صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

450

TO CORDELIA.

JULY, 1740.

FROM pompous life's dull masquerade,

From Pride's pursuits, and Passion's war,
Far, my Cordelia, very far,

To thee and me may Heaven assign
The silent pleasures of the shade,

The joys of peace, unenvied, though divine!

Safe in the calm embowering grove,
As thy own lovely brow serene;
Behold the world's fantastic scene!
What low pursuits employ the great,
What tinsel things their wishes move,
The forms of Fashion, and the toys of State.

In vain are all Contentment's charms,
Her placid mien, her cheerful eye;
For look, Cordelia, how they fly!
Allur'd by Power, Applause, or Gain,
They fly her kind protecting arms;
Ah, blind to pleasure, and in love with pain!

Turn and indulge a fairer view,

Smile on the joys which here conspire;
O joys harmonious as my lyre!

O prospect of enchanting things,

As ever slumbering poet knew,

When Love and Fancy wrapt him in their wings!

Here, no rude storm of Passion blows,

But Sports, and Smiles, and Virtues play,
Cheer'd by Affection's purest ray;

The air still breathes Contentment's balm,
And the clear stream of Pleasure flows
For ever active, yet for ever calm.

SONG.26

THE shape alone let others prize,

The features of the fair:

I look for spirit in her eyes,
And meaning in her air.

A damask cheek, an ivory arm,
Shall ne'er my wishes win:

Give me an animated form,
That speaks a mind within.

A face where awful honour shines,
Where sense and sweetness move,

And angel innocence refines

The tenderness of love.

These are the soul of beauty's frame;

Without whose vital aid, Unfinish'd all her features seem,

And all her roses dead.

But ah! where both their charms unite,
How perfect is the view,
With every image of delight,
With graces ever new:

Of power to charm the greatest woe,
The wildest rage control,
Diffusing mildness o'er the brow,
And rapture through the soul.

Their power but faintly to express
All language must despair;
But go, behold Arpasia's face,

And read it perfect there.

ADDITIONAL NOTES TO THE MISCELLA

NEOUS POEMS.

1. (p. 275.) Originally entitled, "Allusion to Horace," and first published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745.

2. (p. 277.) First printed for private distribution, afterwards altered and published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745.

3. (p. 283.) Originally entitled, "To a Gentleman whose Mistress had married an Old Man," and first published m Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745.

4. (p. 287.) First published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745.

5. (p. 289.) First published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745.

6. (p. 297.) Composed in 1744, and first published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745.

7. (p. 800.) Published in 4to, 1744, as "An Epistle to Curio," but afterwards altered into this Ode.

8. (p. 307.) First published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745, and originally entitled, "On the Absence of the Poetic Inclination."

9. (p. 308.) First published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745, and originally entitled, " To a Friend, on the Hazard of Falling in Love."

10. (p. 314.) First published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745.

11. (p. 327.) First published in 4to, 1748.

12. (p. 341.) First published in Odes on Several Subjects, 4to, 1745. [It was afterwards much altered, and is here given as printed by Mr. Dyson. The copy in Pearch's Collection of Poems is not, as the last English editor thinks, different from Dyson's.]

13. (p. 355.) First published in Dodsley's Collection of Poems, Vol. VI., ed. 1758.

14. (p. 359.) First published in Dodsley's Collection of Poems, Vol. VI., ed. 1758.

15. (p. 361.) First published in May, 1766, in folio.

16. (p. 364.) First published in 4to, 1758.

17. (p. 882.) First published in Dodsley's Collection of Poems, Vol. VI., ed. 1758.

18. (p. 401.) I. VI. were first published in Dodsley's Col lection of Poems, Vol. VI., ed. 1758.

19. (p. 421.) First published in the Gentleman's Magazine, for April, 1737.

20. (p. 425.) First published in the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1737.

21. (p. 429.) First published in the Gentleman's Magazine, for July, 1737.

22. (p. 435.) First published in the Gentleman's Magazine, for August, 1738.

23. (p. 441.) First published in the Gentleman's Magazine, for October, 1739.

24. (p. 445.) Printed about 1740 for private distribution, and first published in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit, Vol. VI. p. 23, ed. 1773.

25. (p. 450.) Found in an edition of Akenside's Works, published at New Brunswick (N. J.), in 2 vols., 1808 [edited by Mrs. Barbauld].

26. (p. 451.) Attributed to Akenside by Ritson, English Songs, I. 207.

THE END.

« السابقةمتابعة »