O VOICE divine, whose charmed strain
No mortal measure may attain,
O powerful to appease the smart,
That festers in a wounded heart,
Whose mystic numbers can assuage
The bosom of tumult'ous Rage,
Can strike the dagger from Despair,
And shut the watchful eye of Care.
Oft lur'd by thee, the joy of all,
Hope comes unto the wretches call;
Exil'd by thee, and dispossest
Envy forsakes the human breast.
Full oft with thee the bard retires,
And lost to earth, to heaven aspires;
How nobly lost! with thee to rove
Thro' the long deepning solemn grove,

Or underneath the moonlight pale,
To Silence trust some plaintive tale,
Of Nature's ills, and mankind's woes,
While kings and all the proud repose;
Or where some holy aged oak
A stranger to the woodman's stroke;
From the high rocks aerial crown
In twisting arches bending down,
Bathes in the smooth pellucid stream,
Full oft he waits the mystic dream
Of mankind's joys right understood,
And of the all prevailing good.

Go forth invok'd, O Voice Divine!
And issue from thy sainted shrine;
Go search each solitude around,
Where Contemplation may be found,
Where'er apart the Goddess stands
With lifted eyes and heaven-rais'd hands;
If rear'd on Speculation's hill

Her raptur'd soul enjoys its fill
Of far-transporting Nature's scene,
Air, ocean, mountain, river, plain;
Or if with measur'd step she go
Where Meditation spreads below,
In bosom'd vale her ample store,
Till weary Fancy can no more;
Or inward if she turn her gaze,
And all th' internal world surveys;
With joy complacent sees succeed

In fair array, each comely deed.
She hears alone thy potent strain,
All other music charms in vain;
In vain the sprightly notes resound,
That from the gilded roofs rebound,
When the light-footed troops advance
To form the quaint and orbed dance;
In vain unhallow'd lips implore,
She hearkens sole to thy chaste lore.
Then bring the lonely Nymph along,
Obsequious to thy muse-like song;
Bid her to bless the secret bow'r
And heighten wisdom's solemn hour.
Bring Faith, endued with eagle eyes,
That joins the earth to distant skies;
Bland hope that makes each sorrow less,
Still smiling calm amidst distress;
And her the meek-ey'd charity,

Not least, tho' youngest of the three.
Then add warm Friendship to the train,

Social, yielding and humane ;

And, seldom on this earth survey'd,

Silence, sober-suited maid,

Knowledge the Sage, whose radiant light,
Darts quick across the mental night,
And by his side advance the Dame
All glowing with celestial flame,
Devotion, high above that soars,
And sings exulting, and adores,
Dares fix on heav'n a mortal's gaze,

And triumph 'midst the Seraph's blaze;
Last to crown all, with these be join'd
The decent Nun fair Peace of Mind,
Whom Innocence e'er yet betray'd,
Bore young in Eden's happy shade:
Resign'd, contented, meek and mild
Of blameless mother, blameless child.
But from these woods, O thou retire!
Hood-winkt Superstition dire;

Zeal that clank her iron bands,

And bathes in blood her ruthless hands;
Far hence Hypocrisy away,

With pious semblance to betray,
Whose angel outside fair, contains

A heart corrupt, and foul with stains;
Ambition mad, that stems alone

The boistrous surge, with bladders blown ;
Anger, with wild disorder'd pace ;
And Malice pale of famish'd face;
Long-tongu'd Clamor, get thee far
Hence, to wrangle at the bar;

With opening mouths vain Rumor hung;
And Falshood with her serpent tongue;
Revenge, her bloodshot eyes on fire,
And hissing Envy's snaky tire ;
With Jealousy, the fiend most fell
Who bears about his inmate hell;
Now far apart with haggard mien
To lone Suspicion listning seen,
Now in a gloomy band appears

Of shallow Doubts, and pale-ey'd Fears
Whom dire Remorse of giant kind
Pursues with scorpion lash behind:
But chiefly Love, Love far off fly,
Nor interrupt my privacy;
Contemplation's sober ear
Disdains thy syren song to hear;
Then with thy treach'rous train begone,
Contemplation comes anon.

Now on the flow'ring turf I lye,
My soul conversing with the sky.
Far lost in the bewild'ring dream
I wander o'er each lofty theme;
Fain would I search the perfect laws
That constant bind th' unerring cause;
Why all its children, born to share
Alike a father's equal care :

Some weep by partial Fate undone,
The ravish'd portion of a son;
Whilst he whose swelling cup o'erflows,
Heeds not his suffering brothers woes ;
The good, their virtues all forgot,
Mourn need severe, their destin❜d lot;
While Vice, invited by the great,
Feasts under canopies of state.
Ah! when we see the bad prefer'd,
Was it eternal justice err'd?
Or when the good could not prevail,
How could almighty prowess fail?