 | Miscellanies |  |
Without thy chearful active energy
No rapture swells the breast, no Poet sings,
No more the maids of Helicon delight.
Come then with me, O Goddess heavenly gay!
Begin the song; and let it sweetly flow,
And let it wisely teach thy wholesome laws:
“How best the sickle fabric to support
“Of mortal man; in healthful body how
“A healthful mind the longest to maintain.”
'Tis hard, in such a strife of rules, to chuse
The best, and those of most extensive use;
Harder in clear and animated song
Dry philosophic precepts to convey.
Yet with thy aid the secret wilds I trace
Of nature, and with daring steps proceed
Thro' paths the muss never trod before.
No rapture swells the breast, no Poet sings,
No more the maids of Helicon delight.
Come then with me, O Goddess heavenly gay!
Begin the song; and let it sweetly flow,
And let it wisely teach thy wholesome laws:
“How best the sickle fabric to support
“Of mortal man; in healthful body how
“A healthful mind the longest to maintain.”
'Tis hard, in such a strife of rules, to chuse
The best, and those of most extensive use;
Harder in clear and animated song
Dry philosophic precepts to convey.
6
Of nature, and with daring steps proceed
Thro' paths the muss never trod before.
| Miscellanies | |