Shall Wolsey's wealth,with Wolsey's end,be thine?
Or livest thou now, with safer pride content,
The wisest justice on the banks of Trent?
For why did Wolsey, near the steeps of fate,
On weak foundations raise th'enormous weight?
Why but to sink beneath misfortune's blow,
With louder ruin to the gulfs below?
What gave great Villiers to the assassin's knife,
And fixed disease on Harley's closing life?
What murder'd Wentworth,and what exil'd Hyde,
By kings protected, and to kings ally'd?
What but their wish indulg'd, in courts to shine,
And power too great to keep, or to resign?
When first the college rolls receive his name, The young enthusiast quits his ease for fame; Resistless burns the fever of renown,
Caught from the strong contagion of the gown: O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread, And Bacon's mansion trembles o'er his head. Are these thy views? proceed, illustrious youth, And Virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth! Yet, should thy soul indulge the generous heat, Till captive Science yields her last retreat; Should Reason guide thee with her brightest ray, And pour on misty doubt resistless day;
Should no false kindness lure to loose delight,
Nor praise relax, nor difficulty fright;
Should tempting novelty thy cell refrain,
And sloth effuse her opiate fumes in vain;
Should beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,
Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;
Should no disease thy torpid veins invade,
Nor melancholy's phantoms haunt thy shade-
Yet hope not life from grief or danger free,
Nor think the doom of man reversed for thee;
Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,
And pause a while from learning, to be wise;
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail:
See nations, slowly wise, and meanly just,
To buried merit raise the tardy bust:
If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.
Nor deem when learning her last prize bestows,
The glittering eminence exempt from foes;
See when the vulgar 'scapes despised or awed,
Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on Laud-
From meaner minds, though smaller fines content,
The plundered palace, or sequestered rent;
Mark'd out by dangerous parts he meets the shock,
And fatal learning leads him to the block:
Around his tomb let art and genius weep;
But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and sleep.
The festal blazes, the triumphal show,
The ravished standard, and the captive foe,
The senate's thanks, the gazette's pompous tale,
With force resistless o'er the brave prevail.
Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Asia whirl'd;
For such the steady Romans shook the world;
For such in distant lands the Britons shine,
And stain with blood the Danube or the Rhine;
This power has praise,that virtue scarce can warm,
Till fame supplies the universal charm:
Yet reason frowns on war's unequal game,
Where wasted nations raise a single name,
And mortgag'd states their grandsire's wreaths
regret,
From age to age in everlasting debt;
Wreaths which at last the dear-bought right cons
To rust on medals, or on stones decay.
On what foundation stands the warrior's pride? How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide; A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquered lord of pleasure and of pain;
No joys to him pacifick sceptres yield,
War sounds the trumph, he rushes to the field; Behold surrounding kings their power combine, And one capitulate, and one resign;
Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain;
"Think nothing gain'd," he cries, "till nought re
"On Moscow's walls till Gothick standards fly,
"And all be mine beneath the polar sky."
The march begins in military state,
And nations on his eye suspended wait;
Stern famine guards the solitary coast,
And winter barricades the realms of frost,
He comes, nor want nor cold his course delay;
Hide, blushing glory, hide Pultowa's day!
The vanquished hero leaves his broken bands,
And shows his miseries in distant lands;
Condemned a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.
But did not chance at length her error mend?
Did no subverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destined to a barren strand,
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand;
He left the name at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.
All times their scenes of pompous woes afford,
From Persia's tyrant to Bavaria's lord:
In gay hostility, and barbarous pride,
With half mankind embattled at his side,
Great Xerxes comes to seize the certain prey,
And starves exhausted regions in his way;
Attendant flattery counts his myriads o'er,
Till counted myriads sooth his pride no more;
Fresh praise is tryed, till madness fires his mind,
The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind;
New powers are claimed, new powers are still
bestow'd,
Till rude resistance lops the spreading god;
The daring Greeks deride the martial show,
And heap their vallies with the gaudy foe;
The insulted sea with humbler thoughts he gains,
A single skiff to speed his flight remains!
Th' encumber'd oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast,
Through purple billows and a floating host.
The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour,
Tries the dread summits of Cæsarean power,
With unexpected legions bursts away,
And sees defenceless realms receive his swayShort sway! fair Austria spreads her mournful
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