Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett. Thomas Parnell

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СКАЧАТЬ Now drops at once the pride of awful state,

       The golden canopy, the glittering plate,

       The regal palace, the luxurious board,

       The liveried army, and the menial lord.

       With age, with cares, with maladies oppress'd,

       He seeks the refuge of monastic rest.

       Grief aids disease, remember'd folly stings,

       And his last sighs reproach the faith of kings. 120

      Speak thou, whose thoughts at humble peace repine,

       Shall Wolsey's wealth, with Wolsey's end, be thine?

       Or liv'st thou now, with safer pride content,

       The wisest justice on the banks of Trent?

       For why did Wolsey, near the steeps of Fate,

       On weak foundations raise the enormous weight?

       Why but to sink beneath Misfortune's blow,

       With louder ruin, to the gulphs below!

       What gave great Villiers to the assassin's knife,

       And fix'd disease on Harley's closing life? 130

       What murder'd Wentworth, and what exiled Hyde,

       By kings protected, and to kings allied?

       What but their wish indulged, in courts to shine,

       And power too great to keep, or to resign!

      When first the college rolls receive his name,

       The young enthusiast quits his ease for fame;

       Resistless burns the fever of renown,

       Caught from the strong contagion of the gown:

       O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread,

       And Bacon's[1] mansion trembles o'er his head. 140

       Are these thy views? Proceed, illustrious youth,

       And Virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth!

       Yet, should thy soul indulge the generous heat,

       Till captive Science yields her last retreat;

       Should Reason guide thee with her brightest ray,

       And pour on misty Doubt resistless day;

       Should no false kindness lure to loose delight,

       Nor praise relax, nor difficulty fright;

       Should tempting Novelty thy cell refrain,

       And Sloth effuse her opiate fumes in vain; 150

       Should Beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,

       Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;

       Should no disease thy torpid veins invade,

       Nor Melancholy's phantoms haunt thy shade;

       Yet hope not life from grief or danger free,

       Nor think the doom of man reversed for thee:

       Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,

       And pause a while from learning, to be wise;

       There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,

       Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail. 160

       See nations, slowly wise, and meanly just,

       To buried merit raise the tardy bust.

       If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,

       Hear Lydiat's[2] life, and Galileo's end.

      Nor deem, when Learning her last prize bestows,

       The glittering eminence exempt from foes;

       See, when the vulgar 'scapes, despised or awed,

       Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on Laud.

       From meaner minds though smaller fines content,

       The plunder'd palace, or sequester'd rent, 170

       Mark'd out by dangerous parts he meets the shock,

       And fatal Learning leads him to the block:

       Around his tomb let Art and Genius weep,

       But hear his death, ye blockheads! hear and sleep.

      The festal blazes, the triumphal show,

       The ravish'd standard, and the captive foe,

       The senate's thanks, the Gazette's pompous tale,

       With force resistless o'er the brave prevail.

       Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Asia whirl'd;

       For such the steady Romans shook the world; 180

       For such in distant lands the Britons shine,

       And stain with blood the Danube or the Rhine;

       This power has praise, that virtue scarce can warm,

       Till Fame supplies the universal charm.

       Yet Reason frowns on War's unequal game,

       Where wasted nations raise a single name,

       And mortgaged 'states their grandsires' wreaths regret,

       From age to age in everlasting debt;

       Wreaths which at last the dear-bought right convey

       To rust on medals, or on stones decay. 190

      On what foundation stands the warrior's pride,

       How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide;

       A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,

       No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;

       O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,

       Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain;

       No joys to him pacific sceptres yield,

       War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field;

       Behold surrounding kings their powers combine,

       And one capitulate, and one resign; 200

       Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain:

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