 | Poems |  |
See, then, thy glorious delegacy, fraught
With high momentous subjects. 'Tis a task
That claims the intensest energies of mind!
And when thy studies are matur'd, a vein
Of quick expression may, perhaps, be thine,
At every call; since knowledge will suggest,
And ready words express perspicuous thought.
But think not readiness enough: the talk
Familiar that attends the mantling bowl
May boast such merits. 'Tis not eloquence—
Whilst neither arm'd with nervous strength, to whelm,
Nor fraught with winning softness, to seduce
The soul: old CATO's sternness would disdain
So mean a language, ev'n tho' CATO mock'd
Each artifice of elegant harangues.
But know, thou hast not CATO to address
With letter'd lore, and language unadorn'd:
For to the sage's philosophic sense
Thy audience add a delicacy, nurs'd
In soft tho' not effeminating ease.
With high momentous subjects. 'Tis a task
That claims the intensest energies of mind!
And when thy studies are matur'd, a vein
Of quick expression may, perhaps, be thine,
At every call; since knowledge will suggest,
104
But think not readiness enough: the talk
Familiar that attends the mantling bowl
May boast such merits. 'Tis not eloquence—
Whilst neither arm'd with nervous strength, to whelm,
Nor fraught with winning softness, to seduce
The soul: old CATO's sternness would disdain
So mean a language, ev'n tho' CATO mock'd
Each artifice of elegant harangues.
But know, thou hast not CATO to address
With letter'd lore, and language unadorn'd:
For to the sage's philosophic sense
Thy audience add a delicacy, nurs'd
In soft tho' not effeminating ease.
| Poems | |