To the Honorable CHARLES MONTAGUE, Esq Matthew Prior 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. T075639 Prior, Matthew, 1664-1721. Poems on Several Occasions [English poems only]. London Printed for JACOB TONSON at Shakespear's-Head over against Katharine-Street in the Strand, and JOHN BARBER upon Lambeth-Hill. MDCCXVIII. 1718 pp. 24-26. [42],506,[6]p.: ill.; 2°.

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To the Honorable CHARLES MONTAGUE , Esq I. Howe'er 'tis well , that while Mankind Thro' Fate's perverse Mæander errs , He can imagin'd Pleasures find , To combat against real Cares . II . Fancies and Notions He pursues , Which ne'er had Being but in Thought : Each , like the Græcian Artist , woo's The Image He himself has wrought . III . Against Experience He believes : He argues against Demonstration , Pleas'd , when his Reason He deceives ; And sets his Judgment by his Passion . IV . The hoary Fool , who many Days Has struggl'd with continu'd Sorrow , Renews his Hope , and blindly lays The desp'rate Bett upon To-morrow . V. To-morrow comes : 'tis Noon : 'tis Night : This Day like all the former flies : Yet on He runs to seek Delight To-morrow , 'till To-night He dies . VI . Our Hopes , like tow'ring Falcons , aim At Objects in an airy height : The little Pleasure of the Game Is from afar to view the Flight . VII . Our anxious Pains We , all the Day , In search of what We like , employ : Scorning at Night the worthless Prey , We find the Labour gave the Joy . VIII . At Distance thro' an artful Glass To the Mind's Eye Things well appear : They lose their Forms , and make a Mass Confus'd and black , if brought too near . IX . If We see right , We see our Woes : Then what avails it to have Eyes ? From Ignorance our Comfort flows : The only Wretched are the Wise . X. We wearied should lie down in Death : This Cheat of Life would take no more ; If You thought Fame but empty Breath ; I , Phyllis but a perjur'd Whore .