A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes

Led by the Muse, my step pervades
The sacred haunts, the peaceful shades,
Where Art and Sculpture reign:
I see, I see, at their command,
The living stones in order stand,
And marble breathe through ev'ry vein!
Time breaks his hostile scythe; he sighs
To find his pow'r malignant fled;
“And what avails my dart, he cried,
“Since these can animate the dead?
“Since wak'd to mimic life, again in stone
“The patriot seems to speak, the heroe frown?”

277

There Virtue's silent train are seen,
Fast fix'd their looks, erect their mien.
Lo! while, with more than stoic soul,
The Attic sage exhausts the bowl,
A pale suffusion shades his eyes,
Till by degrees the marble dies!
See there the injur'd poet bleed!
Ah! see he droops his languid head!
What starting nerves, what dying pain,
What horror freezes ev'ry vein!
These are thy works, O Sculpture! thine to shew
In rugged rock a feeling sense of woe.
Yet not alone such themes demand
The Phydian stroke, the Dædal hand;
I view with melting eyes
A softer scene of grief display'd,
While from her breast the duteous maid
Her infant sire with food supplies.
In pitying stone she weeps, to see
His squalid hair, and galling chains:
And trembling, on her bended knee,
His hoary head her hand sustains;
While ev'ry look, and sorrowing feature prove,
How soft her breast, how great her filial love.
Lo! there the wild Assyrian queen,
With threat'ning brow, and frantic mien!

278

Revenge! revenge! the marble cries,
While fury sparkles in her eyes.
Thus was her aweful form beheld,
When Babylon's proud sons rebell'd;
She left the woman's vainer care,
And flew with loose dishevell'd hair;
She stretch'd her hand, imbru'd in blood,
While pale Sedition trembling stood;
In sudden silence, the mad crowd obey'd
Her aweful voice, and Stygian Discord fled!
With hope, or fear, or love, by turns,
The marble leaps, or shrinks, or burns,
As Sculpture waves her hand;
The varying passions of the mind
Her faithful handmaids are assign'd,
And rise and fall by her command.
When now life's wasted lamps expire,
When sinks to dust this mortal frame,
She, like Prometheus, grasps the fire;
Her touch revives the lambent flame;
While phœnix-like, the statesman, bard, or sage,
Spring fresh to life, and breathe through every age.
Hence, where the organ full and clear,
With loud hosannas charms the ear,
Behold (a prism within his hands)
Absorb'd in thought, great Newton stands;

279

Such was his solemn wonted state,
His serious brow, and musing gait,
When, taught on eagles-wings to fly,
He trac'd the wonders of the sky;
The chambers of the sun explor'd,
Where tints of thousand hues are stor'd;
Whence every flower in painted robes is drest,
And varying Iris steals her gaudy vest.
Here, as Devotion, heavenly queen,
Conducts her best, her fav'rite train,
At Newton's shrine they bow!
And while with raptur'd eyes they gaze,
With Virtue's purest vestal rays,
Behold their ardent bosoms glow!
Hail, mighty mind! hail, aweful name!
I feel inspir'd my lab'ring breast;
And lo! I pant, I burn for fame!
Come, Science, bright etherial guest,
Oh come, and lead thy meanest, humblest son,
Through Wisdom's arduous paths to fair renown.
Could I to one faint ray aspire,
One spark of that celestial fire,
The leading cynosure, that glow'd
While Smith explor'd the dark abode,
Where Wisdom sate on Nature's shrine,
How great my boast! what praise were mine!
Illustrious sage! who first could'st tell
Wherein the power of Music dwell;
And ev'ry magic chain untie,
That binds the soul of Harmony!

280

To thee, when mould'ring in the dust,
To thee shall swell the breathing bust:
Shall here (for this reward thy merits claim)
“Stand next in place to Newton, as in fame.”

Socrates, who was condemned to die by poison.

Seneca, born at Corduba, who, according to Pliny, was orator, poet, and philosopher. He bled to death in the bath.

Semiramis, cum ei circa cultum capitis sui occupatæ nunciatum esset Babylonem defecisse; alterâ parte crinium adhuc solutâ protinus ad eam expugnandum cucurrit: nec prius decorum capillorum in ordinem quam tantam urbem in potestatem suam redegit: quocircà statua ejus Babylone posita est, &c. Val. Max. de Ira.

A noble statue of Sir Isaac Newton, erected in Trinity College chapel, by Dr. Smith.

University of Virginia Library

An Ode to SCULPTURE.