The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse (1735-1820): Edited by the Rev. R. I. Woodhouse |
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CHAPTER 17th.
The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse |  |
But not alone did here this Council sit,
Investigating Truth, or weighing Wit—
For proving Justice by some perfect test,
While balancing the workings of his breast,
Lest irritated Passion, Pride, or Spleen,
Should slip some ting'd, refracting lens, between,
To give each object harsh, unnatural, hue,
Or size, or figure, neither just or true.
These met, in candid Conclave, Years before,
When flagellations made each feeling sore;
Conven'd, each day, in sylvan solitude,
To sanction, or condemn, ideas rude,
Ere recommended to the Muse's choice;
As proper subjects, by their sage advice!
On which she ought bestow her tuneful Art,
To make them charm the ear, and chear the heart,
Or by unlyric Sound and lack of Sense,
To hurt the ear, and give the heart offence.
Investigating Truth, or weighing Wit—
For proving Justice by some perfect test,
While balancing the workings of his breast,
Lest irritated Passion, Pride, or Spleen,
Should slip some ting'd, refracting lens, between,
To give each object harsh, unnatural, hue,
Or size, or figure, neither just or true.
These met, in candid Conclave, Years before,
When flagellations made each feeling sore;
Conven'd, each day, in sylvan solitude,
To sanction, or condemn, ideas rude,
Ere recommended to the Muse's choice;
As proper subjects, by their sage advice!
On which she ought bestow her tuneful Art,
To make them charm the ear, and chear the heart,
Or by unlyric Sound and lack of Sense,
To hurt the ear, and give the heart offence.
Both here, and there, his intellectual eye
Perceiv'd in every place, that Being, by,
Who, at one vast, and instantaneous, view,
Probes every human heart, and spirit, through;
Beholding, day and night, at single glance,
In every Soul, each distant thought advance—
All secret embryo-aims, and wishes warm,
Long ere they're fashion'd in specific form.
Sees in each seed, and bud, before it shoots,
Hurtful, or wholesome, leaves, and flow'rs, and fruits.
In creeping Spawn, or Acorn yet unbroke,
The filthy Fungus, or the useful Oak;
In Thistles' noisome seeds, or Nuts unclove,
The Culturer's curse, or Farmer's favourite grove.
Nor sees what human Minds will yield, alone,
By natural semen in the bosom sown;
But all the germs which different Agents drop,
To generate joyous, or pernicious crop—
Not only His pure Spirit's winnow'd Wheat;
Which Man for mental Health, and Strength may eat,
But each infernal Fiend's thick-scatter'd Tares,
Producing Sorrows, Labours, Pains, and Cares,
Which Heav'n's productions, injure, or destroy,
And rob the Husbandman of Hope and Joy;
Or make pure products constantly increase,
In Crops of Comforts—Purity—and Peace!
Perceiv'd in every place, that Being, by,
Who, at one vast, and instantaneous, view,
Probes every human heart, and spirit, through;
Beholding, day and night, at single glance,
In every Soul, each distant thought advance—
All secret embryo-aims, and wishes warm,
Long ere they're fashion'd in specific form.
Sees in each seed, and bud, before it shoots,
Hurtful, or wholesome, leaves, and flow'rs, and fruits.
In creeping Spawn, or Acorn yet unbroke,
The filthy Fungus, or the useful Oak;
In Thistles' noisome seeds, or Nuts unclove,
The Culturer's curse, or Farmer's favourite grove.
Nor sees what human Minds will yield, alone,
By natural semen in the bosom sown;
But all the germs which different Agents drop,
To generate joyous, or pernicious crop—
Not only His pure Spirit's winnow'd Wheat;
Which Man for mental Health, and Strength may eat,
But each infernal Fiend's thick-scatter'd Tares,
Producing Sorrows, Labours, Pains, and Cares,
Which Heav'n's productions, injure, or destroy,
72
Or make pure products constantly increase,
In Crops of Comforts—Purity—and Peace!
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CHAPTER 17th.
The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse | |