Whose race, unyielding as their native storm, A home to rest, a shelter to defend, Peace and repose, a Briton and a friend! 2 Congenial Hope! thy passion-kindling power, How bright, how strong, in youth's untroubled hour! On yon proud height, with Genius hand in hand, I see thee light, and wave thy golden wand. "Go, Child of Heaven! thy winged words proclaim 'Tis thine to search the boundless fields of Fame! Lo! Newton, priest of Nature, shines afar, Scans the wide world, and numbers ev'ry star! Wilt thou, with him, mysterious rites apply, And watch the shrine with wonder-beaming eye? Yes, thou shalt mark, with magic art profound, The speed of light, the circling march of sound; With Franklin grasp the lightning's fiery wing, Or yield the lyre of Heav'n another string. 3 "The Swedish sage admires, in yonder bow'rs, His winged insects, and his rosy flow'rs; Calls from their woodland haunts the savage train With sounding horn, and counts them on the plain... So once, at Heaven's command, the wand'rers came To Eden's shade, and heard their various name. "Far from the world, in yon sequester'd clime, Slow pass the sons of Wisdom, more sublime; Calm as the fields of Heav'n, his sapient eye The lov'd Athenian lifts to realms on high, Admiring Plato on his spotless page, Stamps the bright dictates of the Father sage: 5 "Belov'd of Heav'n! the smiling muse shall shed Her moonlight halo on thy beauteous head; Shall swell thy heart to rapture unconfin'd, And breathe a holy madness o'er thy mind. I see thee roam her guardian pow'r beneath, And talk with spirits on the midnight heath; Inquire of guilty wand'rers whence they came, And ask each blood-stain'd form his earthly name; Then weave in rapid verse the deeds they tell, And read the trembling world the tales of hell. "When Venus, thron'd in clouds of rosy hue, Flings from her golden urn the vesper dew, And bids fond man her glimmering noon employ, Sacred to love, and walks of tender joy; A milder mood the goddess shall recal, And soft as dew thy tones of music fall; While Beauty's deeply-pictur'd smiles impart A pang more dear than pleasure to the heart.... Warm as thy sighs shall flow the Lesbian strain, And plead in Beauty's ear, nor plead in vain. "Or wilt thou Orphean hymns more sacred deem, And steep thy song in Mercy's mellow stream; To pensive drops the radiant eye beguile.... For Beauty's tears are lovelier than her smile ;.... On Nature's throbbing anguish pour relief, "Yes; to thy tongue shall seraph words be giv'n, And pow'r on earth to plead the cause of Heav'n; The proud, the cold untroubled heart of stone, That never mus'd on sorrow but its own, Unlocks a generous store at thy command, Propitious Pow'r! when rankling cares annoy The wedded pair of love and virtue dwell, Unpitied by the world, unknown to fame, Their woes, their wishes, and their hearts the same... Oh there, prophetic Hope! thy smile bestow, And chase the pangs that worth should never know.... To friendless babes and weeps to give no more; Tell, that while Love's spontaneous smile endears Lo! at the couch where infant beauty sleeps, She, while the lovely babe unconscious lies, Smiles on her slumb'ring child with pensive eyes, |