With hopeless wish one looks and lingers; One breaks the glass, and cuts his fingers; But they whom truth and wisdom lead, Can gather honey from a weed. HORACE. Book the 2d. ODE the 10th. RECEIVE, dear friend, the truths I teach, So shalt thou live beyond the reach Not always tempt the distant deep, Nor always timorously creep Along the treacherous shore He, that holds fast the golden mean The little and the great, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, Nor plagues, that haunt the rich man's door, Imbittering all his state. The tallest pines feel most the pow'r Of wintry blasts; the loftiest tow'r The bolts, that spare the mountain's side, And spread the ruin round. The well inform'd philosopher Soon the sweet spring comes dancing forth, What if thine Heav'n be overcast, The dark appearance will not last; Expect a brighter sky. The God that strings the silver bow, Awakes sometimes the muses too, And lays his arrows by. REFLECTION ON THE FOREGOING. 387 If hindrances obstruct thy way, Thy magnanimity display, And let thy strength be seen; A REFLECTION ON THE FOREGOING ODE. AND is this all? Can reason do no more Than bid me shun the deep, and dread the shore? And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all. THE LILY AND THE ROSE. THE nymph must lose her female friend, If more admir'd than she But where will fierce contention end, If flow'rs can disagree? Within the garden's peaceful scene Appear'd two lovely foes, Aspiring to the rank of queen, The Lily and the Rose. The Rose soon redden'd into rage, Appeal'd to many a poet's page The Lily's height bespoke command, A fair imperial flow'r; She seemed design'd for Flora's hand, The sceptre of her pow'r. This civil bickering and debate The goddess chanc'd to hear, And flew to save, ere yet too late, The pride of the parterre; Yours is, she said, the nobler hue, And, till a third surpasses you, Let each be deem'd a queen. Thus, sooth'd and reconcil'd, each seeks The fairest British fair: The seat of empire is her cheeks, They reign united there. |