POEMS

ON

SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

1.

ANNO ÆTATIS 17.

ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT,

DYING OF A COUGH.

I.
O FAIREST flow'r, no sooner blown but blasted,
Soft silken primrose fading timelesly,
Summer's chief honour, if thou hadst outlasted
Bleak Winter's force that made thy blossom dry;
For ke, being amorous on that lovely dye

That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss,
But kill'd, alas! and then bewail'd his fatal bliss.

5

10

IL
Kor since grim Aquilo, his charioteer,
By boist'rous rape th' Athenian damsel got,
He thought it touch'd his deity full near,
If likewise he some fair one wedded not,
Thereby to wipe away th’infamous blot

of long uncoupled bed, and childless eld, Whicb, ’orongst the wanton Gods, a foul reproach

was held

III.
So, mounting up in icy-pearled car,

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Through middle empire of the freezing air
He wandı r'd long, till thee he spy'd from far;
There ended was his quest, there ceas'd his care:
Down he descended from his snow-soft chair,

But, all unwares, with his cold-kind embrace, 20 Unhous'd thy virgin soul from her fair biding place.

IV. Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate; For 80 Apollo, with unweeting hand, Whilom did slay his dearly-loved mate, Young Hyacinth, born on Eurotas' strand; 23 Young Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land;

But then transform'd him to a purple flower: Alack, that so to change thee Winter had no power!

v.
Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead,
Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb,
Or that thy beauties lie in wormy bed,
Hid from the world in a low delved tomb;
Could Heav'n for pity thee so strietly doom?

no! for something in thy face did shine Above mortality, that show'd thou wast divine. 33

VI.
Resolve me then, oh soul most surely blest,
(If so it be that thou these plaints dost hear;)
Tell me, bright Spirit, where'er thou hoverest,
Whether above that high first-moving sphere,
Or in th' Elysian fields, (if such there were;)

Oh say me true, if thou wert mortal wight,
And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight?

VII.

Wert thou some star which from the ruin'd roof
Of shak'd Olympus by mischance didst fall;
Which careful Jove in nature's true behoof

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Took up, and in fit place did reinstall?
Or did of latè earth's sons besiege the wall

Of sheeny Heav'n, and thou some Goddess fled Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd head?

VIII. Or wert thou that just Maid, who once before 50 Forsook the hated earth, 0 tell me sooth, And cam’st again to visit us once more? Or wert thou that sweet-smiling Youth? Or that crown'd matron sage white-robed Truth? Or any other of that heav'nly brood

55 Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some good?

IX.
Or wert thou of the golden-winged host,
Who, having clad thyself in human weed,
To earth from thy prefixed seat didst post,
And after short abode fly back with speed,

60 As if to show what creatures Heav'n doth breed;

Thereby to set the hearts of men on fire To scorn the sordid world, and unto Heav'n aspire ?

X. But oh! why didst thou not stay here below To bless us with thy heav'n-lov'd innocence, 65 To slake his wrath, whom sin hath made our foe, To turn swift-rushing black perdition hence, Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence,

To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart? But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.

XI.

Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, 72
Her false-imagin'd loss cease to lament,
And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild;
Think what a present thou to God hast sent,
And render him with patience what he lent; 75

This if thou do, he will an offspring give,
That, till the world's last end, shall make thy name to

lire

IL

ANNO ÆTATIS 19.

At a Vacation Exercise in the college, part Latin, fast

English. The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began.

HAIL, native Language, that by sinews weak Didst move my first endeavouring tongue to speaks And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips, Half unpronounced, slide through my infant-lips, Driving dumb Silence from the portal door, Where he had mutely sat two years before! Here I salute thee, and thy pardon ask, That now I use thee in my latter task: Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee, I know my tongue but little grace can do thee: 10 Thou need'st not be ambitious to be first, Believe me I have thither pack'd the worst : And, if it happen as I did forecast, The daintiest dishes shall be serv'd up last. I pray thee then deny me not thy aid

13 For this same small neglect that I have made : But haste thee straight to do me once a pleasure, And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure, Not those new-fangled toys, and trimming slight Which takes our late fantastics with delight; 20 But cull those richest robes, and gay'st attire, Which deepest spirits, and choicest wits desire. I have some naked thoughts that rove about, And loudly knock to have their passage out; And, weary of their place, do only stay Till thou hast deck'd them in thy best array; That so they may, without suspect or fears, Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears ; Yet I had rather, if I were to chuse, Thy service in some graver subject use,

30 Such as may make thee search thy coffers round, Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound: Such where the deep transported pind may soar

!

Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav'n's door
Look in, and see each blissful Deity
How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
List'ning to what unshorn Apollo sings
To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly sire:
Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire, 40
And misty regions of wide air next under,
And bills of snow, and lofts of piled thunder,
May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves,
In Heav'n's defiance mustering all his waves ;
Then sing of secret things that came to pass

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When beldam Nature in her cradle was;
And last of kings, and queens, and heroes old,
Such as the wise Demodocus once told
In solemn songs at king Alcinous' feast,
While sad Ulysses' soul, and all the rest,

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Are held with his melodious harmony
In willing chains, and swert captivity.
But fie, my wand'ring Muse, how thou dost stray!
Expectance calls thee now another way;
Thou know'st it must be now thy only bent 55
To keep in compass of thy predicament:
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may resign my room.

Then Ens is represented as father of the Predicaments

his two sons, whereof the eldest stood for Substance
with his canons, which Ens, thus speaking, explains.

GOOD luck befriend thee, Son; for, at thy birth,
The fairy ladies danc'd upon the hearth;

60
Thy drousy nurse hath sworn she did them spy
Come tripping to the room where thou didst tie,
And, sweetly singing round about thy bed,
Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head.
She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldst still
From eyes of mortals walk in visible:

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Yet there is something that doth force my fear;
For once it was my dismal hap to hear