Poems on several occasions By the late Edward Lovibond |
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ON LADY POMFRET's PRESENTING THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD WITH HER COLLECTION OF STATUES. |
 | Poems on several occasions |  |
42
ON LADY POMFRET's PRESENTING THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD WITH HER COLLECTION OF STATUES.
Welcome again the reign of ancient Arts!
Welcome fair modern days from Gothic night,
Though late, emerging, Sun of Science hail!
Whose glorious rays enlightened Greece and Rome,
Illustrious nations! Their's was empire's seat,
Their's Virtue, Freedom, each enchanting grace;
Sculpture with them to bright perfection rose,
Sculpture, whose bold Promethean hand inform'd
The stubborn mass with life—in fretted gold
Or yielding marble, to the raptur'd eye
Display'd the shining conclave of the skies,
And chiefs and sages gave the Passions form,
And Virtue shape corporeal: taught by her
The obedient brass dissolv'd;
In Love's soft sires thy winning charms she stole,
Thou mild retreating Medicean Fair.
She mark'd the flowing Dryads lighter step,
The panting bosom, garments flowing loose,
And wanton tresses waving to the wind.—
Again by Pomfret's generous care, these stores
Of ancient Fame revisit Learning's seats,
Their old abode. O reverence Learning's seats,
Ye beauteous Arts! for know, by Learning's smiles
Ye grew immortal—Know, however fair
Sculpture and Painting, fairer Poetry
Your elder Sister, from the Aonian mount,
Imagination's fruitful realm, supply'd
The rich material of your lovely soil.
Her fairy forms, poetic Fancy first
Peopled the hills, and vales, and fabled groves
With shapes celestial, and by fountain side
Saw Fauns with wanton Satyrs lead the dance
With meek-ey'd Naïds; saw your Cyprian Queen
Ascending from the Ocean's wave;
Poetic Fancy in Maonian song
Pictur'd immortal Jove, ere Phidias' hands
Sublime with all his thunders form'd the God.
Here then uniting with your kindred art,
Majestic Grecian Sculpture deign to dwell,
Here shades of Academe again invite,
Athenian philosophic shades, and here
Ye Roman forms, a nobler Tyber flows.
Welcome fair modern days from Gothic night,
Though late, emerging, Sun of Science hail!
Whose glorious rays enlightened Greece and Rome,
Illustrious nations! Their's was empire's seat,
Their's Virtue, Freedom, each enchanting grace;
43
Sculpture, whose bold Promethean hand inform'd
The stubborn mass with life—in fretted gold
Or yielding marble, to the raptur'd eye
Display'd the shining conclave of the skies,
And chiefs and sages gave the Passions form,
And Virtue shape corporeal: taught by her
The obedient brass dissolv'd;
In Love's soft sires thy winning charms she stole,
Thou mild retreating Medicean Fair.
She mark'd the flowing Dryads lighter step,
The panting bosom, garments flowing loose,
And wanton tresses waving to the wind.—
Again by Pomfret's generous care, these stores
Of ancient Fame revisit Learning's seats,
Their old abode. O reverence Learning's seats,
Ye beauteous Arts! for know, by Learning's smiles
Ye grew immortal—Know, however fair
44
Your elder Sister, from the Aonian mount,
Imagination's fruitful realm, supply'd
The rich material of your lovely soil.
Her fairy forms, poetic Fancy first
Peopled the hills, and vales, and fabled groves
With shapes celestial, and by fountain side
Saw Fauns with wanton Satyrs lead the dance
With meek-ey'd Naïds; saw your Cyprian Queen
Ascending from the Ocean's wave;
Poetic Fancy in Maonian song
Pictur'd immortal Jove, ere Phidias' hands
Sublime with all his thunders form'd the God.
Here then uniting with your kindred art,
Majestic Grecian Sculpture deign to dwell,
Here shades of Academe again invite,
Athenian philosophic shades, and here
Ye Roman forms, a nobler Tyber flows.
45
Come, Pomfret, come, of rich munificence
Partake the fame, though candid blushes rise,
And modest virtues shun the blaze of day.
Pomfret, not all thy honours, splendid train,
Not the bright coronet that binds thy brow,
Not all thy lovely offspring, radiant queens
On Beauty's throne, shall consecrate thy praise
Like Science, boasting in thy genial beam
Increasing stores: in these embowering shades
Stands the fair tablet of eternal Fame;
There Memory's adamantine pen records
Her sons; but each illustrious female's name
In golden characters engrav'd, defies
Envy and Time, superior to their rage.—
Pomfret shall live, the generous Pomfret join'd
With Caroline, and martial Edward's Queen,
And great Eliza, regal names, like Thee
Smiling on Arts and Learning's sons they reign'd.—
And see where Westmorland adorns the train
Of Learning's princely patrons! Lo, I see
A new Pantheon rise as that of old
Famous, nor founded by ignobler hands;
Though thine, Agrippa, sway'd the helm of Rome:
I see enshrin'd majestic awful forms,
Chiefs, Legislators, Patriots, Beauties, Gods.
Not him by superstitious fears ador'd
With barbarous sacrifice and frantic zeal,
Yet not uncelebrated nor unsung, for oft
Thou, slumb'ring Cupid, with inverted torch
Betokening mildest fires, shall hear the sighs
Of virtuous love-sick youths. You too shall reign,
Celestial Venus, though with chaster rites,
Addrest with vows from purer votaries heard.
Partake the fame, though candid blushes rise,
And modest virtues shun the blaze of day.
Pomfret, not all thy honours, splendid train,
Not the bright coronet that binds thy brow,
Not all thy lovely offspring, radiant queens
On Beauty's throne, shall consecrate thy praise
Like Science, boasting in thy genial beam
Increasing stores: in these embowering shades
Stands the fair tablet of eternal Fame;
There Memory's adamantine pen records
Her sons; but each illustrious female's name
In golden characters engrav'd, defies
Envy and Time, superior to their rage.—
Pomfret shall live, the generous Pomfret join'd
With Caroline, and martial Edward's Queen,
And great Eliza, regal names, like Thee
Smiling on Arts and Learning's sons they reign'd.—
46
Of Learning's princely patrons! Lo, I see
A new Pantheon rise as that of old
Famous, nor founded by ignobler hands;
Though thine, Agrippa, sway'd the helm of Rome:
I see enshrin'd majestic awful forms,
Chiefs, Legislators, Patriots, Beauties, Gods.
Not him by superstitious fears ador'd
With barbarous sacrifice and frantic zeal,
Yet not uncelebrated nor unsung, for oft
Thou, slumb'ring Cupid, with inverted torch
Betokening mildest fires, shall hear the sighs
Of virtuous love-sick youths. You too shall reign,
Celestial Venus, though with chaster rites,
Addrest with vows from purer votaries heard.
| Poems on several occasions | |