VIII.

At diftance through an artful glass
To the mind's eye things well appear :
They lose their forms, and make a mafs
Confus'd and black if brought too near.
IX.

If we fee right, we see our woes :
Then what avails it to have eyes?
From ignorance our comfort flows.
The only wretched are the wife.
X.

We weary'd fhould lye down in death:
This cheat of life would take no more;
If you thought fame but empty breath;
I, Phillis but a perjur'd whore.

HYMN TO

THE

SUN.

SET BY DR. PURCEL.

AND INTENDED TO BE SUNG BEFORE THEIR

MAJESTIES ON NEW-YEAR'S-DAY, 1693-4.

WRITTEN AT THE HAGUE.

I.

LIGHT of the world, and ruler of the year,

With happy speed begin thy great career;
And, as thou doft thy rádiant journies run,
Through every diftant climate own,

That

That in fair Albion thou haft feen

The greatest prince, the brightest queen, That ever fav'd a land, or bleft a throne, Since first thy beams were spread, or genial power was known.

II.

So may thy godhead be confeft,
So the returning year be bleft,
As his infant months bestow
Springing wreaths for William's brow;
As his fummer's youth fhall fhed
Eternal fweets around Maria's head:
From the bleffings they bestow,

Our times are dated, and our æra's move:
They govern and enlighten all below,
. As thou dost all above.

III.

Let our hero in the war

Active and fierce, like thee, appear:

Like thee, great fon of Jove, like thee,
When clad in rising majesty,

Thou marcheft down o'er Delos' hills confest,
With all thy arrows arm'd, in all thy glory drest.
Like thee, the hero does his arms employ,

The raging Python to destroy,

And give the injur'd nations peace and joy.

IV.

From fairest years, and Time's more happy ftores, Gather all the smiling hours;

Such

Such as with friendly care have guarded
Patriots and kings in rightful wars;
Such as with conqueft have rewarded
Triumphant victors happy cares
Such as ftory has recorded

Sacred to Naffau's long renown,
For countries fav'd, and battles won.
V.

March them again in fair array,
And bid them form the happy day,
The happy day defign'd to wait
On William's fame, and Europe's fate.
Let the happy day be crown'd

With great event, and fair fuccefs;

No brighter in the year be found,

But that which brings the victor home in peace.
VI.

Again thy godhead we implore,
Great in wifdom as in power;
Again, for good Maria's fake, and ours,

Chufe out other fmiling hours;

Such as with joyous wings have fled,
When happy counfels were advifing;

Such as have lucky omens fhed

O'er forming laws, and empires rifing;
Such as many courfes ran,

Hand in hand, a goodly train,

To blefs the great Eliza's reign;

And in the typic glory show,

What fuller blifs Maria fhall beftow.

VII. As

VII.

As the folemn hours advance,
Mingled fend into the dance
Many fraught with all the treasures,
Which thy eastern travel views;
Many wing'd with all the pleasures,
Man can afk, or Heav'n diffufe:
That great Maria all thofe joys may know,
Which, from her cares, upon her fubjects flow.

For thy own glory fing our fov'reign's praise,
God of verfes and of days:
Let all thy tuneful fons adorn

Their lafting work with William's name;
Let chofen Mufes yet unborn

Take

great Maria for their future theme:
Eternal ftructures let them raise,

On William's and Maria's praife:
Nor want new subject for the Song ;

Nor fear they can exhauft the store;

'Till Nature's mufick lies unftrung;

"Till thou, great God, fhalt lofe thy double pow'r; And touch thy lyre, and shoot thy beams no more.

THE

T H E

LADY'S LOOKING-GLASS.

IN IMITATION OF A GREEK IDYLLIUM.

CELIA and I the other day

Walk'd o'er the fand-hills to the sea :
The fetting fun adorn'd the coaft,
His beams entire, his fierceness loft:
And on the surface of the deep,
The winds lay only not afleep:
The nymph did like the scene appear,
Serenely pleafant, calmly fair:

Soft fell her words, as flew the air.

}

See Longinus's comparison of the Odyssey to the Setting Sun. Ed. Pearce, 8vo. p. 56.

"Whether Prior had the latter words in view, one cannot fay; but it is difficult to conceive how the fame image could be more accurately or forcibly transferred from one language to another. That lively and most agreeable writer was very fond of copying from the Grecian school, but always in fuch a manner as to shew the master, where he even meant to imitate, of which this little poem is a beautiful inftance: the learned will eafily trace in the Looking-Glafs of Prior the Poet and his Muse (as it may be infcribed) of Mofchus. CAPRICE is the general fubject of both poems, and many images of the latter are tranfplanted into the former." Note to Eunomus, 1774, vol. iv. p. 108.

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