THE
ESTIMATE
of
LIFE
,
IN
THREE
PARTS
.
A
POEM
:
By
JOHN
GILBERT
COOPER
,
Esq
;
PART
I.
MELPOMENE
:
or
,
The
Melancholy
.
—
Reason
thus
with
Life
;
If
I
lose
thee
,
I
do
lose
a
thing
,
That
none
but
fools
would
weep
.
SHAKESP
.
Meas
.
for
Meas
.
OFFSPRING
of
folly
and
of
noise
,
Fantastick
train
of
airy
joys
,
Cease
,
cease
your
vain
delusive
lore
,
And
tempt
my
serious
thoughts
no
more
,
Ye
horrid
forms
,
ye
gloomy
throng
,
Who
hear
the
bird
of
midnight's
song
;
Thou
too
,
DESPAIR
,
pale
spectre
,
come
,
From
the
self-murd'rer's
haunted
tomb
,
While
sad
MELPOMENE
relates
,
How
we're
afflicted
by
the
fates
.
What's
all
this
wish'd-for
empire
,
Life
?
A
scene
of
mis'ry
,
care
,
and
strife
;
And
make
the
most
,
that's
all
we
have
Betwixt
the
cradle
and
the
grave
.
The
being
is
not
worth
the
charge
,
Behold
the
estimate
at
large
.
Our
youth
is
silly
,
idle
,
vain
;
Our
age
is
full
of
care
and
pain
;
From
wealth
accrues
anxiety
;
Contempt
and
want
from
poverty
;
What
trouble
business
has
in
store
!
How
idleness
fatigues
us
more
!
To
reason
,
th'
ignorant
are
blind
;
The
learned's
eyes
are
too
refin'd
Each
wit
deems
every
wit
his
foe
,
Each
fool
is
naturally
so
;
And
ev'ry
rank
and
ev'ry
station
Meet
justly
with
disapprobation
.
Say
,
man
,
is
this
the
boasted
state
,
Where
all
is
pleasant
,
all
is
great
?
Alas
!
another
face
you'll
see
,
Take
off
the
vail
of
vanity
,
Is
aught
in
pleasure
,
aught
in
pow'r
,
Has
wisdom
any
gift
in
store
,
To
make
thee
stay
a
single
hour
?
Tell
me
,
ye
youthful
,
who
approve
Th'
intoxicating
sweets
of
love
,
What
endless
nameless
throbs
arise
,
What
heart-felt
anguish
and
what
sighs
,
When
jealousy
has
gnaw'd
the
root
,
Whence
love's
united
branches
shoot
.
Or
grant
that
Hymen
lights
his
torch
,
To
lead
you
to
the
nuptial
porch
,
Behold
!
the
long'd-for
rapture
o'er
!
Desire
begins
to
lose
its
pow'r
,
Then
cold
indifference
takes
place
,
Fruition
alters
quite
the
case
;
And
what
before
was
extasy
,
Is
scarcely
now
civility
.
Your
children
bring
a
second
care
;
If
childless
,
then
you
want
an
heir
;
So
that
in
both
alike
you
find
The
same
perplexity
of
mind
.
Do
pow'r
or
wealth
more
comfort
own
?
Behold
yon
pageant
on
a
throne
,
Where
silken
swarms
of
flattery
Obsequious
wait
his
asking
eye
.
But
view
within
his
tortur'd
breast
,
No
more
the
downy
seat
of
rest
,
Suspicion
casts
her
poison'd
dart
,
And
guilt
,
that
scorpion
,
stings
his
heart
.
Will
knowledge
give
us
happiness
?
In
that
,
alas
!
we
know
there's
less
,
For
every
pang
of
mental
woe
Springs
from
the
faculty
,
to
know
.
Hark
!
at
the
death-betok'ning
knell
Of
yonder
doleful
passing-bell
,
Perhaps
a
friend
,
a
father's
dead
,
Or
the
lov'd
partner
of
thy
bed
!
Perhaps
thy
only
son
lies
there
,
Breathless
upon
the
sable
bier
!
Say
,
what
can
ease
the
present
grief
,
Can
former
joys
afford
relief
?
Those
former
joys
remember'd
still
,
The
more
augment
the
recent
ill
,
And
where
you
seek
for
comfort
,
gain
Additional
increase
of
pain
.
What
woes
from
mortal
ills
accrue
!
And
what
from
natural
ensue
!
Disease
and
casualty
attend
Our
footsteps
to
the
journey's
end
;
The
cold
catarrh
,
the
gout
and
stone
,
The
dropsy
,
jaundice
,
join'd
in
one
,
The
raving
fever's
inward
heat
,
The
pale
consumption's
fatal
sweat
,
And
thousand
more
distempers
roam
,
To
drag
us
to
th'
eternal
home
.
And
when
solution
sets
us
free
From
prison
of
mortality
,
The
soul
dilated
joins
in
air
,
To
go
,
alas
!
we
know
not
where
,
And
the
poor
body
will
become
A
cloud
within
a
lonely
tomb
.
Reflection
sad
!
such
bodies
must
Return
,
and
mingle
with
the
dust
!
But
neither
sense
nor
beauty
have
Defensive
charms
against
the
grave
,
Nor
virtue's
shield
,
nor
wisdom's
lore
,
Nor
true
religion's
sacred
pow'r
;
For
as
that
charnel's
earth
you
see
,
E'en
,
my
EUDOCIA
,
you
will
be
.
PART
II
.
CALLIOPE
:
or
,
The
Chearful
.
Inter
cuncta
leges
et
percunctabere
doctos
Qua
ratione
queas
traducere
leniter
aevum
.
HOR.
Lib.
1.
Ep.
18.
GRIM
Superstition
,
hence
away
To
native
night
,
and
leave
the
day
,
Nor
let
thy
hellish
brood
appear
,
Begot
on
Ignorance
and
Fear
.
Come
,
gentle
Mirth
,
and
Gaiety
,
Sweet
daughter
of
Society
;
Whilst
fair
CALLIOPE
pursues
Flights
worthy
of
the
chearful
muse
.
O
life
,
thou
great
essential
good
,
Where
ev'ry
blessing's
understood
!
Where
Plenty
,
Freedom
,
Pleasure
meet
,
To
make
each
fleeting
moment
sweet
,
Where
moral
Love
and
Innocence
,
The
balm
of
sweet
Content
dispense
,
Where
Peace
expands
her
turtle
wings
,
And
Hope
a
constant
requiem
sings
,
With
easy
thought
my
breast
inspire
,
To
thee
I
tune
the
sprightly
lyre
.
From
Heav'n
this
emanation
flows
,
To
Heav'n
again
the
wand'rer
goes
:
And
whilst
employ'd
beneath
on
earth
,
Its
boon
attendants
,
Ease
and
Mirth
,
Join'd
with
the
Social
Virtues
three
,
And
their
calm
parent
Charity
,
Conduct
it
to
the
sacred
plains
Where
Happiness
terrestrial
reigns
.
'Tis
Discontent
alone
destroys
The
harvest
of
our
ripening
joys
;
Resolve
to
be
extempt
from
woe
,
Your
resolution
keeps
you
so
.
Whate'er
is
needful
man
receives
,
Nay
more
superfluous
Nature
gives
,
Indulgent
parent
,
source
of
bliss
,
Profuse
of
goodness
to
excess
!
For
thee
'tis
,
man
,
the
zephyr
blows
,
For
thee
the
purple
vintage
flows
,
Each
flow'r
its
various
hue
displays
,
The
lark
exalts
her
vernal
lays
,
To
view
yon
azure
vault
is
thine
,
And
my
EUDOCIA'S
form
divine
.
Hark
!
how
the
renovating
Spring
Invites
the
feather'd
choir
to
sing
,
Spontaneous
mirth
and
rapture
glow
On
ev'ry
shrub
,
and
ev'ry
bough
,
Their
little
airs
a
lesson
give
,
They
teach
us
mortals
how
to
live
,
And
well
advise
us
whilst
we
can
,
To
spend
in
joy
the
vital
span
.
Ye
gay
and
youthful
all
advance
,
Together
knit
in
festive
dance
,
See
blooming
HERE
leads
the
way
,
For
youth
is
Nature's
holiday
.
If
dire
Misfortune
should
employ
Her
dart
to
wound
the
timely
joy
,
Solicit
Bacchus
with
your
pray'r
,
No
earthly
goblin
dares
come
near
,
Care
puts
an
easier
aspect
on
,
Pale
Anger
smooths
her
threat'ning
frown
,
Mirth
comes
in
Melancholy's
stead
,
And
Discontent
conceals
her
head
.
The
thoughts
on
vagrant
pinions
fly
,
And
mount
exulting
to
the
sky
;
Thence
with
enraptur'd
views
look
down
On
golden
empires
all
their
own
.
Or
let
,
when
Fancy
spreads
her
sails
,
Love
waft
you
on
with
easier
gales
,
Where
in
the
soul-bewitching
groves
,
EUPHROSINE
,
sweet
goddess
,
roves
;
'Tis
rapture
all
,
'tis
extasy
!
An
earthly
immortality
!
This
all
the
ancient
Bards
employ'd
,
'Twas
all
the
ancient
Gods
enjoy'd
,
Who
often
from
the
realms
above
Came
down
on
earth
t'
indulge
in
love
.
Still
there's
one
greater
bliss
in
store
,
'Tis
virtuous
Friendship's
social
hour
,
When
goodness
from
the
heart
sincere
Pours
forth
Compassion's
balmy
tear
,
For
from
those
tears
such
transports
flow
,
As
none
but
friends
,
and
angels
know
.
Blest
state
!
where
ev'ry
thing
conspires
To
fill
the
breast
with
heav'nly
fires
!
Where
for
a
while
the
soul
must
roam
,
To
preconceive
the
state
to
come
,
And
when
thro'
life
the
journey's
past
,
Without
repining
or
distaste
,
Again
the
spirit
will
repair
,
To
breathe
a
more
celestial
air
,
And
reap
,
where
blessed
beings
glow
,
Completion
of
the
joys
below
.
PART
III
.
TERPSICHORE
:
or
,
The
Moderate
.
—
foreign
.
HOM.
Od.
foreign
.
Haec
satis
est
orare
Jovem
.
Qui
donat
et
aufert
,
Det
vitam
,
det
opes
;
aepuum
mi
animum
ipse
parabo
.
HOR.
Lib.
1.
Ep.
18.
DESCEND
,
Astraea
,
from
above
,
Where
Jove's
celestial
daughters
rove
,
And
deign
once
more
to
bring
with
thee
Thy
earth-deserting
family
,
Calm
Temperance
,
and
Patience
mild
,
Sweet
Contemplation's
heavenly
child
,
Reflection
firm
,
and
Fancy
free
,
Religion
pure
,
and
Probity
,
Whilst
all
the
Heliconian
throng
Shall
join
TERPSICHORE
in
song
.
Ere
man
great
Reason's
lord
was
made
,
Or
the
world's
first
foundations
laid
,
As
high
in
their
divine
abodes
,
Consulting
sate
the
mighty
gods
,
Jove
on
the
chaos
looking
down
,
Spoke
thus
from
his
imperial
throne
:
"
Ye
deities
and
potentates
,
"
Aerial
pow'rs
,
and
heav'nly
states
,
"
Lo
,
in
that
gloomy
place
below
,
"
Where
darkness
reigns
and
discord
now
,
"
There
a
new
world
shall
grace
the
skies
,
"
And
a
new
creature
form'd
arise
,
"
Who
shall
partake
of
our
perfections
,
"
And
live
and
act
by
our
directions
,
"
(
For
the
chief
bliss
of
any
station
"
Is
nought
without
communication
)
"
Let
therefore
ev'ry
godhead
give
"
What
this
new
being
should
receive
,
"
But
care
important
must
be
had
,
"
To
mingle
well
of
good
and
bad
,
"
That
by
th'
allaying
mixture
,
he
"
May
not
approach
to
deity
.
"
The
sovereign
spake
,
the
gods
agree
,
And
each
began
in
his
degree
:
Behind
the
throne
of
Jove
there
stood
Two
vessels
of
celestial
wood
,
Containing
just
two
equal
measures
,
One
fill'd
with
pain
,
and
one
with
pleasures
;
The
gods
drew
out
from
both
of
these
,
And
mix'd
'em
with
their
essences
,
(
Which
essences
are
heav'nly
still
,
When
undisturb'd
by
nat'ral
ill
,
And
man
to
moral
good
is
prone
,
Let
but
the
moral
pow'rs
alone
,
And
not
pervert
'em
by
tuition
,
Or
conjure
'em
by
superstition
)
Hence
man
partakes
an
equal
share
Of
pleasing
thoughts
and
gloomy
care
,
And
Plain
and
Pleasure
e'er
shall
be
,
As
See
the
PHAEDO
of
Plato
.
PLATO
says
,
in
company
.
Receive
the
one
,
and
soon
the
other
Will
follow
to
rejoin
his
brother
.
Those
who
with
pious
pain
pursue
Calm
Virtue
,
by
her
sacred
clue
,
Will
surely
find
the
mental
treasure
Of
Virtue
,
only
real
pleasure
:
Follow
the
pleasurable
road
,
That
fatal
Siren
reckons
good
,
'Twill
lead
thee
to
the
gloomy
cell
,
Where
Pain
and
Melancholy
dwell
.
Health
is
the
child
of
Abstinence
,
Disease
,
of
a
luxurious
sense
;
Despair
,
that
hellish
fiend
,
proceeds
From
loosen'd
thoughts
,
and
impious
deeds
;
And
the
sweet
offspring
of
Content
,
Flows
from
the
mind's
calm
government
.
Thus
,
man
,
thy
state
is
free
from
woe
,
If
thou
would'st
chuse
to
make
it
so
.
Murmur
not
then
at
Heav'n's
decree
,
The
gods
have
given
thee
liberty
,
And
plac'd
within
thy
conscious
breast
,
Reason
,
as
an
unerring
test
,
And
should'st
thou
fix
on
misery
,
The
fault
is
not
in
them
,
but
thee
.