In Albion, and well nigh from Albion's shore, Piercing th' unseemly birds, Shall drive the Harpy race from Helicon afar? ANTISTROPHE But thou, my book, though thou hast stray'd, Or indolent neglect, thy bearer's fault, To some dark cell, or cave forlorn, The chafing of some hard untutor'd hand, For lo! again the splendid hope appears The gulphs of Lethe, and on oary wings STROPHE III Since Rouse desires thee, and complains Giv'n to his care, But, absent, leav'st his numbers incomplete: Of that unperishing wealth, Calls thee to the interior shrine, his charge, ANTISTROPHE Haste, then, to the pleasant groves, The Muses' fav'rite haunt; Resume thy station in Apollo's dome, Dearer to him Than Delos, or the fork'd Parnassian hill! Exulting go, Since now a splendid lot is also thine, And thou art sought by my propitious friend; With authors of exalted note, 40 50 60 70 The antient glorious lights of Greece and Rome. EPODE Ye, then, my works, no longer vain, Gift of kind Hermes, and my watchful friend, Shall entrance find, And whence the coarse unletter'd multitude Perhaps some future distant age, Less ting'd with prejudice, and better taught, To judge more equally. Then, malice silenced in the tomb, I merit, shall with candour weigh the claim. A TRANSLATION OF THE ITALIAN POEMS SONNET 81 90 FAIR Lady! whose harmonious name the Rhine, Through all his grassy vale, delights to hear, Base were indeed the wretch, who could forbear To love a spirit elegant as thine, That manifests a sweetness all divine, Nor knows a thousand winning acts to spare, And graces, which Love's bow and arrows are, Temp'ring thy virtues to a softer shine. When gracefully thou speak'st, or singest gay, Such strains, as might the senseless forest move, Ah then--turn each his eyes, and ears, away, Who feels himself unworthy of thy love! Grace can alone preserve him, ere the dart Of fond desire yet reach his inmost heart. SONNET As on a hill-top rude, when closing day 11 So, on my tongue these accents, new, and rare, Are flow'rs exotic, which Love waters there. While thus, O sweetly scornful! I essay Thy praise, in verse to British ears unknown, And Thames exchange for Arno's fair domain; 10 So Love has will'd, and ofttimes Love has shown That what he wills, he never wills in vain. Oh that this hard and steril breast might be, To Him, who plants from Heav'n, a soil as free! CANZONE THEY mock my toil-the nymphs and am'rous swains "And whence this fond attempt to write," they cry, "Love songs in language, that thou little know'st? How dar'st thou risk to sing these foreign strains? Say truly. Find'st not oft thy purpose cross'd, And that thy fairest flow'rs here fade and die?" Then with pretence of admiration high"Thee other shores expect, and other tides, Rivers, on whose grassy sides 10 Her deathless laurel leaf, with which to bind My willing heart, and all my fancy's flights, SONNET TO CHARLES DIODATI CHARLES-and I say it wond'ring- thou must know 10 Words exquisite, of idioms more than one, And song, whose fascinating pow'r might bind, And from her sphere draw down the lab'ring Moon, With such fire-darting eyes, that should I fill My ears with wax, she would inchant me still. SONNET LADY! It cannot be, but that thine eyes Must be my sun, such radiance they display, And strike me ev'n as Phoebus him, whose way Through horrid Lybia's sandy desert lies. Meantime, on that side steamy vapours rise Where most I suffer. Of what kind are they, But deem them, in the lover's language-sighs. 10 While others to my tearful eyes ascend, Whence my sad nights in show'rs are ever drown'd, Till my Aurora comes, her brow with roses bound. SONNET ENAMOUR'D, artless, young, on foreign ground, When tempests shake the world, and fire the sky, From hopes and fears, that vulgar minds abuse, As fond of genius, and fixt fortitude, Of the resounding lyre, and every Muse. Weak you will find it in one only part, Now pierc'd by Love's immedicable dart. 11 APPENDIX OF JUVENILE, FRAGMENTARY AND IMPROMPTU VERSE ON LOYALTY [Written 1754. Published by T. Wright in Unpublished Poems Cum varios capiti affigat diadema dolores, ul(lum), dignius Nam primum in Satanæ pectore crime(n erat). 10 Tu vero (si talis erit) quicunque verendum Nec quia rara fides regi fert præmia, demens 20 Published first here, as written, [Written Oct. 10, 1755, to Hill. from MS. in possession of Canon Cowper Johnson.] IF I write not to you As I gladly would do To a Man of your Mettle & Sense, "Tis a Fault I must own For which I'll attone When I take my Departure from hence. To tell you ye Truth, I'm a queer kind of Youth And I care not if all ye world knows it; In Square, Alley, or Row, At Whitehall, in ye court, or yo closet. Having written thus much 6 12 |