"Si difponere tempus otiofum, 2
"Et veræ pariter vacare vitæ:
"Nec nos atria, nec domos potentum,
Nec lites tetricas, forúmque trifte
Noffemus, nec imagines fuperbas:
"Sed geftatio, fabulæ, libelli,
"Campus, porticus, umbra, virgo, therma;
"Hæc effent loca femper, hi labores.
Nune vivit fibi neuter, heu, bonófque
"Soles effugere, atque abire fentit,
"Qui nobis pereunt, & imputantur,"
"Quifquam vivere cùm fciat, moratur ?"
IF, dearest friend, it my good fate might be
Tenjoy at once a quiet life and thee;
If we for happiness could leifure find [m],
And wandering time into a method bind;
We should not sure the great man's favour need,
Nor on long hopes, the court's thin diet, feed.
[m] If we for happiness could leifure find] An exquifite line! of which Mr. Gray felt, and has expreffed, all the pathos, when, in his Hymn to Adverfity, he faid. "Scar'd at thy frown terrific, fly
"Self-pleafing Folly's idle brood,
Wild Laughter, Noife, and thoughtless Joy, "And leave us leifure to be good."
We should not patience find, daily to hear
The calumnies, and flatteries, fpoken there.
We fhould not a lord's table humbly use,
Or talk, in ladies chambers, love and news;
But books and wife discourse, gardens and fields,
And all the joys that unmix'd nature yields.
Thick fummer fhades, where winter ftill does lye;
Bright winter fires, that fummer's part supply.
Sleep, not controlled by cares, confin'd to nights
Or bound in any rule, but appetite, inte
Free, but not favage or ungracious mirth;
Rich wines, to give it quick and eafy birth.
A few companions, which ourselves should chufe,
A gentle miftrefs, and a gentler Mufe.
Such, dearest friend, fuch, without doubt, should be
Our place, our business, and our company.
Now to himself, alas, does neither live,
But fees good funs, of which we are to give
A ftrict account, fet and march thick away •
Knows a man how to live, and does he stay?
Some Copies of Verses translated Paraphrastically out of AN ACREON,
FLL fing of heroes, and of kings;
In mighty numbers, mighty things.
Begin, my Mufe; but lo, the ftringsd
To my great fong rebellious prove;
The ftrings will found of nought, but love.
I broke them all, and put on new;
'Tis this, or nothing fure, will do.
These fure (faid I) will me obey;
These sure heroic notes will play.
[n] Thefe Anacreontics fhew, that the author wanted neither ease of expreffion nor the grace of numbers, when he followed the bent of his own taste and genius.
Straight I began with thundering Jove,
And all th' immortal pow'rs, but love.
Love fmil'd; and from my enfeebled lyre
Came gentle airs, fuch as infpire
Melting love, and soft defire.
Farewel, then, heroes, farewel kings,
And mighty numbers, mighty things:
Love tunes my heart juft to my ftrings.
THE thirsty earth foaks up the rain,
And drinks, and gapes for drink again.
The plants fuck in the earth, and are,
With conftant drinking, fresh and fair.
The fea itself, which, one would think,
Should have but little need of drink,
Drinks ten thousand rivers up,
So fill'd, that they o'erflow the cup.
The busy fun (and one would guess,
By's drunken fiery face, no less)
Drinks up the fea; and when he'as done,
The moon and ftars drink up the fun.
They drink and dance by their own light,
They drink and revel all the night.
Nothing in nature's fober found,
But an eternal health goes round.
Fill up the bowl then, fill it high,
Fill all the glaffes there for why
Should every creature drink, but I,
Why, man of morals, tell me why
LIBERAL nature did dispense
To all things arms for their defence;
And fome the arms with finewy force,
And fome, with fwiftnefs in the course;
Some, with hard hoofs, or forked claws,
And fome, with horns, or tufked jaws;
And fome with scales, aud fome with wings,
And fome with teeth, and fome with ftings.
Wisdom to man fhe did afford,
Wisdom for shield, and wit for sword.
What to beauteous woman-kind,
What arms, what armour, has fhe affign'd?
Beauty is both; for with the fair
What arms, what armour, can compare?
What fteel, what gold, or diamond,
More impaffible is found?
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