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On the Invention of Letters. |
A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes | ||
On the Invention of Letters.
Tell me what Genius did the art invent,
The lively image of the voice to paint;
Who first the secret how to colour sound,
And to give shape to reason, wisely found;
With bodies how to cloath ideas, taught;
And how to draw the picture of a thought:
Who taught the hand to speak, the eye to hear
A silent language roving far and near;
Whose softest noise outstrips loud thunder's sound,
And spreads her accents thro' the world's vast round:
A voice heard by the deaf, spoke by the dumb,
Whose echo reaches long, long time to come;
Which dead men speak as well as those alive—
Tell me what Genius did this art contrive.
The lively image of the voice to paint;
Who first the secret how to colour sound,
And to give shape to reason, wisely found;
With bodies how to cloath ideas, taught;
And how to draw the picture of a thought:
297
A silent language roving far and near;
Whose softest noise outstrips loud thunder's sound,
And spreads her accents thro' the world's vast round:
A voice heard by the deaf, spoke by the dumb,
Whose echo reaches long, long time to come;
Which dead men speak as well as those alive—
Tell me what Genius did this art contrive.
The Answer.
The noble art to Cadmus owes its rise,Of painting words, and speaking to the eyes;
He first in wond'rous magic fetters bound
The airy voice, and stop'd the flying sound:
The various figures by his pencil wrought,
Gave colour, form, and body to the thought.
A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes | ||