So may I greet thee with a nobler strain,
When soon we meet for aye, in yon star-sprinkled
Last came a bard of more exalted tread,
And THYRSIS hight by Dryad, Fawn, or Swain,
Whene'er he mingled with the sylvan train;
But seldom that; for higher thoughts he fed ;
For him full oft the heav'nly Muses led
To clear Euphrates, and the secret mount,
To Araby, and Eden, fragrant climes;
All which the sacred bard would oft recount:
And thus in strain, unus'd in grove or shade,
To sad MUSAEUS rightful homage paid.
"Thrice hail, thou heav'n-taught warbler, last and best
Of all the train! Poet, in whom conjoin'd
All that to ear, or heart, or head, could yield
Rapture; harmonious, manly, clear, sublime!
Accept this gratulation: may it chear
Thy sinking soul; nor these corporeal ills
Ought daunt thee, or appall. Know, in high heav'n
Fame blooms eternal o'er that spirit divine,
Who builds immortal verse. There thy bold Muse,
Which while on earth could breathe Maeonian fire,
Shall soar seraphic heights; while to her voice
Ten thousand Hierarchies of angels harp
Symphonious, and with dulcet harmonies
Usher the song rejoicing. I meanwhile,
To sooth thee in these irksome hours of pain,
Approach thy visitant, with mortal laud
To praise thee mortal. First, (as first beseems)
For rhyme subdu'd; rhyme, erst the minstrel rude
Of Chaos, Anarch old: she near his throne
Oft taught the rattling elements to chime
With tenfold din; 'till late to earth upborn
On strident wing, what time fair poesie
Emerg'd from Gothic cloud, and faintly shot
Rekindling gleams of lustre. Her the fiend
Oppress'd; forcing to utter uncouth dirge,
Runic, or Leonine; and with dire chains
Fetter'd her scarce-fledg'd pinion. I such bonds
Aim'd to destroy, mistaking: bonds like these
'Twere greater art t' ennoble, and refine.
For this superior part MUSAEUS came:
Thou cam❜st, and at thy magic touch the chains
Off dropt, and (passing strange 1) soft-wreathed bands
Of flow'rs their place supply'd! which well the Muse
Might wear for choice, not force; obstruction none,
But loveliest ornament. Wondrous this, yet here
The wonder rests not; various argument
Remains for me, all doubting, where to cull
The primal grace, where countless graces charm.
Various this peaceful scene, this mineral roof;
This 'semblance meet of coral, ore, and shell;
These pointed crystals fair, 'mid each obscure
Bright glist'ring; all these slowly dripping rills,
That tinkling stray amid the cooly cave.
Yet not this various peaceful scene; with this
Its mineral roof; nor this assemblage meet
Of coral, ore, and shell; nor 'mid th' obscure
These pointed crystals, glist'ring fair; nor rills,
That straying tinkle through the cooly cave;
Deal charms more various to each raptur'd sense,
Than thy mellifluous lay."
"Cease, friendly swain;"
(MUSAEUS cry'd, and rais'd his aching head)
"All praise is foreign, but of true desert;
Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
Ah! why recall the toys of thoughtless youth?
When flow'ry fiction held the place of truth:
When fancy rul'd; when trill'd each trivial strain,
But idly sweet, and elegantly vain.
Oh! in that strain, if all of wit had flow'd,
All music warbled, and all beauty glow'd;
Had liveliest nature, happiest art combin❜d,
That lent each grace, and this each grace refin'd:
Alas! how little were my proudest boast!
The sweetest trifler of my tribe at most.
"To sway the judgment, while he charms the ear; To curb mad passion in its wild career :
To blend with skill, as loftiest themes inspire,
All reason's rigour, and all fancy's fire;
Be this the poet's praise; with this uncrown'd,
Wit dies a jest, and poetry a sound.
"Come then that honest fame; whose sober ray Or gilds the satire, or the moral lay,
Which dawns, tho' thou, rough DONNE! hew out the line,
But beams, sage HORACE, from each strain of thine.
O! if, like these, one poet more could brave
The venal statesman, or the titled slave;
Brand frontless Vice, strip all her stars and strings,
Nor spare her basking in the smile of kings:
Yet stoop to Virtue, though the prostrate maid
Lay sadly pale in bleak misfortune's shade :
If grave, yet lively; rational, yet warm ;
Clear to convince, and eloquent to charm;
He pour'd, for her lov'd cause, serene along
The purest precept, in the sweetest song:
For her lov'd cause, he trac'd his moral plan,
Yon various region of bewild'ring man :
Explor❜d alike each scene, that frown'd or smil'd,
The flow'ry garden, or the weedy wild;
Unmov'd by sophistry, unaw'd by name,
No dupe to doctrines, and no fool to fame :
Led by no system's devious glare astray,
As earth-born meteors glitter to betray:
But all his soul to reason's rule resign'd,
And heav'n's own views fair op'ning on his mind,
Catch'd from bright nature's flame the living ray,
Through passion's cloud pour'd in resistless day;
And this great truth in all its lustre shew'd,
That GOD IS WISE, and ALL CREATION GOOD;
If this his boast, pour here the welcome lays:
Praise less than this, is impotence of praise."
"To pour that praise be mine," fair VIRTUE cry'd,
And shot all radiant, through an op'ning cloud.
But ah! my Muse, how will thy voice express
Th' immortal strain, harmonious, as it flow'd?
Ill suits immortal strain a Doric dress:
And far too high already hast thou soar'd.
Enough for thee, that, when the lay was o'er,
The goddess clasp'd him to her throbbing breast,
But what might that avail? Blind Fate before
Had op'd her shears, to slit his vital thread;
And who may hope gainsay her stern behest?
Then thrice he wav'd the hand, thrice bow'd the head,
And sigh'd his soul to rest.
Then wept the Nymphs; witness, ye waving shades!
Witness, ye winding streams! the Nymphs did weep;
The heav'nly goddess too with tears did steep
Her plaintive voice, that echo'd through the glades;
And, "cruel gods," and "cruel stars," she cry'd:
Nor did the shepherds, through the woodlands wide,
On that sad day, or to the pensive brook,
Or stagnant river, drive their thirsty flocks;
Nor did the wild-goat brouze the steepy rocks;
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