Passion, as frequently is seen, Subsiding settles into Spleen. Hence, as the plague of happy life, I run away from party-strife. A prince's cause, a church's claim, I've known to raise a mighty flame, And priest, as stoker, very free To throw in peace and charity. That tribe, whose practicals decree Small-beer the deadliest heresy ; Who, fond of pedigree, derive From the most noted whore alive; Who own wine's old prophetic aid, And love the mitre Bacchus made, Forbid the faithful to depend On half-pint drinkers for a friend, And in whose gay red-letter'd face We read good-living more than grace: Nor they so pure, and so precise, Immac'late as their white of eyes, Who for the spirit hug the Spleen, Phylacter'd throughout all their mien, Who their ill-tasted home-brew'd pray'r To the state's mellow forms prefer; Who doctrines, as infectious, fear, Which are not steep'd in vinegar, And samples of hearl-chested grace Expose in show.glass of the face, Did never me as yet provoke Either to honor band and cloak, Or deck my hat with leaves of oak.
I rail not with mock-patriot grace At folks, because they are in place ; Nor, hir'd to praise with stallion pen, Serve the ear-lechery of men; But to avoid religious jars, The laws are my expositors, Which in my doubting mind create Conformity to church and state. I go, pursuant to my plan, To Mecca with the caravan. And think it right in common sense Both for diversion and defence.
Reforming schemes are none of mine; To mend the world's a vast design: Like theirs, who tug in little boat, To pull to them the ship afloat, While to defeat their labor'd end, At once both wind and stream contend : Success herein is seldom seen, And zeal, when baffled, turns to Spleen
Happy the man, who innocent, Grieves not at ills he can't prevent; His skiff does with the current glide, Not puffing pullid against the tide. He, paddling by the scuffling crowd, Sees unconcern'd life's wager row'd, And when he can't prevent foul play, Enjoys the folly of the fray.
By these reflections I repeal Each hasty promise made in zeal. When Gospel propagators say, We're bound our great light to display, And Indian darkness drive away, Yet none but drunken watchmen send, And scoundrel link-boys for that end; When they cry up this holy war, Which every Christian should be for; Yet such as owe the law their ears, We find employ'd as engineers :
This view my forward zeal so shocks, In vain they hold the money-box. At such a conduct, which intends By vicious means such virtuous ends, I laugh off Spleen, and keep my pence From spoiling Indian innocence.
Yet philosophic love of ease I suffer not to prove disease, But rise up in the virtuous cause Of a free press and equal laws. The press restrain'd! nefandous thought! In vain our sires have nobly fought: While free from force the press remains, Virtue and Freedom cheer our plains, And Learning largesses bestows, And keeps uncensur'd open house. We to the nation's public mart Our works of wit, and schemes of art, And philosophic goods this way, Like water-carriage, cheap convey. This tree, which knowledge so affords, Inquisitors with faming swords From lay approach with zeal defend, Lest their own paradise should end. The Press from her fecundous womb Brought forth the arts of Greece and Rome; Her offspring, skill'd in logic war, Truth's banner wav'd in open air; The monster Superstition fled, And hid in shades its Gorgon head ; And lawless pow'r, the long-kept field, By reason quell'd, was forc'd to yield. This nurse of arts, and freedom's fence, To chain, is treason against sense ; And, Liberty, thy thousand tongues None silence, who design no wrongs; For those, who use the gag's restraint, First rob, before they stop complaint.
Since disappointment galls within, And subjugates the soul to Spleen, Most schemes, as money-snares, I hate, And bite not at projectors' bait, Sufficient wrecks appear each day, And yet fresh fools are cast away. Ere well the bubbled can turn round, Their painted vessel runs aground; Or in deep seas it oversets By a fierce hurricane of debts; Or helm directors in one trip, Freight first embezzled, sink the ship. Such was of late a corporation,* The brazen serpent of the nation, Which, when hard accidents distress'd, The poor must look at to be blest, And thence expect, with paper seal'd By fraud and us’ry, to be heal'd.
I in no soul-consumption wait Whole years at levees of the great,
* The Charitable Corporation, instituted for the relief of the industrious poor, by assisting them with small sums upon pledges at legal interest. By the villany of those who had the management of this scheme, the pro. prietors were defrauded of very considerable sums of money. In 1732 the conduct of the directors of this body became the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, and some of them, who were inembers of the house of commons, were expelled for their concern in this iniquitous trans. action.
And hungry hopes regale the while On the spare diet of a smile. There you may see the idol stand With mirror in his wanton hand; Above, below, now here, now there, He throws about the sunny glare. Crowds pant, and press to seize the prize, The gay delusion of their eyes.
When Fancy tries her limning skill To draw and color at her will, And raise and round the figure well, And show her talent to excel, I guard my heart, lest it should woo Unreal beauties Fancy drew, And, disappointed, feel despair Al loss of things that never were.
When I lean politicians mark Grazing on ether in the Park ; Who e'er on wing with open throats Fly at debates, expresses, votes, Just in the manner swallows use, Catching their airy food of news; Whose latrant stomachs oft molest The deep-laid plans their dreams suggest; Or see some poet pensive sit, Fondly mistaking Spleen for Wit: Who, though short-winded, still will aim To sound the epic trump of Fame; Who still on Phæbus' smiles will dote, Nor learn conviction from his coat; I bless'd my stars, I never knew Whimsies, which close pursu'd, undo, And have from old experience been Both parent and the child of Spleen. These subjects of Apollo's state, Who from false fire derive their fate, With airy purchases undone Of lands, which none lend money on, Born dull, had follow'd thriving ways, Nor lost one hour to gather bays. Their fancies first delirious grew, And scenes ideal took for true. Fine to the sight Parnassus lies, And with false prospects cheats their eyes ; The fabled gods the poets sing, A season of perpetual spring, Brooks, flow'ry fields, and groves of trees, Affording sweets and similes, Gay dreams inspir'd in myrtle bow'rs, And wreaths of undecaying flow'rs, Apollo's harp with airs divine, The sacred music of the Nine, Views of the temple rais'd to Fame, And for a vacant niche proud aim, Ravish their souls, and plainly show What Fancy's sketching power can do. They will attempt the mountain steep, Where on the top, like dreams in sleep, The Muse's revelations show, That find men crack'd, or make them so.
You, friend, like me, the trade of rhyme Avoid, elab'rate waste of time, Nor are content to be undone, To pass for Phæbus' crazy son. Poems, the hop-grounds of the brain, Afford the most uncertain gain; And loti’ries never tempt the wise With blanks so many to a prize. I only transient visits pay, Meeting the Muses in my way,
Scarce known to the fastidious dames, Nor skill'd to call them by their names. Nor can their passports in these days, Your profit warrant, or your praise. On poems by their dictates writ, Critics, as sworn appraisers, sit, And mere upholst'rers in a trice On gems and paintings set a price. These tayl'ring artists for our lays Invent cramp'd rules, and with straight stays Striving free Nature's shape to hit, Emaciate sense, before they fit.
A commonplace and many friends, Can serve the plagiary's ends, Whose easy vamping talent lies, First wit to pilfer, then disguise. Thus some, devoid of art and skill To search the mine on Pindus' hill, Proud to aspire and workmen grow, By genius doom'd to stay below, For their own digging show the town Wit's treasure brought by others down. Some wanting, if they find a mine, An artist's judgment to retine, On fame precipitately fix'd, The ore with baser metals mix'd Melt down, impatient of delay, And call the vicious mass a play. All these engage to serve their ends, A band select of trusty friends, Who, lesson'd right, extol the thing, As Psapho* taught his birds to sing ; Then to the ladies they submit, Returning officers on wit : A crowded house their presence draws, And on the beaux imposes laws, A judgment in its favor ends, When all the panel are its friends : Their natures merciful and mild Have from mere pity sav'd the child ; In bulrush ark the bantling found Helpless, and ready to be drown'd, They have preserv'd by kind support, And brought the baby-muse to court. But there's a youth † that you can name, Who needs no leading-strings to fame, Whose quick maturity of brain The birth of Pallas may explain : Dreaming of whose depending fate, I heard Melpomene debate, ** This, this is he, that was foretold Should emulate our Greeks of old. Inspir'd by me with sacred art, He sings, and rules the varied heart; If Jove's dread anger he rehearse, We hear the thunder in his verse; If he describes love turn'd to rage, The furies riot in his page.
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* Psapho was a Lybian, who, desiring to be accounted a god, effected it by this means; he took young birds and taught them to sing, Psapho is a great god. When they were perfect in their lesson, he let them fly; and other birds learning the same ditty, repeated it in the woods ; on which his countrymen offered sacrifice to him, and considered him as a deity.
† Mr.Glover, the excellent author of Leonidas, Boadicea, Medea, &c.
If he fair liberty and law
And better to preserve the peace, By ruffian pow'r expiring draw,
Commission'd by the name of niece, The keener passions then engage
With understandings of a size Aright, and sanctify their rage;
To think their master very wise. If he attempt disastrous love,
May Heav'n (it's all I wish for) send We hear those 'plaints that wound the grove. One genial room to treat a friend, Within the kinder passions glow,
Where decent cupboard, little plate, And tears distillid from pity flow."
Display benevolence, not state. From the bright vision I descend,
And may my humble dwelling stand And my deserted theme attend.
Upon some chosen spot of land : Me never did ambition seize,
A pond before full to the brim, Strange fever most inflam'd by ease !
Where cows may cool, and geese may swim ; The active lunacy of pride,
Behind, a green-like velvet neat, That couris jiit Fortune for a bride,
Soft to the eye, and to the feet; This par'dise-tree, so fair and high,
Where od'rous plants in evening fair I view with no aspiring eye :
Breathe all around ambrosial air; Like aspen shake the restless leaves,
From Eurus, soe to kitchen ground, And Sodom-fruit our pains deceives,
Fenc'd by a slope with bushes crown'd, Whence frequent falls give no surprise,
Fit dwelling for the feather’d throng, But fits of Spleen, call’d growing wise.
Who pay their quit-rents with a song ; Greatness in glitt'ring forms display'd
With op'ning views of hill and dale, Affects weak eyes much usd to shade,
Which sense and fancy too regale, And by its falsely-envied scene
Where the half-cirque, which vision bounds, Gives self-debasing fits of Spleen.
Like amphitheatre surrounds; We should be pleas'd that things are so,
And woods impervious to the breeze, Who do for nothing see the show,
Thick phalanx of embodied trees, And, middle-siz'd, can pass between
From hills through plains in dusk array Life's hubbub safe, because unseen,
Extended far, repel the day. And midst the glare of greatness trace
Here stillness, height, and solemn shade A wat’ry sunshine in the face,
Invite, and contemplation aid : And pleasure fed to, to redress
Here nymphs from hollow oaks relate The sad fatigue of idleness.
The dark decrees and will of Fate, Contentment, parent of delight,
And dreams beneath the spreading beech So much a stranger to our sight,
Inspire, and docile fancy teach ; Say, goddess, in what happy place
While soft as breezy breath of wind, Mortals behold thy blooming face ;
Impulses rustle through the mind. Thy gracious auspices impart,
Here Dryads, scorning Phæbus' ray And for thy temple choose my heart.
While Pan melodius pipes away, They, whom thou deignest to inspire,
In measur'd motions frisk about, Thy science learn, to bound desire;
Till old Silenus puts them out. By happy alchymy of mind
There see the clover, pea, and bean, They turn to pleasure all they find;
Vie in variety of green; They both disdain in outward mien
Fresh pastures speckled o'er with sheep, The grave and solemn garb of Spleen,
Brown fields their fallow sabbaths keep, And meretricious arts of dress,
Plump Ceres golden tresses wear, To feign a joy, and hide distress ;
And poppy top-knots deck her hair, Unmov'd when the rude tempest blows,
And silver streams through meadows stray, Without an opiate they repose ;
And Naïads on the margin play, And, cover'd by your shield, defy
And lesser nymphs on side of hills The whizzing shafts, that round them fly: From plaything urns pour down the rills. Nor meddling with the god's affairs,
Thus shelter'd, free from care and strife, Concern themselves with distant cares ;
May I enjoy a calm through life ; But place their bliss in mental rest,
See faction, safe in low degree, And feast upon the good possess’d.
As men at land see storms at sea, Forc'd by soft violence of pray'r,
And laugh at miserable elves, The blithesome goddess soothes my care. Not kind, so much as to themselves, I feel the deity inspire,
Curs’d with such souls of base alloy, And thus she models my desire.
As can possess, but not enjoy ; Two hundred pounds half-yearly paid,
Debarr’d the pleasure to impart Annuity securely made,
By av'rice, sphincter of the heart, A farm some twenty miles from town,
Who wealth, hard-earn'd by guilty cares Small, tight, salubrious, and my own;
Bequeath untouch'd to thankless heirs. Two maids, that never saw the town,
May I, with look ungloom'd by guile, A serving-man, not quite a clown;
And wearing Virtue's liv'ry-smile, A boy to help to tread the mow,
Prone the distressed to relieve, And drive, while t’ other holds the plow; And little trespasses forgive, A chief, of temper form'd to please,
With income not in Fortune's pow'r, Fit to converse, and keep the keys ;
And skill to make a busy hour,
With trips to town life to amuse, To purchase books, and hear the news, To see old friends, brush off the clown, And quicken taste at coming down, Unhurt by sickness' blasting rage, And slowly mellowing in age, When Fate extends its gathering gripe, Fall off like fruit grown fully ripe, Quit a worn being without pain, Perhaps to blossom soon again.
But now more serious see me grow, And what I think, my Memmius, know.
Th' enthusiast's hope, and raptures wild, Have never yet my reason foil'd. His springy soul dilates like air, When free from weight of ambient care, And, hush'd in meditation doep, Slides into dreams, as when asleep; Then, fond of new discoveries grown, Proves a Columbus of her own, Disdains the narrow bounds of place, And through the wilds of endless space, Borne up on metaphysic wings, Chases light forms and shadowy things, And in the vague excursion caught, Brings home some rare exotic thought. The melancholy man such dreams, As brightest evidence, esteems; Fain would he see some distant scene Suggested by his restless Spleen, And Fancy's telescope applies With tinctur'd glass to cheat his eyes. Such thoughts, as love the gloom of night, I close examine by the light; For who, though brib'd by gain to lie, Dare sunbeam-written truths deny, And execute plain common senso On faith's mere hearsay evidence ?
That superstition mayn't create, And club its ills with those of Fate, I many a notion take to task, Made dreadful by its visor-mask. Thus scruple, spasm of the mind, Is curd, and certainty I find, Since optic reason shows me plain, I dread spectres of the brain; And legendary fears are gone, Though in tenacious childhood sown. Thus in opinions I commence Freeholder in the proper sense, And neither suit nor service do, Nor homage to pretenders show, Who boast themselves by spurious roll Lords of the manor of the soul; Preferring sense, from chin that's bare, To nonsense thron'd in whisker'd hair.
To thee, Creator uncreate, O Entium Ens! divinely great!- Hold, Muse, nor melting pinions try, Nor near the blazing glory fly, Nor straining break thy feeble bow, Unfeather'd arrows far to throw : Through fields unknown nor madly stray Where no ideas mark the way. With tender eyes, and colors faint,
And trembling hands, forbear to paint Who features veil'd by light can hit? Where can, what has no outline, sit? My soul, the vain attempt forego, Thyself, the fitter subject, know He wisely shuns the bold extreme, Who soon lays by th' unequal theme, Nor runs, with Wisdom's syrens caught, On quicksands swall'wing shipwreck'd thought But, conscious of his distance, gives Mute praise, and humble negatives. In one, no object of our sight, Immutable, and infinite, Who can't be cruel or unjust, Calm and resign'd, I fix my trust; To him my past and present state I owe, and must my future fate. A stranger into life I'm come, Dying may be our going home, Transported here by angry Fate, The convicts of a prior state. Hence I no anxious thoughts bestow On matters I can never know; Through life's foul way, like vagrant pass'd, He'll grant a settlement at last, And with sweet ease the wearied crown, By leave to lay his being down. If doom'd to dance th' eternal round Of life no sooner lost but found, And dissolution soon to come, Like sponge, wipes out life's present sum, But can't our state of pow'r bereave An endless series to receive; Then, if hard dealt with here by Fate, We balance in another state, And consciousness must go along, And sign th'acquittance for the wrong. He for his creatures must decree More happiness than misery, Or be supposed to create, Curious to try, what 'tis to hate : And do an act, which rage infers, 'Cause lameness halts, or blindness errs.
Thus, thus I steer my bark, and sail On even keel with gentle gale ; At helm I make my reason sit, My crew of passions all submit. If dark and blust'ring prove some nights, Philosophy puts forth her lights ; Experience holds the cautious glass, To shun the breakers, as I pass, And frequent throws the wary lead, To see what dangers may be hid; And once in seven years I'm seen At Bath or Tunbridge, to careen. Though pleas'd to see the dolphins play I mind my compass and my way, With store sufficient for relief, And wisely still prepar'd to reef, Nor wanting the dispersive bowl Of cloudy weather in the soul, I make, (may Heav'n propitious send Such wind and weather to the end) Neither becalm'd, nor over-blown, Life's voyage to the world unknown
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Here 'tis the soul feels sudden youth, ON BARCLAY'S APOLOGY FOR THE And meets exulting, virgin Truth ; QUAKERS.*
Here, like a breeze of gentlest kind, Impulses rustle through the mind :
Here shines that light with glowing face, These sheets primeval doctrines yield,
The fuse divine, that kindles grace; Where revelation is reveal'd; Soul-phlegm from literal feeding bred,
Which, if we trim our lamps, will last,
Till darkness be by dying past. Systems lethargic to the head
And then goes out at end of night, They purge, and yield a diet thin, That turns to Gospel-chyle within.
Extinguish'd by superior light.
Ah me! the heats and colds of life, Truth sublimate may here be seen Extracted from the parts terrene.
Pleasure's and pain's eternal strife, In these is shown, how men obtain
Breed stormy passions, which confin’d, What of Prometheus poets feign :
Shake, like th' Æolian vale, the mind, To Scripture plainness dress is brought,
And raise despair; my lamp can last, And speech, apparel to the thought.
Plac'd where they drive the furious blast. They hiss from instinct at red coats,
False eloquence! big empty sound! And war, whose work is cutting throats,
Like showers that rush upon the ground !
Little beneath the surface goes, Forbid, and press the law of love; Breathing the spirit of the dove.
All streams along, and muddy flows. Lucrative doctrines they detest,
This sinks, and swells the buried grain, As manufactur’d by the priest ;
And fructifies like southern rain. And throw down turnpikes, where we pay
His art, well hid in mild discourse, For stuff, which never mends the way;
Exerts persuasion's winning force, And tythes, a Jewish tax, reduce,
And nervates so the good design, And frank the Gospel for our use.
That king Agrippa's case is mine.
Well-natur'd, happy shade forgive! They sable standing armies break; But the militia useful make :
Like you I think, but cannot live. Since all unhir'd may preach and pray,
Thy scheme requires the world's contempt, Taught by these rules as well as they;
That from dependence life exempt;
And constitution fram'd so strong, Rules, which, when truths themselves reveal,
This world's worst climate cannot wrong. Bid us to follow what we feel. The world can't hear the small still voice,
Not such my lot, not Fortune's brat, Such is its bustle and its noise ;
I live by pulling off the hat; Reason the proclamation reads,
Compell’d by station every hour
To bow to images of power; But not one riot passion heeds. Wealth, honor, power, the graces are,
And in life's busy scenes immers'd, Which here below our homage share :
See better things, and do the worst. They, if one votary they find
Eloquent Want, whose reasons sway, To mistress more divine inclin'd,
And make ten thousand truths give way, In truth's pursuit, t cause delay,
While I your scheme with pleasure trace, Throw golden apples in his way.
Draws near, and stares me in the face. Place me, O Heav'n, in some retreat ;
“Consider well your state," she cries, There let the serious death-watch beat,
Like others kneel, that you may rise ; There let me self in silence shun,
Hold doctrines, by no scruples vex'd, To feel thy will, which should be done.
To which preferment is annex'd; Then comes the Spirit to our hut,
Nor madly prove, where all depends, When fast the senses' doors are shut;
Idolatry upon your friends. For so divine and pure a guest
See, how you like my rueful face, The emptiest rooms are furnish'd best.
Such you must wear, if out of place.
Crack'd is your brain to turn recluse O Contemplation! air serene! From damps of sense, and fogs of spleen!
Without one farthing out at use.
They, who have lands, and safe bank-stock, Pure mount of thought! thrice holy ground,
With faith so founded on a rock, Where grace, when waited for, is found.
May give a rich invention ease, And construe Scripture how they please.
The honor'd prophet, that of old * This celebrated book was written by its author, both Us'd Heav'n's high counsels to unfold, in Latin and English, and was afterwards translated into Did, more than courier angels, greet High Dutch, Low Dutch, French, and Spanish, and proba. The crows, that brought him bread and meat. bly into other languages. It has always been esteemed a very ingenious defence of the principles of Quakerism, even by those who deny the doctrines which it endeavors to establish. The author was born at Edinburgh in 1648,
THE SEEKER. and received part of his education at the Scots College in Paris, where his uncle was principal. His father became When I first came to London, I rambled about, one of the earliest converts to the new sect, and from his example, the son seems to have been induced to tread From sermon to sermon, took a slice and went out in his steps. He died on the 3d of October, 1690, in the
Then on me, in divinity bachelor, tried 42 year of his age.
Many priests to obtrude a Levitical bride ;
20
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