How oft mankind aspiring efforts make!

How oft thro’ fear their flatt'ring prospects shake!

Their Castles built in air confess their base,

For shook by Fancy's breeze they change their place:

At their creator's will, these fabrics are,

With every beauty deck'd and proof to care;

By the same powers, desponding vapours rise,

The prospects intercept & cloud the skies:

’Till Reason's Sun, darts thro’ the mazy gloom,

His powerful rays the brightened Skies illume;

And then no more, deceitful visions play

Which led the wanton mind so far astray.

Perchance inlieu of scenes from fairy land,

Corrected Vision finds a cottage stand;

More humble notions now possess the mind—

With bitters, sweets, with roses thorns we find.

How oft in Youth, the vigorous passions press

To find expression in poetic dress;

And warmth of feeling, then ’tis thought might claim,

A lenient hand to raise the trump of fame.

But only those should try this stormy sea,

Who are well rigg'd with wit and vanity,

Who for their ballast, learning take in store

Their Pilot Prudence, and of Classic lore

A cargo such as good returns will make

Of ample profit for the ventured stake—

Let those who are not fitted out this way

Steal round the shores, or on the rivers play.

In still domestic lakes, their vessel try

Where partial breezes, make a cloudless sky.

For Nature made not all who write in rhyme,

To muse in raptures or to soar sublime

Will each the magic of th'harmonic thrill

Confess he feels or can express at will?

When Nature would their Art will not comply

And Art once gained then Nature oft is shy

Yet some will venture out to meet the storm

Of adverse winds from every Critic form,

Press'd on by Pride they seek the port of Fame

Nor think aught wanting or themselves to blame

Before their reeling bark has found too late

The crowded vortex of a common fate

Thus prove their wants of genius or of art

Oblivion seek—or act a Critic's part.