ABSTRACT
HOW can the muse with burthen’d pinions soar? No flow’rs appear among the winter’s store. Remov’d from FORTUNE’S vivifying heat, Almost within the Frigid Zone of fate. Can shiv’ring fancy fondly hope to rise, Through the rough regions of tempestuous skies? ‘Tis madness to attempt - yet REASON, proud, With God-like energy thus cries aloud: ‘Let fools the deity of FORTUNE own; ‘I view alike a cottage or a throne. ‘Intrinsic worth, alone, has charms for me; ‘The worth of virtue, and of liberty. ‘Rouze, then, nor let an apathy of soul, ‘Thy active free-born faculties controul: ‘Behold aright the attributes of state; ‘They are not always happy, who are great. ‘Invoke CONTENT to soothe thy troubled mind, ‘CONTENT, the opulence of human kind, ‘That like the tuneful herald of the mom, ‘When rosy-tinctur’d beams the East adorn, ‘From his grass pallat mounts on cow’ring wings, ‘And from his height serene - looks down on kings: ‘Then, pleas’d, returns into his humble bed, ‘And rests, while sleep from grandeur’s couch is fled: ‘Such is CONTENT - her sacred aid invoke. - Sweet, as Orphean lyre, the voice that spoke: As that could lull the savage herds to rest, So this can calm the troubles of my breast: ’Tis done - care’s furrow’d brow is render’d even, The call of REASON is the call of Heav’n; And, now, to justly dedicate those lays, Which, through the parent-stock, must hope for praise; From SOUTHERNER muse existence must derive, Must live through him, if they should chance to live. Shall I for some exalted title seek,
And cringe to fortune, not to merit speak? No - she disdains a task so meanly low, In ev’ry shape to flattery a foe: But where with honest pleasure she can find, Sense, taste, politeness with good-nature join’d; There, gladly, will she raise her humble voice,
JAMES BOSWELL: 174095, famous friend and biographer of Samuel Johnson. He studied law at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Utrecht. While in Edinburgh, he became stage-struck, publishing in 1760 A View of the Edinburgh Theatre During the Summer Season 1759. It is likely that Gentleman lent a hand in this work. 9-25 ‘LET FOOLS ... SACRED AID INVOKE’: Possibly a passage taken from the stage version of the play, but not clearly identifiable. 10 A COTTAGE OR A THRONE: Indifference to fortune. 13 ROUZE: Rouse. The archaic spelling is retained throughout this text. 14 CONTROUL: Control. 20 ROSY TINCTUR’D BEAMS: Poetic language for dawn, reminiscent of Homeric imagery in The Odyssey. 21 PALLAT: Pallet, rustic or inferior type of bed. 26 ORPHEAN LYRE: Reference to Orpheus, son (in some versions) of Calliope, chief of the nine Muses. He played upon the lyre and the cithara, which he is said to have invented. He sang so sweetly that wild beasts would follow him and trees and plants bow down before him. 31 LAYS: Songs or poems.
