The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper;: Watts, A. Philips ...

Were wont perform at fell Diana's shrine,
He doth constrain his vassals to adore [lore.
Perforce their sacred names, and learn their sacred
And to the Fairy knight now drawing near,
With voice terrific and impetuous mien,
(All was he wont less dreadful to appear,
When known and practis'd then at distance seen)
And kingly stretching forth his sceptre sheen,
Him he commandeth, upon threaten'd pain
Of his displeasure high and vengeance keen,
From his rebellious purpose to refrain,
And all due honours pay to Learning's reverend
So saying, and forestalling all reply,
His peremptory hand without delay,
As one who little car'd to justify

[train.

His princely will, long us'd to boundless sway,
Upon the Fairy youth with great dismay
In every quaking limb convuls'd, he lay'd:
And proudly stalking o'er the verdant lay',
Him to those scientific streams convey'd,
With many his young compeers therein to be em-
bay'd 2.

The knight his tender son's distressful stour 3
Perceiving, swift to his assistance flew :
Ne vainly stay'd to deprecate that power,
Which from submission aye more haughty grew.
For that proud giant's force he wisely knew,
Not to be meanly dreaded, nor defy'd
With rash presumption; and with courage true,
Rather than step from Virtue's paths aside,
Oft had he singly scorn'd his all-dismaying pride.
And now, disdaining parle, his courser hot

The forts of life: ne never to confound
With utter ruin, and abolish quite
A power so puissant by his single might
Did he presume to hope: himself alone
From lawless force to free, in bloody fight
He stood; content to bow to Custom's throne,
So Reason mote not blush his sovran rule to own.
So well he warded, and so fiercely press'd
His foe, that weary vex'd he of the fray;
Yet nould he algates 11 lower his haughty crest;
But masking in contempt his sore dismay,
Disdainfully releas'd the trembling prey,
As one unworthy of his princely care;
Then proudly casting on the warlike Fay 12
A smile of scorn and pity, through the air
Gan blow his shrilling horn; the blast was heard afar.
Eftsoons astonish'd at th' alarming sound,
The signal of distress and hostile wrong,
Confus'dly trooping from all quarters round
Came pouring o'er the plain a numerous throng
Of every sex and order, old and young;
The vassals of great Custom's wide domain,
Who, to his lore inur'd by usage long,

[ere

His every summons heard with pleasure fain,
And felt his every wound with sympathetic pain.
They, when their bleeding king they did behold,
And saw an armed knight him standing near,
Attended by that palmer sage and bold,
Whose venturous search of devious truth while-
Spread through the realms of Learning horrours
Y-seized were at first with terrours great; [drear,
And in their boding hearts began to fear,
Dissension factious, controversial hate,

He fiercely prick'd, and couch'd his vengeful And innovations strange in Custom's peaceful state.

spear;
Where-with the giant he so rudely smot,
That him perforce constrain'd to wend arrear 4.
Who, much abash'd at such rebuke severe,
Yet his accustom'd pride recovering soon,
Forth-with his massy sceptre 'gan up-rear;
For other warlike weapon he had none,
Ne other him behov'd to quell his boldest fone 5.
With that enormous mace the Fairy knight
So sore he bet 6, that all his armour bray'd 7,
To pieces well-nigh riven with the might
Of so tempestuous strokes; but he was stay'd,
And ever with deliberate valour weigh'd
The sudden changes of the doubtful fray;
From cautious prudence oft deriving aid,
When force unequal did him hard assay:
So lightly from his steed he leapt upon the lay.
Then swiftly drawing forth his trenchant 8 blade,
High o'er his head he held his fenceful shield;
And, warily forecasting to evade

The giant's furious arm, about him wheel'd,
With restless steps aye traversing the field.
And ever as his foe's intemperate pride,
Through rage defenceless, mote advantage yield,
With his sharp sword so oft he did him gride 9,
That his gold-sandal'd feet in crimson floods were
dy'd.

But when they saw the knight his fauchion sheathe,
And climbing to his steed march thence away,
With all his hostile train, they 'gan to breathe
With freer spirit, and with aspect gay
Soon chas'd the gathering clouds of black affray.
Alse their great monarch, cheered with the view
Of myriads, who confess his sovran sway,
His ruffled pride began to plume anew;
And on his bugle clear a strain of triumph blew.
There at the multitude, that stood around,
Sent up at once a universal roar

Of boisterous joy: the sudden-bursting sound,
Like the explosion of a warlike store

Of nitrous grain, th' afflicted welkin 13 tore.
Then turning towards the knight, with scoffings
Heart-piercing insults, and revilings sore, [lewd,
Loud bursts of laughter vain, and hisses rude,
As through the throng he pass'd, his parting steps
pursued.

Alse from that forked hill the boasted seat
Of studious Peace and mild Philosophy,
Indignant murmurs mote be heard to threat,
Mustering their rage; eke baleful Infamy,
Rouz'd from her den of base obscurity

By those same Maidens Nine, began to sound
Her brazen trump of blakening obloquy:
While Satire, with dark clouds encompast round,

His baser parts he maim'd with many a wound; Sharp, secret arrows shot, and aim'd his back to

But far above his utmost reach were pight 10

wound.

But the brave Fairy knight, no whit dismay'd,
Held on his peaceful journey o'er the plain;

J Would not by any means.
12 Fairy.
13 Sky.

With curious eye observing, as he stray'd
Through the wide provinces of Custom's reign,
What mote afresh admonish him remain
Fast by his virtuous purpose; all around
So many objects mov'd his just disdain;
Him seem'd that nothing serious, nothing sound,
In city, village, bower, or castle, mote be found.
In village, city, castle, bower, and hall,
Each sex, each age, each order and degree,
To vice and idle sport abandon'd all,
Kept one perpetual general jubilee.

Ne suffer'd ought disturb their merry glee :
Ne sense of private loss, ne public woes,
Restraint of law, religion's drad decree,
Intestine desolation, foreign foes,

Nor Heaven's tempestuous threats, nor Earth's convulsive throes.

But chiefly they whom Heaven's disposing hand
Had seated high on Fortune's upper stage;
And plac'd within their call the sacred band
That waits on Nurture and Instruction sage,
If haply their wise hests' mote them engage
To climb through knowledge to more noble praise;
And as they mount, enlighten every age

With the bright influence of fair Virtue's rays; Which from the awful heights of Grandeur brighter blaze.

They, O perverse and base ingratitude! Despising the great ends of Providence, For which above their mates they were endued With wealth, authority and eminence, To the low services of brutal sense Abus'd the means of pleasures more retin'd, Of knowledge, virtue, and beneficence; And fettering on her throne th' immortal Mind, The guidance of her realm to passions wild resign'd.

Hence thoughtless, shameless, reckless, spiritless, Nought worthy of their kind did they essay; But, or benumb'd with palsied Idleness, In meerly living loitered life away; Or, by false taste of pleasure led astray, For ever wandering in the sensual bowers Of feverish Debauch, and lustful Play, Spent on ignoble toils their active powers, And with untimely blasts diseas'd their vernal

hours.

[find.

And, leaving toil and poverty behind, Ran forth by different ways, the blissful boon to Nor tedious was the seach; for every where, As nigh great Custom's royal towers the knight 1 Pass'd through th' adjoining hamlets, mote he The merry voice of festival Delight [hear Saluting the return of morning bright With matin-revels, by the mid-day hours. Scarce ended; and again with dewy night, In cover'd theatres, or leafy bowers,

Offering her evening vows to Pleasure's joyous powers.

And ever on the way mote he espy

Men, women, children, a promiscuous throng
Of rich, poor, wise and simple, low and high,
By land, by water, passing aye along
With mummers, antics, music, dance, and song,
To Pleasure's numerous temples, that beside
The glistening streams, or tufted groves among,
To every idle foot stood open wide,

And every gay desire with various joys supplied.
For there each earth with diverse charms to move,
The sly enchantress summon'd all her train:
Alluring Venus, queen of vagrant love,
The boon companion Bacchus, loud and vain,
And tricking Hermes, god of fraudful gain,
Who, when blind Fortune throws, directs the die,
And Phoebus tuning his soft Lydian strain
To wanton motions, and the lover's sigh,
And thought-beguiling show, atid masking revelry.
Unmeet associates these for noble youth,
Who to true honour meaneth to aspire;
And for the works of virtue, faith, and truth,
Would keep his manly faculties entire.
The which avizing well, the cautious sire
From that soft syren land of Pleasaunce vain,
With timely haste was minded to retire,
Or ere the sweet contagion mote attain [stain.
His son's unpractis'd heart, yet free from vicious
So turning from that beaten road aside,
Through many a devious path at length he pac'd,
As that experienc'd palmer did him guide,
Till to a mountain hoare they came at last;
Whose high-rais'd brows with sylvan honours
grac'd,

Majestically frown'd upon the plain,

And over all an awful horrour cast.
Seem'd as those villas gay it did disdain,
Which spangled all the vale like Flora's painted train.
The hill ascended straight, ere-while they came
To a tall grove, whose thick-embowering shade,
Impervious to the Sun's meridian flame,
Ev'n at mid-noon a dubious twilight made;
Like to that sober light, which, disarray'd
Of all its gorgeous robe, with blunted beams,
Through windows dim with holy acts pourtray'd,
Along some cloister'd abbey faintly gleams,
Abstracting the rapt thought from vain earth-
musing themes.

Beneath this high o'er-arching canopy
Of clustering oaks, a sylvan colonnade,
Aye listening to the native melody

Of birds sweet-echoing through the lonely shade,
On to the centre of the grove they stray'd;
Which, in a spacious circle opening round,

2 Before.

Within its sheltering arms securely laid,
Disclos'd to sudden view a vale profound,
With Nature's artless smiles and tranquil beauties
crown'd.

There, on the basis of an ancient pile,
Whose cross-surmounted spire o'erlook'd the
wood,

A venerable matron they ere while
Discover'd have, beside a murmuring flood
Reclining in right sad and pensive mood.
Retir'd within her own abstracted breast,
She seem'd o'er various woes by turns to brood;
The which her changing cheer by turns exprest,
Now glowing with disdain, with grief now overkest1.
Her thus immers'd in anxious thought profound
When-as the knight perceiv'd, he nearer drew;
To weet what bitter bale did her astound,
And whence th' occasion of her anguish grew.
For that right noble matron well he knew;
And many perils huge, and labours sore,
Had for her sake endur'd; her vassal true,
Train'd in her love, and practis'd evermore
Her honour to respect, and reverence her lore.

"O dearest drad!" he cried, "fair island queen!
Mother of heroes! empress of the main!
What means that stormy brow of troublous teen?
Sith heaven-born Peace, with all her smiling

train

Of sciences and arts, adorns thy reign With wealth and knowledge, splendour and renown?

[plain!

Each port how throng! how fruitful every How blithe the country! and how gay the town! While Liberty secures and heightens every boon!" Awaken'd from her trance of pensive woe

By these fair flattering words, she rais'd her head; And, bending on the knight her frowning brow, "Mock'st thou my sorrows, Fairy son?" she said. "Or is thy judgment by thy heart misled To deem that certain, which thy hopes suggest? To deem them full of life and lustihead 3, Whose cheeks in Hebe's vivid tints are drest, And with Joy's careless mien and dimpled smiles imprest?

"Thy unsuspecting heart how nobly good I know, how sanguine in thy country's cause! And mark'd thy virtue, singly how it stood Th' assaults of mighty Custom, which o'erawes The faint and timorous mind, and oft withdraws From Reason's lore th' ambitious and the vain By the sweet lure of popular applause, Against their bitter knowledge, to maintain The lawless throne of Vice, or Folly's childish reign.

"How vast his influence! how wide his sway! Thyself ere-while by proof didst understand: And saw'st, as through his realms thou took'st thy way,

How Vice and Folly had o'erspread the land. And canst thou then, O Fairy son, demand The reason of my woe? or hope to ease The throbbings of my heart with speeches bland, And words more apt my sorrows to increase, The once-dear names of Wealth, and Liberty and Peace?

1 Overcast. 2 Since. 3 Strong health, vigour.

"Peace, Wealth, and Liberty, that noblest boon,

Are blessings only to the wise and good;

To weak and vicious minds their worth unknown,
And thence abus'd, but serve to furnish food
For riot and debauch, and fire the blood
With high-spic'd luxury; whence Strife, Debate,
Ambition, Envy, Faction's viperous brood,
Contempt of order, manners profligate,

The symptoms of a foul, diseas'd and bloated state.
"E'en Wit and Genius, with their learned train
Of Arts and Muses, though from Heaven above
Descended, when their talents they profane
To varnish Folly, kindle wanton Love,
And aid excentric sceptic Pride to rove
Beyond celestial Truth's attractive sphere,
This moral system's central Sun, aye prove
To their fond votaries a curse severe,
And only make mankind more obstinately err.
"And stand my sons herein from censure clear?
Have they consider'd well, and understood,
The use and import of those blessings dear,
Which the great Lord of Nature hath bestow'd
As well to prove, as to reward the good?
Whence are these torrents then, these billowy seas
Of Vice, in which, as in his proper flood,
The fell Leviathan licentious plays,

And upon shipwreck'd Faith and sinking Virtue preys?

"To you, ye noble, opulent, and great! With friendly voice I call, and honest zeal; Upon your vital influences wait

The health and sickness of the commonweal; The maladies you cause, yourselves must heal. In vain to the unthinking harden'd crowd Will Truth and Reason make their just appeal; In vain will sacred Wisdom cry aloud; And Justice drench in vain her vengeful sword in blood.

"With you must reformation first take place: You are the head, the intellectual mind Of this vast body politic; whose base And vulgar limbs, to drudgery consign'd, All the rich stores of science have resign'd To you, that by the craftsman's various toil, The sea-worn mariner, and sweating hind, In peace and affluence maintain'd, the while You, for yourselves and them, may dress the mental soil.

"Bethink you then, my children, of the trust In you repos'd: ne let your heaven-born mind Consume in pleasure or unactive rust; But nobly rouse you to the task assign'd, The godlike task to teach and mend mankind: Learn, that ye may instruct: to Virtue lead Yourselves the way: the herd will crowd behind, And gather precepts from each worthy deed: Example is a lesson that all men can read.' "But if (to all or most I do not speak) In vain and sensual habits now grown old, The strong Circean charm you cannot break, Nor re-assume at will your native mould, Yet envy not the state you could not hold; And take compassion on the rising age: In them redeem your errours manifold;

EDUCATION.

And, by due discipline and nurture sage,
In Virtue's lore betimes your docile sons engage.

"You chiefly, who like me in secret mourn
The prevalence of Custom lewd and vain ;
And you, who, though, by the rude torrent borne
Unwillingly along, you yield with pain
To his behests, and act what you disdain,
Yet nourish in your hearts the generous love
Of piety and truth, no more restrain
The manly zeal; but all your sinews move
The present to reclaim, the future race improve!
"Eftsoons by your joint efforts shall be quell'd
Yon haughty giant, who so proudly sways
A sceptre by repute alone upheld;
Who, where he cannot dictate, straight obeys.
Accustom'd to conform his flattering phrase
To numbers and high-plac'd authority,
Your party he will join, your maxims praise,
And, drawing after all his menial fry,
Soon teach the general voice your act to ratify.

"Ne for the achievement of this great emprize
The want of means or counsel may ye dread:
From my twin-daughters' fruitful wombs shall rise
A race of letter'd sages, deeply read

In Learning's various writ: by whom y-led
Through each well-cultur'd plot, each beauteous
gro

Where antique Wisdom whilom wont to tread,
With mingled glee and profit may ye rove,
And cull each virtuous plant, each tree of know-
ledge prove.

"Yourselves with virtue thus and knowledge
fraught

Of what, in ancient days, of good or great
Historians, bards, philosophers, have taught;
Join'd with whatever else of modern date
Maturer judgment, search more accurate,
Discover'd have of Nature, Man, and God,
May by new laws reform the time-worn state
Of cell-bred discipline, and smoothe the road
That leads through Learning's vale to Wisdom's
bright abode.

"By you invited to her secret bowers,
Then shall Pædia reascend her throne
With vivid laurels girt and fragrant flowers;
While from their forked mount descending down
Yon supercilious pedant train shall own
Her empire paramount, ere-long by her
Y-taught a lesson in their schools unknown,
• To Learning's richest treasures to prefer
The knowledge of the world, and man's great busi-
ness there.'

"On this prime science, as the final end
Of all her discipline and nurturing care,
Her eye Pædía fixing aye shall bend
Her every thought and effort to prepare
Her tender pupils for the various war,
Which Vice and Folly shall upon them wage,
As on the perilous march of life they fare
With prudent lore fore-arming every age
'Gainst Pleasure's treacherous joys, and Pain's
embattled rage.

"Then shall my youthful sons, to Wisdom led
By fair example and ingenuous praise,
With willing feet the paths of duty tread ;

Through the world's intricate or rugged ways
Conducted by Religion's sacred rays;
Whose soul-invigorating influence

Shall purge their minds from all impure allays
Of sordid selfishness and brutal sense,

And swell th' ennobled heart with bless'd beneve
lence.

"Then also shall this emblematic pile,
By magic whilom fram'd to sympathize
With all the fortunes of this changeful isle,
Still, as my sons in fame and virtue rise,
Grow with their growth, and to th' applauding
skies

Its radiant cross uplift; the while, to grace
The multiplying niches, fresh supplies
Of worthies shall succeed, with equal pace
Aye following their sires in Virtue's glorious race."
Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame,
She rose majestic from her lowly stead;
While from her vivid eyes a sparkling flame,
Out-beaming, with unwonted light o'erspread
That monumental pile; and as her head
To every front she turn'd, discover'd round
The venerable forms of heroes dead;

Who, for their various merit erst renown'd,
In this bright fane of glory shrines of honour
found.

On these that royal dame her ravish'd eyes
Would often feast; and, ever as she spied
Forth from the ground the lengthening structure
rise

With new-plac'd statues deck'd on every side,
Her parent-breast would swell with generous
pride.

And now with her in that sequester'd plain,
The Knight awhile constraining to abide,
She to the Fairy youth with pleasure fain
Those sulptur'd chiefs did show, and their great
lives explain.

FATHER FRANCIS'S PRAYER.

WRITTEN IN LORD WESTMORLAND'S HERMITAGE.

NE gay attire, ne marble hall,
Ne arched roof, ne pictur'd wall;
Ne cook of Fraunce, ne dainty board
Bestow'd with pyes of Perigord;
Ne power, ne such like idle fancies,
Sweet Agnes, grant to Father Francis:
Let me ne more myself deceive;
Ne more regret the toys I leave:
The world I quit, the proud, the vain,
Corruption's and Ambition's train;
But not the good, perdie, nor fair,
'Gainst them I make ne vow, ne prayer;
But such aye welcome to my cell,
And oft, not always, with me dwell;
Then cast, sweet saint, a circlé round,
And bless from fools this holy ground;
From all the foes to worth and truth,
From wanton old, and homely youth;
The gravely dull, and pertly gay,
Oh banish these; and, by my fay,
Right well I ween that in this age,
Mine house shall prove an hermitage.

AN INSCRIPTION ON THE CELL. BENEATH these moss-grown roots, this rustic cell, Truth, Liberty, Content, sequester'd dwell; Say you, who dare our hermitage disdain, What drawing-room can boast so fair a train ?

AN INSCRIPTION IN THE CELL. SWEET bird, that sing'st on yonder spray, Pursue unharm'd thy sylvan lay; While I beneath this breezy shade In peace repose my careless head; And joining thy enraptur'd song, Instruct the world-enamour'd throng, That the contented harmless breast In solitude itself is blest.

INSCRIPTION ON A SUMMER-HOUSE BELONGING TO MR. WEST, AT WICKHAM, IN KENT. (An Imitation of Ausonius, Ad Villam.)

Nor wrapt in smoky London's sulphurous clouds, And not far distant, stands my rural cot: Neither obnoxious to intruding crowds,

Nor for the good and friendly too remote.

And when too much repose brings on the spleen,
Or the gay city's idle pleasures cloy;
Swift as my changing wish, I change the scene;
And now the country, now the town enjoy.

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