POPE, Elay on Criticiím.
Yet fome there were among the founder few,
Of those who lefs prefum'd, and better knew,
Who durit affert the juiter ancient cause,
And here reftor'd Wit's fundamental laws:
Such was the Mufe, whofe rules and practice tell,
"Nature's chief mafter-piece is writing well."
Mufe, 'tis enough; at length thy labour ends,
And thou shalt live, for Buckingham commends.
Let crowds of critics now my verse assail,
Let Dennis write, and nameless numbers rail :
This more than pays whole years of thankless pain,
Time, health, and fortune, are not lost in vain;
Sheffield approves, confenting Phœbus bends,
And I and Malice from this hour are friends.
those cold climates, where the fun appears
Unwillingly, and hides his face in tears,
A difmal vale lies in a defert ifle,
On which indulgent heaven did never smile.
There a thick grove of aged cypress trees,
Which none without an awful horror fees,
Into its wither'd arms, depriv'd of leaves,
Whole flocks of ill-prefaging birds receives :
Poisons are all the plants that foil will bear,
And winter is the only season there:
Millions of graves o'erfpread the fpacious field,
And fprings of blood a thousand rivers yield;
Whose streams, opprefs'd with carcaffes and bones,
Instead of gentle murmurs, pour forth groans.
Within this vale a famous temple stands,
Old as the world itself, which it commands;
Round is its figure, and four iron gates
Divide mankind, by order of the Fates:
Thither in crowds come to one common grave
The young, the old, the monarch, and the flave.
Old age and pains, thofe evils man deplores,
Are rigid keepers of th' eternal doors;
All clad in mournful blacks, which fadly load
The facred walls of this obfcure abode;
And tapers, of a pitchy fubftance made,
With clouds of fmoke increase the difmal fhade.
A monster void of reason and of fight
The goddess is, who fways this realm of night;
Her power extends o'er all things that have breath,
A cruel tyrant, and her name is Death.
The faireft object of our wondering eyes
Was newly offer'd up her facrifice;
Th' adjoining places where the altar stood,
Yet blushing with the fair Almeria's blood,
When griev'd Orontes, whofe unhappy flame
Is known to all who e'er converse with Fame,
His mind poffefs'd by Fury and Despair,
Within the facred temple made this prayer:
Great Deity! who in thy hands dost bear
That iron fceptre which poor mortals fear;
Who, wanting eyes thyfelf, refpecteft none,
And neither spar'ft the laurel nor the crown!
O thou, whom all mankind in vain withstand,
Each of whose blood must one day stain thy hand!
O thou, who every eye that fees the light
Closest for ever in the fhades of night!
Goddefs, attend, and hearken to my grief,
To which thy power alone can give relief.
Alas! I afk not to defer my fate,
But with my hapless life a fhorter date;
And that the earth would in its bowels hide
A wretch, whom Heaven invades on every fide
That from the fight of day I could remove,
And might have nothing left me but my love.
Thou only comforter of minds oppreft,
The port where wearied spirits are at rest;
Conductor to Elyfium, take my life,
My breast I offer to thy facred knife;
So just a grace refuse not, nor despise
A willing, though a worthlefs facrifice..
Others (their frail and mortal ftate forgot)
Before thy altars are not to be brought
Without constraint; the noise of dying rage,
Heaps of the flain of every sex and age,
The blade all reeking in the gore it shed,
With fever'd heads and arms confus'dly spread;
The rapid flames of a perpetual fire,
The groans of wretches ready to expire:
This tragic scene in terror makes them live,
Till that is forc'd which they should freely give;
Yielding unwillingly what Heaven will have,
Their fears eclipfe the glory of their grave;
Before thy face they make indecent moan,
And feel a hundred deaths in fearing one:
Thy flame becomes unhallow'd in their breast,
And he a murderer who was a priest.
But againft me thy ftrongest forces call,
And on my head let all the tempeft fall;
No mean retreat shall any weakness show,
But calmly I'll expect the fatal blow;
My limbs not trembling, in my mind no fear,
Plaints in my mouth, nor in my eyes a tear..
Think not that Time, our wonted fure relief,
That univerfal cure for every grief,
Whose aid so many lovers oft' have found,
With like fuccefs can ever heal my wound:
Too weak the power of nature, or of art,
Nothing but death can ease a broken heart:
And that thou may'ft behold my helpless state,
Learn the extremeft rigour of my fate.
Amidst th' innumerable beauteous train,
Paris, the queen of cities, does contain,
(The fairest town, the largest, and the best)
The fair Almeria fhin'd above the reft:
From her bright eyes to feel a hopeless flame,
Was of our youth the most ambitious aim;
Her chains were marks of honour to the brave,
She made a prince whene'er fhe made a slave.
Love, under whose tyrannic power I groan,
Shew'd me this beauty ere 'twas fully blown;
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