CONTENTS OF VOL I. THE TEMPLE OF FAME. By ALEXANDER POPE. [Written in the Year 1711.] ADVERTISEMENT. The hint of the following Piece was taken from CHAUCER'S "House of Fame." The design is in a manner entirely altered, the descriptions and most of the particular thoughts my own: yet I could not suffer it to be printed without this acknowledgment. The reader who would compare this with CHAUCER, may begin with his Third Book of Fame, there being nothing in the two first books that answers to their title. (P.) IN that soft season when descending show'rs Call forth the greens, and wake the rising flow'rs; When op'ning buds salute the welcome day, And earth relenting feels the genial ray; As balmy sleep had charm'd my cares to rest, A train of phantoms in wild order rose, I stood, methought, betwixt earth, seas, and skies; The whole creation open to my eyes: In air self-balanc'd hung the globe below, O'er the wide prospect as I gaz'd around, Sudden I heard a wild promiscuous sound, Like broken thunders that at distance roar, Or billows murm'ring on the hollow shore: Whose tow'ring summit ambient clouds conceal'd. High on a rock of ice the structure lay, And fix their own, with labour, in their place; Their own, like others, soon their place resign'd, Or disappear'd, and left the first behind. |