ODE XXXIII. ΤΟ WILLIAM PULTNEY, ESQ. BY THE LATE EARL NUGENT. REMOTE from liberty and truth, I bow'd to priests and kings. Soon reason dawn'd, with troubled sight Too weak it shone to mark my way, Restless I roam'd, when from afar Thus cheer'd, and eager to pursue, Now warm'd with noble SYDNEY's page, Now wrapt in PLATO's dream, With MORE and HARRINGTON around But soon the beauteous vision flies: Vainly the pious artist's toil Would rear to heaven a mortal pile, Of empire and of man. What though the good, the brave, the wise, With adverse force undaunted rise, To break th' eternal doom! Though CATO liv'd, though TULLY spoke, Though BRUTUS dealt the godlike stroke, Yet perish'd fated ROME. To swell some future tyrant's pride, Good FLEURY pours the golden tide On Gallia's smiling shores; Once more her fields shall thirst in vain For wholesome streams of honest gain, While rapine wastes her stores. Yet glorious is the great design, If crush'd beneath the sacred weight, Shall tell the patriot's name, ODE XXXIV. ΤΟ LORD LONSDALE. By the Same. LONSDALE! thou ever honor'd name, While nature sheds her balmy powers Here spreads the lawn high-crown'd with wood, Here slopes the vale, there winds the flood In many a crystal maze. The fishes sport, in silver pride Slow moves the swan, on either side The herds promiscuous graze. Or if the stiller shade you love, Whether with deep reflection fraught, And should the shaft of treacherous spleen Provok'd, nor tempted to repay, Here with the pheasant and the hare, Have statesmen pass'd a day : O! blind to all the joys of life, Destroying or destroy'd. Less wretched they, and yet unbless'd, On blessings unenjoy'd. But come, my friend, the sun invites, While fools believe, while villains cheat, Too wise to be deceiv'd. |