The least
obYiquity
is fatal here.
Carey - 1796 - Key to Practical English Prosody
Welcome, sweet harbinger of op'ning spring!
Thy early beauties caught my wand'ring eye.
I've pluck'd thee, solitary flow'r, to bring
Thy tender frame where no rude blasts are nigh.
I see, thou scarce canst rear thy drooping head ;
For frosts inclement pierce thy lovely form :
But I'll transplant thee to a safer bed :
My hand shall raise thee, hnd my fire shall warm.
63a
Behold ! the desc/ating storm is past:
The sun relumes the darken'd face of day:
Each timid flow'r, that shrunk before the blast,
Spreads its sweet bosom to the cheering ray.
B7tght and more bright its tints reviving glow;
Its beauteous petals catch the genial gale:
Ver tts soft breast enamour'd Zephyrs blow,
And waft new fragrance thrSugh the smiling vale.
633. -- Summer.
Now spring withdraws her milder-beaming ray,
And summer growing o'er the rip'ning corn,
Leads tt i these northern climes the blushing day,
From Afric's burning plains refulgent borne.
No cloud across the welkin steers its course,
uptin the earth to pour its genial show'rs:
No fountain hwbblKs from its mossy source;
No sparkling dews refresh the fainting flow'rs.
634
o Nature ! eve"r m&y thy gentle sway
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? Key to English Prosody. 107
Lead me" a vot'ry (S thy simple shrine.
May no rude passion chase that sense away,
That feels a bliss in peaceful charms like thine;
Whether, in autumn's fleecy clouds enshrin'd,
With yellow tints you touch the fading leaves,
Or raise, before the reaper's grateful mind,
Abundant grain to fill his future sheaves;
The panting wAnd'rSr, with the Zephyr's breeze,
Whether you cheer 'mid summer's noontide blaze,
Or paint with Yive-\-liest green | the budding trees,
When spring's soft warmth endears her milder days.
635. -- Evening.
When gentle eve, fair child of ardent day,
Throws her soft mantle" 6'er the verdant ground,
How sweet adown the sloping vale to stray,
While Cyn-\-tMa sheds | her silver radiance round !
How sweet to hear the plaintive bird of woe
Pour her sad murmurs to the list'ning grove,
As through the air the warbled numbers flow,
Fraught with, the melody of mourning love !
How sweet to mark the fading landscape near,
The lowly cotfage, and the stately tow'r!
How sweet the distant village peal to hear,
Borne tin the gale at tins soft silent hour!
636
ah! pleasing scenes, where once my childhood stray'd,
In thoughtless innocence securely blest!
JSo busy passions then inspir'd my breast ;
No guilty fears my youthful bosom sway'd.
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? 108
Key to English Prosody.
Iambics of eight syllables, with alterations.
637
Why can no bard, with magic strain,
In slumbers steep the heart of pain ?
638 .
Of conscious rectitude possess'd,
Can sorrow pierce the good man's breast?
639
Justice shall yet unclose her eyes,
Terrific yet in wrath arise,
And trample on the tyrant's breast,
And make oppression groan oppress'd.
Iambics often syllables, with alterations.
640
While former wishes still remain within,
Repentance is but want of pow'r to sin.
641
The white-rob'd priest his uprais'd hands extends:
Hush'd is each voice: attention leaning bends.
642
Whenceflows the strain that hails the dawn of morn
The Red-breast warble's in the flow'ring thorn.
643
Now boundless snows the wither'd. heath deform,
and the dim sun scarce wanders through the storm.
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? Key to English Prosody. 109
644
The widow'd Indian, when her lord expires,
Mounts the dread pile, and braves the fun'ral fires.
64. 5
Alas ! with thee how vain is pity's tear,
The widow's anguish, or the orphan's fear!
646
Not by the aid that brass or marble gives,
The mem'ry of the noble pa-l-tires. |
647
Soon would I change existence, with delight,
For the long sleep of one eternal night.
648
Brave and undaunted as the god of war.
When prostrate legions fall around his car.
649
Here early rest makes early rising sure:
Disease or comes not, tr finds easy cure,
Prevented much by diet neat and plain,
Or, if it enter, soon starv'd out again.
650
He comes ! dread Urama shakes the sunless sky
With murm'rirtg wrath, and thunrfeVsfrom on high.
Heavnsfie. y horse, beneath his war-i-norform, \
Paws the tight clouds, and gallVps on the storm.
651
He ceas'd; and silent still remain'd the throng,
While ra\>t attention own'd the pow'r of song.
Then, loud lis whin the wim'ry whirl winds blow,
From ev'ry voice the thund'ring plaudits flow.
I
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? 110 Key to English Prosody,
652
When Egypt's sons, a rude untutor'd race,
Learn d with wild forms the obflisk to grace,
And mould the idol god in ductile earth,
The loom and polish'd needle took their birth.
653
How short is mortal life! Time swift descends:
With htm depart our fathers and our friends;
While we, sad mourners, lag behind, to weep,
To heave vain sighs, and wakeful vigils keep.
654
As wild imagiwory forms affright
The child all darkling in the gloom of night,
Fond dreams, as wild as infant fears, dismay
Our souls with teirtir in the glare of day.
655
In deep despair th' unhappy virgin strays,
Through tangled palhs, and unfrequented ways,
While chilly vapors shroud the moon's pale beam,
As wild she wanders by the murm'ring stream.
656
Bad men, professing friendship's hallow'd name,
Form, in its stead, a covenant of shame,
A dark conl'ed'racy against the laws
Of virtue, and religion's glorious cause.
657
Strelch'dtin that biSr in death's last heavy sleep,
Lies, cold antl still, the friend for whom I weep.
, . ,. . 658. -- The Picture of Venus. . . . . . ,' \'\
When first the Iihodiau's mimic art array'tl
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? Key to English Prosody. 111
The queen of beaufj/ in the Cy-\-pridn shade, |
The happy master m'mglld in his piece
Each look that charm'd him in ihe fair of Greece :
To faultless nature true, he stole a grace
From ev'ry fairer form, and sweeter face.
659
Bright Us the pillar rose at Heav'n's command,
When Israel march'd along the desert land,
Blaz'd, through the night, on lonely wilds, afar,
And told the path -- a never-setting star;
So, keav'nly Genius! in thy course divine,
Hope is thy star: her light is ever thine.
660
Thy daughters, Babylon, to grace the feast,
Weave th<? loose robe, and paint the flow'ry vest:
With ro-\-se&te wieaths | they braid the glossy hair:
They tinge the cheek, which Nature form'd so fair,
Learn the' soft step, the soul-subduing glance,
Melt in the song, and swim adown the dance.
661
Come, gen\le Peace, from realms of endless rest!
Bid the' vex'd earth, like thy own heav'n, be blest.
Bid wasteful War his furious ravage cease.
And Plenty glad the earth with new increase.
oh! bid deploring nations cease to mourn,
And guilty swords to smiling ploughshares turn.
662
ah! what avails it, if the Muse's fire
Must, like the me-\-tgor's trans-\-ientflash, | expire ?
Alas ! what boots it ? since the hero's doom
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? 112 Key to English Prosody.
Is Death's dark cavern, and th' obli-|-cious tomb--
Since lasting praise not Fames loud trump can give ;
and, in the grave, nor bays nor laurels live.
668
From the loud camp retir'd, and noisy court,
In howtfrable ease and rural sport
The remnant tif his days he safely pass'd,
Nor found they lagg'd too slow, or flew too fast.
He made his wish with fits estate comply,
Joyful to live, yet not afraid to die.
664
Th' advent'rous boy, who asks his little share,
And hies from home with ma-|-my ag<w-|-sip's pray'r,
Turns on the neighb'ring hill, once more to see
The dear abode of peace and privacy;
and, as he turns, the thatch among the trees,
The smokers blue wreaths ascendjwg wtth the breeze,
all rouse reflexion's sadly-pleasing train;
And oft he looks, and weeps, aud looks again.
665
oh! let me wande"r at the moonlight hour
To some sequester'd grove or silent bow'r,
When cease the carVls of the plumy throng,
And Philomel begins her plaintive song.
Sweet bird of eve, I love thy liquid note,
That flows me\\\-\-JiuousfrVm \ thy quiv'ring throat.
o Zephyr ! fleeting Zephyr! longer stay,
fs'or bear that lovely harmony away.
666
When Zephyr breathes upon the azure waves,
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? Key to English Prosody. 113
My panting breast the peaceful ocean braves,
Glows u-ith the ^fiie, those softer joys inhales)
Dropp'd from the balmy \>\nions of the gales.
But, when the curling billow rears its form,
And silent horror broods upon the storm,
I turn my (outsteps tV yon sAe/t'ring grove,
Misfortune's refuge, the" retreat of love.
66'7. -- The Carrier Pigeon.
Led by what chart, transports the timid dove
The wreaths of conquest, #r the vows of love ? [flight?
Say, through the clouds what compass points her
Monarchs have gaz'd, and nations bless'd the sight.
Pile rocks on rocks: bid woods and mountains rise :
Eclipse her native shades, her native skies:
Tis vain : through aether's pathless wilds she goes,
And lights at last where all her cares repose.
668
Where should we find (those comforts at an end,
Which Scripture yields) or hope to find a friend ?
Sorrow might muse herself to madness then,
And, seeking exile from the sight of men,
Bury herself in solitude profound,
Grow frantic with her pangs, and bite the ground.
Thus often unbelief, grown sick of life,
Flies to the tempting pool, or felon knife.
669
And shall I dread at this dark hour to rove
Amid the solemn stillness of the grove,
or where the time-worn battlements arise,.
or the"proud turret low in ruin lies ?
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? 114 Key to English Prosody.
I scorn the thought--assur'd that sov'reign pow'r
Governs alike the dark or noontide hour:
And here, as free from vain alarm, I stray
Amid these sliades, as in the blaze of day;
While to thy care, o thou almighty friend,
By night or day, my spirit i commend.
670
Friend of my heart, companion of my youth,
As fam'd for learnj//g, as rever'd for truth,
In whom united we alike admire
The sage's wisdom, and the poet's fire,
A gen'rous temper and a noble mind,
ardor undamp'd, and genius unconfin'd;
Skilful alike to raise the lofty song,
. Or playful sport the flow'ry meads among ;
The smiling Muse has taught thee all her art,
To catch the fancy, S. nd to seise the heart.
671. -- Tobacco.
Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys,
Unfriend/y tS society's chief joys!
Thy worst effect is banishing for hours
The sex whose presence civilises ours.
Thou art indeed the drug a gard'ner wants,
To poison vermtn that infest his plants.
But are we so to wit and beauty blind,
as to despise the glory of our kind,
And show the soft&f and the fairest forms
As little mercy, as to grubs and worms ?
672
None sends his arroay to the mark in view,
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? Key to English Prosody. 115
Whose hand is feeblS, or whose aim untrue.
For, though, ere yet the shaft fa on the wing,
or when it first forsakes th' elastic string,
It err but Yntle frum th' intended linp,
Tt. falls at last far wide of Jus design.
So he, who seeks a mansion in the sky,
Must watch his purpose xcith a steadfast eye.
That prize belongs to none but the sincere : .
The least obYiquity is fatal here.
673. --The Maniac.
Hark! the wild md-\-niac sings, | to chide the gale
That wafts so slow her lover's distant sail.
She, sad spectatress! on the wintry shore,
JVdtch'd the rude surge, his shroudless corse that bore,
Knew thS pale form, and, shriekJ/ig in amaze,
C/asp'd her cold hands, and fix'd her madd'ning gaze.
Poor roldow'd wretch ! 'twas there she wept in vain,
'Till mem'ry fled her agonising brain.
But Mercy gave, to charm the sense of woe,
Ideal peace, that truth could ne'er bestow.
Warm on her heart, the joys of fancy beam,
And aimless hope delights her darkest dream.
674. --To Hope.
Propitious pow'r! when rankling cares annoy
The sacred home of Hymenean joy,
Where,' doom'd to poverty's sequester'd dell,
The wedded pair of love and virtue dwell,
\Jnpitied by the world, unknown to fame,
Their woes, their wishes, and their hearts the same--
oh! there, prophetic Hope, thy smile bestow,
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? 1 16 Key to English Prosody.
And chase the pangs that Worth should never know.
There, as the parent deals his scanty store
To friendless babes, ami weeps to give no more,
Tell, that his manly race shall yet assuage
Their father's wrongs, and shield his latter age.
675
At summer eve, when heav'n's ae-|. r/a/ bow \
Spans with bright arch. the glitt'ring hills below,
Why to yon mountmn turns the musing eye,
Whose sun-bright summit ming/ft with the sky?
Why d% those cliffs of shn-\-dbwy tint | appear
More sweet than all the landscape smiling near?
'Tis distance, lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue1.
Thus, with delight, we linger to survey
The promis'd joys of life's unmeasur'd way ;
Thus, from afar, each dim-discover'd scene
More pleasing seems than all the past has been;
And ev'ry form, that Fancy can repair
From dark oblivion, glows divinely there.
Terusyllable Iambics, with Alterations, ijc.
676. -- Botany Bay.
Here zeU are safe : on this pacific shore,
No tigers prowl, no mighty lions roar;
No howling wolf is heard ; no secret brake
Conceals the \enom of the coiling snake.
Soft as in England, smile the summers here;. .
As gentle winters close the dying year. .
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? Key to English Prosody. 117
Nor here is heard th' autumnal whirlwind's breath ;
Nor vernal tempests breathe the blast of death.
Without one vain regret to call a tear,
To wake one wish, 1 feel contented here.
and a? shall yet be happy : yonder ray,
The mild effulg? <<ce of departing day,
As gaily gilds this humb\e dwelling o'er,
as th8 proud domes on England's distant shore.
677. -- The Slave-trade.
The tender ties of father, husband, friend,
all bonds of nature "in that moment end ;
And each endures, while yet he draws his breath,
A stroke as fatal as the scythe of Death.
The sable \\ax-\-rior,fran-\-ttc with regret
Of her he loves, and new" can forget,
Loses in tears the far-receding shore,
But not the thought that th%y must meet uo more.
Depriv'd of her and freedom at a blow,
What has he left, that h$ can yet forego ?
Yes, to deep sadness sa\len/y resign'd,
He feels his body's bondage in tiis mind,
Puts off'Wis gen'ious nature, and, 'o suit
His manners with his fate, puts on the brute.
676 A.
Ye spirits, wlicl inhabit worlds unknown !
Terrific spectres! whither are you flown ? -
oft have I heard, yon love, ai this dread hour,
To haunt the ruin'd aisle, or moss-grown tou'i;
To flit in sha-\-dowi) forms | along the glade,
Or stalk gigantic 'midst the gloomy shade.
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? 118 Key to English Prosody.
Yet here, alone, with silent steps I tread,
Where broken walls their mou'd'ring ruins spread;
Whtre the cold ashVs of the fair and great,
Vainly enshrin'd, repose in awful state ;
Where the dark Ivy clasps th' embattled tow'r.
And lengthens out awhile its final hour:
But all is still: no frightful ghost appears;
No ghust\y phanrom tls huge form uprears ;
No a>/<7fe-rob'd spirit glides across the gloom ;
No hollow groan low mutters frtim the tomb.
678 B.
as whiSn a felon, whom his country's laws
Have justly doom'd fUr tVme atrocious cause,
Expects, in darkness and heart-chilling fears,
The shameful close of all his misspent years;
if, chance, on heavy pinions slowly borne,
A tempest usher in the dreaded morn,
upon his dungeon-walls the lightnings play,
The thunder seems to summVn him away;
The warder at the door his key applies,
Shoots back the bolt ; and all his courage dies.
if then, just then, all thought of mercy lost,
When hope, long foig'iing, yields at last the ghost,
The sound of pardon pierce his startled ear,
He drops at once his fetters tind his fear ;
A transport glows in all he looks and speaks;
and the first thankful tears bedew his cheeks.
679. -- Cosciusko.
Warsaw's last champion fr om her height survey'd,
Wide o"er the field, a w aste of ruin laid.
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? Key to English Prosody. 119
" oh! Heav'n! " he cried, " my bleeding country
h there no hand on high, to shield the brave ? [save !
Yet, though destruction sweep these lovely plains,
Rise,Jellow men ! our country yet remains.
By that dread name we wave the sword on high,
And swear for her to live, with her to die. "
He said, and, on ihe rampart heights, array'd
His trusty viai-\-ribrs,few, J but undismay'd.
Ftrm-pac'd and slow, a horrid front they form,
Still as the breeze, but dreadful as'the storm.
Low murm'ring sounds along their banners fly^: ,4
" Revenge or death ! " the watchatfrrf and reply. . . . t. . .
In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few,
From rank to rank your volley'd thunders flew. . . .
Hope,for a season, bade the world farewell;
And Freedom shriek'd, as Cosciusko fell.
680. -- Beauty's Eclipse,
Loud howl'd the tempest tif a winter's night,
And dying lamps dispens'd a twinkling light:
No friendly star illum'd the vault of heav'n ;
But, o'er its face, big clouds were wildly driv'n.
Mute silence reign'd in each deserted street,
Save, where the rushing blast, or pelting sleet,
Was heard to whisrYe, tir to rudely beat.
'Twas then, that on a flinty step reclin'd,
To all the pow'r of wretch? e//j&>s resign'd,
Grief on her cheek, and famine tn her eye,
A child of misery was seen to lie.
Rough b/Sw the wind around her shiv'ring form;
Lost were her sighs amid the rattling storm.
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? 120 Key to English Prosody.
UncorPr'd mas her bosom, once so fair,
Now t/ie cold residence of dark despair.
Loose down her back her matted tresses lay,
Those lovely locks, once deck'd in colors gay :
. Damp were her temples with the dews of death,
And slowly drawn her thick and struggling breath.
Life's julv'ring taper hasten'd 1% an end :
On Death she calls--to her a welcome friend.
I murk'd the clo<<wg of her stormy day :
I saw her ling'ring graces steal away--
HeardthS last accents tremi/e on her lips,
While Nature sigh'd at Beauty's dire eclipse.
Iambics of eight syllables and six, with J Iterations, $;r.
681
ask not of me th* essential form "'
That high-priz'd beauty wears'.
ah! who shall paint the magic charm,
That ev'ry breast ensnares ?
Search for the answer m your heart;
For there the secret's found'. ' ? "J'
'Tityour own taste that pofrits the dart,
And bids our beauty wound.
. ' . * . ' . r:ii<<
Iambics of eight syllables, with Alterations, fyc.
1 love the tear, the pearl of woe,
That decks the sympathising eye--
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? Key to English Prosody. 121
To see the stream of sorrow flow,
To hear the deeply-heaving sigh.
683
Yes, let the miser count his gold,
And toil and scrape to swell the heap:
Say, can the heart, that's hard and cold,
Of wealth the fruitful pleasures reap?
684
I love to hear the woodlark sing,
As, using from her low-built nest,
She makes the woods and valleys ring,
And sweetly sooihs my soul to rest.
685
RacKd by the hand of rude disease,
Behold, our fav'rite poet lies;
While ev'ry object, form'd to please,
Far from his couch ungrateful flies.
Iambics of Jive feet ,or ten syllables,with Alterationstife.
686
No human wisdom c&n foresee the wrong :
No human prudence can avert its force.
Like the mad whirlwind, lo! it sweeps along;
And nought but Heav'n can check its baneful course.
: 687
Come, Sleep! and sooth this malady of soul:
Come, Sleep I and clasp me" tit thy downy breast.
Child tif oblivion ! o'er my fancy roll,
and, in some long, long slumber, grant mc rest.
M
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? 124! Key to English Prosody.
688
Untouch'd by care, the whistling hind repairs
To yonder bank, where high the poplar waves
Its quiv'ring limbs: as he his meal prepares,
His faithful dog th" expected morsel craves.
089
ah! what avails it, that the face of day
Wears the bright verdure tif returning spring ?
On me, alas! it sheds no genial ray;
No soft sensations its approaches bring.
690
Though pearls enrich the bostirn of the deep,
No eye beholds the beauty 'if their ray.
In caves profound, beneath the flood, they sleep,
And hide their lwstrefrbm the gaze of day.
691. -- To a Red-breast.
Poor wand'rer! thbu art welctime tti this shed:
For thtiu hast borne the pitiless cold storm,
Felt the' keen blast on thy defenceless head,
And heard destruction threat thy gentle form.
692
Perch'd on my book, and perk ing in my face,
The guileless Robin seems to watch my thought.
Alas! he knows not man's perfidious race,
By whose allurement simple birds are caught.
e'en man to man but rare/y is sincere :
The love profess'd is interested art. --
Though heavVs bright image on his brow appear,
Yet honest Robin boasts a purer heart.
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?
