1

Alike the Busy and the Gay
But flutter thro' Life's little day,

In Fortune's varying colours drest:
Brush'd by the hand of rough Mischance,
Or chill'd by Age, their airy dance
They leave, in dust to rest.

Methinks I hear, in accents low,
The sportive kind reply:

Poor Moralist! and what art thou?
A solitary fly!

Thy joys no glitt'ring female meets,
No hive hast thou of hoarded sweets,
No painted plumage to display:
On hasty wings thy youth is flown;
Thy sun is set, thy spring is gone-
We frolic while 'tis May.

ON

THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CAT,

DROWNED IN A TUB [2] OF GOLD FISHES.

'TWAS on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dy'd
The azure flowers, that blow;

Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclin'd,
Gaz'd on the lake below.

Her conscious tail her joy declar'd;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,

Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,

Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,

She saw; and purr'd applause.

[2] Mr. Walpole, after the death of Mr. Gray, placed the China vase in question (for it was not a tub) on a pedestal at Strawberry-Hill, with a few lines of the Ode for its inscription.

'Twas on this Vase's lofty side, &c.

:

Still had she gaz'd; but 'midst the tide

Two angel forms were seen to glide [3],

The Genii of the stream: Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue Thro' richest purple to the view Betray'd a golden gleam.

The hapless Nymph with wonder saw: A whisker first, and then a claw,

With many an ardent wish,

She stretch'd, in vain, to reach the prize, What female heart can gold despise? What Cat's averse to fish?

Presumptuous Maid! with looks intent
Again she stretch'd, again she bent,

Nor knew the gulf between.
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smil'd)
The slipp'ry verge her feet beguil'd,
She tumbled headlong in.

[3] Var.-Two beauteous forms.

First edition in Dodsley's Misc.

Eight times emerging from the flood,
She mew'd to ev'ry wat'ry God,

Some speedy aid to send.

No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirr'd:
Nor cruel Том, nor Susan heard.

A Fav'rite has no friend!

From hence, ye Beauties, undeceiv'd,
Know, one false step is ne'er retriev'd,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize,
Nor all that glisters gold.

ON A

DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE.

̔́Ανθρωπος” ἱκανὴ πρόφασις εἰς τὸ δυςυχειν.

MENANDER.

[This was the first English production of Mr. Gray that appeared in print, and was published in folio, by Dodsley, in 1747. About the same time, at Mr. Walpole's request, Mr. Gray sat for his picture to Echart; in which, on a paper which he held in his hand, Mr. Walpole wrote the title of this Ode; and to intimate his own high and just opinion of it, as a first production, he added this line of Lucan by way of motto:

Nec licuit populis parvum te, Nile, videre.

Pharsalia, lib. x. l. 296.]

YE distant spires, ye antique towers,
That crown the wat'ry glade,
Where grateful Science still adores
Her HENRY's holy shade (e);
And ye, that from the stately brow
Of WINDSOR'S heights th'expanse below

Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among
Wanders the hoary Thames along
His silver-winding way:

(e) King Henry the Sixth, founder of the College.