To the reverend and learned Dr. WEBSTER, Occasioned by his Dialogues on ANGER and FORGIVENESS. ODE VIII. Christopher Smart Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T42626 K041581.000 Smart, Christopher, 1722-1771. Poems on several occasions: By Christopher Smart, A. M. Fellow of Pembroke-Hall, Cambridge. London printed for the author, by W. Strahan; and sold by J. Newbery, at the Bible and Sun, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, MDCCLII. 1752 pp. 20-22. [16],230p.,plates; 4⁰.

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To the reverend and learned Dr. WEBSTER , Occasioned by his Dialogues on ANGER and FORGIVENESS . ODE VIII . I. 'TWAS when th' omniscient creative pow'r Display'd his wonders by a mortal's hand , And , delegated at th' appointed hour , Great Moses led away his chosen band ; When Israel's host , with all their stores , Past thro' the ruby-tinctur'd crystal shores , The wilderness of waters and of land : Then persecution rag'd in heav'n's own cause , And right on neighbouring kingdoms to infringe , Strict justice for the breach of nature's laws , Strict justice , who's full-sister to revenge : The legislator held the scythe of fate , Where'er his legions chanc'd to stray , Death and destruction mark'd their bloody way ; Immoderate was their rage , for mortal was their hate . II . But when the king of righteousness arose , And on the illumin'd East serenely smil'd , He shone with meekest mercy on his foes , Bright as the sun , but as the moon-beams mild ; From anger , fell revenge , and discord free , He bad war's hellish clangor cease , In pastoral simplicity and peace , And shew'd to men that face , which Moses could not see . III . Well hast thou , WEBSTER , pictur'd christian love , And copied our great master's fair design , But livid Envy would the light remove , Or croud thy portrait in a nook malign — The Muse shall hold it up to popular view — Where the more candid and judicious few Shall think the bright original they see , The likeness nobly lost in the identity . IV . Oh hadst thou liv'd in better days than these , E'er to excel by all was deem'd a shame ! Alas ! thou hast no modern arts to please , And to deserve is all thy empty claim . Else thou'dst been plac'd , by learning , and by wit , There , where thy dignify'd inferiors sit — Oh they are in their generation wise , Each path of interest they have sagely trod , — To live — to thrive — to rise — and still to rise — Better to bow to men , than kneel to God . V. Behold ! — where poor unmansion'd Merit stands , All cold , and crampt with penury and pain ; Speechless thro' want , she rears th' imploring hands , And begs a little bread , but begs in vain ; While Bribery and Dulness , passing by , Bid her , in sounds barbarian , starve and die . " Away ( they cry ( we never saw thy name ) " Or in Preferment's List , or that of Fame ; " Away — nor here the fate thou earn'st bewail , " Who canst not buy a vote , nor hast a soul for sale . VI . Oh Indignation , wherefore wert thou given , If drowsy Patience deaden all thy rage ? — Yet we must bear — such is the will of heaven ; And , WEBSTER , so prescribes thy candid page . Then let us hear thee preach seraphic love , Guide our disgusted thoughts to things above ; So our free souls , fed with divine repast , ( Unmindful of low mortals mean employ ) Shall taste the present , recollect the past , And strongly hope for every future joy .