EPITAPH ON MR. HEAD. OH fpare his youth, O stay thy threat'ning hand, Nor break too foon young wedlock's early band! JO B, CHAPTER XXXIX. (Published in 1750, in the Student.) DECLARE, if heav'nly wisdom bless thy tongue, When teems the Mountain-Goat with promis'd young; The stated feafons tell, the month explain, When feels the bounding Hind a mother's pain; Say, whence the Wild-Afs wantons o'er the plain, Sports uncontrol'd, unconscious of the rein? "Tis his o'er fcenes of folitude to roam, The wafte his houfe, the wilderness his home: He fcorns the crowded city's pomp and noise, Nor heeds the driver's rod, nor hears his voice; At will on ev'ry various verdure fed, His pafture o'er the fhaggy cliffs is spread. Will the fierce Unicorn obey thy call, Enflav'd to man, and patient of the stall? Say, will he ftubborn stoop thy yoke to bear, And thro' the furrow drag the tardy fhare? Say, canft thou think, O wretch of vain belief, His lab'ring limbs will draw thy weighty sheaf? Or canft thou tame the temper of his blood With faithful feet to trace the deftin'd road? Who paints the Peacock's train with radiant And all the bright diverfity of dies? Whofe hand the stately Oftrich has supply'd With glorious plumage, and her fnowy pride? Thoughtless the leaves amid the dufty way Her eggs, to ripen in the genial ray; eyes, Nor heeds, that fome fell beaft, who thirfts for blood, Or the rude foot, may crush the future brood. Didft thou the Horfe with ftrength and beauty deck? Haft thou in thunder cloth'd his nervous neck? |