'MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 481 I WHEN' death and everlasting things Approach and strike the sight, The soul unfolds itself, and brings Its hidden thoughts to light. S The sl(ent christian speaks for God, With courage owns his name, And spreads the Saviour's grace abroad : The zeal subdues the shame. 3 Lord, shall my soul again conceal Her faith, if death retire? Shall shame subdue the lively zeal, And quench th' ethereal fire? 4 0 may my thoughts for ever keep The grave and heav'n in view Lest, if my zeal and courage sleep, My lips grow silent too ! LXXIV. The Rewards of Poesy. Damon, Thalia, Uranio. Damon. MUSE, 'tis enough that in the fairy bow'rs My youth has lost a thousand sprightly hours. Attending thy vagaries, in pursuit Of painted blossoms or inchanted fruit. Forbear to tease my riper age : 'Tis hard To be a slave so long, and find no small reward. Thalia. Man, 'tis enough that in the books of fame On brazen leaves the muse shall write thy name, Illustrious as her own, and make thy years the same. Fame with her silver trump shall spread the sound Of Damon's verse, wide as the distant bound Of British empire, or the world's vast round. I see, 1 see from far the falling oars, And flying sails that bear to western shores Thy shining name it shoots from sea to sea ; Envy pursues, but faints amidst the way. In vision my prophetic tube descries Behind five hundred years new ages rise, Who read thy works with rapture in their eyes. Cities unbuilt shall bless the lyric bard. O glorious memory ! O immense reward ! Damon. Ali flatt'ring muse ! how fruitless and how fair These visionary scenes and sounding air! Fruitless and vain to me ! Can noisy breath Or fame's loud trumpet reach the courts of death? I shall be stretch'd upon my earthy bed, Unthinking dust, nor know the honours paid To my surviving song. Thalia, say Have I no more to hope ? Hast thou no more to pay 3` Thalia. Say, what had Horace, what had Homer more, My favourite sons, whom men almost adore ; And youth in learned ranks for ever sings, While perish'd heroes and forgotten kings Have lost their names? 'Tis sov'reign wit hashought This deatliless glory : This the wise have thought Prodigious recompense --w-
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