Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

'Tis hard on Bagshot Heath to try
Unclosed to keep the weary eye;
But ah! Oblivion's nod to get
In rattling coach is harder yet.
Slumbrous God of half-shut eye!
Who lovest with limbs supine to lie;
Soother sweet of toil and care
Listen, listen to my prayer;
And to thy votary dispense
Thy soporific influence!

What tho' around thy drowsy head
The seven-fold cap of night be spread,
Yet lift that drowsy head awhile
And yawn propitiously a smile;
In drizzly rains poppean dews

90

O'er the tired inmates of the Coach

[blocks in formation]

Curst road! whose execrable way Was darkly shadow'd out in Milton's lay,

(When the sad fiends thro' Hell's sulphureous roads

Took the first survey of their new abodes;

Or when the fall'n Archangel fierce Dared through the realms of Night to

pierce,

[blocks in formation]

That lead'st th' oblivious soul astrayThough thou sphere-descended be→→ Hence away!

Thou mightier Goddess, thou demand'st my lay,

Born when earth was seized with

cholic ;

Or as more sapient sages say,
What time the Legion diabolic
Compell'd their beings to enshrine
In bodies vile of herded swine,
Precipitate adown the steep

With hideous rout were plunging
in the deep,

And hog and devil mingling grunt and yell

Seized on the ear with horrible obtrusion ;

Then if aright old legendaries tell,

Wert thou begot by Discord on Confusion!

What though no name's sonorous power
Was given thee at thy natal hour!-
1-
Yet oft I feel thy sacred might,
While concords wing their distant flight.
Such power inspires thy holy son

Sable clerk of Tiverton.
And oft where Otter sports his stream,
I hear thy banded offspring scream.
Thou Goddess! thou inspir'st each
throat;

'Tis thou who pour'st the scritch-owl note !

Transported hear'st thy children all Scrape and blow and squeak and squall, And while old Otter's steeple rings, Clappest hoarse thy raven wings!

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

12

ON A LADY WEEPING-MONODY ON A TEA-KETTLE

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

As if no joy had ever chear'd my My woes, my joys unshared! Ah! long

[blocks in formation]

Is my heart destined for another blow? O my sweet sister! and must thou too die?

Ah! how has Disappointment pour'd the tear

O'er infant Hope destroy'd by early frost! How are ye gone, whom most my soul held dear!

Scarce had I loved you ere I mourn'd you lost;

Say, is this hollow eye, this heartless pain,

Fated to rove thro' Life's wide cheerless

ere then

On me thy icy dart, stern Death, be proved ;

Better to die, than live and not be loved!

1790.

ON SEEING A YOUTH AFFECTIONATELY WELCOMED BY A SISTER

I TOO a sister had! too cruel Death! How sad remembrance bids my bosom heave!

Tranquil her soul, as sleeping Infant's breath;

Meek were her manners as a vernal Eve.

Knowledge, that frequent lifts the bloated mind,

Gave her the treasure of a lowly breast, And Wit to venom'd Malice oft assign'd,

Dwelt in her bosom in a Turtle's nest. Cease, busy Memory! cease to urge the dart ;

Nor on my soul her love to me impress!

For oh I mourn in anguish-and my heart

Feels the keen pang, th' unutterable

distress.

Yet wherefore grieve I that her sorrows

cease,

For Life was misery, and the Grave is Peace! ? 1792.

A MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM If Pegasus will let thee only ride him, Spurning my clumsy efforts to o'erstride him, Some fresh expedient the Muse will try, And walk on stilts, although she cannot fly. TO THE REV. GEORGE COLERIDGE DEAR BROTHER,

I have often been surprised that Mathematics, the quintessence of Truth, Nor father, brother, sister meet its ken- should have found admirers so few and

plain

II

From the centre A. at the distance A. B.
Describe the circle B. C. D.

At the distance B. A. from B. the centre
The round A. C. E. to describe boldly

venture.

(Third postulate see.)
And from the point C.
In which the circles make a pother
Cutting and slashing one another,

20

Bid the straight lines a journeying

go.

C. A. C. B. those lines will show.
To the points, which by A. B. are
reckon'd,

so languid. Frequent consideration and
minute scrutiny have at length unravelled
the cause; viz. that though Reason is
feasted, Imagination is starved; whilst
Reason is luxuriating in its proper Para-
dise, Imagination is wearily travelling on
a dreary desert. To assist Reason by
the stimulus of Imagination is the design
of the following production. In the
execution of it much may be objection-
able. The verse (particularly in the
introduction of the ode) may be accused
of unwarrantable liberties, but they are
liberties equally homogeneal with the
exactness of Mathematical disquisition,
and the boldness of Pindaric daring. I
have three strong champions to defend
me against the attacks of Criticism: the
Novelty, the Difficulty, and the Utility
of the work. I may justly plume myself
that I first have drawn the nymph Not
Mathesis from the visionary caves of
abstracted idea, and caused her to unite
with Harmony. The first-born of this
Union I now present to you; with inter-
ested motives indeed-as I expect to
receive in return the more valuable off-
spring of your Muse.

[blocks in formation]

And postulate the second.
For Authority ye know.

A. B. C.
Triumphant shall be
An Equilateral Triangle,
Peter Pindar carp, nor Zoilus can
wrangle.

III

Because the point A. is the centre
Of the circular B. C. D.

30

And because the point B. is the centre
Of the circular A. C. E.

A. C. to A. B. and B. C. to B. A.
Harmoniously equal for ever must stay ;
Then C. A. and B. C.

Both extend the kind hand

[blocks in formation]
« VorigeDoorgaan »