Poetical Works of Akenside by Akenside, Mark, 1721-1770, Gilfillan, George, 1813-1878

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 A word from our supporters: File extension WBZ Book I. Argument. Book Ii. Argument. Book Iii. Argument. Endnote E. Endnote F. Endnote R. Endnote S. Endnote Gg. Book Ii. 1765. Argument. Ode Iii. To A Friend, Unsuccessful In Love. Ode Iv. Affected Indifference. To The Same. Ode V. Against Suspicion. Ode Vi. Hymn To Cheerfulness. Ode X. To The Muse. Ode Xi. On Love. To A Friend. Ode Xii. To Sir Francis Henry Drake, Baronet. Ode Xvi. To Caleb Hardinge, M. D. Ode Xvii. On A Sermon Against Glory. 1747. Ode Ii. To Sleep. Ode Iii. To The Cuckoo. Ode Iv. I.-1. Ode Xi. To The Country Gentlemen Of England. 1758. Ode Xii. * * * * * Notes. Book First. Ode Xviii, Stanza Ii.-2. Stanza Ii.-3. * * * * * Note I. Note J. Vii. The Wood Nymph. Viii. Ix. An Epistle To Curio. [1] The Virtuoso. In Imitation Op Spenser's Style And Stanza. Ambition And Content. A Fable. The Poet. A Rhapsody. A British Philippic. Hymn To Science. Love. An Elegy. To Cordelia. July 1740. Song. End Of Akenside's Poetical Works.

Thus spoke the fair; and straight she bent her way To the tall mountain, where the cottage lay: Arrived, she makes her changed condition known; Tells how the rebels drove her from the throne; What painful, dreary wilds she'd wander'd o'er; And shelter from the tyrant doth implore.The faithful, aged pair at once were seized With joy and grief, at once were pain'd and pleased; Grief for their banish'd queen their hearts' possess'd, And joy succeeded for their future guest: 80 'And if you'll deign, bright goddess, here to dwell, And with your presence grace our humble cell, Whate'er the gods have given with bounteous hand, Our harvest, fields, and flocks, our all command.'Meantime, Ambition, on his rival's flight, Sole lord of man, attain'd his wish's height; Of all dependence on his subjects eased, He raged without a curb, and did whate'er he pleased; As some wild flame, driven on by furious winds, Wide spreads destruction, nor resistance finds; 90 So rush'd the fiend destructive o'er the plain, Defaced the labours of th' industrious swain; Polluted every stream with human gore, And scatter'd plagues and death from shore to shore.Great Jove beheld it from the Olympian towers, Where sate assembled all the heavenly powers; Then with a nod that shook the empyrean throne, Thus the Saturnian thunderer begun:-- 'You see, immortal inmates of the skies, How this vile wretch almighty power defies; 100 His daring crimes, the blood which he has spilt, Demand a torment equal to his guilt. Then, Cyprian goddess, let thy mighty boy Swift to the tyrant's guilty palace fly; There let him choose his sharpest, hottest dart, And with his former rival wound his heart. And thou, my son (the god to Hermes said), Snatch up thy wand, and plume thy heels and head; Dart through the yielding air with all thy force, And down to Pluto's realms direct thy course; 110 There rouse Oblivion from her sable cave, Where dull she sits by Lethe's sluggish wave; Command her to secure the sacred bound. Where lives Content retired, and all around Diffuse the deepest glooms of Stygian night, And screen the virgin from the tyrant's sight; That the vain purpose of his life may try Still to explore, what still eludes his eye.' He spoke; loud praises shake the bright abode, And all applaud the justice of the god. 120 THE POET. A RHAPSODY.