fove

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