An ODE. Robert Craggs Nugent, Earl Nugent Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
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. T131163 K104099.002 Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. II. London printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley 1763 [1st ed. 1758] pp. 215-216. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

This e-text is part of the Works section of the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

XML created for the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

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 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.

Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center; text-align: right; text-align: left; display: inline font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
An ODE . By the Same . GENTLE , idle , trifling boy , Sing of pleasures , sing of joy ! Well you paint the crystal spring , Well the flow'ry meadow sing . But beware with bolder flight , Tempt not heaven's unequal height ; But beware ! with impious strain , Mock not freedom's hallow'd train ! Sacred , here , O ! ever be Heaven , and heaven-born liberty ! Let the slaves of lawless sway , Let the stupid flock obey ! Pent within a narrow fold , Ty'd , and stript , and slain , and sold . Happier stars the brave befriend , Britons know a nobler end . Theirs it is to temper laws , Theirs to watch in freedom's cause , Theirs one common good to share , Theirs to feel one common care ; In the glorious task combin'd , From the monarch to the hind . Yet O ! cease not gentle boy ! Sing of pleasures , sing of joy ! Like thy brothers of the wing , Idly hop , and chirp , and sing . Heaven can nothing vain produce , Ev'ry creature has its use . Thine it is to sooth our toil , Thine to make e'en wisdom smile . Much they err who such despise , Trifles please the truly wise .