Made great Apollo blush for this his land.

Men were thought wise who could not understand

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His glories with a puling infant's force

They sway'd about upon a rocking horse,
And thought it Pegasus. Ah dismal soul'd!
The winds of heaven blew, the ocean roll'd
Its gathering waves
ye felt it not. The blue
Bared its eternal bosom, and the dew
Of summer nights collected still to make
The morning precious: beauty was awake!
Why were ye not awake? But ye were dead
To things ye knew not of, were closely wed
To musty laws lined out with wretched rule
And compass vile: so that ye taught a school
Of dolts to smooth, inlay, and clip, and fit,
Till, like the certain wands of Jacob's wit,
Their verses tallied. Easy was the task :
A thousand handicraftsmen wore the mask
Of Poesy. Ill-fated, impious race!

That blasphemed the bright Lyrist to his face,
And did not know it, no, they went about,
Holding a poor, decrepid standard out
Mark'd with most flimsy mottos, and in large
The name of one Boileau !

O ye whose charge

It is to hover round our pleasant hills!

Whose congregated majesty so fills

My boundly reverence, that I cannot trace
Your hallowed names, in this unholy place,

So near those common folk; did not their shames
Affright you? Did our old lamenting Thames
Delight you? Did ye never cluster round
Delicious Avon, with a mournful sound,

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And weep? Or did ye wholly bid adieu
To regions where no more the laurel grew?
Or did ye stay to give a welcoming
To some lone spirits who could proudly sing
Their youth away, and die? 'T was even so:
But let me think away those times of woe:
Now 't is a fairer season; ye have breathed
Rich benedictions o'er us; ye have wreathed
Fresh garlands: for sweet music has been heard

In many places; some has been upstirr'd

From out its crystal dwelling in a lake,

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By a swan's ebon bill; from a thick brake,

Nested and quiet in a valley mild,

Bubbles a pipe; fine sounds are floating wild

About the earth: happy are ye and glad.

These things are doubtless: yet in truth we 've had

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Strange thunders from the potency of song;

Mingled indeed with what is sweet and strong,
From majesty but in clear truth the themes.
Are ugly clubs, the Poets Polyphemes
Disturbing the grand sea. A drainless shower
Of light is poesy; 't is the supreme of power;

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'Tis might half slumb'ring on its own right arm. The very archings of her eye-lids charm

A thousand willing agents to obey,

And still she governs with the mildest sway:

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But strength alone though of the Muses born

Is like a fallen angel: trees uptorn,

Darkness, and worms, and shrouds, and sepulchres
Delight it; for it feeds upon the burrs,

And thorns of life; forgetting the great end

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Of poesy, that it should be a friend

To sooth the cares, and lift the thoughts of man.

Yet I rejoice a myrtle fairer than

E'er grew in Paphos, from the bitter weeds

Lifts its sweet head into the air, and feeds

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A silent space with ever sprouting green.

All tenderest birds there find a pleasant screen,
Creep through the shade with jaunty fluttering,
Nibble the little cupped flowers and sing.

Then let us clear away the choking thorns

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From round its gentle stem; let the young fawns,
Yeaned in after times, when we are flown,

Find a fresh sward beneath it, overgrown
With simple flowers: let there nothing be

More boisterous than a lover's bended knee;

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Naught more ungentle than the placid look
Of one who leans upon a closed book;

Naught more untranquil than the grassy slopes
Between two hills. All hail delightful hopes!

As she was wont, th' imagination

Into most lovely labyrinths will be gone,
And they shall be accounted poet kings
Who simply tell the most heart-easing things.
O may these joys be ripe before I die.
Will not some say that I presumptuously
Have spoken? that from hastening disgrace
'T were better far to hide my foolish face?
That whining boyhood should with reverence bow
Ere the dread thunderbolt could reach?

How!

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If I do hide myself, it sure shall be

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In the very fane, the light of Poesy:

If I do fall, at least I will be laid

Beneath the silence of a poplar shade;

And over me the grass shall be smooth shaven ;

And there shall be a kind memorial graven.

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But off Despondence! miserable bane!

They should not know thee, who athirst to gain
A noble end, are thirsty every hour.

What though I am not wealthy in the dower

Of spanning wisdom; though I do not know

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The shiftings of the mighty winds that blow

Hither and thither all the changing thoughts

Of man though no great minist'ring reason sorts
Out the dark mysteries of human souls

To clear conceiving: yet there ever rolls

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A vast idea before me, and I glean

Therefrom my liberty; thence too I've seen

The end and aim of Poesy. 'T is clear
As anything most true; as that the year
Is made of the four seasons manifest

As a large cross, some old cathedral's crest,

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Lifted to the white clouds. Therefore should I
Be but the essence of deformity,

A coward, did my very eye-lids wink

At speaking out what I have dared to think.

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Ah! rather let me like a madman run

Over some precipice; let the hot sun

Melt my Dedalian wings, and drive me down

Convuls'd and headlong! Stay! an inward frown
Of conscience bids me be more calm awhile.

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An ocean dim, sprinkled with many an isle,
Spreads awfully before me. How much toil !
How many days! what desperate turmoil!
Ere I can have explored its widenesses.
Ah, what a task! upon my bended knees,
I could unsay those-no, impossible !
Impossible!

For sweet relief I'll dwell

On humbler thoughts, and let this strange assay
Begun in gentleness die so away.

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E'en now all tumult from my bosom fades :
I turn full hearted to the friendly aids
That smooth the path of honour; brotherhood,
And friendliness the nurse of mutual good.
The hearty grasp that sends a pleasant sonnet
Into the brain ere one can think upon it;
The silence when some rhymes are coming out;
And when they 're come, the very pleasant rout:
The message certain to be done to-morrow.
'T is perhaps as well that it should be to borrow
Some precious book from out its snug retreat,
To cluster round it when we next shall meet.
Scarce can I scribble on; for lovely airs

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Are fluttering round the room like doves in pairs ;
Many delights of that glad day recalling,

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When first my senses caught their tender falling.
And with these airs come forms of elegance
Stooping their shoulders o'er a horse's prance,
Careless, and grand-fingers soft and round
Parting luxuriant curls; and the swift bound
Of Bacchus from his chariot, when his eye
Made Ariadne's cheek look blushingly.
Thus I remember all the pleasant flow
Of words at opening a portfolio.

Things such as these are ever harbingers
To trains of peaceful images: "the stirs
Of a swan's neck unseen among the rushes:
A linnet starting all about the bushes:

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A butterfly, with golden wings broad parted
Nestling a rose, convuls'd as though it smarted

"

With over pleasure many, many more,、

Might I indulge at large in all my store

Of luxuries: yet I must not forget

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