No More Learning

Having wasted half the day thus,
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? 110 Versification.
Another way he trimm'd his flight.
Methinks I find in thee, said I,
The madness and sin of mankind.
Man aspires to forbidden joy? ,
With vain desires consumes his soul;
Folly the spring of his pursuit,
And all the fruit, disappointment
Such are often our dear delights,
To view, but not to touch, expos'd.
The sight inflames our foolish heart;
We long for pine-apples in frames.
244
The prophet of the Turk says thus,
" Abstain from pork, good musselman.
In ev'ry swine, there is a part,
No friend of mine or follower
May taste, whate'er his inclination,
On pain of excommunication. "
Such Mahomet's mysterious charge ;
And he left the point at large thus.
Had he express'd the sinful part,
They might eat the rest with safety :
But they thought it hard, for one piece,
To be debarr'd from the whole hog,
And set their wit at work, to find
What joint the prophet had in mind.
Straight arose much controversy :
These chose the back, those the belly.
Tis confidently said by some,
He meant not to forbid the bead;
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? Versification.
While others rail at that doctrine,
And piously prefer the tail.
Thus, conscience freed from ev'ry clog,
Mahometans eat the hog up. .
You laugh ! 'tis well. --The tale, applied,
May make you laugh on t'other side.
The preacher cries, " Renounce the world. "
A multitude replies, " We do;"
While one regards, as innocent,
A friendly and snug game at cards,
And, whatever you may say, one,
In a play, can see no evil.
Some love a race or a concei t,
And others the chase or shooting.
ReviPd and lov'd, follow'd and renounc'd,
The world is thus swallow'd, bit by bit.
245
My course is sped in youth's soft prime ;
Yet many a flow'r has spread my path.
246
If presumptuous foes dare invade,
Our country cries for aid to us :
Our children spread their hand-; to us:
We guard the nuptial bed fr -in wrong.
From us, who feel the joys of home,
The vengeful steel falls like lightning.
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? 112 Versification.
Iambic verses of ten syllables.
247
As Orpheus* tunes his song in Tbracian wilds,
The raptur'd beasts throng around him in crowds.
* Orpheus,--This word contains only two syllables. In Orpheut,
TAeteus, Proteus, and a very numerous list of Greek names of
similar termination, the EU is a diphthong, as in Europe, ? *.
charist, Eulogy, Euterpe, &c. In the original Greek, it it in-
variably a diphthong: in Latin, likewise, it is almost always s>>;
for the examples of diaeresis in such names are so very Jew, as
not to merit the slightest attention. This I can safely venture
to assert, after the pains which I have bestowed in minutely
searching through the entire collection of the ancient Latin
poets, for authorities and examples of every kind, to be inserted
in my " Latin Prosody:" and let me further observe, that Mil-
ton, Dry den, Pope--in short, every English poet, who had any
pretensions at all to classical knowledge, has paid due regard to
classic propriety in these cases, by making the J517 a diphthong.
I therefore advise my young readers carefully to avoid, in prose
as well as in poetry, the gross impropriety of dividing the EUS
of Orpheus, &c. into two syllables, and always to pronounce it
as a single syllable, nearly like the French verb Eusse, or tha
English noun Use. At the same time be it remembered that
Peneits and Alpheus (the names of two celebrated rivers) are tri-
syllabic words, and have the middle syllable long and accented.
--There are several other Greek names in EUS, which have the
E-V in separate syllables, with the E long and accented in some
instances, and in others bhort and un-accented: but to enume-
rate and discriminate them would be a tedious and laborious
task. Timotheus, however, and Briareus, seem to require parti-
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? Versification. 113
248
The mountain seems to throw a sable gloom,
Shades the glen below, and imbrowns the steep.
cular notice--Timotheus contains four distinct syllables: and,
although Dryden has, by poetic licence, used it as three, in the
following and some other lines of his " Alexander's Feast--
" Revenge ! revenge ! Ttmotheus cries"--
it is clear that he did not consider it as a proper trisyllabic;
because, in such case, he must have accented it on the first syl-
lable, like its English offspring, Timothy; the second being ori-
ginally short, and our usual mode of pronunciation forbidding us
to place an accent on a short penultimate; whereas, in Ti-mo-
the-us, the syllable -MO-, being then the antepenullimate, natu-
rally admits the accent, which he has correctly preserved. In
his lines, therefore, (the EU not being a dipththong) the JEU5
is not to be pronounced like the French Eusse, as in Orpheus,
Proteus, Ike, but like the EOVS in our English Beauteous,
which, though in reality a word of three syllables, is usually pro-
nounced as two, by synaeresis. -- In Briareus, the case is diffe-
rent: the EU is here a proper diphthong: the word contains
only three syllables; and so we find it in Virgil, Ovid, Lucan,
and other Latin poets, who all have its second syllable short, as
it likewise is found in a verse of Homer, which I shall presently
notice. Accordingly, Dryden, in his translation of Virgil, has,
with perfect propriety, used Briareus, as a trisyllabic word, with,
the second syllable short, and the accent on the first, viz.
Before the passage, horrid Hydra stands,
And Briareus with all his hundred hands. (JEn. 0. 401. )
If it be said that Milton has made it four syllables, because, in
the common editions of his "Paradise Lost" (1. 199) we find,
Briareus, or Typhon, whom the deu
By ancient Tarsus held--
I have only to reply, that the passage is falsified and disfigu. cd
K3
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? J14 Vmiftcatian*
249
How long shall man survey creation's boons.
And madly throw away its richest pearls ?
250
The fresh'ning breezes sweep away the clouds,
That hid the golden orb of day awhile.
251
She made a little stand at ev'ry turn,
And thrust her lily hand among the thorns.
by the inaccuracy of cither printers or editors, and that, in bet*
ter edition! , we read Briareos ; the nam* being written in two
ways, viz. Briareus, of three syllables, as in Virgil, Ovid, and
Lucan, above noticed--and Biiare&s, of four, which occurs in
Homer's Iliad, 1. 493, and jn Hesiod, Theog. 149. In Pope's
translation of Homer's line, the common editions make him.
guilty of a gross violation of prosody in lengthening and accent-
ing the short penultima of the trisyllabic BrMreus-- thus--
Whom gods Briareus, men jEgseon name. (v. 523. )
But I doubt not, that, after the example of his author, and of
Milton, he intended Briareos, which, as a word of four syllables,
properly admits the accent on the second -- and that he meant
a synteretis of the third and fourth, such as he had before his
eyes in the very line which he was translating, where the ac-
cusative, Briare&n, is reduced by synaereeis to three --and such
as Shakespear three times exhibits in the name Romeo, in the
following line --
O Romeo . ' Romeo /, wherefore art thou Romeo ?
which is only a common five-foot Iambic, with a redundant
syllable. [%* Part of this note is extracted from a letter of
mine, in reply to a querist in the " Lady't Magaiine," for No-
vember, 180ft]
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? Versification. 115
252
He brought back the beauteous dame in triumph,
"With whom came her sister, fair Emilia.
Iambic Verses of ten syllables, with a mixture of other
feet besides the Iambus.
253
To partake of those sublimer pleasures,
I would forsake the world and all its charms.
254
While the shepherd, free from passion, thus sleeps,,
A monarch might see his state with envy.
255
Fair order and rule dwell in her mansion :
What she earns so well, she eats with temp'rance.
256
With more than mortal sound the pavement rang;
Huge stones, uprooted from the ground, flew wide.
257
Fiends incarnate, who, void of shame or fear,
Dare to assume the Christian's sacred name.
258
At length I sink to rest, sad and hopeless,
Oppress'd by solitude, sorrow, silence.
259
Led on by me, bravely dare the danger -y
Share the perils and the glory with me.
260
Thirsting for immortal fame, the hero
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? 116 Versification. *
Had rather* die nobly, than live with shame.
261
We tond to th' appointed place, like pilgrims :
The world's an inn, and death the journey's end.
* Had rather. --Dr. Johnson lias somewhere stigmatised this
phrase ns a vulgar h irbarism ; and many modern writers, influ-
enced, I presume, by his authority, have utterly discarded it, to
adopt Would rather in its place. But, however great the vene-
ration, which I entertain, in other respects, for Dr. Johnson's
transcendent abilities, I cannot,in the present instance, suhscribe
to lii3 opinion, without wilfully shutting my (yes against the
light, Had rather/is genuine English, and a very good expres-
sion, if rightly understood. Had is here in the imperfect tense
subjunctive : and, when a man says, for example, " I had rather
die than submit," the meaning is, " I would rather have [or
take, or choose] to die, than to submit. "-- But, as some modern
grammarians deny the existence of a subjunctive mood in En-
glish, it may be well to recollect that the ground-work of our
language is borrowed from the German. Now the German lan-
guage most evidently and undeniably has a subjunctive mood,
which is more particularly conspicuous in the very numerous
host of irregular verbs, because, in the generality of these, the
present and imperfect of the subjunctive mood are found mate-
rially to difftr from the same tenses of the indicative. I shall
here quote two examples, which we can exactly parallel in En-
glish-- Indicative, " Ich war," I reus -- Subjunctive, " Ich ware"
or " ware" [prounounccd, in cither case, wayrc] I were, i. e. I
would or should be :--Indie. " lch hutte," I hud--,Subj. "Ich
h'dtte, or htttte [pronounced, in either case, haytte\ I would or
should have. Now this Incite, or h'dtte, is the very word used in
our good old English form, " had rather," and in such phrases
as "had I the means, I would do it," --" had I been there,
I would have dono it;"--and its present want of a distinctive
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? Verification. . 117
262
Take what God gives, since to rebel is vain.
. The bad, which we sustain well, grows better.
263
A holy and a happy pair lie here,
They now share in glory, as once in grace.
264
He strove, in Scythia, with the warrior queen,
Whom, first by force, then by love, he conquer'd.
character to discriminate it from had of the indicative, is easily
accounted for. When the hatte of the indicative was changed
to had, the subjunctive hatte naturally underwent a similar me-
tamorphosis, and became had [pronounced hayd\ In process
of time, particularly after the Norman conquest bad banished
the Anglo-Saxon language from the court and the polite circlet,
the distinction between had and had was gradually obhterated,
till at length both words were indiscriminately pronounced had.
-- If Dr. Johnson had looked to the German, be certainly would
not have reprobated, as barbarous, a long-established and per-
fectly grammatical form of expression. But, of hit unfortunate
want of acquaintance with that language (so indispensably re-
quisite to an English lexicographer) a truly ludicrous instance
occurs in his Dictionary, under the word, Booby. At a loss
for its etymology, he quotes the authority of a fanciful prede-
cessor, who derives the word from Butt-beef! ! ! Whether this
was intended as a compliment to Mr. John Bull, as if honest
John and his progeny were the most notable boobies in Europe,
I pretend not to determine. But, be that as it may, the word
Booby is pure German, viz. Bube [pronounced boobe] which
signifies a child, a boy, a great awkward boy, an oaf -- in short, a
booby -- without a single particle of John Bull's beef in his whole
composition.
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? 118 Versification.
265. -- The Planet Saturn.
A wond'rous circle clings round his huge form,
And, with lucid rings, girds his frozen globe.
266. -- The Planet Jupiter.
Four bright satellites* attend his orb,
And lend their borrow'd radiance to his night.
267
My breast labors now with oppressive care ;
And the falling tear descends o'er rriy cheek.
268
Distrust mankind : confer with your own heart;
And dread to find a flatterer e'en there.
* Satellites. -- Although Satellites be commonly pronounced,
in English, as three syllables, and accented on the first, it must,
in the present instance, be pronounced as four, and accented on
the second; the word being here pure Latin, as in Pope's Essay
on Man, t'pist. i. 42 --
"Or ask of yonder argent fields above,
" Why Jose's satellites are less than Jove. "
Pope, it is true, hag been accused of an almost unpardonable
poetic licence in thus accenting the word: but there was not
the slightest ground for such accusation, as there is not even
a shadow of poetic licence in the case. Had he, as a Latin
word, accented it on the first syllable after the English fashion,
he would have shown himself grossly ignorant of what is well
known to every school-boy who has learned the Latin declen-
sions, viz.
that the Latin Satellites neither is'nor can be other-
wise accented than on the second syllable: and he would have
been equally ridiculed by every classical scholar, as if he had
accented Themistoeles and Achilles on the first, and curtailed
them to Them'stocks and Ach'/es.
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? Versification. 1 19
269
Lov'd Charity, seraph of earth, appears,
And drops celestial tears on human griefs.
270
Tell them, I still hope to live triumphant,
And revive in bliss with them after death.
271
The honor, which the Muse conveys, is faint,
If, void of truth, she lavish wanton praise.
272
O genial Nature ! preside o'er my soul:
Guide the trembling hand of feeling friendship.
273
I'll deck his humble tomb with pious care,
And bid the mem'ry of his virtues bloom.
274
To gain your praise, was all my ambition,
And to please you alone, all my pleasure.
275
He bids his car to rise from earth's low orb,
And sails through the trackless skies, advent'rous.
. 276 f
Though, with her laughing eyes, Pleasure hail thee,
Thy crimes will soon rise in direful judgement.
277
Conceive a maid crown'd with ev'ry virtue,
Renown'd alike for wit and for beauty.
278
His speech restrain'd the tempest of her grief;
And the maid regain'd awhile her lost peace.
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? 120 Versification.
279
The sun turns, revolving on his axis,
And burns intensely with creative fire.
280
Alas ! the gilded prospects fled too soon,
Leaving, in their stead, despair and mis'ry.
281
Jack may well be vain of his fine feelings;
For he has felt a cane most acutely.
282
Succeeding ages shall hear his triumph,
And blend a tear with their admiration,
283
Oh ! discard for a while the vulgar joys
Of unmeaning noise and empty pageant.
284
Where'er he flies, suspicion haunts the wretch :
He lives hated, and dies unlamented.
285
Though he shine here, bright in polish'd lustre,
His fainter light is scarce seen in the heav'ns.
286
Stern Diana's altar stood in Tauris*,
Drench'd with human blood, and girt with terrors.
? Tauris. --This appellation of the Crimea (or Tauric Cher-
sonnesus), lately revived by Russian Catharine, is sometimes
improperly written Taurida; an error, which originated in
hasty translations from the French, by persons who happened
not to recollect the ancient name, or the French usage in form-
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? Versification. 121
287
See stern defiance lour on Satan's brow,
And Hell's grim legions pour all around him.
288
Then man, blest with universal concord,
Shall clasp to his breast each brother and friend.
289
Vain the giddy strife for honors and gold:
A useful life is the first of honors.
290
Modest Worth pines there in secret sorrow,
And reclines his head, far from ev'ry joy.
291
If you want, earn : impart, if you abound.
ing terminations. In this and many similar cases, where the
ancient name of a country (I do not say, of a town) ends in IS,
the French closely follow the practice of the Italians, who, in
almost innumerable instances, form their nouns from the Latin
ablative, as Libro, Vino, Casttllo, Pane, Cesare, Cicerone.
Thus the Latin Tauris (ablatire, Tauride) becomes, in Italian,
Tauride, of three syllables, and, in French, Tauride, of two--as
Aulis, Colchis, Phocis, are rendered Aulide, Colchide, Phocide,
in Mons. Dacier's Horace, and Madame Dacier's Homer. And,
since it has not been judged proper, in English, to transform the
names of these last-mentioned countries into Aulida, Colchida,
Phocida, it is much to be regretted that some respectable
writers, who cannot be suspected of ignorance, have, with too
great a facility of condescension, adopted from those translators
the irregular appellation of Taurida, instead of setting them
right by their own example, which would have been deferen-
tially received as authority, and have finajly preponderated with
the public.
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? 122
To the feeling heart, these both are pleasures.
292
The fav'rite child, without strict discipline,
Runs wild, like a neglected forester.
293
Can gold make reason shine, or calm passion r
Can we, from the mine, dig wisdom or peace i
294
If attir'd in heav'nly truths, religion,
To be admir'd, needs only to be seen.
295
The slaves of establish'd mode and custom,
We keep the road with pack-horse constancy.
296
He that has a father's heart, will not blush
To take a childish part in childish plays.
297
Lofty hills now display their verdant crowns,
Emerging into day in vernal pomp.
298
The boasted skill of old practitioners*
Could avail nought to check the growing ill.
* Practitioners. --How this word could ever gain an esta-
blished footing in our language, I am utterly at a loss to con-
ceive: but I hope that the gentlemen of the liberal professions,
to whom it is usually applied, may brand it with their marked
disapprobation, and, as a mis-created monster, hunt it from
the circles of polished society, to herd in future with vulgar
" Musitioners" and " Polititionert. "--As, from the French
Musicien, Logicien, Mathimaticien, we have formed Musician,
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? Versification. M$
299
The eye of mom lends its brightness in vain :
The eve sends its frolic Zephyr in vain.
For me, whom fate beguiles of ev'ry joy,
No beauty smiles, and no music warbles.
300
Wafted by thy gentle gale, blest Mem'ry!
I oft turn my sail up the stream of time,
To view the fairy haunts of long-lost hours,
Blest with far fresher flow'rs, far greener shades.
301
I pity bashful men, who feel the pain
Of undeserv'd disdain and fancied scorn,
And bear, upon a blushing face, the marks
Of self-impos'd disgrace, and needless shame.
302
We come from our eternal rest with joy,
To see th' oppressor oppress'd in his turn . . . . . .
Tis thus Omnipotence lultils his law;
And, what Justice wills, Vengeance executes.
303
Without her heav'nlv guide, Philosophy
Logician, Mathematician, so we outfit to form Putctician from
the French Praticien--re-instating, of course, the c or k ol the
original Greek, Practicot, which is omitted in the French, only
for the sake of a softer sound. --With respect to Parishioner,
improperly formed from the French Parotsnen in I lie oame irre-
gular manner as Practitioner and Musitwner above, it wtre
fruitiest to attempt the extirpation of an error now inveterate
in the language, and too deeply rooted to allow any hope of
success.
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? 124 Versifkution.
May nourish pride, and blow up self-conceit,
But, while the reas'ning part is her province,
Has still on her heart a veil of midnight.
304. -- The Christian.
With unmanly fears he holds no parley:
He confidently steers, where duty bids;
At her call, faces a thousand dangers,
And surmounts them all, trusting in his God.
305
When life is new, our joys are not num'rous;
And some of the few are falling yearly.
306
Seek not thou, with vain endeavour, to find
The secret counsels of almighty mind.
The great decree lies involved in darkness;
Nor can the depths of fate by thee be pierc'd.
307
Oh ! wipe the falling dew from Sorrow's cheek :
The sons of want renew to you their plaint.
Impart the balm of kind relief again,
And glad the aching heart with timely aid.
308
The morsel valour gains, is sweet to me:
The homely cup which freedom drains, is sweet :
The ji>ys which independence knows, are sweet;
And revenge, wreak'd on insulting foes, sweet.
309
A naked new-born child, on parent's knees
Thou sat'st weeping, while all smil'd around thee,
So live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep,
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? Versification. 12. 5
Thou may'st smile calm, when all weep around thee.
310
Pleasures are few ; and we enjoy fewer:
Pleasure is bright and coy, like quicksilver:
With our utmost skill we strive to grasp it:
It eludes us still, and it still glitters.
311
" Can this be true ? " cries an arch observer. --
" True ! yes, 'tis true : with these eyes I saw it. "--
" On that ground alone, sir, I believe it:
Had I seen it with my own, I could riot. "
312
A tale should be succinct, clear, judicious;
The incidents well link'd, the language plain.
Tell not what ev'ry body knows, as new;
And, new or old, hasten still to a close.
313
Though array'd in Vulcanian panoply,
Patroclus* bet ray'd his native weakness,
* Patroclus. --Thi<< name must here take the accent on the
first syllable, and have the second short; which, in Tact, is the
genuine classic pronunciation, though Mr. Pope, in translating
Homer, chose to make it Patroclus, for the sake of metrical
convenience; Patroclus being better suited tv ttie nature of
iambic verse than PatriSclus. A late writer, after. having quoted
the authority, of some modern lexicographers, and jjiven his own
vote in favor of Patroclus, calls for a reason why he should not
be at liberty to accent Patrocles and Patrocli in the same man-
ner. --A very simple and obvious reason might easily have been
given, without recurring to modern authorities in a case where. :
L 3.
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? ltd Versification.
When, tempting the unequal fight rashly,
Beneath resistless Hector's might he fell,
Taught ly his superior prowess to know,
How difT'rent real worth from empty show.
314
Oh ! could some poet rise, boldjin wisdom,
And unfold half thy beauties to the world,
they cannot possibl/liave the smallest weight, as the question
must be decided by one universal and invariable rule, well known
to every school-boy who has read even the first page of the La-
tin prosody. The rule is, that a short vowel, immediately pre<f
ceding a mute and liquid, is rendered, by such position, not ne-
cessarily long, but simply common; that is to say, that, although
it still remain short in prose, it may, in poetry, be made either
long or short, at the writer's option, as I have shown by various
examples in my " Latin Prosody. " Now, Pairoclut, PutrOclcs,
AndrScles, Niciicles, Mctrucles, Hambcles, &c. being writteD in
Greek with the O-micron, or short 0, that 0, though rendered
common in poetry by the following mute and liquid, still con-
tinues short in Greek and Latin prose: consequently, it ought
to be so pronounced in English prose ; and, as our language does
not admit a licentious two-fold pronunciation, it ought to be
equally short in our poetry. Indeed the warmest admirer of
ancient literature would certainly laugh at any writer who
should, in English verse, transform the well-known prosaic
names of PerMes, SophVcles, Themislocles, to Pericles, Sophocles,
Themistocles, though such transformation is perfectly allowable
in Greek and Latin. --The same unvarying rule applies to Dory-
clus, Jphiclus, and many other names, which are too often mit-
accented and mispronounced by persons un-acquainted with the
ancient language! . --See the note on Anirodes, page 129, No.
321.
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? Versification. 137
Tloving on fancy's wing, impart thy fire,
And feel thy genius beaming on his heart--
I'd wish humbly, though the wish would be vain,
That on me some small portion might alight.
315. -- To England, on the Roman Invasion.
At this distant moment, thy language shows,
How much the country owes to the conqu'ror:
Refin'd, energetic, and expressive,
It sparkles with the gems he left behind.
When he came, he brought thy land a blessing:
Savage he found thee, and tame he left thee.
316
The scenes of life, when confess'd and present,
Stamp on the breast but their bolder features :
Yet not an image, when view'd remotely,
However rude, and however trivial,
But wakes the social sigh, and wins the heart,
With ev'ry claim of close affinity.
317
Rich harvests fill each undulating vale:
Trees crown the waving hill: flow'rs deck the mead.
Oaks throw a show'r of acorns from their boughs :
In the trunk below, bees hoard their nectar.
Large flocks, that whiten and spread o'er the field,
Yield to the shepherd their fleecy tribute.
318. -- Sir Robert Walpole.
Thus was he form'd to please and to govern :
Dignity with ease, familiar greatness,
Compos'd his frame: in ev'ry state, admir'd j
Great in public, amiable in private;
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? 128 Versification.
In pow'r, gentle, but, in disgrace, daring;
His love was liberty, peace was his wish.
319
Darius tovv'rM in pride high on his thrones
The fair A pa me* grnc'd the sov'reign'e side;
And she smii'd now, and, with mimic frown, now
Plac'd the monarch's s;icred crown on her brow.
He bends o'er her faultless form in transport,
Loves ev'ry look, an. ! commends ev'ry act.