The Land of the Muses a poem, In the Manner of Spenser. With Poems on several Occasions. By Hugh Downman |
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ODE.
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 | The Land of the Muses |  |
50
ODE.
[How lives the man, whose thoughts have broke]
I.
How lives the man, whose thoughts have brokeImperious Custom's servile yoke?
Him Nature guiding by the hand,
Leads on where Truth and Reason stand;
Virtue her mantle round him flings,
And Honour waves her silver wings:
He does not yield to foreign laws,
But wisely courts his own applause:
Health sits inthroned in his eye,
And Innocence walks smiling by.
II.
When sunk into the vale of yearsHis head the hoary foliage bears,
He backward casts his tranquil sight
And views each scene reflected bright;
No sullen damps his joy infest,
No plagues of Avarice tear his breast;
Him willing Duty hastes to serve,
And strains with zeal each lab'ring nerve,
While Love sits gazing on his face,
Intent the latent wish to trace.
| The Land of the Muses | |