Dodg'd with him betwixt Cambridge and the Bull.
And surely death could never have prevail'd,
Had not his weekly course of carriage fail'd;
But lately finding him so long at home,
And thinking now his journey's end was come,
And that he had ta'en up his latest inn,
In the kind office of a chamberlin
Show'd him his room where he must lodge that night,
Pull'd off his boots, and took away the light:
If any ask for him, it shall be said,
Hobson has supp'd, and's newly gone to bed.
HERE lieth one, who did most truly prove
That he could never die while he could move;
So hung his destiny, never to rot
While he might still jog on and keep his trot,
Made of sphere-metal never to decay
Until his revolution was at stay.
Time numbers motion, yet (without a crime
'Gainst old truth) motion number'd out his time:
And like an engine mov'd with wheel and weight,
His principles being ceas'd, he ended straight. 10
Rest that gives all men life, gave him his death,
And too much breathing put him out of breath;
Nor were it contradiction to affirm
Too long vacation hasten'd on his term.
Merely to drive the time away he sicken'd,
Fainted, and died, nor would with ale be quicken'd;
Nay, quoth he, on his swooning bed out-stretch'd,
If I mayn't carry, sure I'll ne'er be fetch'd,
But vow, though the cross doctors all stood hearers,
For one carrier put down to make six bearers. 20
Ease was his chief disease, and to judge right,
He died for heaviness, that his cart went light:
His leisure told him that his time was come,
And lack of load made his life burdensome,
That even to his last breath (there be that say't)
As he were press'd to death, he cried more weight;
But had his doings lasted as they were,
He had been an immortal carrier.
Obedient to the moon he spent his date
In course reciprocal, and had his fate
Link'd to the mutual flowing of the seas,
Yet (strange to think) his wain was his increase: His letters are deliver'd all and gone,
Only remains this superscription.
THE FIFTH ODE OF HORACE, LIB. I.
WHAT slender youth bedew'd with liquid odours Courts thee on roses in some pleasant cave, Pyrrha? For whom bind'st thou
In wreaths thy golden hair,
Plain in thy neatness? O how oft shall he On faith and changed Gods complain, and seas Rough with black winds, and storms Unwonted shall admire!
Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold,
Who always vacant, always amiable
Hopes thee, of flattering gales
Unmindful. Hapless they
T'whom thou untry'd seem'st fair. Me, in my vow'd Picture, the sacred wall declares t' have hung
My dank and dropping weeds
To the stern God of sea.
BRUTUS thus addresses DIANA in the country of LEOGECIA.
GODDESS of shades, and huntress, who at will Walk'st on the rowling spheres, and thro' the deep; On thy third reign the earth look now, and tell What land, what seat of rest, thou bidd'st me seek, What certain seat, where I may worship thee 5 For aye, with temples vow'd, and virgin quires.
2 rowling spheres] Tickell and Fenton read 'lowring spheres.'
To whom, sleeping before the altar, DIANA answers in a
vision the same night.
BRUTUS, far to the west, in th' ocean wide,
Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land there lies,
Sea-girt it lies, where giants dwelt of old,
Now void, it fits thy people: thither bend
Thy course, there shalt thou find a lasting seat;
There to thy sons another Troy shall rise,
And kings be born of thee, whose dreadful might
Shall awe the world, and conquer nations bold.
Ан Constantine, of how much ill was cause,
Not thy conversion, but those rich domains
That the first wealthy pope receiv'd of thee.
FOUNDED in chaste and humble poverty,
Gainst them that rais'd thee dost thou lift thy horn,
Impudent whore, where hast thou plac'd thy hope?
In thy adulterers, or thy ill-got wealth?
Another Constantine comes not in haste.
THEN past he to a flow'ry mountain green, Which once smelt sweet, now stinks as odiously:
This was the gift, if you the truth will have,
That Constantine to good Sylvester gave.
WHOм do we count a good man? Whom but he
Who keeps the laws and statutes of the senate,
Who judges in great suits and controversies,
Whose witness and opinion wins the cause?
But his own house and the whole neighbourhood,
Sees his foul inside through his whited skin.
THE power that did create can change the scene
Of things, make mean of great, and great of mean:
The brightest glory can eclipse with night,
And place the most obscure in dazzling light.
ALL barbarous people and their princes too,
All purple tyrants honour you,
The very wandering Scythians do.
Support the pillar of the Roman peace
Lest all men be involv'd in one man's fate,
Continue us in wealth and peace,
Let wars and tumults ever cease.
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