University of Virginia Library

“Thrice hail, thou heav'n-taught warbler, last and best
“Of all the train! Poet, in whom conjoin'd
“All that to ear, or heart, or head, could yield
“Rapture; harmonious, manly, clear, sublime!
“Accept this gratulation: may it chear
“Thy sinking soul; nor these corporeal ills
“Ought daunt thee, or appall. Know, in high heav'n
“Fame blooms eternal o'er that spirit divine,
“Who builds immortal verse. There thy bold Muse,
“Which while on earth could breathe Mæonian fire,
“Shall soar seraphick heights; while to her voice
“Ten thousand Hierarchies of angels harp
“Symphonious, and with dulcet harmonies
“Usher the song rejoicing. I meanwhile,
“To sooth thee in these irksome hours of pain,
“Approach thy visitant, with mortal laud
“To praise thee mortal. First, (as first beseems)
“For rhyme subdu'd; rhyme, erst the minstrel rude
“Of Chaos, Anarch old: she near his throne
“Oft taught the rattling elements to chime
“With tenfold din; till late to earth upborn
“On strident wing, what time fair poesie
“Emerg'd from Gothick cloud, and faintly shot
“Rekindling gleams of lustre. Her the fiend
“Oppress'd; forcing to utter uncouth dirge,
“Runick, or Leonine; and with dire chains
“Fetter'd her scarce-fledg'd pinion. I such bonds
“Aim'd to destroy, mistaking: bonds like these
“'Twere greater art t'ennoble, and refine.
“For this superior part Musæus came:
“Thou cam'st, and at thy magick touch the chains
“Off dropt, and (passing strange!) soft-wreathed bands
“Of flow'rs their place supply'd! which well the Muse
“Might wear for choice, not force; obstruction none,
“But loveliest ornament. Wond'rous this, yet here
“The wonder rests not; various argument
“Remains for me, all doubting, where to cull
“The primal grace, where countless graces charm.
“Various this peaceful scene, this mineral roof;
“This 'semblance meet of coral, ore, and shell;
“These pointed crystals fair, 'mid each obscure
“Bright glist'ring; all these slowly-dripping rills,
“That tinkling stray amid the cooly cave.
“Yet not this various peaceful scene; with this
“Its mineral roof; nor this assemblage meet
“Of coral, ore, and shell; nor 'mid th'obscure
“These pointed crystals, glist'ring fair; nor rills,
“That straying tinkle thro' the cooly cave;
“Deal charms more various to each raptur'd sense,
“Than thy mellifluous lay—”

“Cease, friendly swain;
(Musæus cry'd, and rais'd his aching head)
“All praise is foreign, but of true desert;
“Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
“Ah! why recall the toys of thoughtless youth?
“When flow'ry fiction held the place of truth:
“When fancy rul'd; when trill'd each trivial strain,
“But idly sweet, and elegantly vain.
“O! in that strain, if all of wit had flow'd,
“All musick warbled, and all beauty glow'd;
“Had liveliest nature, happiest art combin'd,
“That lent each grace, and this each grace refin'd;
“Alas! how little were my proudest boast!
“The sweetest trifler of my tribe at most.