SONG.* O memory! thou fond deceiver, And turning all the past to pain: Thou, like the world, the opprest oppressing, Thy smiles increase the wretch's woe; And he who wants each other blessing, SONG.I The wretch condemn'd with life to part, Still, still on Hope relies; And every pang that rends the heart, Bides expectation rise. § * [From the oratorio of the Captivity, written in 1764. See p. 94, in the present volume, and Life, ch. xiv.] + [In the original MS., in the possession of Mr. Murray: "Hence, deceiver! most distressing, Seek the happy and the free; They who want each other blessing, Ever want a friend in thee."] [Also from the oratorio of the Captivity. See p. 100.] § [Originally "Fatigued with life, yet loth to part, On hope the wretch relies; And every blow that sinks the heart Bids the deluder rise. Hope, like the taper's gleaming light, Adorns the wretch's way," &c.] In Mr. Murray's MS. the stanza runs thus: Hope, like the glimmering taper's light, And still, as darker grows the night, THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION. A TALE.* Secluded from domestic strife, Made him the happiest man alive; Such pleasures, unalloy'd with care, To ravage in a country town! Or Flavia been content to stop [To the last moment of his breath, On hope the wretch relies; And e'en the pang preceding death Bids expectation rise. "Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, Adorns and cheers our way, &c."] [Printed in the volume of Essays which appeared in 1765.]. [Here followed, in the first edition: "Without politeness, aim'd at breeding, O, had her eyes forgot to blaze! Miss frown'd and blush'd, and then was-married. Need we expose to vulgar sight The honey-moon like lightning flew; [Here followed, in the first edition: "Our alter'd parson now began The allusion to the "bailiffs pump'd" applies to an incident in the Poet's own college Career. See Life, ch. iii.] ["And though she felt his visage rough."-Orig.] Found half the charms that deck'd her face Skill'd in no other arts was she, But when at home, at board or bed, In short, by night, 'twas fits or fretting; Of powder'd coxcombs at her levy; The 'squire and captain took their stations, And twenty other near relations: Jack suck'd his pipe, and often broke A sigh in suffocating smoke;† While all their hours were pass'd between Insulting repartee or spleen. Thus as her faults each day were known, He thinks her features coarser grown; He fancies every vice she shows, Or thins her lip, or points her nose: How wide her mouth, how wild her eyes! Her face is grown a knowing phiz; Now to perplex the ravell'd noose, As each a different way pursues, While sullen or loquacious strife Promised to hold them on for life, That dire disease, whose ruthless power Withers the beauty's transient flower :Lo! the small pox, whose horrid glare Levell'd its terrors at the fair; And, rifling every youthful grace, Left but the remnant of a face. The glass, grown hateful to her sight, Reflected now a perfect fright: Each former art she vainly tries Poor madam, now condemn'd to hack The rest of life with auxious Jack, |