Virtue conceal'd within our breast Is inactivity at best: But never shall the Muse endure To let your virtues lie obscure; Or suffer Envy to conceal Your labours for the public weal....
Patron of the tuneful throng, O! too nice, and too severe! Think not, that my country song Shall displease thy honest ear. Chosen strains I proudly bring, Which the Muses' sacred choir,...
Harley, the nation's great support, Returning home one day from court, His mind with public cares possest, All Europe's business in his breast, Observed a parson near Whitehall,...
'Tis spring! the boats bound to the sea; The breezes, loitering kindly over The fields, again bring herds and men The grateful cheer of honeyed clover.
O fountain of Blandusia, Whence crystal waters flow, With garlands gay and wine I'll pay The sacrifice I owe; A sportive kid with budding horns I have, whose crimson blood...
Be tranquil, Dellius, I pray; For though you pine your life away With dull complaining breath, Or speed with song and wine each day-- Still, still your doom is death. ...
O fountain of Bandusia, Whence crystal waters flow, With garlands gay and wine I'll pay The sacrifice I owe; A sportive kid with budding horns I have, whose crimson blood...
Come, Phyllis, I've a cask of wine That fairly reeks with precious juices. And in your tresses you shall twine The loveliest flowers this vale produces.
Dear Dick, how e'er it comes into his head, Believes, as firmly as he does his creed, That you and I, sir, are extremely great; Though I plain Mat, you minister of state....
odi profanum, valgus et arceo; favete linguis: carmina non prius audila Musarum sacerdos virginibus puerisque canto. regum timendorum in proprios greges, reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis.
The man who keeps a conscience pure, (If not his own, at least his Prince's,) Thro' toil and danger walks secure, Looks big and black and never winces.
What the end the gods have destined unto thee and unto me, Ask not: 'tis forbidden knowledge. Be content, Leuconoe. Let alone the fortune-tellers. How much better to endure...
You, who have compassed land and sea Now all unburied lie; All vain your store of human lore, For you were doomed to die. The sire of Pelops likewise fell,...
How breaks my heart to hear you say You feel the shadows fall about you! The gods forefend That fate, O friend! I would not, I could not live without you! You gone, what would become of me,...
Lofty and enduring is the monument I've reared,-- Come, tempests, with your bitterness assailing; And thou, corrosive blasts of time, by all things mortal feared, Thy buffets and thy rage are unavailing! ...