 | The old bard's farewell |  |
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------ They say, the tongues of dying men
Inforce attention like deep harmony.
Richard II. Act 2d.
Inforce attention like deep harmony.
Richard II. Act 2d.
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TO GEORGE ELLIS, ESQUIRE.
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THE OLD BARD'S FAREWELL.
Whence comes it, that, by Fate's severe decree,
Such numbers fall'n from life's expanded tree,
Strew like autumnal leaves the mourning plain,
While I (pale leaf) still on the branch remain?
How many friends abridg'd of their career,
Whose honour'd forms have press'd th' untimely bier!
Cotemporary crowds have fled away,
While I'm ordain'd to hail the present day.
Such numbers fall'n from life's expanded tree,
Strew like autumnal leaves the mourning plain,
While I (pale leaf) still on the branch remain?
How many friends abridg'd of their career,
Whose honour'd forms have press'd th' untimely bier!
Cotemporary crowds have fled away,
While I'm ordain'd to hail the present day.
This partial doom inspires no gaudy thought:
The conscious mind, by many a warning taught,
Knows that frail nature with unequal strife,
Sunk in the socket, combats still for life.
Since then no gay expectancies array
Their airy forms, and at a distance play;
Be mine with pleasing retrospect to raise
A comely pile of gratitude and praise,
For the bright current of long-flowing health,
A cheerful mind, a competence of wealth:
For relatives who closer knit the tie,
And view my frailties through affection's eye:
For friends (not floating on the parting tide)
To worth, to genius, and renown allied:
For smaller blessings which like gales dispense
A transient bliss, and wake th' enliven'd sense.
For that the muse engarlanded my brow
With some faint flowrets of the laurel-bough.
The conscious mind, by many a warning taught,
Knows that frail nature with unequal strife,
Sunk in the socket, combats still for life.
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Their airy forms, and at a distance play;
Be mine with pleasing retrospect to raise
A comely pile of gratitude and praise,
For the bright current of long-flowing health,
A cheerful mind, a competence of wealth:
For relatives who closer knit the tie,
And view my frailties through affection's eye:
For friends (not floating on the parting tide)
To worth, to genius, and renown allied:
For smaller blessings which like gales dispense
A transient bliss, and wake th' enliven'd sense.
For that the muse engarlanded my brow
With some faint flowrets of the laurel-bough.
If arrogance to folly be allied,
Cold is that breast which owns no generous pride,
A pride attemper'd by a bashful fear,
And shuns plum'd Ostentation's gorgeous sphere:
Ev'n Genius soaring on the wings of Fame
Bears meekly conscious his refulgent name:
For all that Science, from Time's sacred birth
Has been imparting to her pupil Earth,
Is but a drop that's fall'n upon our night
From God! the unemptiable fount of light .
Cold is that breast which owns no generous pride,
A pride attemper'd by a bashful fear,
And shuns plum'd Ostentation's gorgeous sphere:
Ev'n Genius soaring on the wings of Fame
Bears meekly conscious his refulgent name:
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Has been imparting to her pupil Earth,
Is but a drop that's fall'n upon our night
From God! the unemptiable fount of light .
Still other gifts, which I superior deem,
Demand admission to the grateful theme.
In the gay season of impetuous youth
My footsteps wander'd from the path of Truth:
From the mild splendour of her heav'nly light
I turn'd away, and call'd her radiance night:
Averse I turn'd to meet the dazzling ray
Which stream'd around thy dome, renown'd Ferney !
Then, meteor-like, ascending in a blaze,
Allur'd, enchanted, fix'd the general gaze,
And, flying o'er the globe without control,
Hurl'd its malignant light from pole to pole.
Demand admission to the grateful theme.
In the gay season of impetuous youth
My footsteps wander'd from the path of Truth:
From the mild splendour of her heav'nly light
I turn'd away, and call'd her radiance night:
Averse I turn'd to meet the dazzling ray
Which stream'd around thy dome, renown'd Ferney !
Then, meteor-like, ascending in a blaze,
Allur'd, enchanted, fix'd the general gaze,
And, flying o'er the globe without control,
Hurl'd its malignant light from pole to pole.
Hail to that ever-memorable hour
When Truth recall'd me to her hallow'd bower:
'Twas night—an awful silence reign'd around,
And my calm soul was wrapp'd in thought profound:
An ancient Prelate , virtue's firm ally,
Who long hath join'd the sacred world on high,
Breath'd from his living page Instruction's lore,
Reveal'd the mine which holds the richest ore:
Oh! precious wealth to my deficience given,
Consoling evidence of fav'ring Heaven!
For this, by memory's vivid touch imprest,
Shall gratitude still grapple to my breast;
And adoration in my humble cell,
And the glad voice of melody shall dwell.
When Truth recall'd me to her hallow'd bower:
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And my calm soul was wrapp'd in thought profound:
An ancient Prelate , virtue's firm ally,
Who long hath join'd the sacred world on high,
Breath'd from his living page Instruction's lore,
Reveal'd the mine which holds the richest ore:
Oh! precious wealth to my deficience given,
Consoling evidence of fav'ring Heaven!
For this, by memory's vivid touch imprest,
Shall gratitude still grapple to my breast;
And adoration in my humble cell,
And the glad voice of melody shall dwell.
No more I worship Reason's boasted ray,
Which pour'd, I fondly thought, a flood of day:
Ev'n as the chilling subterraneous damp
Extinguishes the miner's misty lamp,
So the cold air of Irreligion's night
Quenches the brilliancy of Reason's light.
Which pour'd, I fondly thought, a flood of day:
Ev'n as the chilling subterraneous damp
Extinguishes the miner's misty lamp,
So the cold air of Irreligion's night
Quenches the brilliancy of Reason's light.
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Ah! let me pity the revolting mind
Which mocks the awful plan by Heav'n design'd.
The man who lifts to yon informing sky
A scornful brow, an unrevering eye,
His turbid breast the vulture conscience tears;
For him no angel form a wreath prepares,
The cherub Joy unfriendly turns away,
And each kind office lingers to display,
Takes at a distance his unsocial stand,
Reveals no smiles, and waves no beck'ning hand.
Which mocks the awful plan by Heav'n design'd.
The man who lifts to yon informing sky
A scornful brow, an unrevering eye,
His turbid breast the vulture conscience tears;
For him no angel form a wreath prepares,
The cherub Joy unfriendly turns away,
And each kind office lingers to display,
Takes at a distance his unsocial stand,
Reveals no smiles, and waves no beck'ning hand.
Oft shall my footsteps seek the bless'd retreat
Where coy Seclusion guards her silent seat:
While Solitude becomes th' attiring room
Where the worn mind repairs its fading bloom;
Where Wisdom clothes with strength the falt'ring heart;
The moral graces all their charms impart;
And Fancy, kindling her prophetic eye,
Darts her anticipating glance on high.
Where coy Seclusion guards her silent seat:
While Solitude becomes th' attiring room
Where the worn mind repairs its fading bloom;
Where Wisdom clothes with strength the falt'ring heart;
The moral graces all their charms impart;
And Fancy, kindling her prophetic eye,
Darts her anticipating glance on high.
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Th' imprison'd bird thus at the breath of spring
Feels a strange impulse, and begins to sing;
Bursts of new sense his wakening soul employ,
And urge his flutt'ring heart to higher joy:
Though all to him unknown the waving shades,
The airy mountain, and the sunny glades,
The thronging choristers, the mutual love
And the gay paradise within the grove.
Feels a strange impulse, and begins to sing;
Bursts of new sense his wakening soul employ,
And urge his flutt'ring heart to higher joy:
Though all to him unknown the waving shades,
The airy mountain, and the sunny glades,
The thronging choristers, the mutual love
And the gay paradise within the grove.
Here let me pause, restrain'd by holy fear,
Nor rise presumptuous from my humble sphere,
To meet with bold investigating eye
The vast unfathomable depth on high,
Near which bright Wisdom, baffled at the view,
Recoils—and dares not the dread task pursue,
Divorc'd from day, where reigns eternal night,
O'er which the stars abhor to shed their light!
Tremendous gulf! by men nor angels trod,
Where Myst'ry guards the secrets of her God,
And Faith submissive, with a pious hand,
Wreathes round her brow an emblematic band.
Nor rise presumptuous from my humble sphere,
To meet with bold investigating eye
The vast unfathomable depth on high,
Near which bright Wisdom, baffled at the view,
Recoils—and dares not the dread task pursue,
Divorc'd from day, where reigns eternal night,
O'er which the stars abhor to shed their light!
Tremendous gulf! by men nor angels trod,
Where Myst'ry guards the secrets of her God,
And Faith submissive, with a pious hand,
Wreathes round her brow an emblematic band.
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A subject now arrests the wand'ring lay,
A theme congenial to my closing day:
Say, in the future world, to friendship true,
Shall friends with friends the social pact renew?
Search the deep record of the Sibyl's leaves,
There no instruction the blank mind receives
Bid Science spread her riches to the eye,
Consult her volume—it makes no reply!
Not all the wisdom of the wisest sage
Can break the slumber of the silent page:
In this distress, the soul, entranc'd in fright,
Looks all around, and all around is night.
At length with smiling lip, and cheering eye,
Gay Hope, the Hebe of the Christian sky,
Appears—she mitigates the circling gloom;
And o'er the cheek of Darkness throws a bloom.
Hark! now the Cherub rears her voice divine:
‘To soothe the gath'ring cares of man be mine;
‘Be mine to raise, endu'd with sacred power,
‘The human blossom bending from the shower:
‘To those now weeping o'er a kindred urn
‘This bland consoling answer I return:
A theme congenial to my closing day:
Say, in the future world, to friendship true,
Shall friends with friends the social pact renew?
Search the deep record of the Sibyl's leaves,
There no instruction the blank mind receives
Bid Science spread her riches to the eye,
Consult her volume—it makes no reply!
Not all the wisdom of the wisest sage
Can break the slumber of the silent page:
In this distress, the soul, entranc'd in fright,
Looks all around, and all around is night.
At length with smiling lip, and cheering eye,
Gay Hope, the Hebe of the Christian sky,
Appears—she mitigates the circling gloom;
And o'er the cheek of Darkness throws a bloom.
Hark! now the Cherub rears her voice divine:
‘To soothe the gath'ring cares of man be mine;
‘Be mine to raise, endu'd with sacred power,
‘The human blossom bending from the shower:
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‘This bland consoling answer I return:
‘What virtue needs, what innocence desires,
‘What poignant sensibility requires,
‘While mem'ry feeds affection's holy flame,
‘And throbbing nature vindicates her claim,
‘Rest, rest assur'd, th' indulgent Pow'r above
‘Will not deny the children of his love.’
‘What poignant sensibility requires,
‘While mem'ry feeds affection's holy flame,
‘And throbbing nature vindicates her claim,
‘Rest, rest assur'd, th' indulgent Pow'r above
‘Will not deny the children of his love.’
Let none imagine Grace, that sainted fair,
Descends from Heav'n to lull the sons of care:
Though Grace sits brooding o'er th' obedient soil,
Assiduous duty still demands our toil:
Nor must the cultivator e'er refuse
To watch the flow'rs enrich'd with heav'nly dews,
And with those flow'rs, by gales celestial fann'd,
Form his own garland with a trembling hand.
Though age, the night of life, around me glooms,
The soul, a cheering lamp, the scene illumes,
Fed with the splendour of ethereal rays,
And bright'ning still, as still the frame decays:
Tremendous Death! is this thy conq'ring hour?
This thy full effort of tyrannic pow'r?
The frail, the mould'ring casket is thy prey,
The jewel glitters in immortal day.
Descends from Heav'n to lull the sons of care:
Though Grace sits brooding o'er th' obedient soil,
Assiduous duty still demands our toil:
Nor must the cultivator e'er refuse
To watch the flow'rs enrich'd with heav'nly dews,
And with those flow'rs, by gales celestial fann'd,
Form his own garland with a trembling hand.
Though age, the night of life, around me glooms,
The soul, a cheering lamp, the scene illumes,
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And bright'ning still, as still the frame decays:
Tremendous Death! is this thy conq'ring hour?
This thy full effort of tyrannic pow'r?
The frail, the mould'ring casket is thy prey,
The jewel glitters in immortal day.
My mind reveres not the desponding sage
Who thinks that Wisdom shuns th' immoral age,
That Virtue takes a retrogressive flight,
And hurries to the gulf of endless night.
Who thinks that Wisdom shuns th' immoral age,
That Virtue takes a retrogressive flight,
And hurries to the gulf of endless night.
All Europe late beheld ('t was transport's hour)
The foul fiend Inquisition flung from pow'r:
In a torn garment stain'd with blood array'd,
On human bones reclines th' inclement maid:
With unrelenting chains her hands are bound;
Her gory locks, Iberian snakes surround:
The scatter'd piles feel no devouring fires,
A torch inverted at her feet expires.
The foul fiend Inquisition flung from pow'r:
In a torn garment stain'd with blood array'd,
On human bones reclines th' inclement maid:
With unrelenting chains her hands are bound;
Her gory locks, Iberian snakes surround:
The scatter'd piles feel no devouring fires,
A torch inverted at her feet expires.
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A bright transaction of a generous kind
Feeds with delight the corresponding mind:
By some reproachful dream as if impress'd,
Britannia started from her guilty rest:
Abruptly breaking from her iron trance,
On Africa she cast a troubled glance:
Enchain'd to woe, embitter'd by disgrace,
The suff'ring, long-unpitied sable race
She saw—she wept—she smote her sorrowing breast—
Let virtue, and let justice, tell the rest.
Feeds with delight the corresponding mind:
By some reproachful dream as if impress'd,
Britannia started from her guilty rest:
Abruptly breaking from her iron trance,
On Africa she cast a troubled glance:
Enchain'd to woe, embitter'd by disgrace,
The suff'ring, long-unpitied sable race
She saw—she wept—she smote her sorrowing breast—
Let virtue, and let justice, tell the rest.
I scorn th' alarmist to his fears consign'd,
With all the lean tormentors of his mind,
Who calls a phantom a destructive form,
And ev'ry playful gale a pond'rous storm.
Does some false patriot, with seductive art,
Strive to contaminate the public heart—
Not all his stratagems to treason grown
Can terrify our heav'n-defended Throne.
Say, is the oak dissever'd from the earth,
Where hoary Time beheld her distant birth,
When the weak zephyr on her foliage blows,
And transiently disturbs her deep repose?
With all the lean tormentors of his mind,
Who calls a phantom a destructive form,
And ev'ry playful gale a pond'rous storm.
Does some false patriot, with seductive art,
Strive to contaminate the public heart—
Not all his stratagems to treason grown
Can terrify our heav'n-defended Throne.
Say, is the oak dissever'd from the earth,
Where hoary Time beheld her distant birth,
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And transiently disturbs her deep repose?
See lawless Pow'r ascend the crimson car,
And o'er the nations urge th' insatiate war!
Advancing clouds conceal the smiling skies,
‘Deep calls to deep,’ and surge to surge replies.
Ah! may for me, from life's last scene withdrawn,
The cave of death, the grave relentless yawn,
Ere these sad eyes, while terrors round appal,
View the long ruin of my country's fall!
Hence, desolating thought!—fly, phantom, fly!
My hopes repose on English energy.
And o'er the nations urge th' insatiate war!
Advancing clouds conceal the smiling skies,
‘Deep calls to deep,’ and surge to surge replies.
Ah! may for me, from life's last scene withdrawn,
The cave of death, the grave relentless yawn,
Ere these sad eyes, while terrors round appal,
View the long ruin of my country's fall!
Hence, desolating thought!—fly, phantom, fly!
My hopes repose on English energy.
The farewell theme permit me to prolong:—
Yes! ere my voice shall close its evening song,
With ardent heart to those I now appeal,
Whose mitred pow'r promotes the gen'ral weal.
Yes! ere my voice shall close its evening song,
With ardent heart to those I now appeal,
Whose mitred pow'r promotes the gen'ral weal.
Ye high-exalted pastors of the realm,
Whose skilful hands direct the sacred helm,
Whose spotless mind with wisdom's lore is fraught,
Whose white investment figures heav'nly thought,
Your awful task invariably pursue,
To your tremendous duty dare be true.
Whose skilful hands direct the sacred helm,
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Whose white investment figures heav'nly thought,
Your awful task invariably pursue,
To your tremendous duty dare be true.
Still may the sainted Ark secure remain
From the defiling touch of hands profane:
Through all her progress may she ever own
The unremitting sanction of the Throne!
As on one stem two kindred flow'rs arise,
And breathe their blended incense to the skies,
Together smile beneath the cheering gale,
Together droop beneath the batt'ring hail:
Thus the two sacred forms of Church and State
Must ever join in one involving fate,
Glow in one sun, and with one grief consume,
One mind, one heart, one peril, and one tomb.
From the defiling touch of hands profane:
Through all her progress may she ever own
The unremitting sanction of the Throne!
As on one stem two kindred flow'rs arise,
And breathe their blended incense to the skies,
Together smile beneath the cheering gale,
Together droop beneath the batt'ring hail:
Thus the two sacred forms of Church and State
Must ever join in one involving fate,
Glow in one sun, and with one grief consume,
One mind, one heart, one peril, and one tomb.
Ye village priests, Religion's humbler band,
With zeal inspir'd, around her altar stand;
To her pure shrine affectionately bear
The tears of widows, and the poor man's prayer.
Oh, steal once more Promethean fire from Heaven,
Praiseworthy theft, assur'd to be forgiven:
An higher strain of energy assume,
Nor be like statues bending o'er a tomb.
With zeal inspir'd, around her altar stand;
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The tears of widows, and the poor man's prayer.
Oh, steal once more Promethean fire from Heaven,
Praiseworthy theft, assur'd to be forgiven:
An higher strain of energy assume,
Nor be like statues bending o'er a tomb.
Caress'd by fortune, by success renown'd,
Snatch'd from the common of the world around,
Dissever'd from the great primeval waste,
The arm of Providence this isle embrac'd.
The partial Deity diffus'd her fame,
Indulg'd her wish, and multiplied her name:
‘The seat of honour, Freedom's ample plain,
‘The park of Neptune, tow'ring o'er the main,
‘To each adoring art a laurel tree,
‘A brighter Venus rising from the sea .’
Snatch'd from the common of the world around,
Dissever'd from the great primeval waste,
The arm of Providence this isle embrac'd.
The partial Deity diffus'd her fame,
Indulg'd her wish, and multiplied her name:
‘The seat of honour, Freedom's ample plain,
‘The park of Neptune, tow'ring o'er the main,
‘To each adoring art a laurel tree,
‘A brighter Venus rising from the sea .’
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Oh England! oh my country! favour'd isle,
Inur'd to bask in Heav'n's resplendent smile!
While, ever active and profusely kind,
Th' affection of your God is unconfin'd,
While in broad cataracts it show'rs on you,
Ah! let not yours ascend in gentle dew:
On Virtue's wing to higher flight arise,
Deserve your bliss, and vindicate the skies:
Of that fall'n edifice which Europe plann'd,
You like a solitary column stand,
Blind to the birth which pregnant time awaits,
Awfully safe, amidst the wreck of states.
Inur'd to bask in Heav'n's resplendent smile!
While, ever active and profusely kind,
Th' affection of your God is unconfin'd,
While in broad cataracts it show'rs on you,
Ah! let not yours ascend in gentle dew:
On Virtue's wing to higher flight arise,
Deserve your bliss, and vindicate the skies:
Of that fall'n edifice which Europe plann'd,
You like a solitary column stand,
Blind to the birth which pregnant time awaits,
Awfully safe, amidst the wreck of states.
My task is done. Indulge the pensive page,
Spare the last labour of declining age:
Forgive this effort of expiring power,
The milder fragrance of a winter-flower.
Spare the last labour of declining age:
Forgive this effort of expiring power,
The milder fragrance of a winter-flower.
THE END.
| The old bard's farewell | |