Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/24

14 and a sententious strength which Pope entirely overlooked. Dryden esteemed him as a satirist nearer to his own standard than any other writer of his time; a panegyric sustained by the opinion of Mr. Hallam, who says that 'Oldham, far superior in his satires to Marvell, ranks perhaps next to Dryden.' The affecting lines in which Dryden deplores the loss of the young poet, and indicates the prominent features of his character, leave, indeed, little more to be added by others:—

Farewell, too little and too lately known, Whom I began to think and call my own; For sure our souls were near allied, and thine Cast in the same poetic mould as mine. One common note on either lyre did strike, And knaves and fools we both abhorred alike; To the same goal did both our studies drive, The last set out the soonest did arrive: Thus Nisus fell upon the slippery place, While his young friend performed and won the race. O early ripe! to thy abundant store What could advancing age have added more? It might (what nature never gives the young) Have taught the numbers of thy native tongue; But satire needs not these, and wit will shine Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line: A noble error, and but seldom made, When poets are by too much force betrayed. Thy generous fruits, though gathered ere their time, Still showed a quickness; and maturing time But mellows what we write to the dull sweets of rhyme. Once more, hail and farewell: Farewell, thou young, But ah! too short, Marcellus of our tongue; Thy brows with ivy and with laurels bound; But fate and gloomy night encompass thee around.