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]. |
| II. |
 | III. |
[Genius, or Muse, whate'er thou art! whose thrill] |
 | The peripatetic |  |
73
[Genius, or Muse, whate'er thou art! whose thrill]
Genius, or Muse, whate'er thou art! whose thrillPrompts to my Poor brain to stain the Poet's quill,
Makes like a ball sublime sensation roll,
And trundles nonsense round from pole to pole;
Who lov'st to throw thy wild ungovern'd gaze,
Like a fierce madman's stare a thousand ways,
Where starry Night, well-taught at Spitalfields,
Weaves a thick stuff that to no tissue yields,
And chasing Common Sense from off the globe,
Leads the meek Moon, dressed in her cleanest robe,
To ogle lustre from her chrystal eye,
And deck the heav'ns with pearly panoply:
Or whether random cast beside some stream,
Which like a dishclout washes every beam,
Thou ponder'st, philosophical, alone,
As mute, and stupid as a senseless stone,
Lull'd by nurse Sorrow's desultory groan,
74
Like the sweet screech-owl, tells its griefs by rote:
Or dost thou hasten to the lawny vale,
To lift to Bobby Merry's sawny Tale? &c.”
| The peripatetic | |