Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

ON CLAUDE PHILLIPS,

AN ITINERANT MUSICIAN'.

PHILLIPS! whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty power and hapless love,
Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more,
Find here that calm thou gavest so oft before;
Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine,
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.

FOR HOGARTH.

THE hand of him here torpid lies
That drew the' essential form of

grace;

Here closed in death the' attentive eyes

That saw the manners in the face.

Phillips was a traveling fiddler up and down Wales, and greatly celebrated for his performance.

POEMATA.

[JAN. 20, 21, 1773.]

VITÆ qui varias vices

Rerum perpetuus temperat Arbiter,
Læto cedere lumini

Noctis tristitiam qui gelidæ jubet,
Acri sanguine turgidos,

Obductosque oculos nubibus humidis
Sanari voluit meos.

Et me, cuncta beans cui nocuit dies,

Luci reddidit et mihi,

Qua te laude, Deus qua prece prosequar?

Sacri discipulus libri

Te semper studiis utilibus colam:

Grates, summe Pater, tuis

Recte qui fruitur muneribus, dedit,

[blocks in formation]

NUNC dies Christo memoranda nato
Fulsit, in pectus mihi fonte purum
Gaudium sacro fluat, et benigni

Gratia Cœli!

Christe, da tutam trepido quietam,
Christe, spem præsta stabilem timenti;
Da fidem certam, precibusque fidis

Annue, Christe,

[IN LECTO, DIE PASSIONIS. APR. 13, 1781.] SUMME Deus, qui semper amas quodcunque creâsti;

Judice quo, scelerum est pænituisse salus:
Da veteres noxas animo sic flere novato,
Per Christum ut veniam sit reperire mihi.

[IN LECTO. DEC. 25, 1782.]

SPE non inani confugis,

Peccator, ad latus meum;

Quod poscis haud unquam tibi

Negabitur solatium.

[NOCTE, INTER 16 ET 17 JUNII, 17831.] SUMME Pater, quodcunque tuum' de corpore Numen 3

6

Hoc statuat, precibus' Christus adesse velit: Ingenio parcas, nec sit mihi culpa rogâsse, Qua solum potero parte, placere tibi.

The night above referred to by Johnson was that in which a paralytic stroke bad deprived him of his voice; and, in the anxiety he felt lest it should likewise have impaired his understanding, he composed the above lines, and said concerning them, that he knew at the time that they were not good, but then he deemed his discerning this to be sufficient for the quieting the anxiety before mentioned, as it showed him that his power of judging was not diminished.

2 Al. tuæ.
5 Al. votis.

3 Al. leges.
6 Al. precari.

4 Al. statuant.

7 Al. litare.

[CAL. JAM. IN LECTO, ANTE LUCEM. 1784.] SUMME dator vitæ, naturæ æterne magister, Causarum series quo moderante fluit, Respice quem subigit senium, morbique seniles, Quem terret vitæ meta propinqua suæ, Respice inutiliter lapsi quem pœnitet ævi; Recte ut pœniteat, respice, magne parens.

PATER benigne, summa semper lenitas,
Crimine gravatam plurimo mentem leva:
Concede veram pœnitentiam, precor,
Concede agendam legibus vitam tuis.
Sacri vagantes luminis gressus face
Rege, et tuere, quæ nocent pellens procul;
Veniam petenti, summe da veniam, pater;
Veniæque sancta pacis adde gaudia:
Sceleris ut expers omni, et vacuus metu,
Te, mente purâ, mente tranquillâ colam:
Mihi dona morte hæc impetret Christus suâ.

[JAN. 18, 1784.]

SUMME Pater, puro collustra lumine pectus,
Anxietas noceat ne tenebrosa mihi.

In me sparsa manu virtutum semina larga
Sic ale, proveniat messis, ut ampla boni.
Noctes atque dies animo spes læta recurset,
Certa mihi sancto flagret amore fides.
Certa vetet dubitare fides, spes læta timere,
Velle vetet cuiquam non bene sanctus amor.
Da, ne sint permissa, pater, mihi præmia frustra,
Et colere, et leges semper amare tuas.
Hæc mihi, quo gentes, quo secula, Christe, piâsti,
Sanguine, precanti promereare tuo!

[FEB. 27, 1784.]

MENS mea quid quereris? veniet tibi mollior hora,
In summo ut videas numine læta patrem ;
Divinam in sontes iram placavit Jesus;
Nunc est pro pœna pœnituisse reis.

CHRISTIANUS PERFECTUS.

QUI cupit in sanctos Christo cogente referri,
Abstergat mundi labem, nec gaudia carnis
Captans, nec fastu tumidus, semperque futuro
Instet, et evellens terroris spicula corde,
Suspiciat tandem clementem in numine patrem.
Huic quoque, nec genti nec sectæ noxius ulli,
Sit sacer orbis amor, miseris qui semper adesse
Gestiat, et nullo pietatis limite clausus,
Cunctorum ignoscat vitiis, pietate fruatur.
Ardeat huic toto sacer ignis pectore, possit
Ut vitam, poscat si res, impendere vero.

Cura placere Deo sit prima, sit ultima, sanctæ
Irruptum vitæ cupiat servare tenorem ;
Et sibi, delirans quanquam et peccator in horas
Displiceat, servet tutum sub pectore rectum :
Nec natet, et nunc has partes, nunc eligat illas,
Nec dubitet quem dicat herum, sed, totus in uno,
Se fidum addicat Christo, mortalia temnens.

Sed timeat semper, caveatque ante omnia turbæ Ne stolidæ similis, leges, sibi segreget audax Quas servare velit, leges quas lentus omittat, Plenum opus effugiens, aptans juga mollia collo Sponte sua demens; nihilum decedere summæ Vult Deus,at,qui cuncta dedit tibi,cuncta reposcit. Denique perpetuo contendit in ardua nisu,

« ElőzőTovább »