Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast Th' applause of listening senates to command, And read their history in a nation's eyes, Their lot forbad: nor eircumscrib'd alone The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, Haply some hoary-headed swain may say, Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn Brushing with hasty steps the dews away To meet the Sun upon the upland lawn. "There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, His listless length at noontide would he stretch, And pore upon the brook that bubbles by. "Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove, Now drooping woeful wan, like one forlorn, Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love. With antic sports and blue-ey'd pleasures, Slow-melting strains their queen's approach declare : The bloom of young Desire, and purple light of Love. II. Man's feeble race what ills await, Labour and Penury, the racks of Pain, Disease, and Sorrow's weeping train, Two coursers of ethereal race‡, [ing pace. With necks in thunder cloth'd, and long-resound And Death, sad refuge from the storms of Fate! Hark, his hands the lyre explore! The fond complaint, my song, disprove, And justify the laws of Jove. Say, has he given in vain the heavenly Muse? Her spectres wan, and birds of boding cry, - Till down the eastern cliffs afar [war. = Hyperion's march they spy, and glittering shafts of In climes beyond the solar road, Where shaggy forms o'er ice-built mountains roam, The Muse has broke the twilight gloom To cheer the shivering native's dull abode. And oft, beneath the odorous shade Of Chili's boundless forests laid, She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat, In loose numbers wildly sweet, Their feather-cinctur'd chiefs, and dusky loves. Th' unconquerable mind, and Freedom's holy flame. Woods, that wave o'er Delphi's steep, Or where Mæander's amber waves the pomp of tyrant-power, And coward Vice, that revels in her chains. When Latium had her lofty spirit lost, They sought, oh Albion! next thy sea-encircled coast. Bright-ey'd Fancy, hovering o'er, Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. But ah! 't is heard no more Oh! lyre divine, what daring spirit Yet oft before his infant eyes would run Beneath the good how far-but far above the great. ODE ON THE SPRING. Lo! where the rosy-bosom'd Hours, The untaught harmony of Spring: While, whispering pleasure as they fly, Cool Zephyrs through the clear blue sky Their gather'd fragrance fling. Where'er the oak's thick branches stretch Beside some water's rushy brink (At ease reclin'd in rustic state) Still is the toiling hand of Care : The panting herds repose: Yet hark, how through the peopled air The busy murmur glows! + Milton. Meant to express the stately march and sounding energy of Dryden's rhymes. The insect youth are on the wing, And float amid the liquid noon : To Contemplation's sober eye Such is the race of man: And they that creep, and they that fly, Alike the busy and the gay In Fortune's varying colours drest : Methinks I hear in accents low The sportive kind reply; "Poor moralist! and what art thou? Thy joys no glittering female meets, ODE FOR MUSIC. PERFORMED IN THE SENATE-HOUSE AT CAMBRIDGE, "HENCE, avaunt, ('t is holy ground,) But hark! the portals sound, and pacing forth High potentates and dames of royal birth, And sad Chatillon †, on her bridal morn That wept her bleeding love, and princely Clare ‡, And either Henry ¶ there, The murder'd saint, and the majestic lord, (Their tears, their little triumphs o'er, And bade these aweful fanes and turrets rise, The liquid language of the skies. "What is grandeur, what is power? * Edward the Third; who added the fleur-delis of France to the arms of England. He founded Trinity College. Mary de Valentia, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, Comte de St. Paul in France of whom tradition says, that her hus Let painted Flattery hide her serpent-train in flowers. band, Audemar de Valentia, Earl of Pembroke, was Nor Envy base, nor creeping Gain, Dare the Muse's walk to stain, While bright-ey'd Science watches round : From yonder realms of empyrean day Bursts on my ear th' indignant lay: There sit the sainted sage, the bard divine, The few, whom genius gave to shine slain at a tournament on the day of his nuptials. She was the foundress of Pembroke College or Hall, under the name of Aula Mariæ de Valentis. Elizabeth de Burg, Countess of Clare, was wife of John de Burg, son and heir of the Earl of Ulster, and daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, by Joan of Acres, daughter of Edward the First. Hence the poet gives her the epithet of Through every unborn age and undiscover'd clime. princely. She founded Clare-Hall. Rapt in celestial transport they, Yet hither oft a glance from high To bless the place, where on their opening soul 'T was Milton struck the deep-ton'd shell, "Ye brown o'er-arching groves, That Contemplation loves, § Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry the Sixth foundress of Queen's College. The poet had celebrated her conjugal fidelity in a former ode. Elizabeth Widville, wife of Edward the Fourti (hence called the paler rose, as being of the house of York). She added to the foundation of Margaret of Anjou. Henry the Sixth and Eighth. The former the founder of King's, the latter the greatest benefactor to Trinity College. While some on earnest business bent Their murmuring labours ply 'Gainst graver hours, that bring constraint To sweeten liberty; Some bold adventurers disdain The limits of their little reign, And unknown regions dare descry: Gay Hope is theirs, by Fancy fed, Less pleasing, when possest; The tear forgot as soon as shed, The sunshine of the breast: Theirs buxom health, of rosy hue; Wild wit, invention ever new, And lively cheer of vigour born; The thoughtless day, the easy night, The spirits pure, the slumbers light, That fly th' approach of morn. Alas, regardless of their doom, The little victims play! No sense have they of ills to come, Yet see how all around them wait And black Misfortune's baleful train, Ah, show them where in ambush stand To seize their prey, the murderous band! Ah, tell them, they are men! These shall the fury passions tear, And Shame that skulks behind; Or pining Love, shall waste their youth, Or Jealousy, with rankling tooth, That inly gnaws the secret heart, And Envy wan, and faded Care, Grim-visag'd comfortless Despair, And Sorrow's piercing dart. Ambition this shall tempt to rise, Then whirl the wretch from high, To bitter Scorn a sacrifice, And grinning Infamy. The stings of Falsehood those shall try, And hard Unkindness' alter'd eye, That mocks the tear it forc'd to flow; And keen Remorse, with blood defil'd, And moody Madness laughing wild Amid severest woe, Lo, in the vale of years beneath The painful family of Death, More hideous than their queen : This racks the joints, this fires the veins, Those in the deeper vitals rage: To each his sufferings: all are men, Yet ah! why should they know their fate" And happiness too swiftly flies. THE BARD. A PINDARIC ODE. I. "RUIN seize thee, ruthless king! On a rock, whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, With haggard eyes the poet stood; "Cold is Cadwallo's tongue, That hush'd the stormy main; Brave Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed: Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-top'd head The hauberk was a texture of steel ringlets, or rings interwoven, forming a coat of mail, that st close to the body, and adapted itself to every motim + Gilbert de Clare, surnamed the Red, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, son-in-law to King Eward. Edmond de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore. The shores of Caernarvonshire opposite to the Isle of Anglesea. H |