But still in vain, the frame was tight, And only pervious to the light; Thus having wafted half the day, He trimm'd his flight another way. The fin and madness of mankind. Folly the fpring of his purfuit, And disappointment all the fruit. While Cynthio ogles as fhe paffes The nymph between two chariot glaffes, She is the pine-apple, and he The filly unsuccessful bee. The maid, who views with penfive air Sees watches, bracelets, rings, and lockets, Like thine, her appetite is keen, But ah, the cruel glass between! Our dear delights are often fuch, With hopeless wish one looks and lingers ; HORACE. Book the 2d. ODE the 10th. I. RECEIVE, dear friend, the truths I teach, So fhalt thou live beyond the reach Of adverse Fortune's pow'r ; Not always tempt the diftant deep, Nor always timorously creep Along the treach'rous fhore. II. He, that holds faft the golden mean, And lives contentedly between The little and the great, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door, Imbitt'ring all his ftate. III. The tallest pines feel moft the pow'r Of wintry blafts; the loftieft tow'r The bolts, that fpare the mountain's fide, And spread the ruin round. IV. The well inform'd philofopher And hopes, in fpite of pain; If winter bellow from the north, Soon the sweet spring comes dancing forth, And nature laughs again. V. What if thine heav'n be overcast, The dark appearance will not laft; Expect a brighter sky. The God that ftrings the filver bow Awakes fometimes the muses too, VI. If hindrances obstruct thy way, And let thy ftrength be seen; A REFLECTION ON THE FOREGOING ODE. AND is this all? Can reafon do no more Than bid me fhun the deep and dread the fhore? Sweet moralift! afloat on life's rough fea, Faces a thousand dangers at her call, TRANSLATIONS FROM VINCENT BOURNE. I. THE GLOW-WORM. I. BENEATH the hedge, or near the stream, A worm is known to stray; That shows by night a lucid beam, Which disappears by day. II. Difputes have been, and still prevail, Some give that honour to his tail, And others to his head. |