Poems by Alexander Pope

POPE.

IN THE YEAR 1715.

O Wretched B----,[90] jealous now of all,

What are the falling rills, the pendant shades,

As when that hero, who, in each campaign,

I

THE DESIGN.

ARGUMENT.

ARGUMENT.

ARGUMENT.

What is prudery?

When wise Ulysses, from his native coast

When wise Ulysses, from his native coast

Beneath the shade a spreading Beech displays,

IMITATED IN THE MANNER OF DR SWIFT.

I've often wish'd that I had clear,

Again? new tumults in my breast?

Celia, we know, is sixty-five,

Strophe I

Semichorus.

I

What beck’ning ghost, along the moon-light shade

In these deep solitudes and awful cells,

I am his Highness' dog at Kew;

Sir, I admit your general rule,

Friend, for your epitaphs I'm grieved,

Strange! all this difference should be

Whence deathless 'Kit-cat' took its name,

I am His Highness' dog at Kew;

A Bishop, by his neighbours hated,

You beat your pate, and fancy wit will come;

DESIGNED FOR MRS OLDFIELD.

(WRITTEN IN MDCCXXXVIII.)

Fr. 'Tis all a libel--Paxton[203] (sir) will say.

Nothing so true as what you once let fall,

ADVERTISEMENT.

A soul as full of worth, as void of pride,

In these gay thoughts the Loves and Graces shine,

This verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse

As some fond virgin, whom her mother's care

Such were the notes thy once-loved Poet sung,

Est brevitate opus, ut currat sententia, neu se

Neque sermonibus vulgi dederis te, nec in prmiis spem posueris rerum tuarum; suiste oportet illecebris ipsa virtus trahat ad verum decus. Quid de te alii loquantur, ipsi videant,sed loquentur tamen.

'His saltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani Munere!'

A pleasing form; a firm, yet cautious mind;

To this sad shrine, whoe'er thou art, draw near;

Jacobus Craggs Regi Magnae Britannia A Secretis Et Consiliis Sanctioribus, Principis Pariter Ac Populi Amor Et Deliciae: Vixit Titulis Et Invidia Major Annos, Heu Paucos, Xxxv. Ob. Feb. Xvi. Mdccxx.

Here, Withers, rest! thou bravest, gentlest mind,

Well, then, poor G---- lies under ground!

Here lies Lord Coningsby--be civil!

Thy relics, Rowe, to this fair urn we trust,

Here rests a woman, good without pretence,

Erected By Their Father The Lord Digby, In The Church Of Sherborne, In Dorsetshire, 1727.

Kneller, by Heaven, and not a master, taught,

This modest stone, what few vain marbles can,

Of manners gentle, of affections mild;

ISAACUS NEWTONUS:

SHE.

If modest youth, with cool reflection crown'd,

Heroes and kings! your distance keep:

Under this marble, or under this sill,

When Eastern lovers feed the funeral fire,

The First Epistle

The playful smiles around the dimpled mouth,

Dear, damn'd distracting town, farewell!

Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of fate,

1 Though Artemisia talks, by fits,

1 Silence! coeval with eternity;

Fair charmer, cease! nor make your voice's prize,

Ne Rubeam, Pingui donatus Munere

Occasioned By Four Satirical Verses On Women Wits, In 'The Rape Of The Lock.'

In vain you boast Poetic Names of yore,

Women ben full of Ragerie,

Fain would my Muse the flow'ry Treasures sing,

Parson, these things in thy possessing

Tho' Artemisia talks, by fits,

I.

I.

Here, shunning idleness at once and praise,

There lived in Lombardy, as authors write,

Here shunning idleness at once and praise,

So when Curll’s Stomach the strong Drench o’ercame,

1 Yes, I beheld the Athenian queen

1 Generous, gay, and gallant nation,

All hail, once pleasing, once inspiring shade!

All hail, once pleasing, once inspiring shade,

When simple Macer, now of high renown,

When simple Macer, now of high renown,

The captain, some time after his return, being retired to Mr Sympson's in the country, Mrs Gulliver, apprehending from his late behaviour some estrangement of his affections, writes him the following expostulatory, soothing, and tenderly complaining

ADVERTISEMENT.

ARGUMENT.

Nothing so true as what you once let fall--

ARGUMENT.

ARGUMENT.

OCCASIONED BY HIS DIALOGUES ON MEDALS.[54]

Muse, 'tis enough: at length thy labour ends,

Muse, 'tis enough: at length thy labour ends,

Happy the man, whose wish and care

I

In amaze

I know a thing that’s most uncommon;

1 I know the thing that's most uncommon;

Come gentle Air! th' AEolian shepherd said,

O gate, how cam'st thou here?

Did Milton's prose, O Charles! thy death defend?

When other fair ones to the shades go down,

What god, what genius did the pencil move,

Thou who shalt stop, where Thames' translucent wave

Thou who shalt stop, where Thames' translucent wave

Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild;

So bright is thy beauty, so charming thy song,

Authors the world and their dull brains have traced

Pallas grew vapourish once, and odd,

Pallas grew vapourish once, and odd;

1 Lest you should think that verse shall die,

Phryne had talents for mankind,

Goddess of woods, tremendous in the chase,

Thou art my God, sole object of my love;

Authors are judged by strange capricious rules;

To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,

To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,

When Learning, after the long Gothic night,

Grown old in rhyme, 'twere barbarous to discard

Roxana, from the Court returning late,

Ye Lords and Commons, Men of Wit,

1 Ye Lords and Commons, men of wit

Say, lovely youth, that dost my heart command,

Say, lovely youth, that dost my heart command,

SATIRES AND EPISTLES OF HORACE IMITATED. -

What, and how great, the virtue and the art

"Sir, I admit your general rule,

Happy the man, whose wish and care

I.

I

1 Fluttering, spread thy purple pinions,

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

First in these fields I try the sylvan strains,

A Shepherd's Boy (he seeks no better name)

Sylvia my heart in wondrous wise alarm'd

Now Europe balanced, neither side prevails;

Cardelia. Smilinda.

CARDELIA.

TO THE TUNE OF 'TO ALL YOU LADIES NOW AT LAND.'

I.

[From the 'Dunciad', Book IV]

I.--PREFACE

The Mighty Mother, and her son who brings

But in her Temple's last recess inclos'd,

Yet, yet a moment, one dim ray of light

ARGUMENT.

ARGUMENT.

ARGUMENT.

The Dunciad. IN FOUR BOOKS.

TO DR JONATHAN SWIFT.

Vital spark of heav'nly flame,

She said, and for her lost Calanthis sighs,

She said, and for her lost Galanthis sighs;

TRANSLATED IN THE YEAR 1703.

TO LORD BOLINGBROKE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Say, St John, who alone peruse

He said, and pass'd with sad presaging heart

Soon as Glumdalclitch miss'd her pleasing care,

ON MRS PULTENEY.[81]

With scornful mien, and various toss of air,

Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song,

Part 1

Not with more glories, in th' etherial plain,

Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs,

But anxious cares the pensive nymph oppress'd,

She said: the pitying audience melt in tears,

Part I

Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos;

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan

Well, if it be my time to quit the stage,

'Quid vetat et nosmet Lucili scripta legentes Quaerere, num illius, num rerum dura negarit Versiculos natura magis factos, et euntes Mollius?'

'Ludentis speciem dabit, et torquebitur.'

TO MR MURRAY.[135]

In that soft season, when descending show'rs

Of gentle Philips will I ever sing,

Of gentle Philips[78] will I ever sing,

Ozell, at Sanger's call, invoked his Muse,

Father of all! in every age,

Behold the woes of matrimonial life,

What's fame with men, by custom of the nation,

Though sprightly Sappho force our love and praise,

I

1 In beauty or wit,

Few words are best; I wish you well:

'Ah, friend! 'tis true--this truth you lovers know--

How much, egregious Moore, are we

To thee, we wretches of the Houyhnhnm band,

Resign'd to live, prepar'd to die,

Oh be thou blest with all that Heav'n can send,

Begone, ye Critics, and restrain your spite,

Goddess of woods, tremendous in the chase,

Two or three visits, and two or three bows,

Close to the best known author Umbra sits,

Father of all! In every age,

'See, sir, here's the grand approach,

UN JOUR DIT UN AUTEUR, ETC.

1 With no poetic ardour fired,

With no poetic ardour fir'd

The fair Pomona flourish'd in his reign;

The fair Pomona flourish'd in his reign;

While Celia's Tears make sorrow bright,

Thy forests, Windsor! and thy green retreats,

Lycidas

You know where you did despise