Select Works of the British Poets

To listening gods he makes him known,

That man divine, by whom were sown
ODE

The seeds of Grecian fame:

Who first the race with freedom fir'd; TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FRANCIS EARL OF

From whom Lycurgus Sparta's sons inspir'd; HUNTING DON.

From whom Platæan palms and Cyprian trophies

came.

The wise and great of every clime,
Through all the spacious walks of Time,
Where'er the Muse her power display'd,
With joy have listen's and obey'd.
For, taught of Heaven, the sacred Nine
Persuasive numbers, forms divine,

To mortal sense impart:
They best the soul with glory fire;
They noblest counsels, boldest deeds inspire ;
And high o'er Fortune's rage enthrone the fixed

heart.

O noblest, happiest age!
When Aristides rul'd, and Cimon fought;

When all the generous fruits of Homer's page
Exulting Pindar saw to full perfection brought.
O Pindar, oft shalt thou be hail'd of me:

Not that Apollo fed thee from his shrine ; Not that thy lips drank sweetness from the bee;

Nor yet that, studious of thy notes divine, Pan danc'd their measure with the sylvan throng:

But that thy song

Was proud to unfold
What thy base rulers trembled to behold;
Amid corrupted Thebes was proud to tell
The deeds of Athens and the Persian shame:
Hence on thy head their impious vengeance fell.
But thou, O faithful to thy fame,
The Muse's law didst rightly know;
That who would animate his lays,

And other minds to virtue raise,
Must feel his own with all her spirit glow.

Nor less prevailing is their charm
The vengeful bosom to disarm;
To melt the proud with human woe,
And prompt unwilling tears to flow.
Can wealth a power like this afford ?
Can Cromwell's arts, or Marlborough's sword,

An equal empire claim?
No, Hastings. Thou my words will own :
Thy breast the gifts of every Muse hath known;
Nor shall the giver's love disgrace thy noble name.

III.

Are there, approv'd of later times,
Whose verse adorn'd a tyrant's crimes ?
Who saw majestic Rome betray'd,
And lent the imperial ruffian aid ?
Alas! not one polluted bard,
No, not the strains that Mincius heard,

Or Tibur's hills reply'd,
Dare to the Muse's ear aspire;
Save that, instructed by the Grecian lyre,
With Freedom's ancient notes their shameful task

The Muse's aweful art,
And the blest function of the poet's tongue,

Ne'er shalt thou blush to honour; to assert
From all that scorned Vice or slavish Fear hath

sung. Nor shall the blandishment of Tuscan strings

Warbling at will in Pleasure's myrtle bower; Nor shall the servile notes to Celtic kings

By flattering minstrels paid in evil hour, Move thee to spurn the heavenly Muse's reign.

A different strain,

And other themes, From her prophetic shades and hallow'd streams, (Thou well canst witness) meet the purged ear : Such, as when Greece to her immortal shell Rejoicing listen'd, godlike sounds to hear ;

To hear the sweet instructress tell (While men and heroes throng'd around)

How life its noblest use may find,

How well for freedom be resign’d;
And how, by Glory, Virtue shall be crown'd.

they hide.

Mark, how the dread Pantheon stands,
Amid the domes of modern bands :
Amid the toys of idle state,
How simply, how severely great!
Then turn, and, while each western clime
Presents her tuneful sons to Time,

So mark thou Milton's name;
And add, “ Thus differs from the throng

The spirit which inform'd thy aweful song, Which bade thy potent voice protect thy country's

fame."

II.
Such was the Chian father's strain
To many a kind domestic train,
Whose pious hearth and genial bowl
Had cheer'd the reverend pilgrim's soul :
When, every hospitable rite
With equal bounty to requite,

He struck his magic strings;
And pour'd spontaneous numbers forth,
And seiz'd their ears with tales of ancient worth,
And fill'd their musing hearts with vast heroic things.

Now oft, where happy spirits dwell,
Where yet he tunes his charming shell,
Oft near him, with applauding hands,
The Genius of his country stands

Yet hence barbaric Zeal
His memory with unholy rage pursues;

While from these arduous cares of public weal She bids each bard begone, and rest him with his

Muse. O fool! to think the man, whose ample mind

Must grasp at all that yonder stars survey; Must join the noblest forms of every kind,

The world's most perfect image to display,
Can e'er his country's majesty behold,

Unmoy'd or cold !

O fool! to deem That he, whose thought must visit every theme,

Octavianus Cæsar.

Whose heart must every strong emotion know To watch the state's uncertain frame,
Inspir'd by Nature, or by Fortune taught;

And baffle Faction's partial aim :
That he, if haply some presumptuous foe,

But chiefly, with determin'd zeal, With false ignoble science fraught,

To quell that servile band, who kneel Shall spurn at Freedom's faithful hand;

To Freedom's banish'd foes; That he their dear defence will shun,

That monster, which is daily found Or hide their glories from the Sun,

Expert and bold thy country's peace to wound; Or deal their vengeance with a woman's hand! Yet dreads to handle arms, nor manly counsel knows.

IV.

I care not that in Arno's plain,
Or on the sportive banks of Seine,
From public themes the Muse's quire
Content with polish'd ease retire,
Where priests the studious head command,
Where tyrants bow the warlike hand

To vile Ambition's aim,
Say, what can public themes afford,

Save venal honours to an hateful lord, [Fame ? Reserv'd for angry Heaven, and scorn'd of honest

'T is highest Heaven's command, That guilty aims should sordid paths pursue; That what ensnares the heart should maim the

hand, And Virtue's worthless foes be false to Glory too.

But look on Freedom. See, through every age,
What labours, perils, griefs, hath she disdain'd!
What arms, what regal pride, what priestly rage,
Have her dread offspring conquer'd or sustain'd!
For Albion well have conquer'd. Let the strains

Of happy swains,
Which now resound

[bound, Where Scarsdale's cliffs the swelling pastures Bear witness. There, oft let the farmer hail

The sacred orchard which imbowers his gate,
And show to strangers passing down the vale,

Where Ca'ndish, Booth, and Osborne sate;
When, bursting from their country's chain,
Even in the midst of deadly harms,

Of papal snares and lawless arms,
They plann'd for Freedom this her noblest reign.

VI.

O Hastings, not to all Can ruling Heaven the same endowments lend:

Yet still doth Nature to her offspring call, Tha: to one general weal their different powers

they bend, Unenvious. Thus alone, though strains divine Inform the bosom of the Muse's son ; Though with new honours the patrician's line Advance from age to age ; yet thus alone They win the suffrage of impartial Fame,

The poet's name

He best shall prove, Whose lays the soul with noblest passions move. But thee, O progeny of heroes old, Thee to severer toils thy fate requires : The fate which form’d thee in a chosen mould,

The grateful country of thy sires,

Thee to sublimer paths demand ;
Sublimer than thy sires could trace,

Or thy own Edward teach his race,
Though Gaul's proud genius sank beneath his hand.

V.
From rich domains and subject farms,
They led the rustic youth to arms;
And kings their stern achievements fear'd;
While private Strife their banners rear'd.
But loftier scenes to thee are shown,
Where Empire's wide-establish'd throne

No private master fills :

Where, long foretold, the people reigns : Where each a vassal's humble heart disdains; And judgeth what he sees; and, as he judgeth, wills.

Here be it thine to calm and guide
The swelling democratic tide;

This reign, these laws, this public care,
Which Nassau gave us all to share,
Had ne'er adorn'd the English name,
Could Fear have silenc'd Freedom's claim.
But Fear in vain attempts to bind
Those lofty efforts of the mind

Which social Good inspires;
Where men, for this, assault a throne,
Each adds the common welfare to his own;
And each unconquer'd heart the strength of all ac-

quires.
Say, was it thus, when late we view'd
Our fields in civil blood imbrued ?
When Fortune crown'd the barbarous host,
And half the astonish'd isle was lost?
Did one of all that vaunting train,
Who dare affront a peaceful reign,

Durst one in arms appear ?
Durst one in counsels pledge his life?
Stake his luxurious fortunes in the strife ?
Or lend his boasted name his vagrant friends lo

cheer?

Yet, Hastings, these are they Who challenge to themselves thy country's love :

The true ; the constant: who alone can weigh, What Glory should demand, or Liberty approve !

But let their works declare them. Thy free powers,
The generous powers of thy prevailing mind,
Not for the tasks of their confederate hours,
Lewd brawls and lurking slander, were design'd.
Be thou thy own approver. Honest praise

Oft nobly sways

Ingenuous youth : But, sought from cowards and the lying mouth,

Praise is reproach. Eternal God alone

The kindred powers, Tethys, and reverend Cjxs For mortals fixeth that sublime award.

And spotless Vesta; while supreine of sway He, from the faithful records of his throne, Remain'd the cloud-compeller. From the couch Bids the historian and the bard

Of Tethys sprang the sedgy-crowned race, Dispose of honour and of scorn;

Who from a thousand urns, o'er every clime, Discern the patriot from the slave ;

Send tribute to their parent: and from them
And write the good, the wise, the brave Are ye, O Naiads : Arethusa fair,
For lessons to the multitude unborn.

And tuneful Aganippe ; that sweet name,
Bandusia ; that soft family which dwelt
With Syrian Daphne; and the honour'd tribes

Belov'd of Pæon. Listen to my strain,
HYMN TO THE NAIADS.

Daughters of 'Tethys : listen to your praise. 1746.

You, Nymphs, the winged offspring, which of old

Aurora to divine Astræus bore,
Argument.

Owns; and your aid beseecheth. When the might

Of Hyperion, from his noontide throne, The nymphs, who preside over springs and rivulets, Unbends their languid pinions, aid from you

are addressed at day-break, in honour of their They ask : Favonius and the mild South-west several functions, and of the relations which they from you relief implore. Your sallying streams bear to the natural and to the moral worid. Their Fresh vigour to their weary wings impart. origin is deduced from the first allegorical deities, | Again they fly, disporting; from the mead or powers of Nature; according to the doctrine of Half ripen'd and the tender blades of corn, the old mythological poets, concerning the gener. To sweep the noxious mildew ; or dispel ation of the gods and the rise of things. They Contagious streams, which oft the parched Earth are then successively considered, as giving motion Breathes on her fainting sons. From noon to eve, to the air and exciting summer-breezes; as nou- Along the river and the paved brook, rishing and beautifying the vegetable creation ; as Ascend the cheerful breezes": haild of hards contributing to the fullness of navigable rivers, | Who, fast by learned Cam, the Æolian lyre and consequently to the maintenance of com- Solicit; nor unwelcome to the youth merce ; and by that means, to the maritime part who on the heights of Tibur, all inclin'd of military power. Next is represented their fa- O'er rushing Anio, with a pious hand vourable influence upon health, when assisted by The reverend scene delineates, broken fanes, rural exercise: which introduces their connection Or tombs, or pillar'd aqueducts, the pomp with the art of physic, and the happy effects of Of ancient Time ; and haply, while he scans mineral medicinal springs. Lastly, they are ce- The ruins, with a silent tear revolves lebrated for the friendship which the Muses bear The fame and fortune of imperious Rome.

0 them, and for the true inspiration which temper- You too, O Nymphs, and your unenvious aid ance only can receive : in opposition to the en- The rural powers confess; and still prepare thusiasm of the more licentious poets.

For you their choicest treasures. Pan commands

Oft as the Delian king with Sirius holds O'ER yonder eastern hill the twilight pale

The central heavens, the father of the grove Walks forth from darkness; and the god of day, Commands his Dryads over your abodes With bright Astræa seated by his side,

To spread their deepest umbrage. Well the god Waits yet to leave the ocean. Tarry, Nymphs, Remembereth how indulgent ye supplied Ye Nymphs, ye blue-ey'd progeny of Thames, Your genial dews to nurse them in their prime. Who now the mazes of this rugged heath

Pales, the pasture's queen, where'er ye stras, Trace with your fleeting steps ; who all night long Pursues your steps, delighted; and the path Repeat, amid the cool and tranquil air,

With living verdure clothes. Around your Your lonely murmurs, tarry : and receive

The laughing Chloris, with profusest hand, My offer'd lay. To pay you homage due, Throws wide her blooms, her odours Still with you I leave the gates of Sleep; nor shall my lyre Pomona seeks to dwell: and o'er the lawns, Too far into the splendid hours of morn

And o'er the vale of Richmond, where with Thames
Engage your audience: my observant hand Ye love to wander, Amalthea pours
Shall close the strain ere any sultry beam

Well-pleas'd the wealth of that Ammonian hora,
Approach you. To your subterranean haunts Her dower; unmindful of the fragrant isles
Ye then may timely steal ; to pace with care Nysæan or Atlantic. Nor canst thou,
The humid sands; to loosen from the soil

(Albeit oft, ungrateful, thou dost mock The bubbling sources; to direct the rills

The beverage of the sober Naiad's urn,
To meet in wider channels; or beneath

O Bromius, O Lenæan) nor canst thou
Some grotto's dripping arch, at height of noon Disown the powers whose bounty, ill repaid,
To slumber, shelter'd from the burning heaven.
Where shall my song begin, ye Nymphs ? or end? Yet, blameless Nymphs, from my delighted lys

With nectar feeds thy tendrils. Yet from
Wide is your praise and copious – First of things, Accept the rites your bounty well may claims
First of the lonely powers, ere Time arose,
Were Love and Chaos. Love the sire of Fate ;

Nor heed the scoffings of the Edonian band.
Elder than Chaos. Born of Fate was Time,

For better praise awaits you. Thames, your site, Who many sons and many comely births

As down the verdant slope your duteous rills Devour'd, relentless father : till the child

Descend, the tribute stately Thames receives, Of Rhea drove him from the upper sky,

Delighted; and your picty applauds ;
And quell'd his deadly might.

And bids his copious tide roll on secure,
Then social reign'd) For faithful are his daughters; and with words

hmas

urns

Auspicious gratulates the bark which, now Which wait on human life. Your gentle aid
His banks forsaking, her adventurous wings Hygeia well can witness; she who saves
Yields to the breeze, with Albion's happy gifts From poisonous cates and cups of pleasing bane,
Extremest isles to bless. And oft at morn,

The wretch devoted to the entangling snares
When Hermes, from Olympus bent o'er Earth Of Bacchus and of Comus. Him she leads
To bear the words of Jove, on yonder hill

To Cynthia's lonely haunts. To spread the toils, Stoops lightly-sailing; oft intent your springs To beat the coverts, with the jovial horn He views : and waving o'er some new-born stream At dawn of day to summon the loud hounds, His blest pacific wand, “ And yet,” he cries, She calls the lingering sluggard from his dreams : “ Yet,” cries the son of Maia, though recluse And where his breast may drink the mountain breeze, And silent be your stores, from you, fair Nymphs,

And where the fervour of the sunny vale Flows wealth and kind society to men.

May beat upon his brow, through devious paths By you, my function and my honour'd name Beckons his rapid courser. Nor when case, Do I possess; while o'er the Bætic vale,

Cool ease and welcome slumbers have becalı'd Or through the towers of Memphis, or the palms His eager bosom, does the queen of health By sacred Ganges water'd, I conduct

Her pleasing care withhold. His decent board The English merchant: with the buxom fleece She guards, presiding; and the frugal powers Of fertile Ariconium while I clothe

With joy sedate leads in : and while the brown Sarmatian kings; or to the household gods Ennæan dame with Pan presents her stores; Of Syria, from the bleak Cornubian shore, While changing still, and comely in the change, Dispense the mineral treasure which of old

Vertumnus and the Hours before him spread Sidonian pilots sought, when this fair land The garden's banquet; you to crown his feast, Vas yet unconscious of those generous arts To crown his feast, o Naiad

you the fair Vhich wise Phænicia from their native clime Hygeia calls: and from your shelving seats, fransplanted to a more indulgent Heaven." And groves of poplar, plenteous cups ye bring, Such are the words of Hermes : such the praise, To slake his veins : till soon a purer tide

Naiads, which from tongues celestial waits Flows down those loaded channels; washeth off
our bounteous deeds. From bounty issueth power: The dregs of luxury, the lurking seeds
Ind those who, sedulous in prudent works, Of crude disease; and through the abodes of life
Lelieve the wants of nature, Jove repays

Sends vigour, sends repose. Hail, Naiads : hail,
Vith noble wealth, and his own seat on Earth, Who give, to labour, health; to stooping age,
'it judgments to pronounce, and curb the might The joys which youth had squander'd. Oft your
Of wicked men. Your kind unfailing urns
Jot vainly to the hospitable arts

Will I invoke; and, frequent in your praise, Of Hermes yield their store. For, O ye Nymphs, Abash the frantic Thyrsus with my song. Iath he not won the unconquerable queen

For not estrang'd from your benignant arts Of arms to court your friendship? You she owns Is he, the god, to whose mysterious shrine The fair associates who extend her sway

My youth was sacred, and my votive cares Vide o'er the mighty deep; and grateful things Belong; the learned Pæon. Oft when all If you she uttereth, oft as from the shore

His cordial treasures he hath search'd in vain; of Thames, or Medway's vale, or the green banks When herbs, and potent trees, and drops of balm of Vecta, she her thundering navy leads

Rich with the genial influence of the Sun, o Calpe's foaming channel, or the rough

(To rouse dark Fancy from her plaintive dreams, 'antabrian surge; her auspices divine

To brace the nerveless arm, with food to win mparting to the senate and the prince

Sick appetite, or hush the unquiet breast of Albion, to dismay barbaric kings,

Which pines with silent passion,) he in vain "he Iberian, or the Celt. The pride of kings Hath prov'd; to your deep mansions he descends, Vas ever scorn'd by Pallas: and of old

Your gates of humid rock, your dim arcades, Lejoic'd the virgin, from the brazen prow

He entereth ; where empurpled veins of ore of Athens o'er Ægina's gloomy surge,

Gleam on the roof; where through the rigid mine o drive her clouds and storms; o'erwhelming all Your trickling rills insinuate. There the god the Persian's promis'd glory, when the realms From your indulgent hands the streaming bowl of Indus and the soft Ionian clime,

Wafts to his pale-ey'd suppliants; wafts the seeds Vhen Libya's torrid champain and the rocks Metallic, and the elemental salts

(soon »f cold Imaüs join'd their servile bands,

Wash'd from the pregnant glebe. They drink : and c'o sweep the sons of Liberty from Earth.

Flies pain; flies inauspicious care: and soon n vain; Minerva on the bounding prow

The social haunt or unfrequented shade of Athens stood, and with the thunder's voice Hears Io, Io Pæan; as of old, Denounc'd her terrours on their impious heads, When Python fell. And, O propitious Nymphs, ind shook her burning ægis. Xerxes saw : Oft as for helpless mortals I implore from Heracleum, on the mountain's height Your salutary springs, through every urn hron'd in his golden car, he knew the sign Oh shed your healing treasures. With the first 'elestial; felt unrighteous hope forsake

And finest breath, which from the genial strife Iis faultering heart, and turn'd his face with shame. Of mineral fermentation springs like light

Hail, ye who share the stern Minerva's power ; O'er the fresh morning's vapours, lustrate then Vho arm the hand of Liberty for war :

The fountain, and inform the rising wave. And give to the renown'd Britannic name

My lyre shall pay your bounty. Scorn not ye to awe contending monarchs : yet benign, That humble tribute. Though a mortal hand let mild of nature ; to the works of peace

Excite the strings to utterance, yet for themes More prone, and lenient of the many ills

Not unregarded of celestial powers,

OF WINCHESTER.

I frame their language; and the Muses deign Of young Lyæus, and the dread exploits,
To guide the pious tenour of my lay.

May sing in aptest numbers: be the fate
The Muses (sacred by their gifts divine)

Of sober Pentheus, he the Paphian rites, In early days did to my wondering sense

And naked Mars with Cytherea chain'd, Their secrets oft reveal : oft my rais'd ear

And strong Alcides in the spinster's robes, In slumber felt their music : oft at noon,

May celebrate, applauded. But with you, Or hour of sunset, by some lonely stream,

O Naiads, far from that unballow'd rout, In field or shady grove, they taught me words Must dwell the man whoe'er to praised themes Of power, from death and envy to preserve Invokes the immortal Muse. The immortal Ve The good man's name. Whence yet with grateful To your calm habitations, to the cave mind,

Corycian, or the Delphic mount, will guide And offerings unprofan'd by ruder eye,

His footsteps; and with your unsullied streams My vows I send, my homage, to the seats

His lips will bathe: whether the eternal lore Of rocky Cirrha, where with you they dwell: Of Themis, or the majesty of Jove, Where

you their chaste companions they admit To mortals he reveal; or teach his lyre Through all the hallow'd scene: where oft intent, The unenvied guerdon of the patrioe's toils

, And leaning o'er Castalia's mossy verge,

In those unfading islands of the bless'd, They mark the cadence of your confluent urns, Where sacred bards abide. Hail, honour'd Nyomt How tuneful, yielding gratefullest repose

Thrice hail. For you the Cyrenaic shell To their consorted measure: till again,

Behold, I touch, revering. To my songs With emulation all the sounding choir,

Be present ye with favourable feet,
And bright Apollo, leader of the song,

And all profaner audience far remove.
Their voices through the liquid air exalt,
And sweep their lofty strings: those powerful strings
That charm the mind of gods : that fill the courts
Of wide Olympus with oblivion sweet
Of evils, with immortal rest from cares :

ODE
Assuage the terrours of the throne of Jove ;
And quench the formidable thunderbolt
Of unrelenting fire. With slacken'd wings,

TO THE RIGHT REVEREND BENJAMIN, LORD EN
While now the solemn concert breathes around,
Incumbent o'er the sceptre of his lord
Sleeps the stern eagle; by the number'd notes,

I.
Possess'd ; and satiate with the melting tone:
Sovereign of birds. The furious god of war, For toils which patriots have endur'd,
His darts forgetting, and the winged wheels

For treason quell'd and laws secur'd,
That bear him vengeful o'er the embattled plain, In every nation Time displays
Relents, and soothes his own fierce heart to ease, The palm of honourable praise.
Most welcome ease. The sire of gods and men,

Envy may rail; and Faction fierce In that great moment of divine delight,

May strive; but what, alas! can those Looks down on all that live; and whatsoe'er

(Though bold, yet blind and sordid foes) He loves not, o'er the peopled earth, and o'er

To gratitude and love oppose,
The interminated ocean, he beholds

To faithful story and persuasive verse!
Curs'd with abhorrence by his doom severe,
And troubled at the sound. Ye Naiads, ye

O nurse of Freedom, Albion, say,
With ravish'd ears the melody attend

Thou tamer of despotic sway, Worthy of sacred silence. But the slaves

What man, among thy sons around, Of Bacchus with tempestuous clamours strive Thus heir to glory hast thou found? To drown the heavenly strains; of highest Jove What page in all thy annals bright, Irreverent, and by mad presumption fir'd

Hast thou with purer joy survey'd Their own discordant raptures to advance

Than that where Truth, by Hoadly's aid, With hostile emulation. Down they rush

Shines through Imposture's solemn shade, From Nysa's vine-empurpled cliff, the dames Through kingly and through sacerdotal night? Of Thrace, the Satyrs, and the unruly Fauns, With old Silenus, reeling through the crowd

To him the Teacher bless'd, Which gambols round him, in convulsions wild Who sent Religion, from the palmy field Tossing their limbs, and brandishing in air

By Jordan, like the morn to cheer the west, The ivy-mantled thyrsus, or the torch

And lifted up the veil which Heaven from Earth Through black smoke flaming, to the Phrygian pipe's

conceal'd, Shrill voice, and to the clashing cymbals, mix'd To Hoadly thus his mandate he address'd : With shrieks and frantic uproar. May the gods

“ Go thou, and rescue my dishonour'd law From every unpolluted ear avert

From hands rapacious, and from tongues impure

: Their orgies ! If within the seats of men,

Let not my peaceful name be made a lure Within the walls, the gates, where Pallas holds Fell Persecution's mortal snares to aid : The guardian key, if haply there be found

Let not my words be impious chains to draw Who loves to mingle with the revel-band

The freeborn soul in more than brutal awe, And hearken to their accents; who aspires

To faith without assent, allegiance unrepail." From such instructors to inform his breast With verse ; let him, fit votarist, implore Their insniration. He perchance the gifts

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圖書

Select Works of the British Poets: With Biographical and Critical Prefaces