Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A53314
|
Poems on several occasions, written in imitation of the manner of Anacreon with other poems, letters and translations.; Poems. Selections
|
Oldmixon, Mr. (John), 1673-1742.
|
1696
(1696)
|
Wing O261; ESTC R10672
|
27,276
|
136
|
Whores for scolding we should praise And Carmen have a Tiâ—â—â— to the 〈◊〉 No Sâ—tiâ—e will in brighter Colours shine Her 〈◊〉 is Dreadful but 't is all Divine In her true shape she always will appear Just and Impartial as she is severe The Court and State to her Remarks be long She will but seldom touch a private wrong Unless th' Example should be understood Or private Errors threaten publick good But where of Late in England can we find A Pard of such a vast 〈…〉 Who scorning Loss of fortune or of blood Dares venture boldly for the common good Whose Genius fits him for the great design Where strength with Grace and Majesty shall joyn One justly raving and Correctly Mad To raise the Good and Mortify the Bad Since Dryden will or must not speak at least There are None now None like to be possest No Pens rise up in Injur'd merits cause And Mine must never be the first that draws Let Love be still the subject of my Song For Love 's the proper business of the Young Ah! suffer me to tread the beaten ways Where I find pleasure if I meet no praisâ— TWO Letters of Voiture Translated With other occasional Letters To Mr. Gourdon at London SIR I Have had more Leisure than I desir'd to send you what you demanded of me at parting and the Winds instead of carrying away my promise have given me time to keep it They have already detain'd me here this eight days It would certainly have been very tedious if I had not brought those Thoughts with me from London which will entertain me yet a great while longer I 'll assure you you have your share of them and that my best Thoughts are still employ'd about you or about those Things which I saw by your means You may well mistrust that I am not now talking of the Tower or the Lyons which you were pleas d to shew me In one person only you made me see a greater Treasure than I found there and One who is at the same time more Cruel than even the Lyons or the Leopards After all this you will quickly perceive 't is the Countess of Carlile of whom I am speaking For there is none besides her of whom I can say so much Good and so much Ill. Whatever danger there is in remembring her I have not yet been able to forbear it And to be sincere I would not part with the Idea I have of her in my Breast for all that I have seen of what is most Fair or most desirable in the World I must confess she is all over a very Bewitching Lady and there would not be a person under Heaven so worthy to be Belov'd if she knew what Love was or if her Soul were but as Sensible as it is Reasonable We can say nothing of her in the condition we know her but that she is the most Lovely of all things which are not good and the most agreeable Poyson that ever Nature made I fear her Wit so much that I was once resolv'd not to let you have the Verses I send you for I know she distinguishes in all things what is Good and what is ill and that the Goodness which ought to be in her Will is wholly confin'd to her Judgment I shall be little concern'd if she condemns them they are not worthy of a better fortune they were made before I had the Honour to know Her and I should be sorry if had till now prais'd or blam'd any one to Perfection since I reserve both the one and the other for her As to you Sir I will not make any Excuse I pretend you are very much oblidg'd to me and ought to take it kindly that you have been able to perswade me to send you some bad Verses I can assure you 't is the only Copy I ever writ twice over And if you know how Lazy I am you will reckon my Obedience in this no small proof of the Power you have over me and of the Passion with whlch I would be Sir c. Dover Decemb. 4th 1633. TO Madam SAINTOT Sent with an Orlando Furioso THis Madam is certainly the Noblest Adventure of Orlando For now that he has the Honour to Kiss your Hands he performs something more for his own Glory than when he forc'd Scepters from the hands of Kings and alone defended the â—rown of Charles the Great The Title of Furioso with which he has past all over the World ought not to deter you from doing him that Honour For I am confident that in approaching you he will become more Discreet and as soon as he sees you will forget his Angelica At least this I know by Experience that you have wrought a greater Miracle than this and with one Word have Cur'd a Folly more dangerous than his And indeed 't would be more Improbable than any thing Ariosto has told us of him if he were not sensible of the Advantage you have over that Lady and if he did not confess that she would never have so much need as in your presence to fly to the Assistance of her Inchanted Ring All the Famous Knights in the World were not proof against the Charms of that Beauty She never struck the Eyes of any but at the same time she wounded an Heart and Inflam'd with her Love as many Parts of the World as the Sun Enlightens yet that Beauty was but a Picture ill Drawn of the wonderful Things we admire in you All the Collours of Poetry cannot Paint you so Fair as we behold you nor can the Imagination of Poets reach to such a height The Chambers of Chrystal and the Palaces of Diamonds which you will read of here are far more easy to be imagin'd And the Enchantments of Amadis which appear to you so Incredible are hardly more Incredible than your Own At the first sight to seize upon Souls the most Resolute and the least made for Servitude to Create in them a sort of Love which is sensible of Reason and Ignorant both of Hope and Desire to Transport with Pleasure and Glory the Minds of those from whom you have Ravish't Repose and Liberty and to render those perfectly satisfied with you to whom you never were but Cruel These are effects more strange and more distant from Probability than the Hippogrifes and flying Chariots of Ariosto or any of the most Admirable things Romances tell us of If I shou'd continue this Discourse I shou'd make a Book larger than this I send you But this Cavalier who is not us'd to give place to any Man is impatient to see me Address you so long and therefore Advances to Raccount you himself the History of his Amours 'T is a Favour which you have often refus'd to me Yet I suffer him to do it without Jealousy tho he is so much happier than I since he has promis'd me in return to present you with these Lines and oblige you to read them before any thing else
POEMS ON Several Occasions Written in imitation of the manner of ANACREON WITH Other Poems Letters and Translations Cum Thebae cum Troja foret cum Caesaris Acta Ingenium movit Sola Corinna meum Ovid. Eleg. LONDON Printed for R. Parker at the Vnicorn under the Piazza of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1696. TO THE Right Honourable THE Lord ASHLEY MY LORD THere are many Reasons which ought to have kept me from troubling your Lordship with this Address but I am willing sometimes to believe there are Others that will a little excuse my Presumption I have been long tempted to use the first Opportunity that should offer to express my particular Veneration for You. I wish My Lord I had now been happy in a better occasion or that you would not take an Opinion of my Respect and Esteem for You from the meanness of this Present Authors of all Ages are generally fond of their own Productions but the Oldest and Youngest are most Infected with this Vanity Yet I am not so partial to this my first Essay but I know it wants many Perfections to be fit to come before You. If it Diverts you when you are pleas'd to be free from the Publick Concerns which so often Employ You 't is the utmost of my pretences I shall be proud of its good Fortune and have no cause to repent I had the Courage to own it Your Lordship has sufficiently prov'd that the Gallant Man and the Man of Business are not incompatable No Man ever discover'd so early such a vast Capacity for the Business you have undertaken And since you consented to be chosen a Member of the House of Commons None ever appear'd more Sollicitous for the Publick Cood or knew better how to promote it than your Lordship You have joyn'd the Vivacity of Youth with the Wisdom and Temper of Age and already secur'd your Self a Character which others have been Labouring for whole Ages with less success But your Thoughts in affairs of highest consequence however weighty in themselves never sit heavy on you you are not discompos'd by them or prevented from a moderate Enjoyment of those Pleasures which are the Propiety of men of your Wit and Quality Those who have the Honour to be intimate with You and are acquainted with the sweetness of your Disposition and Your unaffected easiness to Your Private Friends give us such idea's of You that to be silent here would be an injustice to Your Merit however faulty we make our selves by it to Your Lordship I can now almost please my self that I am no better known to You for certainly my Discretion could not restrain me from consulting my own more than Your Lordships pleasure in dwelling on this Subject The World have so High an Opinion of Your Worth that they will excuse me for speaking of You tho 't is even in a Dedication They will only blame me for concluding so soon but 't is that only which can give me any hopes of procuring Your Pardon Such indeed frequently abuse a Man of Quality with unseasonable Praises who have servile ends to promote by it but my design is purely to express my Zeal for Your Lordship I have not yet Learn't to Flatter and it miscarries so often of late that the Vilest Authors begin to be asham'd of it Most of these Poems which I humbly Dedicate to You were Written by a Person in Love in those Hours which he devoted to the Contemplation of his Mistress Your Lordship who is so well with the Fair Sex must have been sensible of that Passion which makes us think not always so justly as we ought you will then pity the Errors you find here If you can't excuse them but I Tremble my Lord when I think there is not one inconsiderable enough to escape you Yet tho I leave Your Lordship with these apprehensions of your Justice I would not wholly dispair of Your Mercy I am My Lord Your Lordships most Obedient and most Humble Servant J. Oldmixon THE Preface AFter I have ventur'd to declare That most of these Poems were Written in Imitation of Anacreon's Manner I shall be excus'd for keeping the Reader a little while from them since 't is necessary I should Explain my meaning to some who may think me too forward I wish I understood Anacreon as well as a great many Gentlemen who perhaps don't Love him better but I believe I know enough of him and of the rest of the Ancients to find he excell'd them all in the Lyrick way of Writing for the Naivete of his Thoughts and Expressions for his Gaiety and good Humour for his Delicacy and Pleasantry and for most of the Qualities of an honest Gentleman and a Lover Of all the Ancients Catullus and Horace were happiest in their Imitation of Anacreon Catullus Coppied the Delicate Turn of his Thought the softness simplicity and negligence of his Expression but Monsieur Rapin tells us he is not always free from Affectation Horace imitated him in his Gaiety and good Humour but he is not so Natural so Sweet and insinuating as Anacreon who is ever Pleasant Free and Graceful and for the Naivete of Thoughts I believe will never have his Equal I might say much more of Anacreon and the comparison between him Catullus and Horace but I will leave it for a fairer Occasion and acquaint the Reader with what more immediately relates to the Verses I here Publish I have indeavour'd every where to be Easy and Natural to say no more than what rises directly from the Subject I have avoided as far as I could the Faults of such as have written of Love before me They were some of them Witty Gentlemen but they seldom speak warmly of their Mistresses Beauties or their own Passion when they pretend to it they discover a greater value for themselves and would be rather thought Witty and Learned than Hearty and Passionate I must confess I was never touch'd by any of these Famous Authors I can scarce read them without Indignation but I believe their Mistresses were as cold as their Verses and then I am better satisfi'd After what Mr. Walsh has Inform'd us of their Mistakes in his judicious Preface to his Poems there is little more for me or any Man to say on that Subject You will find nothing in this little Volume but what was the Real Sentiments of my Heart at the time I Writ it and he that will not give himself a greater Liberty has no need to fear being thought forc'd or unnatural which is the greatest Viee in Verses of Love and Gallantry 'T is true when a Man Industriously avoids Art he will be in danger of becoming flat and insipid But we must never let it appear too visibly and when we mingle it in a Poem we must manage it so that it may seem all of a Piece Art must never be too high for Nature nor Nature too low for Art Especially in the Affairs of Love where the