For this, thy flood the fairest name
Of all Britannia's streams shall glide,
Best favourite of the sons of fame,
Of every tuneful breast the pride :
For on thy borders, bounteous queen,
Where now the cowslip paints the green
With unregarded grace,

Her wanton herds where nature feeds,
As lonesome o'er the breezy reeds
She bends her silent pace;

Lo! there, to Wisdom's goddess dear
A far-fam'd city shall her turrets rear,
There all her force shall Pallas prove;
Of classic leaf with every crown,
Each olive, meed of old renown,

Each ancient wreath, which Athens wove,
I'll bid her blooming bowers abound;
And Oxford's sacred seats shall tower
To thee, mild Nais of the flood,
The trophy of my gratitude!

The temple of my power!

Nor was the pious promise vain;

Soon illustrious Alfred came,

And pitch'd fair Wisdom's tent on Isis' plenteous plain.

Alfred, on thee shall all the muses wait,

Alfred, majestic name!

Of all our praise the spring!

Thee all thy sons shall sing,

Deck'd with the martial and the civic wreath: In notes most awful shall the trumpet breathe To thee, great Romulus of Learning's richest state.

Nor Alfred's bounteous hand alone,
Oxford, thy rising temples own:
Soon many a man munificent,

The prince, the prelate, laurel-crown'd crowd,
Their ample bounty lent

To build the beauteous monument,
That Pallas vow'd.

And now she lifts her head sublime
Majestic in the moss of time;

Nor wants there Grecia's better part,
'Mid the proud piles of ancient art,
Whose fretted spires, with ruder hand,
Wainfleet and Wickham bravely plann'd;
Nor decent Doric to dispense

New charms 'mid old magnificence;

And here and there soft Corinth weaves

Her daedal coronet of leaves;

While, as with rival pride their towers invade the sky,
Radcliffe and Bodley seem to vie,

Which shall deserve the foremost place,
Or Gothic strength, or Attic grace.

O Isis! ever will I chant thy praise :
Not that thy sons have struck the golden lyre

With hands most skilful; have their brows en

twin'd

With every fairest flower of Helicon,

The sweetest swans of all th' harmonious choir;
Have bad the musing mind

Of every science pierce the pathless ways,
And from the rest the wreath of wisdom won;
But that thy sons have dar'd to feel

For Freedom's cause a sacred zeal;
With British breast, and patriot pride,
Have still Corruption's cup defy'd ;
In dangerous days untaught to fear,
Have held the name of honor dear.

But chief of this illustrious day,
The Muse her loudest Paeans, loves to pay.
Ere while she strove with accents weak
In vain to build the lofty rhyme;

At length, by better days of bounty cheer'd,
She dares unfold her wing.

Hail hour of transport most sublime!
In which, the man rever'd

Immortal CREW commands to sing,
And gives the pipe to breathe, the string to speak.

Blest prelate, hail !

Most pious patron, most triumphant theme;
From whose auspicious hand

On Isis' towers new beauties beam,

New praise her nursing fathers gain;

Immortal CREW!

Blest prelate, hail !

Ev'n now fir'd Fancy sees thee lead

To Fame's high-seated fane

The shouting band!

O'er every hallowed head

Fame's choicest wreaths she sees thee spread Alfred superior smiles the solemn scene to view; And bids the Goddess lift

Her loudest trumpet to proclaim,

O CREW! thy consecrated gift,

And echo with his own in social strains thy name.

ODE XXII.

PERFORMED IN THE

SENATE-HOUSE AT CAMBRIDGE,

July 1, 1749.

AT THE INSTALLATION OF

HIS GRACE THOMAS HOLLES,

DUKE OF NEWCASTLE,

Chancellor of the University.

c nit errantem Permessi flumina Gallum Aonias in montes ut duxerit una sororem; Utque viro Phoebi chorus assurrexerit omnis.

BY WILLIAM MASON, M. A.

[At that time fellow of Pembroke-Hall.]

VIRGIL.

SET TO MUSIC BY DR. BOYCE, COMPOSER TO HIS MAJESTY.

RECITATIVE.

HERE all thy active fires diffuse,

Thou genuine British Muse;

Hither descend from yonder orient sky,
Cloth'd in thy Heav'n-wove robe of harmony.

AIR I.

Come, imperial Queen of song,

Come with all that free-born grace,
Which lifts thee from the servile throng,
Who meanly mimic thy majestic pace;