Poems by Samuel Rogers Part 5

_These still exist, &c_.

There is a future Existence even in this world; an Existence in the hearts and minus of those who shall live after us. It is in reserve for every man, however obscure; and his portion, if he be diligent, must be equal to his desires. For in whose remembrance can we wish to hold a place, but such as know, and are known by us? These are within the sphere of our influence, and among these and their descendants we may live evermore.

It is a state of rewards and punishments; and, like that revealed to us in the Gospel, has the happiest influence on our lives. The latter excites us to gain the favour of G.o.d; the former to gain the love and esteem of wise and good men; and both lead to the same end; for, in framing our conceptions of the DEITY, we only ascribe to Him exalted degrees of Wisdom and Goodness.

NOTE y.

_Yet still how sweet the soothings of his art!_

The astronomer chalking his figures on the wall, in Hogarth's view of Bedlam, is an admirable exemplification of this idea.

See the RAKE'S PROGRESS, plate 8.

NOTE z.

_Turns but to start, and gazes but to sigh!_ The following stanzas are said to have been written on a blank leaf of this Poem. They present so affecting a reverse of the picture, that I cannot resist the opportunity of introducing them here.

Pleasures of Memory!--oh supremely blest, And justly proud beyond a Poet's praise; If the pure confines of thy tranquil breast Contain, indeed, the subject of thy lays!

By me how envied!--for to me, The herald still of misery, Memory makes her influence known By sighs, and tears, and grief alone: I greet her as the fiend, to whom belong The vulture's ravening beak, the raven's funeral song.

She tells of time mispent, of comfort lost, Of fair occasions gone for ever by; Of hopes too fondly nurs'd, too rudely cross'd, Of many a cause to wish, yet fear to die; For what, except th' instinctive fear Lest she survive, detains me here, When "all the life of life" is fled?-- What, but the deep inherent dread, Lest she beyond the grave resume her reign, And realize the h.e.l.l that priests and beldams feign?

NOTE a.

_Hast thou thru Eden's wild-wood vales pursued_

On the road-side between Penrith and Appelby there stands a small pillar with this inscription:

"This pillar was erected in the year 1656, by Ann Countess Dowager of Pembroke, &c. for a memorial of her last parting, in this place, with her good and pious mother, Margaret, Countess Dowager of c.u.mberland, on the 2nd of April, 1616; in memory whereof she hath left an annuity of 4_l_. to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 2nd day of April for ever, upon the stone-table placed hard by.

Laus Deo!"

The Eden is the princ.i.p.al river of c.u.mberland, and rises in the wildest part of Westmoreland.

NOTE b.

_O'er his dead son the gallant ORMOND sigh'd_.

Ormond bore the loss with patience and dignity: though he ever retained a pleasing, however melancholy, sense of the signal merit of Ossory. "I would not exchange my dead son," said he, "for any living son in Christendom." HUME, vi. 340. The same sentiment is inscribed on Miss Dolman's urn at the Leasowes.

Heu, quanto minus est c.u.m reliquis versari, quam tui meminisse!

NOTE c.

_High on exulting wing the heath-c.o.c.k rose_.

This bird is remarkable for his exultation during the spring.

Brit, Zoology, 266.

NOTE d.

_Derwent's clear mirror_

Keswick Lake in c.u.mberland.

NOTE e.

_Down by St Herbert's consecrated grove_.

A small island covered with trees, among which were formerly the ruins of a religious house.

NOTE f.

_When lo! a sudden blast the vessel blew_.

In a lake surrounded with mountains, the agitations are often violent and momentary. The winds blow in gusts and eddies; and the water no sooner swells, than it subsides.

See BOURN'S Hist, of Westmorland.

NOTE g.

_To what pure beings, in a n.o.bler sphere_,

The several degrees of angels may probably have larger views, and some of them he endowed with capacities able to retain together, and constantly set before them, as in one picture, all their past knowledge at once.

LOCKE on Human Understanding, b. ii, c. x. g.

AN EPISTLE TO A FRIEND.

Villula,..........et pauper agelle, Me tibi, et hos una mec.u.m, et quos semper amavi, Commendo.

PREFACE.

Every reader turns with pleasure to those pa.s.sages of Horace, and Pope, and Boileau, which describe how they lived and where they dwelt; and which, being interspersed among their satirical writings, derive a secret and irresistible grace from the contrast, and are admirable examples of what in Painting is termed repose.

We have admittance to Horace at all hours. We enjoy the company and conversation at his table; and his suppers, like Plato's, 'non solum in praesentia, sed etiam postero die jucundae sunt.' But when we look round as we sit there, we find ourselves in a Sabine farm, and not in a Roman villa. His windows have every charm of prospect; but his furniture might have descended from Cincin-natus; and gems, and pictures, and old marbles, are mentioned by him more than once with a seeming indifference.

His English Imitator thought and felt, perhaps, more correctly on the subject; and embellished his garden and grotto with great industry and success. But to these alone he solicits our notice. On the ornaments of his house he is silent; and he appears to have reserved all the minuter touches of his pencil for the library, the chapel, and the banquetting-room of Timon. 'Le savoir de notre siecle,' says Rousseau, 'tend beaucoup plus a detruire qu'a edifier. On censure d'un ton de maitre; pour proposer, il en faut prendre un autre.'

It is the design of this Epistle to ill.u.s.trate the virtue of True Taste; and to shew how little she requires to secure, not only the comforts, but even the elegancies of life. True Taste is an excellent Economist. She confines her choice to few objects, and delights in producing great effects by small means: while False Taste is for ever sighing after the new and the rare; and reminds us, in her works, of the Scholar of Apelles, who, not being able to paint his Helen beautiful, determined to make her fine.

ARGUMENT.

An Invitation, v. 1. The approach to a Villa described, v. 5. Its situation, v. 17. Its few apartments, v. 57. Furnished with casts from the Antique, &c. v. 63. The dining-room, v. 83. The library, v.

89. A cold-bath, v. 101. A winter-walk, v. 151. A summer-walk, v.

l63. The invitation renewed, v. 197. Conclusion, v. 205.

When, with a REAUMUR'S skill, thy curious mind Has cla.s.s'd the insect-tribes of human-kind, Each with its busy hum, or gilded wing, Its subtle, web-work, or its venom'd sting; Let me, to claim a few unvalued hours, Point the green lane that leads thro' fern and flowers; The shelter'd gate that opens to my field, And the white front thro' mingling elms reveal'd.