Of time's grand period, heav'n and earth o'erthrown;
And gasping Nature's last tremendous groan.
These, when the stars and sun shall be no more,
Shall beauty to your ravish'd form restore:
Then shall you shine with an immortal ray,
Improv'd by death, and brighten'd by decay.

Pemb. Col.
Oxon,

46

50

T. TRISTRAM.

TO THE AUTHOR,

On his Last Day, and Universal Passion,
AND must it be as thou hast sung,
Celestial Bard, seraphick Young!
Will there no trace, no point be found
Of all this spacious glorious round?
Yon' lamps of light must they decay?
On Nature's self Destruction prey?
Then fame, the most immortal thing
Ev'n thou canst hope, is on the wing.
Shall Newton's system be admir'd
When time and motion are expir'd?
Shall souls be curious to explore
Who rul'd an orb that is no more?

Or shall they quote the pictur'd age,
From Pope's and thy corrective page,
When vice and virtue lose their name
In deathless joy or endless shame ?

While wears away the grand machine,
The works of genius shall be seen:
Beyond, what laurels can there be
For Homer, Horace, Pope, or thee?
Thro' life we chase, with fond pursuit,

What mocks our hope, like Sodom's fruit;
And, sure, thy plan was well design'd
To cure this madness of the mind;

First beyond time our thoughts to raise,
Then lash our love of transient praise;
In both we own thy doctrine just,
And fame's a breath, and men are dust.
1736.

20

25

28

J. BANCKS.

THE COMPLAINT.

PREFACE.

As the occasion of this Poem was real, not fictitious, so the methed pursued in it was rather imposed, by what spontaneously arose in the Author's mind on that occasion, than me¬ dilated or designed; which will appear very probable from the nature of it; for it differs from the common mode of poetry, which is, from long narrations to draw short morals: bere, on the contrary, the narrative is short, and the morality arising from it makes the bulk of the Poem.

The rea

son of it is, that the facts mentioned did naturally pour these moral reflections on the thought of the writer.

NIGHT I.

ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY.

Humbly inscribed to the

RIGHT HON. ARTHUR ONSLOW, ESQ.

Speaker of the House of Commons.

TIR'D Nature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep!
He, like the world, his ready visit pays
Where fortune smiles; the wre.ched he forsakes:
Swift on his downy pinion flies from wo,
And lights on lids unsully'd with a tear,

5

While wears away the grand machine,
The works of genius shall be seen:
Beyond, what laurels can there be
For Homer, Horace, Pope, or thee?
Thro' life we chase, with fond pursuit,
What mocks our hope, like Sodom's fruit;
And, sure, thy plan was well design'd
To cure this madness of the mind;
First beyond time our thoughts to raise,
Then lash our love of transient praise;
In both we own thy doctrine just,
And fame's a breath, and men are dust.
1736.

20

25

28

J. BANCKS.

THE COMPLAINT.

PREFACE.

As the occasion of this Poem was real, not fictitious, so the metbed pursued in it was rather imposed, by what spontaneously arose in the Author's mind on that occasion, than me→ diated or designed; which will appear very probable from the nature of it; for it differs from the common mode of poetry, which is, from long narrations to draw short morals: bere, on the contrary, the narrative is short, and the morality arising from it makes the bulk of the Poem. The reason of it is, that the facts mentioned did naturally pour these moral reflections on the thought of the writer.

NIGHT I.

ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY.

Humbly inscribed to the

RIGHT HON. ARTHUR ONSLOW, ESQ.

Speaker of the House of Commons.

TIR'D Nature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep!
He, like the world, his ready visit pays
Where fortune smiles; the wre.ched he forsakes:
Swift on his downy pinion flies from wo,
And lights on lids unsully'd with a tear.

5