[Page 19]
AN ODE TO Dr. HANNES, An Eminent PHYSICIAN and POET.
I.
[Page 20]1 WHILE flying o'er the Golden Strings,
2 You gently wake the tuneful Lyre;
3 Or tender, as when ORPHEUS sings,
4 With softer Sounds the Harp inspire:
5 Sad fleeting Ghosts with Art constrain
6 Back to a kinder Life again.
II.
7 Whether, in graceful Lays you shine,
8 And Verse your easy Hours employ;
9 Or give the Soul, her mouldring Shrine
10 Decay'd, a Fairer to enjoy:
11 The Body, cold in Death, explore
12 Thy Skill could only, not restore.
III.
[Page 21]13 Awhile thy learned Toil decline,
14 Nor anxious more, in smiles allow
15 The Circling Glass, the Generous Wine,
16 T'unbend, and smooth thy chearful Brow:
17 Nor longer to thy self severe,
18 In the rich Draught forget thy care.
IV.
19 Now with thy Monarch's Glory fir'd,
20 Let Great NASSAU thy Thirst inflame;
21 Or by his MOUNTAGUE*
* The late Earl of Halifax.
inspir'd,22 Record the Patriot's faithful Name:
23 By whose wise Arts, and watchful Pains,
24 HE Rules in Peace, in Safety Reigns!
V.
[Page 22]25 At length thy mournful Task forbear,
26 From sad'ning Thoughts some respite find;
27 And while we bless thy pious Care,
28 Be to thy self, in pity, kind:
29 Inspir'd with your own Blessings, live;
30 Nor want Your self that Bloom you give.
VI.
31 In vain the Blood's tumultuous Tide,
32 And circling Stream your Hand restrains;
33 Taught o'er the Pulses to preside,
34 And well explore the bubbling Veins:
35 That with the Fever's swelling Heat
36 Glow more inflam'd, more fiercely beat.
VII.
[Page 23]37 In vain you try each Chymic Power,
38 Trace to its Spring the Sanguine Wave;
39 And kindly search each healing Flower
40 For Helps to guard us from the Grave:
41 In endless Bloom to bid us live,
42 Which THOU, nor THEY (Alas) can give.
VIII.
43 One certain Fate by Heaven decreed,
44 In spite of Thee we all must try;
45 When from her bursting Prison freed,
46 The mounting Soul shall claim the Sky:
47 Our Sons must once lament our Doom,
48 And shed their Sorrows round our Tomb.
IX.
[Page 24]49 Thou too shalt with pale Horror see
50 The Fabled Ghosts which glare below,
51 Which to the Shades, restrain'd by Thee,
52 In thinner Shoals, descending, flow:
53 And Death, whose Power you now defy,
54 Shall boast, her Conqueror can Die.
X.
55 His Life alone is greatly blest,
56 Whom no intruding Griefs annoy;
57 Who smiles each happy Day, possest
58 Of chearful Ease, and harmless Joy:
59 Nor sadly soothing his own Cares,
60 Augments himself the Weight he bears.
XI.
61 Pleas'd, with a few selected Friends,
62 He views each smiling Evening close;
63 While each succeeding Morn ascends,
64 Charg'd with Delights, unmark'd with Woes:
65 In Pleasures innocently gay,
66 Wears the Remains of Life away.
About this text
Author: Joseph Addison; Thomas Newcomb (translator)
Themes:
science
Genres:
dedication; address
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Addison, Joseph, 1672-1719. Two poems: viz. I. On the deluge, paradise, the burning of the world, and of the new heavens and new earth. An ode to. Dr. Burnett. II. In praise of physic and poetry. An ode to Dr. Hannes. Written by Mr. Addison. London: printed for E. Curll, 1718, pp. 19-24. 24p. : ill ; 8⁰. (ESTC T75001; Foxon N275; OTA K063010.000)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by Joseph Addison
- THE CAMPAIGN, A POEM, To His GRACE the DUKE of MARLBOROUGH. ()
- AN ODE TO Dr. HANNES, An Eminent PHYSICIAN and POET. ()
- AN ODE To the Learned Dr. Thomas Burnett, AUTHOR of The Theory of the EARTH. (); TO That GREAT-THINKER, Dr. THOMAS BURNET, On His SACRED THEORY of the EARTH. ()
- THE RESURRECTION A POEM. ()
- To Her ROYAL HIGHNESS the PRINCESS of WALES, With the Tragedy of CATO. Nov. 1714. ()
- TO Sir GODFREY KNELLER, ON HIS PICTURE of the KING. ()