Category Archives: Poems

Anne Finch, “Jupiter and the Farmer”

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    ANNE FINCH

“Jupiter and the Farmer”

 

When Poets gave their God in Crete a Birth,
Then Jupiter held Traffick with the Earth,
And had a Farm to Lett: the Fine was high,
For much the Treas’ry wanted a Supply,
By Danae’s wealthy Show’r exhausted quite, and dry.                          5
But Merc’ry, who as Steward kept the Court,
So rack’d the Rent, that all who made Resort
Unsatisfy’d return’d, nor could agree
To use the Lands, or pay his secret Fee;
’Till one poor Clown (thought subt’ler than the rest,                             10
Thro’ various Projects rolling in his Breast)
Consents to take it, if at his Desire
All Weathers tow’rds his Harvest may conspire;
The Frost to kill the Worm, the brooding Snow,
The filling Rains may come, and Phoebus glow.                                      15
The Terms accepted, sign’d and seal’d the Lease,
His Neighbours Grounds afford their due Encrease
The Care of Heav’n; the Owner’s Cares may cease.
Whilst the new Tenant, anxious in his Mind,
Now asks a Show’r, now craves a rustling Wind                                      20
To raise what That had lodg’d, that he the Sheaves may bind.
The Sun, th’o’er-shadowing Clouds, the moistning Dews
He with such Contrariety does chuse;
So often and so oddly shifts the Scene,
Whilst others Load, he scarce has what to Glean.                                    25

O Jupiter! with Famine pinch’d he cries,
No more will I direct th’ unerring Skies;
No more my Substance on a Project lay,
No more a sullen Doubt I will be betray,
Let me but live to Reap, do Thou appoint the way.                                 30

NOTES:

1  Crete  Greek island in the eastern Mediterranean; classical myth holds that the infant Jupiter was sequestered on Crete in a cave to protect him from being devoured by his father, Cronus, King of the Titans (OCD).

2   Jupiter  “Roman God of the sky who also went by the name, Jove” (Britannica).

3  Fine  “A sum of money paid by a tenant on the commencement of a tenancy in order that [the] rent remain small or nominal” (OED).

5  Danae’s wealthy show’r  Zeus appeared to Danae in the form of a golden shower, impregnated her, and she gave birth to Perseus (OCD).

6  Merc’ry  “An ancient Roman God. He is the son of Jupiter and Maia” (OED); Steward  “One who manages the affairs of an estate on behalf of his employer” (OED).

7  rack’d  “To increase…by an excessive amount” (OED).

10  Clown  “A countryman, rustic” (OED).

15  Phoebus  “A nickname for Apollo. The name Phoebus was used in discussion related to the sun” (OCD).

21  Sheaves  “Large bundle[s] in which it is usual to bind cereal plants after reaping” (OED).

25  Glean  “To gather or pick up (ears of corn or other produce) after reaping” (OED).

SOURCE: Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1714), pp. 49-51.  [Google Books]

 Edited by Andrea Cruz

Elizabeth Tollet, “On a Death’s Head”

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ELIZABETH TOLLET

“On a Death’s Head”

 

Esi illic Lethaeus Amor, qui pectora sanat,
Inque suas gelidam lampadas addit aquam.
                                                                           Ovid.

 

On this Resemblance, where we find
A Portrait drawn for all Mankind,
Fond Lover! gaze a while, to see
What Beauty’s Idol Charms shall be.
Where are the Balls that once cou’d dart                                          5
Quick Lightning thro’ the wounded Heart?
The Skin, whose Teint cou’d once unite
The glowing Red and polish’d White?
The Lip in brighter Ruby drest?
The Cheek with dimpled Smiles imprest?                                         10
The rising Front, where Beauty sate
Thron’d in her Residence of State;
Which, half-disclos’d and half-conceal’d,
The Hair in flowing Ringlets veil’d;
‘Tis vanish’d all! remains alone                                                            15
This eyeless Scalp of naked Bone:
The vacant Orbits sunk within:
The Jaw that offers at a Grin.
Is this the Object then that claims
The Tribute of our youthful Flames?                                                   20
Must am’rous Hopes and fancy’d Bliss,
Too dear Delusions! end in this?
How high does Melancholy swell!
Which Sighs can more than Language tell:
Till Love can only grieve or fear;                                                           25
Reflect a while, then drop a Tear
For all that’s beautiful or dear.

NOTES:

Epigraph “There dwells Lethean Love, who heals the heartsick/And quenches in cold water his fierce flame.” From Ovid, Remedia Amoris (The Cures for Love), ll. 551-52 (Ovid: The Love Poems, trans. A.D. Melville [Oxford and New York: OUP, 1990], p. 166).

4  Idol  “False” (OED).

5 Balls  Eyeballs.

7  Teint  Taint, “color, hue, tint” (OED).

11  sate  “To be placed or situated” (OED).

16  Scalp  “Skull” (OED).

17  Orbits  “Eye sockets” (OED).

SOURCE: Poems on Several Occasions. With Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII, an Epistle (London, 1755), pp. 58-59.  [Google Books]

 Edited by Terry Luo

Anne Finch, “The Lyon and the Gnat”

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ANNE FINCH

“The Lyon and the Gnat”

 

To the still Covert of a Wood,
About the prime of Day,
A Lyon, satiated with Food,
With stately Pace, and sullen Mood,
Now took his lazy way.                                                            5

To Rest he there himself compos’d,
And in his Mind revolv’d,
How Great a Person it enclos’d,
How free from Danger he repos’d,
Though now in Ease dissolv’d!                                               10

Who Guard, nor Centinel did need,
Despising as a Jest
All whom the Forest else did feed,
As Creatures of an abject Breed,
Who durst not him molest.                                                     15

But in the Air a Sound he heard,
That gave him some dislike;
At which he shook his grisly Beard,
Enough to make the Woods affeard,
And stretch’d his Paw to strike.                                                20

When on his lifted Nose there fell
A Creature, slight of Wing,
Who neither fear’d his Grin, nor Yell,
Nor Strength, that in his Jaws did dwell,
But gores him with her Sting.                                                    25

Transported with th’ Affront and Pain,
He terribly exclaims,
Protesting, if it comes again,
Its guilty Blood the Grass shall stain,
And to surprize it aims.                                                               30

The scoffing Gnat now laugh’d aloud,
And bids him upwards view
The Jupiter within the Cloud,
That humbl’d him, who was so proud,
And his sharp Thunder threw.                                                  35

That Taunt no Lyon’s Heart cou’d bear;
And now much more he raves,
Whilst this new Perseus in the Air
Do’s War and Strife again declare,
And all his Terrour braves.                                                        40

Upon his haughty Neck she rides,
Then on his lashing Tail;
(Which need not now provoke his Sides)
Where she her slender Weapon guides,
And makes all Patience fail.                                                      45

A Truce at length he must propose,
The Terms to be her Own;
Who likewise Rest and Quiet chose,
Contented now her Life to close
When she’d such Triumph known.                                          50

You mighty Men, who meaner ones despise,
Learn from this Fable to become more Wise;
You see the Lyon may be vext with Flies.

NOTES:

Title  Originally an Aesop’s fable in which the moral is that no matter one’s station in life, they can always be undone.

1  Covert  “A place which gives shelter to wild animals or game” (OED).

2  prime of Day  “The early morning; the period between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a. m.” (OED).

11  Centinel  A guard similar to a soldier (OED).

15  durst  “Dared” (OED).

19  affeard  “Afraid” (OED).

33  Jupiter  “The supreme  deity of the ancient Romans…whose weapon was the thunderbolt” (OED).

38  Perseus  Greek demigod, slayer of the Gorgon Medusa and other monsters (Oxford Classical Dictionary).

53  vext  Vexed: Irritated or afflicted (OED).

SOURCE: Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1714), pp. 254-57.  [Google Books]

Edited by Lily Kratzer

Eliza Daye, “Soliliquy”

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ELIZA DAYE

“Soliloquy”

 

NATURE! in all correct, thy hand we trace,
And o’er thy carpet hail a beauteous race;
Each have their station, each have their native home,
In adverse soils and climes they find a tomb:
Some in the open lawn, delighted seem                                                     5
To look with vigour on the sun’s full beam:
Whilst some retiring, hide the modest head,
And screen their beauties in the shelt’ring shade:
Some dare the summit of the mountain’s brow,
And others humbly seek the vale below:                                                    10
Some o’er the parched heath minutely spread,
Whilst some, best flourish in the wat’ry mead;
Deep in the soil others are firmly struck,
Some lightly flaunt upon the sedgy brook,
Others on rocks can independent thrive,                                                   15
And in rich soil alone can others live.
The gard’ner marks the stations each demand:
Refin’d by cultivation’s skilful hand,
Which marks their graces with a clearer line,
And draws each forth more pointedly to shine.                                         20

By Providence to different lots assign’d,
A bent so various takes the human mind,
And education marks the native worth,
And boldly calls the leading feature forth,
It fires the hero, or instructs the sage,                                                         25
To save his country, or reform the age;
It leads th’ ambitious to the public eye,
Or fits the humble for retirement’s joy;
Refines the pleasures of the social scene,
Or teaches industry the art of gain;                                                              30
Opens the depth of science unconfin’d,
Researches for the philosophic mind;
It gives the gay, more graceful to be seen,
Swim on the surface of each trifling scene;
It can its proper views to fancy give,                                                             35
And by th’ applause of ages bid it live.

Oh happy they! whose lot thro’ life’s design’d,
To suit what nature gave, and art refin’d,
Let glory’s radiant form the soldier shield,
And courage lead him to the hostile field;                                                   40
Give sensibility its social joy,
And for life’s trials arm cold apathy.
Fortune and favouring friends may genius see,
All feel the native powers of fancy free;
Oh! were the human lot disposed so,                                                          45
This were a world of joy, scarce mix’d with woe;
But ah! full oft we see the tortur’d mind,
Destin’d to trials of ungenial kind,
Where without arms t’oppose, stern foes invade,
And all its native virtues seem to fade;                                                        50
The feeling shed not still the tear of joy,
Nor cold disdain meets careless apathy;
Bright genius roves not still without restraint,
Nor always free his favorite scenes to paint;
But evils check the wing he lightly spread,                                                  55
Then warm imagination too must fade.
Reflection in this solitary scene,
Engraves for me the solemn truth within,
As on the moss-grown rock now seated here,
Pain’d memory finds the source of many a tear.                                        60

NOTES:

4  climes  “A tract or region of the earth; now often considered in relation to its distinctive climate” (OED).

11  heath  “Open uncultivated ground; a wilderness” (OED).

12  wat’ry mead  A wet, “marshy” meadow (OED).

14  sedgy  “Covered or bordered with sedge,” that is, various “course grassy, rush-like plants” (OED).

25  sage  “Of a person: wise, discreet, judicious” (OED).

41  sensibility  “The quality of being readily and strongly affected by emotional or artistic influences and experiences” (OED).

43  Fortune  “Chance, hap, or luck, regarded as a cause of events and changes in one’s affairs” (OED).

44  fancy  Imagination.

SOURCE: Poems on Various Subjects (Liverpool, 1798), pp. 164-67.  [Google Books]

 Edited by Ruby Schneider

 

 

 

Mary Barber, “Jupiter and Fortune. A Fable”

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 MARY BARBER

“Jupiter and Fortune.  A Fable”

 

Once JUPITER, from out the Skies,
Beheld a thousand Temples rise;
The Goddess FORTUNE all invok’d,
To JOVE an Altar seldom smoak’d:
The God resolv’d to make Inspection,                                             5
What had occasion’d this Defection;
And bid the Goddess tell the Arts,
By which she won deluded Hearts.

My Arts! (says she) Great JOVE, you know,
That I do ev’ry Thing below:                                                              10
I make my Vot’ries dine on Plate;
I give the gilded Coach of State;
Bestow the glitt’ring Gems, that deck
The fair LAVINIA’S lovely Neck;
I make NOVELLA Nature’s Boast,                                                     15
And raise VALERIA to a Toast;
‘Tis I, who give the Stupid, Taste,
(Or make the Poets lie, at least);
My fav’rite Sons, whene’er they please,
Can Palaces in Desarts raise,                                                             20
Cut out Canals, make Fountains play,
And make the dreary Waste look gay;
Ev’n Vice seems Virtue by my Smiles;
I gild the Villian’s gloomy Wiles,
Nay, almost raise him to a God,                                                        25
While crowded Levees wait his Nod.

ENOUGH– the Thunderer reply’d;
But say, whom have you satisfy’d?
These boasted Gifts are thine, I own;
But know, Content is mine alone.                                                     30

NOTES:

Title  Jupiter  “Known as ‘Jove’ is the god of sky and thunder in Ancient Roman Mythology and the chief of the gods. Father of Fortuna and great protector”(Britannica); Fortune Fortuna is the goddess of fortune and luck in ancient Roman mythology.

11  Vot’ries  “A devoted or zealous worshipper of a particular god [or] goddess” (OED).

16  Toast  “The reigning belle of the season” (OED).

26  Levees  “A morning assembly held by a prince or a person of distinction” (OED).

SOURCE:  Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1735), pp. 63-64.  [Google Books]

 Edited by Raven Valdivia

Jonathan Swift, “Apollo Outwitted”

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JONATHAN SWIFT

“Apollo Outwitted”

To the Honourable Mrs. FINCH, under her Name of Ardelia.
Written, 1709.

PHOEBUS now shortning every Shade,
Up to the Northern Tropick came,
And thence Beheld a Lovely Maid
Attending on a Royal Dame.

THE God laid down his Feeble Rays,                                                  5
Then lighted from his Glitt’ring Coach,
But fenc’d his Head with his own Bays
Before he durst the Nymph approach.

UNDER those Sacred Leaves, Secure
From common Lightning of the Skies,                                        10
He fondly thought he might endure
The Flashes of Ardelia’s Eyes.

THE Nymph who oft had read in Books,
Of that Bright God whom Bards invoke,
Soon knew Apollo by his looks,                                                             15
And Guest his Business e’er he Spoke.

HE in the old Celestial Cant,
Confest his Flame, and Swore by Styx,
What e’er she would desire, to Grant,
But Wise Ardelia knew his Tricks.                                                    20

OVID had warn’d her to beware,
Of Stroling Gods, whose usual Trade is,
Under pretence of Taking Air,
To Pick up Sublunary Ladies.

HOWE’ER she gave no flat Denial,                                                            25
As having Malice in her Heart,
And was resolv’d upon a Tryal,
To Cheat the God in his own Art.

HEAR my Request the Virgin said
Let which I please of all the Nine                                                       30
Attend when e’er I want their Aid,
Obey my Call, and only mine.

BY Vow Oblig’d, By Passion led,
The God could not refuse her Prayer;
He wav’d his Wreath Thrice o’er her Head,                                               35
Thrice mutter’d something to the Air.

AND now he thought to Seize his due,
But she the Charm already try’d,
Thalia heard the Call and Flew
To wait at Bright Ardelia’s Side.                                                             40

ON sight of this Celestial Prude,
Apollo thought it vain to stay,
Nor in her Presence durst be Rude,
But made his Leg and went away.

HE hop’d to find some lucky Hour,                                                               45
When on their Queen the Muses wait;
But Pallas owns Ardelia’s Power,
For Vows Divine are kept by Fate.

THEN full of Rage Apollo Spoke,
Deceitful Nymph I see thy Art,                                                               50
And tho’ I can’t my gift revoke,
I’ll disappoint its Nobler Part.

LET Stubborn Pride Possess thee long,
And be thou Negligent of Fame,
With ev’ry Muse to Grace thy Song,                                                               55
May’st thou despise a Poets Name.

OF Modest Poets thou be first,
To silent Shades repeat thy Verse,
Till Fame and Eccho almost burst,
Yet hardly dare one Line Rehearse.                                                        60

AND last, my Vengeance to Compleat,
May you Descend to take Renown,
Prevail’d on by the Thing you hate,
A [Whig] and one that wears a Gown.

NOTES:

Dedication  Ardelia  Anne Finch’s poetical name for herself.

1  PHOEBUS  “[Ancient Greek name of Apollo] god of light, poetry and music” (OED).

2  Northern Tropick  “Tropic of Cancer,” which includes Britain (Britannica).

4  Royal Dame  Finch was appointed Maid of Honour to Mary of Modena in 1682.  Mary became queen in 1685 when her husband ascended the throne as James II, though Finch had resigned her court position in 1684 after marrying.

7  Bays  “Leaves or sprigs of this tree, esp. as woven into a wreath or garland to reward a conqueror or poet; hence figurative the fame and repute attained by these” (OED).

14  Bards  “A lyric or epic poet, a ‘singer’; a poet generally” (OED).

18  Styx  “A river of the lower world or Hades, over which the shades of the departed were ferried by Charon, and by which the gods swore their most solemn oaths” (OED).

21  OVID  Roman poet (43BC-17AD), famous for Metamorphoses.

30  all the Nine  The muses.

39  Thalia  “The eighth of the muses, presiding over comedy and idyllic poetry” (OED).

47  Pallas  Epithet for Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war.

64  [Whig]  “A person who supported the exclusion of James, Duke of York (later James II), from the succession to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland on account of his Roman Catholicism during the late 1670s and 1680s” (OED); added in later printings of the poem; one that wears a Gown  Swift himself.

SOURCE:  Miscellanies in Prose and Verse (London, 1711), pp. 399–403.  [Google Books]

Edited by Jake Araiza

 

Mary Darwall, “Hymn to Plutus”

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[MARY DARWALL]

“HYMN to PLUTUS”

 

PLUTUS! to thee I bow, to thee alone,
And, prostrate, worship at thy splendid throne.
To thee, great god of ocean, earth and air,
My heart ascends, and thus prefers its pray’r.

O! grant thy vot’ry wealth, howe’er ‘tis gain’d,                                       5
By murders blotted, by corruption stain’d,
By grov’lling arts, which virtuous fools despise,
Who wish for wealth, yet scorn the ways to rise:
Still let them court that empty bubble, fame,
Be self-applause their riches, peace their claim.                                          10
Such rebels to thy sway my soul disdains,
Theirs be the glory, Plutus! mine the gains.
For me let Phoebus, with intenser ray,
Pour o’er Peruvian mines the blazing day;
Tho’ Pan’s fair flocks bestrew the high parch’d plains,                                 15
Brown Ceres droop, and breathless faint the swains,
Tho’ sable slaves in countless myriads die,
Beneath the influence of the fervid sky,
What is’t to me, who, in this temp’rate isle,
At southern heat, and Greenland winters smile?                                          20
To me propitious is the scorching beam,
Tho’ sick’ning nature gasp beneath the gleam;
Since to this kind, prolific warmth I owe
The diamond’s blaze, and ruby’s heighten’d glow:
This to all-pow’rful gold matures the ore,                                                       25
For which the suppliant crowd thy shrine adore.
Do I forget, or break a promise made,—
Must I be tied to servile rules of trade?
No:—Liberty from ample fortune springs
To spurn beneath my foot such trivial things.                                                 30

Shou’d the small number, who on honor doat,
And feast on virtue in a thread-bare coat,
Say, I by falsehood and collusion gain’d
The darling end, for which each nerve was strain’d;
Whilst I enjoy the permanent delight                                                                35
Of solid gold, I’ll swear THEIR BLACK IS WHITE.
Tho’ tongue-tied truth may blame the bold design,
The world will honor me, whilst wealth is mine:
Then, PLUTUS, grant me wealth; to thee I bend,
And my devotion but with life shall end.                                                          40

NOTES:

Title  PLUTUS  “Greek God of Wealth, rewards the just with wealth and reduces the unjust to penury” (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters).

5  vot’ry  “A person who has dedicated himself or herself to religious service by taking vows; a monk or nun” (OED).

13  Phoebus  “Greek God of the sun; the sun personified” (OED).

15  Pan  “Greek God of flocks and herds” (OED).

16  Ceres  “In Roman religion, goddess of the growth of food plants” (Britannica).

17  myriads  “Multitudes” (OED).

36  I’ll swear THEIR BLACK IS WHITE  Proverbial for vigorously maintaining something in order to get what one wants.

SOURCE:  Poems on Several Occasions, vol. 1 (Walsall, 1794), pp. 41-44.  [Google Books]

Edited by Lauryn Orozco

Christopher Smart, “A Morning Piece, or, An Hymn for the Hay-Makers”

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CHRISTOPHER SMART

 “A Morning Piece, or, An Hymn for the Hay-Makers”

ODE I.

Quinetiam Gallum noctem explaudentibus alis
Auroram clara consuetum voce vocare.         LUCRET[IUS].

Brisk chaunticleer his mattins had begun,
And broke the silence of the night,
And thrice he call’d aloud the tardy sun,
And thrice he hail’d the dawn’s ambiguous light;
Back to their graves the fear-begotten phantoms run.                            5

Strong Labour got up with his pipe in his mouth,
And stoutly strode over the dale,
He lent new perfumes to breath of the south,
On his back hung his wallet and flail.
Behind him came Health from her cottage of thatch,                             10
Where never physician had lifted the latch.

First of the village Colin was awake,
And thus he sung, reclining on his rake.
Now the rural graces three
Dance beneath yon maple tree;                                                            15
First the vestal Virtue, known
By her adamantine zone;
Next to her in rosy pride,
Sweet Society, the bride;
Last Honesty, full seemly drest                                                              20
In her cleanly home-spun vest.
The abby bells in wak’ning rounds
The warning peal have giv’n;
And pious Gratitude resounds
Her morning hymn to heav’n.                                                                 25

All nature wakes—the birds unlock their throats,
And mock the shepherd’s rustic notes.
All alive o’er the lawn,
Full glad of the dawn,
The little lambkins play,                                                                         30
Sylvia and Sol arise,—and all is day—

Come, my mates, let us work,
And all hands to the fork,
While the Sun shines, our Hay-cocks to make,
So fine is the Day,                                                                                        35
And so fragrant the Hay,
That the Meadow’s as blithe as the Wake.

Our voices let’s raise
In Phoebus’s praise,
Inspir’d by so glorious a theme,                                                                        40
Our musical words
Shall be join’d by the birds,
And we’ll dance to the tune of the stream.

NOTES:

Epigraph  Quinetiam Gallum noctem explaudentibus alis/Auroram clara consuetum voce vocare  From Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, Book IV, ll. 714-715.  “For the Cock, that claps his Wings and drives away the Darkness, and by his clear Notes calls forth the Morning Light” (Guernier, and others, T. Lucretius Carus Of the Nature of Things, in Six Books [London, 1743], vol. 2, p. 63).

1  chaunticleer  Proverbial name for a rooster; mattins  “The service of morning prayer, especially in the Anglican Church compare evensong, vespers” (OED).

9  flail  “A tool that has a long handle with a stick swinging from it, used especially in the past to separate grains of wheat from their dry outer covering, by beating the wheat” (OED).

17  adamantine  “Rigidly firm: unyielding adamantine discipline” (OED).

23  peal  “A loud ringing of a bell or bells” (OED).

30  lambkins  “Young lambs”  (OED).

33  fork  Pitchfork.

37  blithe  “Cheerful” (OED); Wake “Rows of green damp grass”  (James Orchard Halliwell, Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, vol. 2 [London, 1872], p. 913)

39  Phoebus  “God identified with the sun” (OED).

SOURCE:  Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1752), pp. 7-9.  [Google Books]

Edited by Mark Novak

Isaac Hawkins Browne, “On a Fit of the Gout. An Ode”

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ISAAC HAWKINS BROWNE

“On a Fit of the Gout. An Ode”

 

Wherefore was Man thus form’d with eye sublime,
With active joints to traverse hill or plain,
But to contemplate Nature in her prime,
Lord of this ample world, his fair domain?
Why on this various earth such beauty pour’d,                                      5
But for thy pleasure, Man, her sovereign lord?

Why does the mantling vine her juice afford
Nectareous, but to cheer with cordial taste?
Why are the earth and air and ocean stor’d
With beast, fish, fowl; if not for Man’s repast?                                 10
Yet what avails to me, or taste, or sight,
Exil’d from every object of delight?

So much I feel of anguish, day and night
Tortur’d, benumb’d; in vain the fields to range
Me vernal breezes, and mild suns invite,                                              15
In vain the banquet smokes with kindly change
Of delicacies, while on every plate
Pain lurks in ambush, and alluring fate.

Fool, not to know the friendly powers create
These maladies in pity to mankind:                                                    20
These abdicated Reason reinstate
When lawless Appetite usurps the mind;
Heaven’s faithful centries at the door of bliss
Plac’d to deter, or to chastise excess.

Weak is the aid of wisdom to repress                                                     25
Passion perverse; philosophy how vain!
‘Gainst Circe’s cup, enchanting sorceress;
Or when the Syren sings her warbling strain.
Whate’er or sages teach, or bards reveal,
Men still are men, and learn but when they feel.                                     30

As in some free and well-pois’d common-weal
Sedition warns the rulers how to steer,
As storms and thunders ratling with loud peal,
From noxious dregs the dull horizon clear;
So when the mind imbrutes in sloth supine,                                             35
Sharp pangs awake her energy Divine.

Cease then, oh cease, fond mortal, to repine
At laws, which Nature wisely did ordain;
Pleasure, what is it? rightly to define,
‘Tis but a short-liv’d interval from pain:                                               40
Or rather, each, alternately renew’d,
Give to our lives a sweet vicissitude.

NOTES:

7  mantling  “Spreading, covering; enveloping, surrounding” (OED).

8  Nectareous  “Of the nature, consisting, or suggestive of nectar; sweet” (OED).

10  repast  “A quantity of food and drink forming or intended for a meal or feast” (OED).

27  Circe  In Greek and Latin mythology, a sorceress who was able to turn those who drank from her cup into swine (Britannica).

28  Syren  In Greek mythology, a feminine creature, often half bird and half woman, who “lure[s] sailors to destruction by the sweetness of her song” (Britannica).

31  common-weal  “Commonwealth” (OED).

35  imbrutes  “To degrade to the level of a brute; to make bestial, brutalize” (OED).

37  repine  “To feel or express dissatisfaction; to grumble, complain” (OED).

SOURCE:  Poems Upon Various Subjects, Latin and English (London, 1768), pp. 137-39. [ECCO]

 Edited by Sam Lim-Kimberg

 

 

[Elizabeth Carter], “A Riddle”

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   [ELIZABETH CARTER]

“A Riddle”

 

Nor form nor substance in my being share,
I’m neither fire nor water, earth nor air;
From motion’s force alone my birth derive,
I ne’er can die, for never was alive:
And yet with such extensive empire reign,                                                       5
That very few escape my magick chain.
Nor time nor place my wild excursions bound,
I break all order, nature’s laws confound;
Raise schemes without contrivance or design,
And make apparent contradictions join:                                                          10
Transfer the Thames where Ganges’ waters roll,
Unite th’ equator to the frozen pole;
Midst Zembla’s ice bid blushing rubies glow,
And British harvests bloom in Scythian snow;
Cause trembling flocks to skim the raging main,                                             15
And scaly fishes graze the verdant plain;
Make light descend, and heavy bodies rise,
Stars sink to earth, and earth ascend the skies.
If nature lie deform’d in wintry frost,
And all the beauties of the spring be lost,                                                          20
Rais’d by my pow’r new verdure decks the ground,
And smiling flow’rs diffuse their sweets around.
The sleeping dead I summon from the tomb,
And oft anticipate the living’s doom;
Convey offenders to the fatal tree,                                                                       25
When law or stratagem have set them free.
Aw’d by no checks, my roving flight can soar
Beyond imagination’s active pow’r;
I view each country of the spacious earth,
Nay visit realms that never yet had birth,                                                            30
Can trace the pathless regions of the air,
And fly with ease beyond the starry sphere;
So swift my operations, in an hour
I can destroy a town, or build a tow’r.
Play tricks would puzzle all the search of wit,                                                      35
And show whole volumes that were never writ.
In sure records my mystick powr’s confest,
Who rack’d with cares a haughty tyrant’s breast,
Charg’d in prophetick emblems to relate
Approaching wrath, and his peculiar fate.                                                            40
Oft to the good by heav’n in mercy sent,
I’ve arm’d their thoughts against some dire event;
As oft in chains presumptuous villains bind,
And haunt with restless fears the guilty mind.

NOTES:

Author  Signed “Eliza,” known to be Elizabeth Carter’s nom de plume in The Gentleman’s Magazine in this period.

6  magick  “Acting or doing by powers superior to the known power of nature; incantating; necromantick” (Johnson).

11  Thames  Largest river in southern England, flows through London  (Britannica); Ganges, A river in India sacred to Hindus and personified as the goddess Ganga in ancient texts and art. It flows from the Himalaya mountains to northern India and Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal (Britannica).

13  Zembla  Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago of two islands located in northwestern Russia in the Arctic ocean (Britannica).

14  Scythian  “Of or relating to Scythia, an ancient region extending over a large part of European and Asiatic Russia” (OED).

15  raging main  “The ocean” (Johnson).

25  the fatal tree  A reference to Tyburn, “a place of public execution for Middlesex (London) until 1783, situated at the junction of the present Oxford Street, Bayswater Road, and Edgware Road” (OED).

SOURCE: The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 8 (February, 1738), p. 99.  [Google Books]

 Edited by Tovanni Renteria