Scribe Securus, quid agit Senatus Me meus, quondam tuus, è popinis Narrat (avertat Deus inquit omen) Narrat- -at portis meus Hinton astat, Quæ tamen metram mulier labantem Lætus accepi celeres vigere Jenny, post Hinton, comitum tuorum Crus tibi mittunt. POCOCKIUS. DUM cæde tellus luxuriat Ducum, Virginibus nimis invidenti. Sanguineis trepidant in uncis. In madido crocodilus antro Quòd ista tellus si similes tibi 4 See Dr. Johnson's Life of Smith, Adhuc stetisset, nec vibrato Dextra Dei tonuisset igne. Vertice sideribus propinquum. Te memores celebrare gaudent. Quis corda pulsans tunc pavor hauserat Hæc Britonem recreavit ornus. Non ore, non annis minorem, Atque suam didicere linguam. Ac sicut albens perpetuâ nive Simul favillas, & cineres sinu Eructat ardenti, & pruinis Contiguas rotat Etna flammas; Sic te trementem, te nive candidum Mens intus urget, mens agit ignea Sequi reluctantem Ioëlem Per tonitru, aëreásque nubes Annon pavescis, dum tuba pallidum Ciet Sionem, dum tremulum polo Caligat astrum, atque incubanti Terra nigrans tegitur sub umbrâ? Quod agmen! heu quæ turma sequacibus Tremenda flammis ! quis strepitantium Flictus rotarum est! O Pococki Egregie, O animose Vatis Interpres abstrusí, O simili ferè Correpte flammâ, te, quot imagine Crucis notantur, te, subacto Christicolæ gravis Ottomannus Gemens requirit, te Babylonii Narrant poëtæ, te pharetris Arabs Plorat revulsis, & fragosos Jam gravior ferit horror agros. Quà Gesta nondum cognita Cæsaris, Quà nec Matronis scripta, Pocockius Ploratur ingens, & dolenda Nestores brevitas senectæ. ODE FOR THE YEAR 1705. JANUS, did ever to thy wondering eyes, So bright a scene of triumph rise? Did ever Greece or Rome such laurels wear, As crown'd the last auspicious year? When first at Blenheim Anne her ensigns spread, And Marlborough to the field the shouting squadrous led. In vain the hills and streams oppose, They justling plunge amidst the sounding deeps: Now, Janus, with a future view, Which shall o'er France her arms display, ODES. ORMOND'S glory, Marlborough's arms, Their courage warms; Their conduct charms; Yet the universal joy Feels a sensible alloy ! Mighty George, the senate's care, The British youth for thee submit to fear, Let the noise of war and joy 5 This Ode and that which follows it were published anonymously at the time when they were written, and are now ascribed to Mr. Smith on the authority of a note in MS. by one of his contemporaries. See the Select Collection of Miscellany Poems, 1780. Vol. IV. p. 62. N. 6 George prince of Denmark, husband to the queen. N. Hark how the feather'd choir their mattins chant, [yield. The wondrous magic of his art, Taught trees and forests how to move, All Nature has a general concert held, Each creature strives to bear a part; And all but Death and Hell to cònquering music But stay, I hear methinks a motley crew, A peevish, odd, eccentric race, The glory of the art debase; Perhaps because the sacred emblem 'tis Of truth, of peace, and order too; So dangerous 'tis to be perversely wise. But be they ever in the wrong, say the prophet's harp e'er spoil'd the poet's Who GRAND CHORUS, FIVE PARTS. To Athens now, my Muse, retire, The refuge and the theatre of Wit; And in that safe and sweet retreat Amongst Apollo's sons inquire, And see if any friend of thine be there: [song! But sure so near the Thespian spring The humblest bard may sit and sing: Here rest my Muse, and dwell for ever here. THE LIFE OF DUKE. BY DR. JOHNSON. OF Mr. RICHARD DUKE I can find few memorials. He was bred at Westminster and Cambridge; and Jacob relates, that he was some time tutor to the duke of Richmond. He appears from his writings to have been not ill qualified for poetical compositions ; and being conscious of his powers, when he left the university, he enlisted himself among the wits. He was the familiar friend of Otway; and was engaged, among other popular names, in the translations of Ovid and Juvenal. In his Review, though unfinished, are some vigorous lines. His poems are not below mediocrity; nor have I found much in them to be praised. With the wit he seems to have shared the dissoluteness of the times; for some of his compositions are such as he must have reviewed with detestation in his later days, when he published those sermons which Felton has commended. Perhaps, like some other foolish young men, he rather talked than lived viciously, in an age when he that would be thought a wit was afraid to say his prayers; and, whatever might have been bad in the first part of his life, was surely condemned and reformed by his better judgement. In 1683, being then master of arts, and fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge, he wrote a poem on the Marriage of the Lady Anne with George Prince of Denmark. 'He was admitted there in 1670; was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1675; and took his master's degree in 1682. N. * They make a part of a volume published by Tonson in 8vo. 1717, containing the poems of the arl of Roscommon, and the duke of Buckingham's Essay on Poetry; but were first published in Dryden's Miscellany, as were most, if not all, of the poems in that collection. H. |