THE

POETICAL WORKS

OF

J. CUNNINGHAM.

WITH THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

Faelix ille, quem semotum longe e strepitu et popularibus undis,
Interdum, molli rus accipit umbra!

Silvestrem tenui Musam meditabor avena.

All-gracious Freedom! O vouchsafe to smile

Thro' future ages on this fav'rite Isle !

Far may the boughs of Liberty expand,

For ever cultur'd by the brave and free!

For ever blasted be that impious hand

That lops one branch from this illustrious tree.

Britons! it is your s to make her verdure thrive,
And keep the roots of Liberty alive.

LONDON:

RAPIN

VIRG.

STANZAS, &c.

PRINTED FOR, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF,

. CAWTHORN, BRITISH LIBRARY, STRAND.

RARY

NEW YORK

Can the deep Statesman, skill'd in great design,
Protract but for a day precarious breath?

Or the tun'd follower of the sacred Nine
Sooth with his melody insatiate Death?
No.

What then avails Ambition's wide-stretch'd wing,
The Schoolman's page, or pride of Beauty's bloom?
The crape clad hermit and the rich-rob'd king,
Levell'd, lie mix'd promisc'ous in the tomb.
Hither let Lux'ry lead her loose-rob'd train,
Here flutter Pride on purple-painted wings,
And from the moral prospect learn, how vain
The wish that sighs for sublunary things!

EL. ON PILE OF RUINS.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF, G. CAWTHORN, BRITISH LIBRARY, STRAND.

OF

JOHN CUNNINGHAM.

Ir has been a frequent observation, that the life of a good writer is best read in his works, which seldom` fail to receive a peculiar tincture from his temper, manners, and habits; at least that the distinguishing character of his mind, his ruling passion, will there appear undisguised. Hitherto no anecdotes of the life of our Author, so far as we know, have been printed with his works, though these have undergone several editions. It has, therefore, become necessary, along with this more perfect edition, to narrate what has come to our knowledge concerning Mr. Cunningham himself, which will be found little more than what the life of almost every man does afford, viz where he was born, where he was educated, and where he died.

John Cunningham was born in the city of Dublin, about the year 1728. His father was by profession a wine-cooper, and lived in good credit; but having a numerous family, our Author, being the eldest of seven, was frequently in straitened circumstances.--Having the good or bad fortune to get a 1200l. prize in the English Lottery, it proved his and his family's ruin; for on this sudden acquisition of wealth enlarging his views, he commenced wine-merchant, assumed a higher port of life" than his faint means would