[Page 272]
ODE on the Death of a Favourite CAT, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes.
I.
1 'TWAS on a lofty vase's side,
2 Where China's gayest art had dy'd
3 The azure flowers, that blow;
4 Demurest of the Tabby kind,
5 The pensive Selima reclin'd,
6 Gaz'd on the lake below.
II.
[Page 273]7 Her conscious tail her joy declar'd;
8 The fair round face, the snowy beard,
9 The velvet of her paws,
10 The coat that with the tortoise vies,
11 Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
12 She saw; and purr'd applause.
III.
13 Still had she gaz'd: but 'midst the tide
14 Two beauteous forms were seen to glide,
15 The Genii of the stream;
16 Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue
17 Thro' richest purple to the view
18 Betray'd a golden gleam.
IV.
19 The hapless nymph with wonder saw:
20 A whisker first and then a claw
21 With many an ardent wish,
22 She stretch'd in vain to reach the prize.
23 What female heart can gold despise?
24 What cat's averse to fish?
V.
25 Presumptuous maid! with looks intent
26 Again she stretch'd, again she bent,
27 Nor knew the gulph between;
28 (Malignant Fate sat by and smil'd)
29 The slipp'ry verge her feet beguil'd,
30 She tumbled headlong in.
VI.
[Page 274]31 Eight times emerging from the flood
32 She mew'd to ev'ry wat'ry god,
33 Some speedy aid to send.
34 No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirr'd:
35 Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard.
36 A fav'rite has no friend!
VII.
37 From hence, ye beauties undeceiv'd,
38 Know, one false step is ne'er retriev'd,
39 And be with caution bold.
40 Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
41 And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
42 Nor all, that glisters, gold.
About this text
Author: Thomas Gray
Themes:
advice; moral precepts; animals; death
Genres:
ballad metre; ode; Song to David-stanza; fable
References:
DMI 22462
Text view / Document view
Source edition
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. 272-274. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.002) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)
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 versions of this work
Other works by Thomas Gray
- Agrippina, a Tragedy ()
- The Alliance of Education and Government. A Fragment ()
- The Candidate ()
- [Caradoc] ()
- The Characters of the Christ-Cross Row, By a Critic, To Mrs — ()
- [Conan] ()
- [Couplet about Birds] ()
- The Death of Hoel From Aneurin, Monarch of the Bards, extracted from the Gododin ()
- THE DESCENT OF ODIN: AN ODE. (); The Descent of Odin. An Ode (From the Norse-Tongue,) in Bartholinus, de causis contemnendae mortis; Hafniae, 1689, Quarto. Upreis Odinn allda gautr, &c. ()
- An ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH YARD. (); Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ()
- [Epitaph on a Child] ()
- [Epitaph on Mrs Clerke] ()
- [Epitaph on Mrs Mason] ()
- [Epitaph on Sir William Williams] ()
- THE FATAL SISTERS: AN ODE. (); The Fatal Sisters. An Ode (From the Norse-Tongue,) in the ORCADES of Thormodus Torfaeus; Hafniae, 1697, Folio: and also in Bartholinus. Vitt er orpit fyrir valfalli, &c. ()
- HYMN to ADVERSITY. (); Ode to Adversity ()
- [Hymn to Ignorance. A Fragment] ()
- Imitated from Propertius, Lib: 3: Eleg: 5: ()
- [Imitated] From Propertius. Lib: 2: Eleg: 1. ()
- [Impromptus] ()
- [Invitation to Mason] ()
- [Lines on Dr Robert Smith] ()
- Lines on the Accession of George III ()
- [Lines Spoken by the Ghost of John Dennis at the Devil Tavern] ()
- [Lines Written at Burnham] ()
- A Long Story ()
- ODE AT THE INSTALLATION OF HIS GRACE AUGUSTUS HENRY FITZROY, DUKE OF GRAFTON, CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY. JULY 1, MDCCLXIX. (); Ode for Music ()
- An ODE On a distant Prospect of ETON COLLEGE. (); Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College ()
- [Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude] ()
- ODE. (); Ode on the Spring ()
- ODE. (); The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode ()
- ODE. (); The Bard. A Pindaric Ode ()
- On L[or]d H[olland']s Seat near M[argat]e, K[en]t ()
- [Parody on an Epitaph] ()
- Satire on the Heads of Houses; or, Never a Barrel the Better Herring ()
- [Sketch of his Own Character] ()
- Song I ()
- Song II ()
- Sonnet [on the Death of Mr Richard West] ()
- Stanzas to Mr Bentley ()
- [Tophet] Inscription on a Portrait ()
- [Translation from Dante, Inferno Canto xxxiii 1-78] ()
- [Translation from Statius, Thebaid VI 646-88, 704-24] ()
- [Translation from Statius, Thebaid IX 319-26] ()
- [Translation] From Tasso [Gerusalemme Liberata] Canto 14, Stanza 32-9 ()
- THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN: A FRAGMENT. (); The Triumphs of Owen. A Fragment from Mr. Evans's Specimens of the Welch Poetry; London, 1764, Quarto. ()
- [Verse Fragments] ()
- William Shakespeare to Mrs Anne, Regular Servant to the Revd Mr Precentor of York ()