Ambrose Philips

“ When locusts, in the ferny bushes, cry,
When ravens pant, and snakes in caverns ly,
Graze then in woods, and quit the shadeless plain,
Else shall ye press the spongy teat in vain. 32
LANQUET.
When greens to yellow vary, and ye see
The ground bestrew'd with fruits off every tree,
And stormy winds are hear'd, think winter near,
Nor trust too far to the declining year. 36
HOBBINOL.
Woe then, alack! befall the spendthrift swain,
When frost, and snow, and hail, and sleet, and rain,
By turns chastise him, while, through little care,
His sheep, unshelter'd, pine in nipping air. ”

“ Meanwhile, my friend, the thick'ning shades I haunt,
And smooth canals, and after rivulets pant: 20
The smooth canals, alas, too lifeless show!
Nor to the eye, nor to the ear, they flow.
Studious of ease, and fond of humble things,
Below the smiles, below the frowns of kings, 24
Thanks to my stars, I prize the sweets of life:
No sleepless nights I count, no days of strife.
Content to live, content to dy, unknown,
Lord of myself, accountable to none; 28
I sleep, I wake, I drink; I sometimes love ”

“ My mind a chearful temper still retains: 24
And why should man, mishap what will, repine,
Sour every sweet, and mix with tears his wine?
But tell me then: it may relieve thy woe,
To let a friend thine inward ailment know. 28
COLINET.
Idly 'twill waste thee, Thenot, the whole day,
Should'st thou give ear to all my grief can say.
Thine ewes will wander; and the heedless lambs,
In loud complaints, requise their absent dams. 32
THENOT.
See Lightfoot; he shall tend them close: and I,
'Tween whiles, across the plain will glance mine eye. ”

“ Lonesome chants the hymn of night? 12
Have ye seen the broid'red May
All her scented bloom display,
Breezes opening, every hour,
This, and that, expecting flower, 16
While the mingling birds prolong,
From each bush, the vernal song? ”

“ Each creature, Thenot, to his task is born,
As they to mirth and musick, I to mourn.
Waking, at midnight, I my woes renew,
My tears oft' mingling with the falling dew. 16
THENOT.
Small cause, I ween, has lusty youth to plain:
Or who may, then, the weight of eld sustain,
When every slackening nerve begins to fail,
And the load presseth as our days prevail? ”

“ Tho now he shuns thy longing arms,
He soon shall court thy slighted charms; ⁠32
Tho now thy off'rings he despise,
He soon to thee shall sacrifice;
Tho now he freez, he soon shall burn,
And be thy victim in his turn. ⁠36
VII.
Celestial visitant, once more
Thy needful presence I implore!
In pity come and ease my grief,
Bring my distemper'd soul relief: ⁠40
Favour thy suppliant's hidden fires,
And give me all my heart desires.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content. ”

“ My aim, on Agrigentum bent, 190
A solemn oath I plight,
Sincere as honest minds require,
That through an hundred circling years,
With recorded worthies bright,
No rivalling city apppears 195
To boast a man more frank to impart
Kind offices to friends with open Heart,
Or, with hand amidst his store,
Delighting to distribute more
EPODE V.Measures 10.
Than Theron: yet foul calumny, injurious blame, 200
Did the men of rancour raise
Against his fair renown,
Defamers who by evil Actions strove to drown
His good, and to conceal his praise. ”

“ Than the beamy morning star.
When her ruddy lip ye view,
'Tis a berry moist with dew: 12
And her breath, Oh 'tis a gale
Passing o'er a fragrant vale,
Passing, when a friendly shower
Freshens every herb and flower. ”

“ The worthies of the good old times,
'E're living vice in verse was varnish'd o'er, 74
And vertue dyed without a song.
Support of friendless right, to powerful wrong
A check, behold him in the judgement-seat!
Twice, there, approv'd, in righteousness compleat: 78
In just awards, how gracious! tempering law
With mercy, and reproving with a winning awe. ”

“ Dost thy very sex betray, 8
Female more and more appear,
Female, more than angel dear,
How to speak thy face and mien,
(Soon too dangerous to be seen) 12
How shall I, or shall the muse,
Language of resemblance chuse? ”

“ To speed the plow, and bless our thriving sheep.
While willow kids, and herbage lambs, pursue,
While bees love thyme, and locusts sip the dew, ⁠132
While birds delight in woods their notes to strain,
Thy name and sweet memorial shall remain. ”

“ Nor night, nor day, shall my rude musick cease;
I ask no more, so I Menalcas please. 116
THENOT.
Menalcas, lord of these fair, fertile, plains,
Preserves the sheep, and o'er the shepherds reigns:
For him our yearly wakes, and feasts, we hold,
And choose the fairest firstling from the fold: 120
He, good to all, who Good deserve, shall give
Thy flock to feed, and thee at ease to live,
Shall curb the malice of unbridled tongues,
And bounteously reward thy rural songs. ”

“ Images of life refin'd;
Make it, as a garden gay,
Every bud of thought display, 20
Till, improving year by year,
The whole culture shall appear,
Voice, and speech, and action, rising,
All to human sense surprising. ”

“ The riven trunk feels not th' approach of spring;
Nor birds among the leafless branches sing:
No more, beneath thy shade, shall shepherds throng
With jocund tale, or pipe, or pleasing song. 48
Ill-fated tree! and more ill fated I! ”

“ In song, does like the Olympian shine:
Hence do the mighty poets raise
A hymn, of every tongue the praise,
The son of Saturn to resound, ⁠15
When far, from every land, they come
To visit Hiero's regal dome,
Where peace, where plenty, is for ever found:
ANTISTROPHE I.⁠Measures 18. ”

“ To the Right Honourable Charles Lord Halifax, one of the Lords Justices appointed by His Majesty.
1714.
ATRON of verse, O Halifax, attend,
The muse's fav'rite, and the poet's friend!
Approaching joys my ravish'd thoughts inspire:
I feel the transport; and my soul's on fire! 4
Again Britannia rears her awful head:
Her fears, transplanted, to her foes are fled. ”

“ Him teaching, young, the harmless crook to wield,
And rule the peaceful empire of the field. ⁠64
As milk-white swans on streams of silver show,
And silvery streams to grace the meadows flow,
As corn the vales, and trees the hills adorn,
So thou, to thine, an ornament wast born. ⁠68
Since thou, delicious youth, didst quit the plains,
Th' ungrateful ground we till with fruitless pains,
In labour'd furrows sow the choice of wheat,
And, over empty sheaves, in harvest sweat, ⁠72
A thin increase our fleecy cattle yield ”

“ Illustrious, young, in labours for the crown, 28
Just, and benign, and vigilant, in power,
And elegant to grace the vacant hour,
Relaxing sweet! Nor are we born to wear
The brow still bent, and give up life to care: 32
And thou, mild glory beaming round his fame,
Francisca, thou, his first, his latest, flame,
Parent of bloom! In pleasing arts refin'd! ”

“ The breathing soul on earth appears:
But, through the swift succession of mankind,
Swarm after swarm! a busy race,
The strength of cities, or of courts the grace, 42
Or who in camps delight, or who abide
Diffus'd o'er lands, or float on oceans wide,
Of them, though many here long-lingring dwell,
And see their children's children, yet, how few excell! ”

“ Provok'd, at last, he strove
"To shew the little minstrel of the grove 56
"His utmost powers, determin'd once to try
"How art, exerting, might with nature vy;
"For vy could none with either in their part,
"With her in nature, nor with him in art. 60
"He draws in breath, his rising breast to fill:
"Throughout the wood his pipe is hear'd to shrill.
"From note to note, in haste, his fingers fly;
"Still more and more the numbers multiply: 64
"And now they trill, and now they fall and rise,
"And swift and slow they change with sweet surprise. ”

“ The thick sprung reeds, which watry marshes yield,
Seem'd polish'd lances in a hostile field.
The stag in limpid currents, with surprise,
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise: 40
The spreading oak, the beech, and tow'ring pine,
Glaz'd over, in the freezing æther shine.
The frighted birds the rattling branches shun,
Which wave and glitter in the distant sun. ”

“ The Poet praises Hiero for his justice, his wisdom, and his skill in musick. He likewise celebrates the horse that won the race, and the place where the Olympick Games were performed. From the place (namely Peloponnesus) he takes an occasion of digressing to the known fable of Tantalus and Pelops; whence, returning to Hiero, he sets forth the felicity of the Olympian Victors. Then be concludes by praying to the gods, to preserve the glory and dignity of Hiero, admonishing him to moderation of mind, in his high station, and, lastly, glories in his own excellency in compositions of this kind. ”

“ Hast thou been absent from thy mother isle; 16
A slow-pac'd train of months to thee and thine,
A flight of moments to a heart like mine,
That feels perfections, and resigns with pain
Enjoyments I may never know again. ”

“ And bashful into woods and thickets fly,
Mistrusting then our skill; yet if through time
Our voice, improving, gain a pitch sublime, 4
Thy growing virtues, Sackville, shall engage
My riper verse, and more aspiring age. ”

“ Ah me, the tiresome chace!
"Shy as the fawn, she flies my fond embrace.
"She flies, indeed, but ever leaves behind,
"Fly where she will, her likeness in my mind. 64
"No cruel purpose, in my speed, I bear;
"'Tis only love; and love why should'st thou fear?
"What idle fears a maiden-breast alarm!
"Stay, simple girl: a lover cannot harm. ”

“ Little neck with brilliants bound,
And the store of charms which shine
Above, in lineaments divine, 48
Crowded in a narrow space
To compleat the desp'rate face,
These alluring powers, and more,
Shall enamour'd youths adore ”

“ My goats, secure from harm, small tendance need,
While high, on yonder hanging rock, they feed; 4
And, here below, the banky shore along,
Your heifers graze. Now, then, to strive in song
Prepare. As eldest, Hobbinol begin;
And Lanquet's rival-verse, by turns, come in. 8
HOBBINOL.
Let others stake what chosen pledge they will,
Or kid, or lamb, or mazer wrought with skill:
For praise we sing, nor wager ought beside ”

“ Hang pois'd in air, to bless the isles with rain:
And here the panting birds repose a-while;
Not so their queen; she gains the Cyprian isle, ⁠76
By speedy Zephyrs borne in thickned air:
Unseen she seeks, unseen she finds, the fair. ”

“ Who fence and dance, and keep the court in view.
White staffs and truncheons, seals and golden keys,
And silver stars, your tow'ring genius please: 40
Such manly thoughts in ev'ry infant rise,
Who daily for some tinsel trinket cries. ”

“ What thou mad'st for man's delight:
O'er her features let it pass
Like the breez o'er springing grass, 16
Gentle as refreshing showers
Sprinkled over opening flowers.
O, let years alone diminish
Beauties thou wast pleas'd to finish. 20
To the pious parents give
That the darling fair may live:
Turn to blessings all their care,
Save their fondness from despair. ”

“ No perilous toil can excite
"The dastard in heart, who despairs of his might.
"Since we all are born to dy,
"Who, overcast, would in oblivion ly,
"In unreputed age decay, ⁠145
"And meanly squander life away,
"Cut off from every praise? ”

“ ANTISTROPHE II.Measures 16.
Beauteous Ino, we are told,
With the sea-daughters dwells of Nereus old, 60
And has, by lot, obtain'd
Lasting life, beneath the deep,
A life within no bounds of time restrain'd. ”

“ "The flowers, anew, returning seasons bring!
"But beauty faded has no second spring. ”

“ And, in the calm, a thousand ways 20
Diversifies his nights and days,
Still elegantly wise;
While books, each morn, the lightsom soul invite,
And friends with season'd mirth improve the night. 24
IV.
In him do men no blemish see ”

“ There solid billows of enormous size,
Alps of green ice, in wild disorder rise. ”

“ The sun, I ween, is leaving us in haste:
His weakly rays faint glimmer through the wood,
And bluey mists arise from yonder flood. 168
MYCO.
Bid then our dogs to gather in the sheep.
Good shepherds, with their flock, betimes should sleep. ”

“ Doubtful for whom her spreading funds were fill'd,
Her fleets were freighted, and her fields were till'd. 20
No longer now shall France and Spain combin'd,
Strong in their golden Indies, awe mankind. ”

“ To blasting storms of calumny compar'd:
Unkind as hail it falls; the pelting shower
Destroys the tender herb, and budding flower. 100
THENOT.
Slander we shepherds count the vilest wrong:
And what wounds sorer than an evil tongue? ”

“ What man, shall we resound?
Is not Pisa Jove's delight?
And did not Hercules, with conquest crown'd, 5
To him ordain
The Olympiad for an army slain,
Thank-offering of the war?
And must we not, in Theron's right,
Exert our voice, and swell our song? 10
Theron, whose victorious car
Four coursers whirl, fleeting along,
To stranger-guests indulgent host,
Of Agrigentum the support and boast,
Cities born to rule and grace, 15
Fair blossom of his antient race,
ANTISTROPHE I.Measures 16. ”

“ TO the Memory, ever dear and precious, of his most affectionate, most beloved, and most deserving, Wife, is this Monument raised by HENRY VERNON of Hilton, in the County of Stafford, Esquire: to him she bore five Sons and two daughters, all surviving, save Elizabeth; who dying, in her second Year, of the Small Pox, some few Days before, resteth by her Mother. ”