How widow'd ev'ry thought of ev'ry joy! 225 230 And ev'ry pleasure pains me to the heart. Yet why complain? or why complain for one? 235 Hangs out the sun his lustre but for me, 222. Widow'd: Stripped. : 224. Postern of time: Back door or gate of time. Allusion is made to a small private door in the rear wall of a castle or fortification, the passage to which was usually narrow and dark. 229. Ghosts, etc: Mere images of my departed joys. 231. I rue, &c.: I regret the riches of my former condition, ere these sad bereavements were encountered. 232. Comfort's blasted clusters: A beautiful allusion to a fruitful grape vine prematurely injured by the frost. 237. Are angels all beside? Are none of the human race mortal but myself; are they angels removed beyond the reach of sorrow? 239. Has Fate entailed: The primary idea expressed by the word Fate being false, it should not have been used by a Christian poet. The best apology that can be made for him, is to suppose that he uses it as a brief expression of the same import as Divine Providence. According to many heathen Philosophers, fate, or destiny, was a secret and invisible power, or virtue, which with incomprehensible wisdom regulated all those occurrences of this world which to human eyes appear irregular and fortuitous. The Stoics, on the other hand, understood by destiny a certain concatenation of things, which from all eternity follow each other of absolute necessity, The mother's throes on all of woman born, EVILS THAT BESIEGE MANKIND. War, Famine, Pest, Volcano, Storm, and Fire, 240 Wrapt up in triple brass, besiege mankind. God's image, disinherited of day, 245 Here, plunged in mines, forgets a sun was made; Are hammer'd to the galling oar for life; And plough the winter's wave and reap despair. 250 In battle lopp'd away with half their limbs, Beg bitter bread through realms their valour saved, On hopeless multitudes remorseless seize To shock us more, solicit it in vain! 255 260 there being no power able to interrupt their connexion. To this invisible power even the gods were compelled to succumb. See Brande's Dictionary. 246. Forgets a sun was made: He has been so long engaged under ground in mining operations, without coming up to the light, that he forgets the existence of the sun: of course he foregoes the pleasures and advantages of his delightful beams. It is said, that in some of the deep mines in England rooms are constructed for the accommodation of families; and that children are there born, and arrive at maturity, without ever seeing the wonders and beauties of the world above ground. 250. Broken under arms, &c.: Injured in military service, with half their limbs lopp'd away in battle. Other editions place a comma after away which obscures the sense, unless we give an unauthorized meaning to the word before it. Ye silken sons of Pleasure! since in pains You rue more modish visits, visit here, And breathe from your debauch; give, and reduce Your impudence, you blush at what is right. DISEASE AND DEATH ARE UNDISCRIMINATING. Happy! did sorrow seize on such alone: 26 And punishment the guiltless; and alarm, 270 Through thickest shades, pursues the fond of peace. Man's caution often into danger turns, And, his guard falling, crushes him to death. And truest friends, through error, wound our rest. 280 And what hostilities without a foe! 262-3. Since in pains you rue, &c.: Since, in a state of pain, (engendered by disease) you lament more fashionable visits-visits to places of dissipation, more fashionable and more common than the visits to a hospital here recommended. Visit here: visit the groaning hospitals (257). 264. Give, and reduce, &c.: Spend some of your money upon the needy objects you will find in the hospital; and thus have less to spend upon yourself in excessive sensual gratifications. 267. Such alone: The sons of pleasure (262). 270. The guiltless: That is, those comparatively so. 273. His guard: That structure which had been erected for a defence. 275. Our very wishes, &c.: That is, our very wishes, even when the objects were attained, have not given us the felicity which we anticipated. 280-1. Without misfortune, &c.: That is, although we should be exempt from signal adversities, yet there are calamities to be encountered; and though we have no open foe, we meet with events hostile to our peace and welfare Nor are foes wanting to the best on earth. And sighs might sooner fail than cause to sigh. THE MAP OF EARTH, A TRUE MAP OF MAN. A part how small of the terraqueous globe 285 Is tenanted by man! the rest a waste, Rocks, deserts, frozen seas, and burning sands! Wild haunts of monsters, poisons, stings, and death. Such is earth's melancholy map! but far More sad! this earth is a true map of man: 290 So bounded are its haughty lord's delights To woe's wide empire, where deep troubles toss, Loud sorrows howl, envenom'd passions bite, Rav'nous calamities our vitals seize, And threat'ning Fate wide opens to devour. 295 In HUMAN HAPPINESS EVANESCENT. What then am who sorrow for myself? Is all our hope; to teach us to be kind— 284. Than cause to sigh, should fail. 295. Fate: Death, or the grave. 300 305 301. While it sinks, exalts: While it sinks our spirits, exalts our character, improves our feelings. 303-4. Bids me give swoln thought a second channel: That is, bids me relieve myself of excessive grief by learning to pity the woes of others; or, bids me not confine the torrent of grief to my own sufferings, but also to direct it generously to those of others. A swollen torrent is reduced by being conducted in part into a second channel. Take, then, O world! thy much indebted tear; How sad a sight is human happiness To those whose thought can pierce beyond an hour! O thou! whate'er thou art, whose heart exults! 310 I know thou wouldst; thy pride demands it from me. The salutary censure of a friend. Thou happy wretch! by blindness thou art blest; By dotage dandled to perpetual smiles. 315 Know, smiler! at thy peril art thou pleased; Thy pleasure is the promise of thy pain. She makes a scourge of past prosperity, To sting thee more, and double thy distress. 320 THE FAVOURS OF FORTUNE MAY JUSTLY CAUSE ALARM. Lorenzo, Fortune makes her court to thee: 306. Thy much indebted tear: The tear I have long owed thee. 321. To sting thee more, &c.: This passage suggests a somewhat similar remark of Cæsar, in his Commentaries, Book I. ch. 14. "Consuêsse enim Deos immortales, quo gravius homines ex commutatione rerum doleant, quos pro scelere eorum ulcisci velint, his secundiores interdum res et diuturniorem impunitatem concedere." 322. Lorenzo: It has been disputed whether the individual bearing this name, and so frequently addressed in this poem, was the son of the author, (which was for a time the common opinion), or a fictitious character, which has, however, its counterpart in almost every community. Evidence may be collected from the poem itself and known incidents, to show that the former opinion is unfounded. He is never addressed, or spoken of, as his son, and things are attributed to him which seem not to be consistent with tha opinion; for example, in the line here quoted, it is said, "Fortune makes her court to thee." In Night V. he is represented as "burning for the sublime of life, to hang his airy seat on high." In Night VIII. he is described as having "travelled far;" and in Night V., "So wept Lorenzo fair Clarissa's fate; Who gave that angel boy on whom he dotes." |