University of Virginia Library

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171

ELEGAIC ODE

TO THE MEMORY OF DR. WILLIAM HARVEY, Discoverer of the Circulation of the Blood.

I.

Strike, strike the Harp, strike loud and long,
Thine, God of Pindus, thine the theme;
So may thy warm life-giving beam
Fire our rapt spirits while we swell the song.

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172

In classic lore, thy mystic powers,
Rule light and harmony and healing skill;
And all thy three-fold influence be ours,
Shining propitious from thy sacred hill.
For thrice we honour thee,
While bosoms glow,
And goblets flow,
In honour of thy votary.

II.

Hail to immortal Harvey, hail!
Thine inspiration breathed upon his soul,
And to his ken the hidden truth unfurled;

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173

That as the seasons change, the planets roll,
As from the eastern to the western flood,
Thy course revolving animates the world;
So circling moves the current of the blood.
Hail! to thy favoured son, let pæans ring,
Hail! to his deathless name, whose fervid mind
Flash'd light to teach, to heal, to bless mankind.
Hail! to immortal Harvey.
And while our bosoms throb, our pulses beat,
While the red current, charged with vital heat,
Plays in meand'ring streams,
Still higher shall we raise the strain,
Till heaven's high vault returns again
The soul-expanding theme—
Hail! to immortal Harvey raise the song,
Hail! to immortal Harvey, hail!