POEMS WRITTEN BETWEEN 1708 AND 1712 ODE FOR MUSIC ON ST. CECILIA'S DAY This ode was written at the suggestion of Richard Steele, in 1708. It was recast in 1730 in briefer form so that it might be set to music; and the first four stanzas were considerably changed. I DESCEND, ye Nine, descend and sing: In a sadly pleasing strain The shrill echoes rebound; Exulting in triumph now swell the bold By the heroes' armed shades, To hear the Poet's prayer: A conquest how hard and how glorious ! VI 80 90 Written in 1709 and sent in a letter to Henry Cromwell in 1711. WHEN wise Ulysses, from his native coast Long kept by wars, and long by tempests toss'd, Arrived at last, poor, old, disguised, alone, To all his friends, and ev'n his Queen unknown, Changed as he was, with age, and toils, and cares, Furrow'd his rev'rend face, and white his hairs, In his own palace forc'd to ask his bread, Scorn'd by those slaves his former bounty fed, Forgot of all his own domestic crew, The faithful Dog alone his rightful master knew! Unfed, unhous'd, neglected, on the clay, Like an old servant now cashier'd, he lay; Touch'd with resentment of ungrateful THE TRANSLATOR 'Egbert Sanger,' says Warton, 'served his apprenticeship with Jacob Tonson, and succeeded Bernard Lintot in his shop at Middle Temple Gate, Fleet Street. Lintot printed Ozell's translation of Perrault's Characters, and Sanger his translation of Boileau's Lutrin, recommended by Rowe, in 1709.' OZELL, at Sanger's call, invoked his Muse For who to sing for Sanger could refuse? His numbers such as Sanger's self might use. Reviving Perrault, murd'ring Boileau, he Slander'd the ancients first, then Wycherley; Which yet not much that old bard's anger rais'd, Since those were slander'd most whom Ozell prais'd. Nor had the gentle satire caused complaining, Had not sage Rowe pronounc'd it entertaining; How great must be the judgment of that writer, Who The Plain Dealer damns, and prints The Biter! ON MRS. TOFTS, A FAMOUS OPERA-SINGER Katharine Tofts was an English opera singer popular in London between 1703 and 1709. But that for ever in his lines they breathe. Let mine an innocent gay farce appear, So bright is thy beauty, so charming thy Tho' not too strictly bound to Time and Place: Too much your Sex is by their forms confin'd, Severe to all, but most to Womankind ; Custom, grown blind with Age, must be your guide; Your pleasure is a vice, but not your pride; By Nature yielding, stubborn but for fame, Made slaves by honour, and made fools by shame; Marriage may all those petty tyrants chase; But sets up one, a greater, in their place; Well might you wish for change by those accurst, But the last tyrant ever proves the worst. 39 The brightest eyes of France inspired his Muse; The brightest eyes of Britain now peruse; And dead, as living, 't is our Author's pride Still to charm those who charm the world beside. THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL 80 This Ode was written, we find [in 1712], at the desire of Steele; and our Poet, in a letter to him on that occasion, says, You have it, as Cowley calls it, just warm from the brain; it came to me the first moment I waked this morning; yet you 'll see, it was not so absolutely inspiration, but that I had in my head, not only the verses of Hadrian, but the fine fragment of Sappho.' It is possible, however, that our Author might have had another composition in his head, besides those he here refers to for there is a close and surprising resemblance between this Ode of Pope, and one of an obscure and forgotten rhymer of the age of Charles the Second, Thomas Flatman. (Warton). Pope's version of the Adriani morientis ad Animum was written at about this date, and sent to Steele for publication in The Spectator. It ran as follows:- Ah, fleeting Spirit! wand'ring fire, That long hast warm'd my tender breast, I VITAL spark of heav'nly flame, II Hark! they whisper; Angels say, III The world recedes; it disappears; Heav'n opens on my eyes; my ears |