videremur, in re non prorsus necessaria. Hoc unicum exorandus restas, amice lector, ut si quid in transferendo hoc carmine interpres vel lubens (quod rarius fit) addiderit aut variaverit, vel genio linguarum aut idiomatum coactus diversitate prætermiserit, et excusandi et condonandi detur locus; qui citius forsan dabitur, si te præfando non ultra detineamus. Vive et bene vale. THE AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE TO THE WISH. QUID dedicatum poscit Apollinem Vates? quid orat, de patera novum Fundens liquorem? HOR. lib. i. ode 31. Me quoties reficit gelidus Digentia rivus, HOR. lib i. ep. 18. That is, When poets offering at Apollo's shrine, Out of the sacred goblets pour new wine; When I'm at Epsom, or on Banstead Down, THE WISH, BY DR. WALTER POPE. IF I live to be old, for I find I go down a, Let this be my fate, in a country town, с May I have a warm house, with a stone at the gate, d And a cleanly young girl to rub my bald pate. CHORUS. May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, And grow wiser f and better, as my strength wears away; Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay. May my little house stand on the side h of a hill, With an easy descent to a mead and a mill3, a Labuntur anni; nec pietas moram Rugis et instanti senecta Afferet, indomitæque morti. Ocyor cervis, et agente ventos, Ocyor Euro. Ocyor et cœli flammis, et tigride fœta. HOR. IDEM. LUCAN. b O rus, quando ego te aspiciam? quandoque licebit, Nunc veterum libris, nunc somno et inertibus horis, c By the help whereof I may mount my easy pad-nag, mentioned in the third stanza. In the west of England, they call it an upping-stock. VOTUM. Si Senii descendam (et cœpi vergere) ad annos; CHORUS. Æquo animum imperio subigam, prudentior usu, Ad declive jugum, placidoque quod imminet amni, Qua mola, qua pratum est, stet mea parva domus : d Quæ non offendat sordibus. e -Animum rege, qui, nisi paret, Imperat: hunc frænis, hunc tu compesce catena. f Lenior et melior fiam, accedente senecta. g Parva, sed apta, domus. Hor. IDEM. IDEM. h Neither on the top nor the bottom; the best situation for a house or a city, affording both conveniency of cellars, and a descent to take off the waters. i It will be thought the old man has made a very ill choice of a mill to hear his boy read in; but they who make this objection, either know not, or at least do not consider, that noise helps That when I've a mind I may hear my boy read, Near a shady grove, and a murmuring brook, With Horace and Petrarch m, and two or three more Of the best wits, that reign'd in the ages before; With roast mutton", rather than ven'son or teal, And clean, though coarse linen, at every meal. May I govern, etc. deafness, which is incident to old age. That this is a truth, both experience and reason evidence. I have known several who could hear little or nothing in their chambers; but when they were in a coach rattling upon the stones, heard very well. I also knew a lady in Essex, whose name was Tyrrel, who, while she had occasion to discourse, used to beat a great drum, without which she could not hear at all; the reason whereof is this, the most frequent cause of deafness is the relaxation of the tympanum or drum of the ear, which, by this violent and continual agitation of the air, is extended, and made more tight and springy, and better reflects sounds, like a drum new-braced. * Et paulum sylvæ super his foret. Et tecto vicinus jugis aquæ fons. HOR. IDEM. |