The peripatetic or, Sketches of the heart, of nature and society; In a series of politico-sentimental journals, in verse and prose, of the eccentric excursions of Sylvanus Theophrastus; Supposed to be written by himself [by John Thelwall] |
 | [I]. |
[Though, loudest of the feather'd choir] |
| II. |
| III. |
 | The peripatetic |  |
18
[Though, loudest of the feather'd choir]
Though, loudest of the feather'd choir
Alauda pour the vocal strain,
To heav'n, with raptur'd wing, aspire,
And, floating through the etherial plain,
Call up the radiant East to raise
The choral song of pious praise;
Yet shall the stork, whose grateful wing
Aloft the feeble parent bears,
(What though no labour'd strain she sing!)
And kindly shares,
And sooths his cares;
Or she, whose fond maternal breast
To all the younglings of her nest
Pours, nutritive, the vital stream,
(Though ne'er she sail'd, with stately pride,
Down warbling Pindus's sacred tide,
To join the muse's hallow'd lays,
And heav'n-ward waft the song of praise,)
More bask in Heav'n's approving beam.
Alauda pour the vocal strain,
To heav'n, with raptur'd wing, aspire,
And, floating through the etherial plain,
Call up the radiant East to raise
The choral song of pious praise;
Yet shall the stork, whose grateful wing
Aloft the feeble parent bears,
(What though no labour'd strain she sing!)
And kindly shares,
And sooths his cares;
Or she, whose fond maternal breast
To all the younglings of her nest
Pours, nutritive, the vital stream,
(Though ne'er she sail'd, with stately pride,
Down warbling Pindus's sacred tide,
To join the muse's hallow'd lays,
And heav'n-ward waft the song of praise,)
More bask in Heav'n's approving beam.
Then, as in the social sphere
Man a wider range enjoys,
Let his hallow'd zeal appear
In the blessings it supplies.
Man a wider range enjoys,
Let his hallow'd zeal appear
In the blessings it supplies.
19
Vain the Wood-lark's hermit's strain,
Musing through the lone retreat;
Vain the sweet aspiring vein
Of yon minstrel, warbling sweet;
Musing through the lone retreat;
Vain the sweet aspiring vein
Of yon minstrel, warbling sweet;
Vain, alike, the hymn, the pray'r,
Pride's full-oft, or Sloth's pretence:
Would you Heaven's best favour share,
Be your suit—benevolence!
Pride's full-oft, or Sloth's pretence:
Would you Heaven's best favour share,
Be your suit—benevolence!
Whence, as from the genial beam,
Darting o'er the humid ground,
Fruitful blessings ever teem,
Realms, and smiling worlds around!
Darting o'er the humid ground,
Fruitful blessings ever teem,
Realms, and smiling worlds around!
| The peripatetic | |