 | Satires And Biography |  |
ODE TO A PHILOSOPHER.
TO thee, dread champion of insulted man,
I dedicate this tributary lay:
I'll sweep my weak-strung lyre 'mid Honor's clan,
I'll had a feeble beam to his illumin'd day:
Lo! the aristocratic fallen crew!
With livid lips and fronts of horrid hue:
Mark how like wounded serpents they entwine,
Each his anathema despondent sings,
'Mid choral hissing and envenom'd stings;
To lacerate, sweet Merit, thee and thine:
They gnash their fangs, they rave, they writhe, they foam,
That Virtue is—that Freedom has a home.
I dedicate this tributary lay:
I'll sweep my weak-strung lyre 'mid Honor's clan,
I'll had a feeble beam to his illumin'd day:
Lo! the aristocratic fallen crew!
With livid lips and fronts of horrid hue:
Mark how like wounded serpents they entwine,
Each his anathema despondent sings,
'Mid choral hissing and envenom'd stings;
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They gnash their fangs, they rave, they writhe, they foam,
That Virtue is—that Freedom has a home.
Breathes there a slave so abject—so forlorn,
Whom great example cannot move
To deeds of note—to rivet social love:
No vast emotions elevate his will,
To subjugate the ministry of Ill:
But, like the toad, polluted and opprest,
Will crawl—will sully genial Nature's breast,
The minion of Disease—the intimate of Scorn?
Whom great example cannot move
To deeds of note—to rivet social love:
No vast emotions elevate his will,
To subjugate the ministry of Ill:
But, like the toad, polluted and opprest,
Will crawl—will sully genial Nature's breast,
The minion of Disease—the intimate of Scorn?
Gallia's faint sons like pent-up lions saw,
Their faith an impost and their woes a law:
Till Heaven, in pity to their madd'ning pains,
Re-brac'd their nerves and burst their mental chains:
Regenerate—unadulterate they arose,
To meliorate their foes:
Thus man commun'd with man—We will be free,
And overpeer mortality:
They lifted their redoubted form,
Like the Leviathan above the storm,
Imbib'd the daring fervor of the hour,
And ardently, to prove their power,
Like the fierce eagle's brood, whose buoyant webs are spun,
Uprais'd their wings and brav'd the Regal Sun
Their faith an impost and their woes a law:
Till Heaven, in pity to their madd'ning pains,
Re-brac'd their nerves and burst their mental chains:
Regenerate—unadulterate they arose,
To meliorate their foes:
Thus man commun'd with man—We will be free,
And overpeer mortality:
They lifted their redoubted form,
Like the Leviathan above the storm,
Imbib'd the daring fervor of the hour,
And ardently, to prove their power,
Like the fierce eagle's brood, whose buoyant webs are spun,
Uprais'd their wings and brav'd the Regal Sun
As, rob'd in purple, Despotism smil'd,
To see Humanity so prompt beguil'd;
Passive Obedience 'fore the monster knelt,
(A hideous Sorceress, who never felt)
Besotting her repulsive chief,
With Adulation's lees, sad source of endless grief!
While Flattery's subtle, baneful opiate wrought,
The tempest knitted o'er his head:
The Sybil's fatal volume was unread—
The bloated reptile was unsmote by Thought—
'Till, swift as cataracts impetuous throw
Their whitening elemental sheets below,
Indignant legions seiz'd the anointed Drone,
And dash'd him from his massy throne!
In vain he sought salvation in his flight—
In vain he deprecated Terror's night—
They drew their arrows to the head,
And pierc'd him as he flew:
The Gods unmoan'd him as he bled—
Hell yawning gulp'd its due.
To see Humanity so prompt beguil'd;
Passive Obedience 'fore the monster knelt,
(A hideous Sorceress, who never felt)
Besotting her repulsive chief,
With Adulation's lees, sad source of endless grief!
While Flattery's subtle, baneful opiate wrought,
The tempest knitted o'er his head:
The Sybil's fatal volume was unread—
The bloated reptile was unsmote by Thought—
'Till, swift as cataracts impetuous throw
Their whitening elemental sheets below,
Indignant legions seiz'd the anointed Drone,
And dash'd him from his massy throne!
In vain he sought salvation in his flight—
In vain he deprecated Terror's night—
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And pierc'd him as he flew:
The Gods unmoan'd him as he bled—
Hell yawning gulp'd its due.
Illustrious denizens, ye nobly are,
What man should be—what recreant Britons were!
The light of Reason issuing on the hind,
Travers'd a nation's mind:
Her hallow'd dogma gave them peace and wealth,
Glory and grace and intellectual health:
Flowing majestic as the Theban's song,
Bright as Hyperion's blaze—as Independance strong
Beneath the olive's sacred envied shade,
Heroes shall delve and Beauty never fade:
Abundance o'er their hamlets shake her horn,
And give the manna ere the wish is born:
As the warm southern wild enfranchis'd Breeze
So sportively consumes the rosy hours:
Purloining odour from the blossom'd trees,
Kissing the honied calices of flowers:
Shall they embrace the scions of Delight,
And ravish varying bliss with confidential right.
What man should be—what recreant Britons were!
The light of Reason issuing on the hind,
Travers'd a nation's mind:
Her hallow'd dogma gave them peace and wealth,
Glory and grace and intellectual health:
Flowing majestic as the Theban's song,
Bright as Hyperion's blaze—as Independance strong
Beneath the olive's sacred envied shade,
Heroes shall delve and Beauty never fade:
Abundance o'er their hamlets shake her horn,
And give the manna ere the wish is born:
As the warm southern wild enfranchis'd Breeze
So sportively consumes the rosy hours:
Purloining odour from the blossom'd trees,
Kissing the honied calices of flowers:
Shall they embrace the scions of Delight,
And ravish varying bliss with confidential right.
Selected Æra, eminently blest,
An epoch Time will value 'bove the rest:
When dread Eternity shall bound his reign,
'Twill make him blithe, he has not been in vain:
Esurient Ruin shall be taught to spare
Those altars congregated Virtues rear:
And Genii, flit ineffably around,
To shield from taint the consecrated ground:
An epoch Time will value 'bove the rest:
When dread Eternity shall bound his reign,
'Twill make him blithe, he has not been in vain:
Esurient Ruin shall be taught to spare
Those altars congregated Virtues rear:
And Genii, flit ineffably around,
To shield from taint the consecrated ground:
Hence shall the imperial, sceptred Ruler know
A people's agony wakes kingly woe:
Nor jasper, porphyry or granite seat,
Can make th'incumbent dignified or great.
Erratic Prejudice has bruis'd her wing—
Tyranny's snows resolve 'fore Wisdom's spring—
The fastuous Monk shall on the legend tread—
The meek meet Clemency, and Famine Bread.
Now re-born France the high resplendent fane
Of generous, radiant Liberty has built;
May her pure vow unmeasur'd good obtain;
Inspirit crouching Relatives with fire—
Infuse the seedlings of august desire—
Fascinate hoary Europe from her guilt!
A people's agony wakes kingly woe:
Nor jasper, porphyry or granite seat,
Can make th'incumbent dignified or great.
Erratic Prejudice has bruis'd her wing—
Tyranny's snows resolve 'fore Wisdom's spring—
The fastuous Monk shall on the legend tread—
The meek meet Clemency, and Famine Bread.
Now re-born France the high resplendent fane
Of generous, radiant Liberty has built;
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Inspirit crouching Relatives with fire—
Infuse the seedlings of august desire—
Fascinate hoary Europe from her guilt!
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