Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

The Modern Hercules. To John Vancouver, Esq. On his Presenting the Author with a Golden Pen. [from Harvest-Home: Consisting of Supplementary Gleanings, Original Dramas and Poems, Contributions of Literary Friends, and Select Re-publications, Including Sympathy, a Poem, Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged. From the Eighth edition]

London

Printed for Richard Phillips

1805

"Shall she pronounce that generous Heart / A store-room vile of selfish Art?"

"But how shall I the theme begin?
Shall Slander[1], with her tongue malign,
First pour her venom o'er the page
With more than dæmon's deadly rage?
Shall she the marks of Heaven deface,
The characters of Hell to trace?
Shall she pervert each glowing thought,
And swear that Head with mischief fraught?
Shall she pronounce that generous Heart
A store-room vile of selfish Art?
Shall she, in Envy's colours, show,
That e'en the Balms the Good bestow,--
Balms which those smiling Cots adorn[2],
Where late prevail'd the wounding thorn,
Where beat the rain, and blew the wind,--
But prove some latent fraud behind?
Though ev'ry fair and household Guest,
Day's honest labour, evening's rest;
The Parents' blissful smile and tear
Exchang'd for meagre looks severe;
And Village Virtue, that before,
Indignant, shunn'd the Peasant's door,
Leading to ev'ry deed obscene
And vice of the polluted Green:
The Cot now yield to kinder Powers,
That round it twine Life's moral flowers;
The buds and blossoms of the Soul,
And Nature's charms to deck the whole;
The Jess'mine fair, the Woodbine gay,
And Children blooming sweet as they:--
Oh, shall the Muse all these pass by,
And all the good they bring deny?
Shall she, with frantic Party Hate,
From Tachbrook[3] to the Castle Gate[4];
Thence far diffused by many a maze,
Where Malice, with Satanic gaze,
Eyes the fair Eden with disdain,
Where Virtue, Truth, and Beauty reign;
Shall she pronounce all these a snare,
Some mighty ruin to prepare?

Architecture::Store-room

Searching "heart" and "sterling" in HDIS (Poetry)

06/03/2005