DIDACTIC POEM UNFINISHED:

ENTITLED

DE PRINCIPIIS COGITANDI.

LIBER PRIMUS. AD FAVONIUM.

[See Mason's Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 55.]

5

UNDE Animus scire incipiat; quibus inchoet orsa
Principiis seriem rerum, tenuemque catenam
Mnemosyne: Ratio unde rudi sub pectore tardum
Augeat imperium; et primum mortalibus ægris
Ira, Dolor, Metus, et Curæ nascantur inanes,
Hinc canere aggredior. Nec dedignare canentem,
O decus! Angliacæ certe O lux altera gentis!
Si quà primus iter monstras, vestigia conor
Signare incertâ, tremulâque insistere plantâ.
Quin potius duc ipse (potes namque omnia) sanc-

tum

Ad limen (si ritè adeo, si pectore puro,)

10

thinks that the description of the entry of Troilus into Troy, in Chaucer's Romance of Troilus and Creseida, suggested to Gray some very beautiful lines in this Epistle: "Jam flexi, regale decus," &c. (See Chaucer, b. xi. st. 83. fol. 151. ed. 1602.)

"This Troilus sat on his baye steed,

All armed, save his head, full richely," &c

V. 4. Virg. Georg. i. 237, "Mortalibus ægris," and Lucret. vi. 1. Luke.

V. 5. Virg. Georg. iv. 345, "Curam Clymene narrabat inanem." Luke.

V. 7. "Magnæ spes altera Romæ," Virg. Æn. xii. 168. This apostrophe is addressed to 'Locke.'

V. 9. "Tremulis possunt insistere plantis," Juv. Sat. vi. 96.

Obscuræ reserans Naturæ ingentia claustra.
Tu cæcas rerum causas, fontemque severum
Pande, Pater; tibi enim, tibi, veri magne Sacerdos,
Corda patent hominum, atque altæ penetralia
Mentis.

15

Tuque aures adhibe vacuas, facilesque, Favonî, (Quod tibi crescit opus) simplex nec despice car

men,

Nec vatem: non illa leves primordia motus, Quanquam parva, dabunt. Lætum vel amabile

22

quicquid [auras, Usquam oritur, trahit hinc ortum; nec surgit ad Quin ea conspirent simul, eventusque secundent. Hinc variæ vitaï artes, ac mollior usus, Dulce et amicitiæ vinclum: Sapientia dia Hinc roseum accendit lumen, vultuque sereno Humanas aperit mentes, nova gaudia monstrans, Deformesque fugat curas, vanosque timores: Scilicet et rerum crescit pulcherrima Virtus. Illa etiam, quæ te (mirùm) noctesque diesque

26

V. 12. Naturæ primus portarum claustra cupiret," Lucret. i. 72. "Cæcas causas, ," Ibid. iii. 317. Virg. Æn. vii. 15 "portarum ingentia claustra." Luke.

V. 13. "Amnemque severum," Virg. Æn. vi. 374. And Georg. iii. 7: Amnemque severum Cocyti metuet."

V. 15. "Mentis penetralia nudat," Claud. Rap. Pros. i. 213. V. 16. "Faciles habuit aures," Quintil. Inst. Orat. vi. v. p. 576. "Vacuas aures adhibe," Lucret. i. 45.

V. 21. "Eventusque secundet," Virg. Georg. iv. 397. V. 24. "Rubens accendit lumina Vesper," Virg. Georg. i. 251.

V. 26. Hor. Epod. xiii. 18, "Deformis ægrimoniæ.” Luke. V. 27. "Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma," Georg. ii. 534.

Assiduè fovet inspirans, linguamque sequentem Temperat in numeros, atque horas mulcet inertes; Aurea non aliâ se jactat origine Musa.

31

35

Principio, ut magnum fœdus Natura creatrix
Firmavit, tardis jussitque inolescere membris
Sublimes animas; tenebroso in carcere partem
Noluit ætheream longo torpere veterno:
Nec per se proprium passa exercere vigorem est,
Ne socia molis conjunctos sperneret artus,
Ponderis oblita, et cœlestis conscia flammæ.
Idcircò innumero ductu tremere undique fibras
Nervorum instituit: tum toto corpore miscens 40
Implicuit latè ramos, et sensile textum,
Implevitque humore suo (seu lympha vocanda,
Sive aura est) tenuis certè, atque levissima quæ-
dam

Vis versatur agens, parvosque infusa canales
Perfluit; assiduè externis quæ concita plagis, 45
Mobilis, incussique fidelis nuntia motûs,
Hinc indè accensâ contage relabitur usque
Ad superas hominis sedes, arcemque cerebri.

V. 31. "At non Venus aurea contra,' Virg. Æn. x. 16. "Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aurea," Hor. Od. i. v. 9.

V. 32. Rerum natura creatrix," Lucret. i. 623.

V. 33. See note at p. 176, on the position of "que," and Burman on Antholog. Lat. vol. i. p. 607.

V. 35. "Nec torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno," Virg. Georg. i. 124.

V. 45. "Sequenti concita plaga," Lucret. iv. 189. ternis plagis," Ibid. ii. 1140.

"Ex

Namque illic posuit solium, et sua templa sacravit Mens animi: hanc circum coëunt, densoque fe

runtur

Agmine notitiæ, simulacraque tenuia rerum :
Ecce autem naturæ ingens aperitur imago
Immensæ, variique patent commercia mundi.

50

55

Ac uti longinquis descendunt montibus amnes Velivolus Tamisis, flaventisque Indus arenæ, Euphratesque, Tagusque, et opimo flumine Ganges, Undas quisque suas volvens, cursuque sonoro In mare prorumpunt: hos magno acclinis in antro Excipit Oceanus, natorumque ordine longo Dona recognoscit venientûm, ultròque serenat 60

"

v. Macrob. S. Scipionis, i. p. 46. v. Gronovii Not. Apuleii Apolog." Verticem hominis velat arcem et regiam." Coripp. de Laud. Justini. ii. 190. Claudiani Cons. Honor, iv. " Summa capitis pendavit in arce.' Sid. Apoll. v. 239, "Arce cerebri." Prudent. Ham. 312, "Mediaque ex arce cerebri," and many other examples. Roscommon has the " Caverns of the Brain," on Poetry, v. 27, and see Sprat. Plague of Athens, st. 11.

"Tum vapor ipsam,

Corporis arcem flammis urit." Senecæ Edip. 185. "And his pure brain,

See also Shakespeare:

Which some suppose the soul's frail dwelling-house."

And see ver. 135 of this poem.

V. 51. So Lucret. iii. 244:

K. John, act v. sc. 7.

"Qua nec mobilius quidquam neque tenuius exstat." And Virg. Georg. i. 398:

"Tenuia nec lanæ per cœlum vellera ferri."

V. 51. "Rerum simulachra ferantur," Lucret. iv. 165. "Geminoque facis commercia mundo," Claud. xxxiii. 91. Te tuus Oceanus natali gurgite lassum Excipit," Claud. vii. 176.

V. 59.

V 60. "Dona recognoscit populorum," Virg. Æn. viii. 721.

Cæruleam faciem, et diffuso marmore ridet.
Haud aliter species properant se inferre novellæ
Certatim menti, atque aditus quino agmine com-
plent.

Primas tactus agit partes, primusque minutæ Laxat iter cæcum turbæ, recipitque ruentem. Non idem huic modus est, qui fratribus: amplius ille

5

70

Imperium affectat senior, penitusque medullis, Visceribusque habitat totis, pellîsque recentem Funditur in telam, et latè per stamina vivit. Necdum etiam matris puer eluctatus ab alvo Multiplices solvit tunicas, et vincula rupit; Sopitus molli somno, tepidoque liquore Circumfusus adhuc: tactus tamen aura lacessit Jamdudum levior sensus, animamque reclusit. Idque magis simul, ac solitum blandumque calo

rem

75

Frigore mutavit cœli, quod verberat acri
Impete inassuetos artus: tum sævior adstat
Humanæque comes vitæ Dolor excipit; ille
Cunctantem frustrà et tremulo multa ore queren-

tem

Corripit invadens, ferreisque amplectitur ulnis. 80

V. 61. "Diffuso lumine ridet," Lucret. iii. 22.

V. 69. So Pope. Essay on Man, i. 217:

"The spider's touch, so exquisitely fine,

Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."
V. 70. "Tum porro puer..
profudit," Lucret. v. 223.
Ibid. iv. 56.

· Nixibus ex alvo matris natura "Cum veteres ponunt tunicas,"

V. 80. "Cupidisque amplectitur ulnis," Ovid. Met. xi. 63,