ROM thy long languishing, and painful ftrife,
Of breath and labour drawn, and wasting life,
Accomplish'd fpirit! thou at length art free,
Born into blifs and immortality!
Thy ftruggles are no more; the palm is won;
Thy brows encircled with the victor's crown;
While lonely left, and defolate below,
Full grief I feel, and all a BROTHER'S WOe!
Yet would I linger on a little space,
Before I clofe my quick-expiring race,
Till I have gather'd up, with grateful pains,
Thy WORKS, thy dear unperishing remains;
An undecaying MONUMENT to ftand,
Rais'd to thy name by thy own skilful hand.
Then let me wing from earth my willing way,
To meet thy foul in blaze of living day,
Rapt to the skies, like thee, with joyful flight,
An inmate of the heavens, adopted into light!
30 March, 1720.
JABEZ HUGHES.
Ob. 17 Jan. 1731.
Anno Æt. 46.
MMORTAL Bard! though from the world retir'd,
Still known to fame, ftill honour'd, and admir'd!
While fill'd with joy, in happier realms you ftray,
And dwell in mansions of eternal day;
While you, confpicuous through the heavenly choir, 5
With fwelling rapture tune the chosen lyre;
Where echoing angels the glad notes prolong,
Or with attentive filence crown your song;
Forgive the Mufe that in unequal lays
Offers this humble tribute of her praise.
Loft in thy works, how oft I país the day,
While the swift hours fteal unperceiv'd away;
There, in fweet union, wit and virtue charm,
And nobleft fentiments the bofom warm;
The brave, the wife, the virtuous, and the fair,
May view themselves in fadeless colours there.
Through every polish'd piece correctness flows,
Yet each bright page with sprightly fancy glows;
Oh! happy elegance, where thus are join'd
A folid judgment, and a wit refin'd!
Here injur❜d Phocyas and Eudocia claim
A lafing pity, and a lafting fame:
Thy heroine's fofter virtues charm the fight,
And fill our fouls with ravishing delight.
Exalted love and dauntless courage meet,
To make thy hero's character complete.
This finifh'd piece the nobleft pens commend,
And ev❜n the critics are the poet's friend.
Led on by thee, thofe * flowery paths I view,
For ever lovely, and for ever new,
Where all the Graces with joint force engage
To ftem th' impetuous follies of the
Virtue, there deck'd in ever-blooming charms,
With fuch refiftless rays of beauty warms,
That Vice, abafh'd, confounded, fkulks away,
As night retires at dawn of rofy day.
Struck with his guilt, the hardy Atheist dreads
Approaching fate, and trembles as he reads:
Vanquish'd by reason, yet asham'd to fly,
He dares not own a God, nor yet deny :
Convinc'd, though late, forgiveness he implores;
Shrinks from the jaws of hell, and heaven adores.
Hither the wild, the frolic, and the gay,
As thoughtless through their wanton rounds they ftray, Compell'd by fame, repair with curious eye,
And their own various forms with wonder spy.
The cenfor fo polite, fo kindly true,
They see their faults, and ficken at the view.
Hence trifling Damon ceases to be vain ;
And Cloe fcorns to give her lover pain:
Strephon is true, who ne'er was true before;
And Cælia bids him love, but not adore.
Though ADDISON and STEELE the honour claim, Here to ftand foremost on the list of fame; Yet ftill the traces of thy hand we fee,
Some of the brighteft thoughts are due to thee.
* Alluding to the Spectators written by Mr. Hughes.
While then for those illuftrious bards we mourn,
The Mufe fhall vifit thy DISTINGUISH'D URN;
With copious tears bedew the facred ground,
And plant the never-fading bay around.
Here through the gloom, afpiring bards, explore Thefe awful relics, and be vain no more: Learning and wit, and fame itself muft die; VIRTUE alone can towering reach the sky. This crown'd his life. Admire not, heaven in view, 65 He to the glorious prize with transport flew. A fate fo bleft should check our streaming woe, He reigns above, his works furvive below.
J. BUNCE,
Late of Trinity-Hall,
Cambridge.
IN MEMORIAM VIRI CLARISSIMI
OCCIDIT heu nimium fato fublatus acerbo,
Occidit Aonidûm decus ille dolorque fororum !
Quæ te, magne, tuis rapuit fors afpera, vates?
Quo fugis, ah! noftras nunquam rediturus in oras!
En tibi ferali crinem cinxêre cupreffo,
Et circum cineres Parnaffia numina lugent.
Ipfa tuam flet adhuc, flebitque Britannia mortem :
Te patria expofcit, fœcundaque criminis ætas.
Non tua te pietas, non candida vita, nec artes
Ingenuæ, duro juvenem eripuêre fepulchro !
Sed tibi mors longos nequicquam inviderit annos,
Dum maneant claræ monumenta perennia famæ,
Dirceufque volet fuperas fuus ales in auras.
* Spernis trita fonans plectrum, tenuifque camœnæ
Haud petis auxilium: terris te plena relictis
Mens rapit impavidum, cœlique per ardua ducit.
Jam procul ex oculis gentes & regna recedunt;
Jam tellus perit, & punctum vix cernitur orbis.
At vos, immenfi placidiffima lumina mundi,
Sol, Luna, æterno meritas O! pangite laudes
Auctori Dominoque; fuis concuffa tremiscat
Sedibus, & magnum agnofcat Natura Parentem,
Dum vates arcana, parum fententia vulgi
Ut ftet follicitus, fublimi carmine pandit!
* Hæc, & proxima alludunt ad fublimia illa authoris noftri Poemata, quibus Tituli, HYMNUS AD CREATOREM MUNDI, ECSTASIS.
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