ODE III.

FROM THE SAME

ADDRESS OF CLEANTHES.

BY GILBERT WEST, ESQ.

O UNDER various sacred names ador'd!
Divinity supreme! all-potent Lord!
Author of nature! whose unbounded sway
And legislative power all things obey!
Majestic Jove! all hail! To thee belong
The suppliant prayer and tributary song:
To thee from all thy mortal offspring due;
From thee we came, from thee our being drew;
Whatever lives and moves, great Sire! is thine,
Embodied portions of the soul divine.
Therefore to thee will I attune my string,
And of thy wondrous power for ever sing.
The wheeling orbs, the wandering fires above,
That round this earthly sphere incessant move,
Thro' all this boundless world admit thy sway,
And roll spontaneous where thou point'st the way.

Such is the awe imprest on nature round

When thro' the void thy dreadful thunders sound.
Those flaming agents of thy matchless power
Astonish'd worlds hear, tremble, and adore.
Thus paramount to all, by all obey'd,

Ruling that reason which, through all convey'd,
Informs this general mass, thou reign'st ador'd,
Supreme, unbounded, universal Lord.
For nor in earth, nor earth encircling floods,
Nor yon etherial pole, the seat of Gods,

Is ought perform'd without thy aid divine;
Strength, wisdom, virtue, mighty Jove, are thine!
Vice is the act of man, by passion tost,

And in the shoreless sea of folly lost;

But thou what vice disorders can'st compose,

And profit by the malice of thy foes:

So blending good with evil, fair with foul,
As thence to model one harmonious whole:
One universal law of truth and right;

But wretched mortals shun the heavenly light;
And, though to bliss directing still their choice,
Hear not, or heed not Reason's sacred voice,
That common guide ordain'd to point the road
That leads obedient man to solid good.

Thence, quitting Virtue's lovely paths, they rove
As various objects various passions move.

Some through opposing crowds and threat'ning war
Seek Power's bright throne, and Fame's triumphal car.
Some, bent on wealth, pursue with endless pain
Oppressive, sordid, and dishonest gain:

While others, to soft indolence resign'd,
Drown in corporeal sweets th' immortal mind.
But, O great Father, thunder-ruling God!
Who in thick darkness mak'st thy dread abode !
Thou, from whose bounty all good gifts descend,
Do thou from ignorance mankind defend!
The clouds of vice and folly, O controul,
And shed the beams of wisdom on the soul!
Those radiant beams, by whose all-piercing flame
Thy justice rules this universal frame.
That honor'd with a portion of thy light,

We may essay thy goodness to requite
With honorary songs and grateful lays,

And hymn thy glorious works with ceaseless praise,
The proper task of man; and sure to sing
Of nature's laws, and nature's mighty king
Is bliss supreme. Let Gods with mortals join!
The subject may transport a breast divine.

ODE IV.

ΤΟ

VIRTUE.

FROM ARISTOTLE'S PAEAN.

BY THOMAS NEVILLE, M.A.

OF JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

HAIL, VIRTUE! Goddess! sovereign good,
By man's bold race with pain pursued!
Where'er thou dart'st thy radiant eye,
Greece sees her sons with transport fly;
Danger before thee disappears,

And Death's dark frown no terror wears.

II.

So full into the breast of man descends

Thy rich ambrosial shower;

A shower, that gold, that parents far transcends, Or, sleep's soft-soothing power.

III.

By thee ALCIDES soar'd to fame,

Thy influence LEDA's twins proclaim:

Heroes for thee have dauntless trod
The dreary paths of hell's abode;
Fir'd by thy form, all beamy bright,
Atarneus' nursling left the light.

IV.

His deeds, his social love (so will the Nine,
Proud to spread wide the praise

Of friendship and of friendly Jove) shall shine
With ever-living rays.