For Peace the Soldier takes up Arms;
For Peace he boldly ventures Life:
For that he follows Wars Alarms:
Hoping to gain by Toil and Strife.
That Quiet, and Content of Mind,
Which is not to be bought or fold;
Quiet, which none as yet cou'd find
In Heaps of Jewels, or of Gold.
For neither can Wealth, Pow'r, or State
Of Courtiers, or of Guards the Rout,
Or Gilded Roof, or Brazen Gate,
The Troubles of the Mind keep out.
That Man alone is happy here,
Whofe All will juft himself maintain :
His Sleep is not difturb'd with Fear,
Or broke with fordid Thirft of Gain.
Then why do we, fince Life's fo short, Lay our Designs for what's to come? Why to another Air refort,
Forfaking this our Native Home?
Trouble will at our Heels be ftill,
Swift as the Roe-buck, or the Wind;
'Twill follow us againft our Will,
For none can leave himself behind.
VIII.
What does our Wandring then avail ?
Care will not be forgot, or loft;
'Twill reach us tho' we're under Sail;
And find us on another Coast,
Man, with his prefent State content,
Shou'd leave to Providence the reft:
Ufing the time well Heav'n has lent,
For no one here's entirely Bleft.
Achilles yielding foon to Fate,
Was fnatch'd from off this Mortal Stage,
Tithon enjoy'd a longer Date,
And labour'd under lingring Age.
So if it please the Fates, you may
Refign your Soul to fudden Death;
Whilft I, perhaps, behind must stay,
To breathe a longer fhare of Breath.
You round you daily do behold
Your thriving Flocks, and fruitful Land;
Which bounteous Fortune has bestow'd
On you, with no Penurious Hand.
A little Country Seat by Heav'n
Is what's allotted unto me:
A Genius too the Gods have giv'n,
Not quite averfe to Poetry:
And a firm fteady Soul, that is above
Either the Vulgar's Hatred, or their Love.
PATROCLUS'S Requeft to ACHILLES for his Arms.
Imitated from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Iliad of Homer.
By Mr. THO. YALDEN.
Ivine Achilles, with Compaffion mov'd, Thus to Patroclus fpake, his best belov❜d. Why like a tender Girl doft thou complain! That strives to reach the Mother's Breast in vain:
Mourns by her Side, her Knees embraces fast,
Hangs on her Robes, and interrupts her haste;
Yet when with fondness to her Arms fhe's rais'd,
Still mourns, and weeps, and will not be appeas'd?
Thus my Patroclus in his Grief appears,
Thus like a froward Girl profufe of Tears.
From Phthia doft thou Mournful Tidings hear,
And to thy Friend, fome fatal Meffage bear?
Thy Valiant Father (if we Fame believe,)
The good Menatius, he is yet alive:
And Peleus, tho' in his declining Days,
Reigns o'er his Myrmidons in Health and Peace;
Yet, as their latest Obfequies we paid,
Thou mourn'ft them living, as already dead.
Or thus with Tears the Grecian Hoft deplore,
That with their Navy perish on the Shore:
And with Compaffion their Misfortunes view,
The juft Reward to Guilt and Falsehood due?
Impartial Heav'n avenges thus my Wrong,
Nor fuffers Crimes to go unpunish'd long.
Reveal the Caufe fo much afflicts thy Mind,
Nor thus conceal thy Sorrows from thy Friend.
When, gently raising up his drooping Head,
Thus, with a Sigh, the fad Patroclus faid.
Godlike Achilles, Peleus valiant Son!
Of all our Chiefs, the greatest in Renown:
Upbraid not thus th' afflicted with their Woes,
Nor Triumph now the Greeks fuftain fuch lofs!
To Pity let thy generous Breast incline,
And how thy Mind is, like thy Birth, Divine.
For all the valiant Leaders of their Hoft,
Or Wounded lye, or are in Battel loft.
Vlyffes great in Arms, and Diomede,
Languish with Wounds, and in the Navy bleed:
This common Fate great Agamemnon shares,
And ftern Eurypylus, renown'd in Wars.
Whilft powerful Drugs th' experienc'd Artists try, And to their Wounds apt Remedies apply:
Eafing th' afflicted Heroes with their Skill,
Thy Breaft alone remains implacable!
What, will thy Fury thus for ever laft!
Let present Woes attone for Injuries paft:
How can thy Soul retain fuch lafting Hate!
Thy Virtues are as useless, as they're great.
What injur'd Friend from thee fhall hope redrefs!
That will not aid the Greeks in fuch diftrefs:
Ufeless is all the Valour that you boaft,
Deform'd with Rage, with fullen Fury loft.
Could Cruelty like thine from Peleus come,
Or be the Off-fpring of fair Thetis Womb! [forth,
Thee raging Seas, thee boift'rous Waves brought
And to obdurate Rocks thou ow'ft thy Birth!
Thy ftubborn Nature ftill retains their Kind,
So hard thy Heart, fo favage is thy Mind.
But if thy boading Breaft admits of fear,
Or dreads what facred Oracles declare!
What awful Thetis in the Courts above,
Receiv'd from the unerring Mouth of Jove!
If fo-----Let me the threat'ning Dangers face,
And Head the Warlike Squadrons in thy place:
Whilft me thy valiant Myrmidons obey,
We yet may turn the Fortune of the day.
Let me in thy distinguish'd Arms appear,
With all thy dreadful Equipage of War:
That when the Trojans our Approaches view,
Deceiv'd, they fhall retreat, and think 'tis you.'
Thus from the Rage of an infulting Hoft,
We may retrieve that Fame the Greeks have loft,
Vigorous, and fresh, th' unequal Fight renew,
And from our Navy force the drooping Foe;
O'er harras'd Men an eafie Conqueft gain,
And drive the Trojans to their Walls again,
A S O N G. By
AY the Ambitious ever find
Succefs in Crouds and Noife,
While gentle Love does fill my Mind
With filent real Joys.
May Knaves and Fools grow Rich and Great,
And the World think 'em wife;
While I lye dying at her Feet,
And all the World despise.
Let Conquering King's new Triumphs raife,
And melt in Court Delights:
Her Eyes can give much brighter Days,
Her Arms much fofter Nights,
By Mr. Fr. Knapp, of Magdalen College in Oxford,
Hear that you, of late, are grown
One of thofe fqueamish Criticks of the Town,
That think they have a Licenfe to abuse,
Each honeft Author, that pretends to Mufe.
But be advis'd; why should you spend your time
In Heath'nish Satyr, 'caufe a Fool will Rhime?
Poor harmless W-----ly! let him write again,
Be pitied in his old Heroic Strain ;,
Let him in Reams proclaim himself a Dunce,
And break a dozen Stationers at once.
What is't to you? Why fhou'd you take't amifs
If Grubstreet's flock'd with Tenants, if the Prefs
VOL. IV.
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