[Page 194]

TO John Hartopp Esq

Youth and Pleasure tarry not.

Casimire, Book 1. Ode 4. Imitated.Vive jucundae metuens juventae, &c.
I.
1 LIVE, my Dear HARTOPP, live to Day,
2 Nor let the Sun look down and say,
3 "Inglorious here he lies.
4 Shake off your Ease, and send your Name
5 To Immortality and Fame
6 By ev'ry Hour that flies.
[Page 195]
II.
7 Youth's a soft Scene, but trust her not,
8 Her Airy Minutes swift as Thought
9 Slide off the Slipp'ry Sphere;
10 Moons with their Months make hasty Rounds,
11 The Sun has pass'd his Vernal Bounds
12 And whirls about the Year.
III.
13 Let Folly dress in Green and Red,
14 And Gird her Wast with flowing Gold,
15 Knit blushing Roses round her Head,
16 Alass! the gaudy Colours fade,
17 The Garment waxes old.
18 HARTOPP, mark the withering Rose,
19 And the pale Gold how dim it shows!
IV.
20 Bright and lasting Bliss below
21 Is all Romance and Dream,
22 Only the Joys Coelestial flow
23 In an Eternal Stream.
24 The Pleasures that the Smiling Day
25 With large Right hand bestows,
[Page 196]
26 Falsly her Left conveys away
27 And shuffles in our Woes.
28 So have I seen a Mother play
29 And Cheat her Silly Child,
30 She gave and took a Toy away,
31 The Infant cry'd, and smil'd.
V.
32 Airy Chance and Iron Fate
33 Hurry and Vex our Mortal State,
34 And all the Race of Ills create;
35 Now fiery Joy, now sullen Grief
36 Commands the Reins of Human Life,
37 The Wheels impetuous roll;
38 The harnest Hours and Minutes strive,
39 And Days with stretching Pinions drive
40 down fiercely on the Goal.
VI.
41 Not half so fast the Gally flies
42 O're the Venetian Sea,
43 When Sails and Oars and laboring Skies
44 Contend to make her Way.
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45 Swift Wings for all the flying Hours
46 The God of Time prepares,
47 The rest lie still yet in their Nest
48 And grow for future Years.

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Title (in Source Edition): TO John Hartopp Esq
Author: Isaac Watts
Themes:
Genres: address; ode

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Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748. Horæ lyricæ: Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind. In two books. ... By I. Watts. London: Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence at the Sign of the Angel in the Poultrey. MDCCVI., 1706, pp. 194-197. [20],267,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T82397; OTA K067329.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Princeton Theological Seminary Library.)

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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.

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