Or wand'ring thoughtful in the silent wood, Attends the duties of the wise and good, 250 T'observe a mean, be to himself a friend, To follow Nature, and regard his end; Or looks on Heav'n with more than mortal eyes, Bids his free soul expatiate in the skies, Amid her kindred stars familiar roam, Survey the region, and confess her home! Such was the life great Scipio once admired: Thus Atticus, and Trumbull thus retired. Ye sacred Nine! that all my soul possess, Whose raptures fire me, and whose visions bless, 260 Bear me, O bear me to sequester'd scenes, The bowery mazes, and surrounding greens; To Thames's banks, which fragrant breezes fill, Or where ye Muses sport on Cooper's hill. (On Cooper's hill eternal wreaths shall grow, While lasts the mountain, or while Thames shall flow.) I seem thro' consecrated walks to rove; 270 By godlike Poets venerable made: Draw Monarchs chain'd, and Cressi's glorious field, The lilies blazing on the regal shield: Then, from her roofs when Verrio's colours fall, And leave inanimate the naked wall, Still in thy song should vanquish'd France appear, And bleed for ever under Britain's spear. 310 Let softer strains ill-fated Henry mourn, And palms eternal flourish round his urn. Here o'er the martyr-king the marble PARAPHRASES FROM CHAUCER JANUARY AND MAY: OR, THE MERCHANT'S TALE Pope says that this 'translation' was done at sixteen or seventeen years of age. It was first published, with the Pastorals, in 1709, in Tonson's sixth Miscellany. Eventually Pope grouped the Chaucer imitations with Eloisa to Abelard, the translations from Ovid and Statius and the brief Imitations of English Poets. To this collection be prefixed this Advertisement: 'The following Translations were selected from many others done by the Author in his youth; for the most part indeed but a sort of Exercises, while he was improving himself in the Languages, and carried by his early bent to Poetry to perform them rather in Verse than Prose. Mr. Dryden's Fables came out about that time, which occasioned the Translations from Chaucer. They were first, separately printed in Miscellanies by J. Tonson and B. Lintot, and afterwards collected in the Quarto Edition of 1717. The Imitations of English Authors, which are added at the end, were done as early, some of them at fourteen or fifteen years old; but having also got into Miscellanies, we have put them here together to complete this Juvenile Volume.' Warburton asserts that Pope did not intend to include this group of poems in the final edition of his works. THERE liv'd in Lombardy, as authors write, In days of old, a wise and worthy Knight; Yet, led astray by Venus' soft delights, Weak sinful laymen were but flesh and blood. But in due time, when sixty years were o'er, 9 He vow'd to lead this vicious life no more; Whether pure holiness inspired his mind, Or dotage turn'd his brain, is hard to find; Bat his high courage prick'd him forth to wed, And try the pleasures of a lawful bed. Let not the wise these sland'rous words regard, But curse the bones of ev'ry lying bard. 50 All other goods by Fortune's hand are giv❜n, A wife is the peculiar gift of Heav'n. As long as heart can wish and longer too. Our grandsire Adam, ere of Eve possess'd, 60 Alone, and ev'n in Paradise unbless'd, With mournful looks the blissful scene survey'd, And wander'd in the solitary shade. A Wife! ah gentle Deities! can he All things would prosper, all the world grow wise. 'Twas by Rebecca's aid that Jacob won At Hester's suit the persecuting sword These weighty motives January the sage life, 'Beneath the weight of threescore years I bend, And, worn with cares, am hastening to my end. How I have liv'd, alas! you know too well In worldly follies which I blush to tell; 90 But gracious Heav'n has oped my eyes at last, With due regret I view my vices past, And many heads are wiser still than one; tent |