And vivid fancy; and clear fimple truth;
And all the mental bloom of vernal youth.
How bright the scene to Fancy's eye appears,
Through the long perspective of distant years,
When this, this little group their country calls
From academic fhades and learned halls,
To fix her laws, her spirit to sustain,
And light up glory through her wide domain !
Their various taftes in different arts difplay'd,
Like temper'd harmony of light and shade,
With friendly union in one mafs shall blend,
And this adorn the state, and that defend.
Thefe the fequefter'd fhade shall cheaply please,
With learned labour and inglorious ease;
While thofe, impell'd by fome refiftless force,
O'er feas and rocks fhall urge their veht'rous course;
Rich fruits, matur'd by glowing funs, behold,
And China's groves of vegetable gold;
From ev'ry land the various harvest spoil,
And bear the tribute to their native foil;
But tell each land (while every toil they share,
Firm to fuftain, and refolute to dare)
MAN is the nobler growth our realms. supply,
And SOULS are ripen'd in our northern sky...
Some penfive creep along the fhelly shore,
Unfold the filky texture of a flow'r,
With fharpen'd eyes infpect a hornet's fting,
And all the wonders of an infect's wing,
Some trace with curious fearch the hidden caufe
Of Nature's changes, and her various laws;
Untwist her beauteous web, difrobe her charms,
And hunt her to her elemental orms;
Or
prove what hidden pow'rs in herbs are found
To quench disease, and cool the burning wound ;-
With cordial drops the fainting head sustain,
Call back the flitting foul, and still the throbs of pain.
The patriot paffion this shall strongly feel, Ardent, and glowing with undaunted zeal ; With lips of fire fhall plead his country's cause, And vindicate the majefty of laws.
This, cloth'd with Britain's thunder, fpread alarms Through the wide earth, and shake the pole with arms. That, to the founding lyre, his deeds rehearse,
Enfhrine his name in fome immortal verfe:
To long pofterity his praise confign,
And pay a life of hardships by a line.
While others, confecrate to higher aims,
Whofe hallow'd bofoms glow with purer
Love in their hearts, perfuafion on their tongue,
With words of peace fhall charm the lift'ning throng,
Draw the dread veil that wraps th' eternal throne,
And launch our fouls into the bright unknown.
ODE TO CONTENT.
THOU, the Nymph with placid eye!
O feldom found, yet ever nigh! -
Receive my temp'rate vow:
Not all the forms that shake the pole
Can e'er difturb thy halcyon foul,
And smooth, unalter'd brow.
O come, in fimplest vest array'd,
With all thy fober cheer difplay'd,
To bless my longing fight;
Thy mien compos'd, thy even pace,
Thy meek regard, thy matron grace,
And chafte fubdu'd delight.
No more by varying paffions beat,
O gently guide my pilgrim feet
To find thy hermit cell;
Where in fome pure and equal sky,
Beneath thy foft indulgent eye,
The modeft virtues dwell.
Simplicity in Attic veft,
And Innocence with candid breast,
And clear undaunted eye;
And Hope, who points to distant years,
Fair op'ning through this vale of tears
A vifta to the fky.
There Health, through whofe calm bofom glide
The temperate joys in even tide,
That rarely ebb or flow;
And Patience there, thy fifter meek,
Prefents her mild, unvarying cheek,
To meet the offer'd blow.
Her influence taught the Phrygian fage
A tyrant mafter's wanton rage
With fettled fmiles to meet:
Inur'd to toil and bitter bread,
He bow'd his meek fubmitted head,
And kifs'd thy fainted feet.
But thou, O Nymph retir'd and coy!
In what brown hamlet doft thou joy
To tell thy tender tale?
The lowliest children of the ground,
Mofs-rofe and violet bloffom round,
And lily of the vale.
O fay what soft propitious hour
I best may choose to hail thy pow'r,
And court thy gentle fway:
When Autumn, friendly to the muse,
Shall thy own modest tints diffuse,
And shed thy milder day?
When Eve, her dewy ftar beneath,
Thy balmy spirit loves to breathe,
And every ftorm is laid ?
If fuch an hour was e'er thy choice,
Oft let me hear thy foothing voice
Low whifp'ring through the fhade.
ODE TO FEAR.
THOU, to whom the world unknown
With all its shadowy fhapes is fhown;
Who feeft appall'd th' unreal fcene,
While Fancy lifts the veil between:
Ah Fear! ah frantic Fear!
I fee, I fee thee near.
I know thy hurried ftep, thy haggard eye!
Like thee I start, like thee disorder'd fly;
For lo, what monsters in thy train appear !·
Danger, whofe limbs of giant mould
What mortal eye can fix'd behold?
Who ftalks his round, a hideous form,
Howling amidst the midnight storm,
Or throws him on the ridgy fteep
Of fome loose hanging rock to sleep:
And with him thoufand phantoms join'd,
Who prompt to deeds accurs'd the mind:
And those, the fiends, who, near allied,
O'er Nature's wounds, and wrecks prefide;
While Vengeance in the lurid air
Lifts her red arm, expos'd and bare :
On whom that ravening brood of Fate,
Who lap the blood of Sorrow, wait;
Who, Fear, this ghaftly train can fee,
And look not madly wild, like thee?
Thou who fuch weary lengths hast pass'd,
Where wilt thou reft, mad Nymph, at laft?
Say, wilt thou shroud in haunted cell,
Where gloomy Rape and Murder dwell?
Or in fome hollow'd feat,
'Gainst which the big waves beat,
Hear drowning feamen's cries in tempefts brought!
Dark pow'r, with fhudd'ring meek fubmitted thought!
Be mine, to read the visions old,
Which thy awak'ning bards have told,
And, left thou meet my blafted view,
Hold each strange tale devoutly true;
Ne'er be I found, by thee o'eraw'd,
In that thrice hallow'd eve abroad,
When ghofts, as cottage-maids believe,
The pebbled beds permitted leave,
And goblins haunt, from fire, or fen,
Or mine, or flood, the walks of men!
O thou whose spirit moft poffefs'd
The facred feat of Shakspeare's breaft!
By all that from thy prophet broke,
In thy divine emotions spoke !
Hither again thy fury deal,
Teach me but once like him to feel;
His cypress wreath my meed decree,
And I, O Fear! will dwell with thee.
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