The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) and Two Rambler papers (1750) | Page 5

first the College Rolls receive his Name,
The young
Enthusiast quits his Ease for Fame;
Resistless burns the Fever of
Renown,
Caught from the strong Contagion of the Gown;
O'er
Bodley's Dome his future Labours spread,
And Bacon's Mansion
trembles o'er his Head;
Are these thy Views? proceed, illustrious
Youth,
And Virtue guard thee to the Throne of Truth,
Yet should
thy Soul indulge the gen'rous Heat,
Till captive Science yields her
last Retreat;
Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray,
And
pour on misty Doubt resistless Day;
Should no false Kindness lure to
loose Delight,
Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright;
Should
tempting Novelty thy Cell refrain,
And Sloth's bland Opiates shed
their Fumes in vain;
Should Beauty blunt on Fops her fatal Dart,

Nor claim the Triumph of a letter'd Heart;
Should no Disease thy
torpid Veins invade,
Nor Melancholy's Phantoms haunt thy Shade;

Yet hope not Life from Grief or Danger free,
Nor think the Doom of
Man revers'd for thee:
Deign on the passing World to turn thine Eyes,

And pause awhile from Learning to be wise;
There mark what Ills
the Scholar's Life assail;
Toil, Envy, Want, the Garret, and the Jail.

See Nations slowly wise, and meanly just;
To buried Merit raise the
tardy Bust.
If Dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat_'s
Life, and _Galileo's End.
[Footnote g: Ver. 114-132.]
Nor deem, when Learning her lost Prize bestows
The glitt'ring
Eminence exempt from Foes;
See when the Vulgar 'scap'd, despis'd
or aw'd,
Rebellion's vengeful Talons seize on Laud.
From meaner
Minds, tho' smaller Fines content
The plunder'd Palace or sequester'd
Rent;
Mark'd out by dangerous Parts he meets the Shock,

And fatal
Learning leads him to the Block:
Around his Tomb let Art and
Genius weep,
But hear his Death, ye Blockheads, hear and sleep.
The[h] festal Blazes, the triumphal Show,
The ravish'd Standard, and
the captive Foe,
The Senate's Thanks, the Gazette's pompous Tale,

With Force resistless o'er the Brave prevail.
Such Bribes the rapid

Greek_ o'er _Asia whirl'd,
For such the steady Romans shook the
World;
For such in distant Lands the Britons shine,
And stain with
Blood the Danube_ or the _Rhine;
This Pow'r has Praise, that Virtue
scarce can warm,
Till Fame supplies the universal Charm.
Yet
Reason frowns on War's unequal Game,
Where wasted Nations raise
a single Name,
And mortgag'd States their Grandsires Wreaths regret

From Age to Age in everlasting Debt;
Wreaths which at last the
dear-bought Right convey
To rust on Medals, or on Stones decay.

[Footnote h: Ver. 133-146.]
On[i] what Foundation stands the Warrior's Pride?
How just his
Hopes let Swedish Charles decide;
A Frame of Adamant, a Soul of
Fire,
No Dangers fright him, and no Labours tire;
O'er Love, o'er
Force, extends his wide Domain,
Unconquer'd Lord of Pleasure and
of Pain;
No Joys to him pacific Scepters yield,
War sounds the
Trump, he rushes to the Field;
Behold surrounding Kings their Pow'r
combine,
And One capitulate, and One resign;
Peace courts his
Hand, but spread her Charms in vain;
"Think Nothing gain'd, he cries,
till nought remain,
On Moscow_'s Walls till _Gothic Standards fly,

And all is Mine beneath the Polar Sky."
The March begins in Military
State,
And Nations on his Eye suspended wait;
Stern Famine guards
the solitary Coast,
And Winter barricades the Realms of Frost;
He
comes, nor Want nor Cold his Course delay;--
Hide, blushing Glory,
hide Pultowa's Day:
The vanquish'd Hero leaves his broken Bands,

And shews his Miseries in distant Lands;
Condemn'd a needy
Supplicant to wait,
While Ladies interpose, and Slaves debate.
But
did not Chance at length her Error mend?
Did no subverted Empire
mark his End?
Did rival Monarchs give the fatal Wound?
Or hostile
Millions press him to the Ground?
His Fall was destin'd to a barren
Strand,
A petty Fortress, and a dubious Hand;
He left the Name, at
which the World grew pale,
To point a Moral, or adorn a Tale.

[Footnote i: Ver. 147-167.]

All[k] Times their Scenes of pompous Woes afford,
From Persia_'s
Tyrant to _Bavaria's Lord.
In gay Hostility, and barb'rous Pride,

With half Mankind embattled at his Side,
Great Xerxes comes to
seize the certain Prey,
And starves exhausted Regions in his Way;

Attendant Flatt'ry counts his Myriads o'er,
Till counted Myriads sooth
his Pride no more;
Fresh Praise is try'd till Madness fires his Mind,

The Waves he lashes, and enchains the Wind;
New Pow'rs are claim'd,
new Pow'rs are still bestow'd,
Till rude Resistance lops the spreading
God;
The daring Greeks deride the Martial Shew,
And heap their
Vallies with the gaudy Foe;
Th' insulted Sea with humbler Thoughts
he gains,
A single Skiff to speed his Flight remains;
Th' incumber'd
Oar scarce leaves the dreaded Coast
Through purple Billows and a
floating Host.
[Footnote k: Ver. 168-187.]
The bold Bavarian, in a luckless Hour,
Tries the dread Summits of
Cesarean Pow'r,
With unexpected Legions bursts away,
And sees
defenceless Realms receive his Sway;
Short Sway! fair Austria
spreads her mournful Charms,
The Queen, the Beauty, sets the World
in Arms;
From Hill to Hill the Beacons rousing Blaze
Spreads wide
the Hope of Plunder and of Praise;
The fierce Croatian_, and the wild
_Hussar,
And all the Sons of Ravage croud the War;
The baffled
Prince in Honour's flatt'ring Bloom
Of hasty Greatness finds the fatal
Doom,
His Foes Derision, and his Subjects Blame,
And steals to
Death from Anguish and from Shame.
Enlarge[l] my Life with Multitude of