The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray/Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College

by Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

III.^{[N 1]} ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE.

 

Άνθρωπος, ἱκανὴ πρόφασις εἰς τὸ δυστυχεῖν.Menander. Incert. Fragm. ver. 382. ed. Cler. p. 245.

 

[See Musæ Etonenses, vol. i. p. 229, and Brit. Bibliographer, vol. ii. p. 214.]

 

Ye distant spires, ye antique towers,That crown the wat'ry glade,^{[N 2]}Where grateful Science still adoresHer Henry's^{[N 3]} holy shade;^{[N 4]}And ye, that from the stately brow 5Of Windsor's heights th' expanse belowOf grove, of lawn, of mead survey, Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers amongWanders the hoary Thames alongHis silver-winding way:^{[N 5]} 10

Ah, happy hills! ah, pleasing shade!Ah, fields belov'd in vain!Where once my careless childhood stray'd,A stranger yet to pain!I feel the gales that from ye blow^{[N 6]} 15A momentary bliss bestow,As waving fresh their gladsome wing,My weary soul they seem to soothe,And, redolent of joy and youth,^{[N 7]}To breathe a second spring. 20

Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen^{[N 8]}

Full many a sprightly raceDisporting on thy margent green,^{[N 9]}The paths of pleasure trace;Who foremost now delight to cleave, 25With pliant arm, thy glassy wave?The captive linnet which enthral?^{[N 10]}What idle progeny succeedTo chase the rolling circle's speed,^{[V 1]}Or urge the flying ball? 30

While some on earnest business bentTheir murm'ring labours ply'Gainst graver hours that bring constraintTo sweet liberty:Some bold adventurers disdain 35The limits of their little reign,

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^{[N 12]} And unknown regions dare descry:Still as they run they look behind,They hear a voice in every wind,And snatch a fearful joy. 40

Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed,Less pleasing when possest;The tear forgot as soon as shed,The sunshine of the breast:Theirs buxom health, of rosy hue, 45Wild wit, invention ever new,And lively cheer, of vigour born;The thoughtless day, the easy night,The spirits pure, the slumbers light,That fly th' approach of morn. 50

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Alas! regardless of their doomThe little victims play;No sense have they of ills to come,Nor care beyond to-day:Yet see, how all around 'em wait 55The ministers of human fate,And black Misfortune's baleful train!Ah, show them where in ambush stand,To seize their prey, the murth'rous band!Ah, tell them, they are men! 60

These shall the fury Passions tear,The vultures of the mind,Disdainful Anger, pallid Fear,And Shame that sculks behind;Or pining Love shall waste their youth, 65Or Jealousy, with rankling tooth,

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^{[N 23]} That inly gnaws the secret heart;And Envy wan, and faded Care,Grim-visag'd comfortless Despair,And Sorrow's piercing dart. 70

Ambition this shall tempt to rise,Then whirl the wretch from high,To bitter Scorn a sacrifice,And grinning Infamy.The stings of Falsehood those shall try, 75And hard Unkindness' alter'd eye,That mocks the tear it forc'd to flow;And keen Remorse with blood defil'd,And moody Madness laughing wildAmid severest woe.

Lo! in the vale of years beneathA griesly troop are seen,

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The painful family of Death,More hideous than their queen:This racks the joints, this fires the veins, 85That every labouring sinew strains,Those in the deeper vitals rage:Lo! Poverty, to fill the band,That numbs the soul with icy hand,And slow-consuming Age. 90

To each his suff'rings: all are men,Condemn'd alike to groan;The tender for another's pain,Th' unfeeling for his own.Yet, ah! why should they know their fate, 95

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^{[N 34]} Since sorrow never comes too lateAnd happiness too swiftly flies?Thought would destroy their Paradise.No more;—where ignorance is bliss,'Tis folly to be wise. 100

 

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Variants

1. Var. V. 29. "To chase the hoop's elusive speed." MS.

Notes

V. 5."and now to where
Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow."
Thoms. Sum, 1412. W.

1. This, as Mason informs us, was the first English production of Gray which appeared in print. It was published in folio, in 1747, and appeared again in Dodsley. Col. vol. ii. p. 267, without the name of the author. A Latin poem by him, On the Prince of Wales's Marriage, had appeared in the Cambridge Collection, in 1736, which is inserted in this edition.
2. V. 2. "Haunt the watery glade."—
   Pope. Wind. For. Luke.
3. King Henry the Sixth, founder of the College.
4. V. 4. So in the Bard, ii. 3: "And spare the meek usurper's holy head." And in Install. Ode, iv. 12; "the murder'd saint." So Rich. III. ac. v. sc. 1: "Holy King Henry." And act iv. sc. iv: "When holy Henry died." This epithet has a peculiar propriety, as Henry the Sixth, though never canonized, was regarded as a saint. See Barrington on the Statutes, p. 416, and Douce. Illust. of Shakesp. ii. 38. "Yea and holy Henry lying at Windsor." Barclay. Eclog. p. 4. fol.
5. V. 10. "The vale of Thames fair-winding up." Thoms. Sum. 1417. Fenton in his Ode to Lord Gower, which was praised by Pope and Akenside, had these two lines, iii. 1:
   "Or if invok'd where Thames's fruitful tidesSlow thro' the vale in silver volumes play."
   
   Spenser. vol. v. p. 87: "Silver-streaming Thames."
6. V. 15. "L'Aura gentil che rasserena i poggi
   Destando i fior per questo ombroso bosco
   Al soavesuo spirto riconosco,"Petrarca, Son. clxi.
7. V. 19. And bees their honey redolent of spring," Dryden's Fable on the Pythag. System. Gray.—"And every field is redolent of spring," L. Welsted's Poems, p. 23. It appears also in the Memoirs of Europe towards the Close of the Eighth Century, by Mrs. Manly, 1716, vol. ii. p. 67: "The lovely Endimion, redolent of youth." See Todd, in a note to Sams. Agonist. (Milton, vol. iv. p. 410).
8. V. 21. This invocation is taken from Green's Grotto: see Dodsley. Col. vol. v. p. 159.
   "Say, father Thames, whose gentle paceGives leave to view, what beauties graceYour flowery banks, if you have seen.
   
   Perhaps both poets thought of Cowley, vol. i. p. 117:
   "Ye fields of Cambridge, our dear Cambridge, say,Have you not seen us walking every day."
   
   Dryden. An. Mirab. St. ccxxxii. "Old father Thames rais'd up his reverend head."
9. V. 23. "By slow Mæander's margent green." Milton Com. 232. W.
10. V. 27. This expression has been noticed as tautologous. Thomson, on the same subject, uses somewhat redundant language, Spring, 702:
    "Inhuman caught; and in the narrow cageFrom liberty confined and boundless air."
    
11. V. 24. "To virtue, in the paths of pleasure trod." Pope. Essay on Man, iii. 233.
12. V. 26. "On the glassy wave." Todd. ed. of Comus, p. 118.
13. V. 30. "The senator at cricket urge the ball," Pope. Dun. iv. 592.
14. V. 37. This line is taken from Cowley. Pindarique Ode to Hobbes, iv. 7. p. 223: "Till unknown regions it descries."
15. V. 40. Magnaque post lachrymas etiamnum gaudia pallent." Stat. Theb. i. 620: For other expressions of this nature, see Wakefield's note. Add Sn. Ital. xvi. 432, "latoque pavore." Luke.
16. V. 44. "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind." Pope. Eloisa, ver. 209. Add Essay on Man, iv. 167, "The soul's calm sunshine."
17. V. 47. "In either cheeke depeyncten lively cheere," Spenser. Habbinol's Dittie, ver. 33. W. See Milton, Ps, lxxxiv. 5. "With joy and gladsome cheer." Luke.
18. V. 49. The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air." Pope. Im, of Horace, I. 73; Hor. Od. ii xi. 7. "facilemque somnum" and Par. L. v. 3:
    "———His sleepWas airy light, from pure digestion bredAnd temperate vapours bland,"
    
19. V. 51. "L'en now, regardless of his doom, 65 Applauding honour haunts his tomb." Collins. Ode on the Death of Col. Ross, 4th stanza of his first manuscript.
20. V. 55. These two lines resemble two in Broome. Ode ou Melancholy, p. 28: While round, stern ministers of fate, Pain, and Disease, and Sorrow wait." And Otway, Alcih. act v. se. 2. p. 84. "Then enter, ye grim ministers of fate."
21. V. 61. The fury Passions from that flood began." See Pope. Essay on Man, iii, 167.
22. V. 63. Exsanguisque Metus," Stat. Theb. vii. 49. Aud from bim Milton. Quint. Novemb. 148: "Exsan- guisque Horror." Pers. Sat. iii. v. 115, "Timor albus."
23. V. 66. But gnawing Jealousy out of their sight, Sitting alone, his bitter lips did bite." Spenser. F. Q. vi. 23.
24. V. 68. With praise enough for Envy to look wan." Milton. Son. to Lawes, xiii. 6. W. l'ar. L. i, 601, "Care sute on his faded check." Luke,
25. V. 69. Gray has here imitated Shakespeare. Richard III. act i. sc. 1: "Grim-visag'd War." and Com. of Err. act v. sc. 1: "A moody and dull melancholy kinsman to grim and comfortless Despair." Yarrington (Two Trag, in one) "Grim-visag'd despair." Todd.
26. V. 76. "Affected Kindness with an alter'd face," Dryden. Ilind, and Panth. part iii.
27. V. 79. Madness laughing in his ireful mood:" Dryden, Pal, and Are. (b. ii. p. 43. ed. Aik.) Gray. And so K. Hen. VI. p. 1., act iv. sc. 2: "But rather moody mad." And act iii. sc.1: "Moody fury." Chaucer. Knygbte's Tale, 1152,
28. V. 81. Declin'd into the vale of years," Othello, act iii. sc. 3 Compare also Virg. Æn, vi. 275.
29. V. 83. "Ilate, Fear, and Grief, the family of Puin," Pope. Essay on Man, ii. 118. Dryden. State of Innoc. act v. sc. i: "With all the numerous family of Death." Claudian uses language not dissimilar: Cons. Ilonor. vi. 323: "Inferno stridentes agmine Morbi." And Juv. Sat. x. 218: "Circumsedit agmine facto Morborum omne ge- nus." Jlor. Od. 1. iii. 30, "Nova febrium terris incubuit cohors."
30. V. 84. See T. Warton's Milt. p. 432, 434, 511.
31. V. 90. His slow-consuming fires." Shenstone. Love and Honour.
32. V. 95. We meet with the same thought in Milton. Com. ver. 359: "Peace, brother; be not over-exquisite To cast the fashion of uncertain evils; For grant they be so, while they rest unknown, What need a man forestall his date of grief?" W.
33. V. 98. Soph, Ajax, v. 555: "Ey rų poveiv yap pnder. LOTOC Blog. W. See Kidd's note to Hor. Ep. xi. 2. 140.
34. V. 99. See l'rior, (Ep. to Ilon. C. Montague, st. ix.) From ignorance our comfort flows, The only wretched are the wise."-Luke. Add Davenant. Just Italian, p. 32, "Since knowledge is but