SONNET XCIV.

All is not right with him, who ill sustains

Retirement's silent hours.--Himself he flies,

Perchance from that insipid equipoise,

Which always with the hapless mind remains

That feels no native bias; never gains

One energy of will, that does not rise

From some external cause, to which he hies

From his own blank inanity.--When reigns,

With a strong, _cultur'd_ mind, this wretched hate

To commune with himself, from thought that tells

Of some lost joy, or dreaded stroke of Fate

He struggles to escape;--or sense that dwells

On secret guilt towards God, or Man, with weight

Thrice dire, the self-exiling flight impels.

Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace · 第 140 / 228 题