Pagina-afbeeldingen
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On wings of ecstasy, to join

Sages and saints, a band divine,

Whose godlike forms (ere death withdrew
The veil that darkens mortal view)
Heav'n bade thy penetrative eye
Amid her dazzling courts descry;
Thence bade thee trace the faultless line,
Th' expressive grace, the chaste design,
The mien that love and awe inspires,
And wakes devotion's purest fires.
Thy memory, still to genius dear,
Britain's enlighten'd sons revere;
And grateful hail their Monarch's name,
Whose liberal care thy labours claim:

To heights impervious heretofore
Who bids immortal Science soar;

Far seen in venerable pride,
Whose regal seat, expanding wide
Its portals at his high behest,
Hails ev'ry Art, an honour'd guest:
Beneath whose mild, auspicious reign
The Genius old of Greece again,
Awaken'd from his deep repose,

In REYNOLDS' living canvass glows;

Where Grace and Energy divine,
With Beauty truly blent combine:
And braids his deathless bays around
The British Raffaelle's brows renown'd.
Lo! by his daring hand pourtray'd,*
The sanguinary scene display'd
Where martial peers, in glittering mail,
Unfold their pennons to the gale;
O'er Normandy's dismantled plains
Where iron-clad Contention reigns;
And Havoc waits (his tresses wet
With gore) thy nod, Plantagenet!
Wafted from Albion's Isle afar,

Where wake her sons the storm of war;

Where, ravish'd from the parent stem

Το

grace the Victor's diadem,

Thy Lilies, France, no more assume
The splendour of their wonted bloom;
No more with peerless lustre glow,

But soil with blood their native snow!

* The Victories of Edward the Third, and Edward the Black Prince, painted by Mr. West.

Now o'er the braid from FANCY'S loom The rich tints breathe a deeper gloom; While, consecrated domes beneath

Midst hoary shrines and caves of death,
Secluded from the eye of day
She bids her pensive votary stray.
Brooding o'er monumental cells
There awe-diffusing Silence dwells,
Save when along the lofty fane
Devotion wakes her hallow'd strain,

When the vast organ's breathing frame
Echoes the voice of loud acclaim,

And the deep diapason's sound
Thunders the vaulted iles around.

From the broad window's fretted height
Streams the rich flood of mellow'd light,
That bids the pav'd expanse below
With hues of gold and crimson glow,
Reflected from the gorgeous pane,
Where Picture holds her lasting reign:
Where, in translucent glories dight,
Selestial forms arrest the sight;

Th enraptur'd gazer's pow'rs control,
And bathe in ecstasy the soul.

There, rang'd in reverend majesty,

The taper shafts ascending high
To decorate the crisped roof

Their mingling branches shoot aloof:
Where, blazon'd in projecting gold,
Flame the proud crests of Barons bold.

Now beams on FANCY's eye no more The spangled roof, the polish'd floor, The speaking chrystal's various stain Illumining the wondrous fane:

Choirs, altars, shrines, illusive fade.-
Enliv'ning Airs my sense invade:
Encircled by the young and fair,
The blithe Assembly's bliss I share;
Swift o'er the lyre's harmonious strings
His magic hand the minstrel flings;
Responsive to the sprightly sound,
The dancer's quivering feet rebound;
Diffusing wide their silver rays,
Aloft the sparkling lustres blaze;
While milder emanations flow

From love-enkindling orbs below.

Amid the soul-subduing scene

Lo! Fauconberg's majestic mien
Conspicuous tow'rs above the rest:
Impurpled plumes her brows invest,
Amid whose trembling summits high
Insidious Cupids ambush'd lie.
To each enchanting Grace allied,
Here Fancy bids fair Bouverie glide,
Light as the breath of opening morn
O'er beds of unsunn'd violets born,
And win each heart, a willing prize,
Unconscious of her victories.

There Townshend threads the pleasing maze :
Ah who can unenamour'd gaze!

To fan the flame of chaste desire

There Law's ingenuous charms conspire;

Smiles that enthral the ravish'd sense,

The speaking eye's soft eloquence,
And blush, whose living roses dye
The shrine of Sensibility!

Who the sweet magic can withstand
Of powerful Nature's lavish hand
Fresh as the spring, as Hebe fair,
Where Egham sends a gentle Pair,

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