And, as they mount, enlighten ev'ry age
With the bright influence of fair virtue's rays,
Which from the awful heights of grandeur
brighter blaze:

They, O perverse and base ingratitude!
Despising the great ends of Providence,
For which above their mates they were endued
With wealth, authority, and eminence,
To the low services of brutal sense
Abus'd the means of pleasures more refin'd,
Of knowledge, virtue, and beneficence;
And, fett ring on her throne th' immortal Mind,
The guidance of her realm to passions wild re-
sign'd.

Hence, thoughtless, shameless, reckless, spirit-
less,

Nought worthy of their kind did they essay,
But, or benumb'd with palsied idleness,
In merely living loiter'd life away,
Or by false taste of pleasure led astray,
For ever wand'ring in the sensual bow'rs
Of feverish Debauch and lustful Play,
Spent on ignoble toils their active pow'rs,
And with untimely blasts diseas'd their vernal
hours.

E'en they to whom kind Nature did accord
A frame more delicate and purer mind,
Though the foul brothel and the wine-stain'd
board

Of beastly Comus loathing they declin'd,
Yet their soft hearts to idle joys resign'd;
Like painted insects through the summer air
With random flight aye ranging unconfin'd,
And tasting ev'ry flow 'r and blossom fair
Withouten any choice, withouten any care.
For choice them needed none who only sought
With vain amusements to beguile the day;
And wherefore should they take or care or
thought
[play?
Whom Nature prompts and Fortune calls to
"Lords of the earth, be happy as ye may!"
So learn'd, so taught, the leaders of mankind;
Th' unreasoning vulgar willingly obey,
And, leaving toil and poverty behind,
Ran forth by diff'rent ways the blissful boon to
find.

[hear

Nor tedious was the search; for ev'ry where,
As nigh great Custom's royal tow'rs the knight
Pass'd through th' adjoining hamlets, mote he
The merry voice of festival delight
Saluting the return of morning bright,
With matin revels by the mid-day hours
Scarce ended, and again with dewy night
In cover'd theatres or leafy bow'rs,
Offering her evening vows to Pleasure's joyous
pow'rs.

And ever on the way mote he espy
Men, women, children, a promiscuous throng
Of rich, poor, wise, and simple, low and high,
By land, by water, passing aye along
With murmurs, anticks, music, dance, and song,
To Pleasure's num'rous temples, that beside

The glist ning streams, or tufted groves among,
To ev'ry idle foot stood open wide,
And ev'ry gay desire with various joys supplied.

For there each heart with diverse charms to move
The sly enchantress summon'd all her train;
The boon companion Bacchus loud and vain,
Alluring Venus, queen of vagrant love,
And tricking Hermes, god of fraudful gain,
Who when blind Fortune throws directs the die,
And Phoebus, tuning his soft Lydian strain
And thought-beguiling show and masking re-
To wanton motions and the lover's sigh,
velry.

Who to true honor meaneth to aspire,
Unmeet associates these for noble youth
And for the works of virtue, faith, and truth,
Would keep his manly faculties entire ;
The which avizing well the cautious sire
From that soft Siren land of pleasaunce vain
With timely haste was minded to retire,
Or ere the sweet contagion mote attain
His son's unpractis'd heart, yet free from vicious
stain.

So turning from that beaten road aside,
Through many a devious path at length he pac'd,
As that experienc'd palmer did him guide
Till to a mountain hoare they came at last,
Whose high-rais'd brows, with sylvan honors
grac'd,

Majestically frown'd upon the plain,
And over all an awful horror cast;
Seem'd as those villas gay it did disdain,
Which spangled all the vale like Flora's painted

train.

The hill ascended straight, erewhile they came
To a tall grove, whose thick embow'ring shade,
Impervious to the sun's meridian flame,
E'en at mid-noon a dubious twilight made,
Like to that sober light which, disarray'd
Of all its georgeous robe, with blunted beams;
Through windows dim with holy acts pourtray'd
Along some cloister'd abbey faintly gleams,
Abstracting the rapt thought from vain earth-
musing themes.

Beneath this high o'erarching canopy
Of clust ring oaks, a sylvan colonnade,
Aye list'ning to the native melody
Of birds sweet echoing through the lonely shade,
On to the centre of the grove they stray'd;
Which in a spacious circle op'ning round,
Within its shelt ring arms securely laid,
Disclos'd to sudden view a vale profound,
With Nature's artless smiles and tranquil beau-

ties crown'd.

There on the basis of an ancient pile,
Whose cross-surmounted spire o'erlook'd the
A venerable matron they erewhile
[wood,
Discover'd have beside a murm'ring flood,
Reclining in right sad and pensive mood:
Retir'd within her own abstracted breast,

She seem'd o'er various woes by turns to brood,
The which her changing cheer by turns ex-
press'd,
[kest*.
Now glowing with disdain, with grief now over-

Her thus immers'd in anxious thoughts profound
When as the knight perceiv'd, he nearer drew,
To weet what bitter bale did her astound,
And whence th' occasion of her anguish grew;
For that right noble matron well he knew,
And many perils huge and labors sore
Had for her sake endur'd, her vassal true,
Train'd in her love, and practis'd evermore
Her honor to respect, and reverence her lore.

"The throbbings of my heart with speeches "bland,

"And words more apt my sorrows to increase,
"The once-dear names of wealth, and liberty,
"and peace?

"Peace, wealth, and liberty that noblest boon,
"Are blessings only to the wise and good;
"To weak and vicious minds their worth un-
"known,

"And thence abus'd, but serve to furnish food
"For riot and debauch, and fire the blood
"With high-spic'd luxury, whence strife, de-
"bate,

"Ambition, envy, Faction's vip'rous brood,
Contempt of order, manners profligate,
"The symptoms of a foul, diseas'd, and bloated

"O dearest Drad!" he cried, "fair Island"
Queen!

"Mother of heroes! Empress of the main !
"What means that stormy brow of troublous
"teen,

"Sith↑ heaven-born Peace, with all her smiling

train

"Of Sciences and arts, adorns thy reign
"With wealth and knowledge, splendor
" renown?

"state.

"E'en Wit and Genius, with their learned train "Of Arts and Muses, though from heav'n above "Descended, when their talents they profane "To varnish folly, kindle wanton love, and" And aid eccentric sceptic pride to rove "Beyond celestial truth's attractive sphere, "This moral system's central sun, aye prove "To their fond votaries a curse severe,

"Each port how throng'd! how fruitful ev'ry plain!

"How blithe the country! and how gay the" And only make mankind more obstinately err.

" town!

"While Liberty secures and heightens ev'ry

boon!"

Awaken'd from her trance of pensive wo

"And stand my sons herein from censure clear? "Have they consider'd well and understood "The use and import of those blessings dear "Which the great Lord of Nature hath bestow'd By these fair flatt'ring words, she rais'd her head," As well to prove as to reward the good? And bending on the knight her frowning brow," Whence are these torrents then, these billowy "Mock'st thou my sorrows, Fairy Son?" she

said; "Or is thy judgement by thy heart misled "To deem that certain which thy hopes suggest? "To deem them full of life and lustihead "Whose cheeks in Hebe's vivid tints are dress'd, "And with joy's careless mien and dimpled "smiles impress'd!

Thy unsuspecting heart how nobly good "I know, how sanguine in thy country's cause, "And mark'd thy virtue singly how it stood "Th' assaults of mighty Custom, which o'erawes "The faint and tim'rous mind, and oft with"draws

"From Reason's lore th' ambitious and the vain, By the sweet lure of popular applause, Against their better knowledge to maintain "The lawless throne of Vice, or Folly's childish "reign.

66 seas

"Of vice, in which as in his proper flood
“The fell Leviathan licentious plays,
"And upon shipwreck'd Faith and sinking
"Virtue preys?

"To you, ye noble, opulent, and great!
"With friendly voice I call and honest zeal;
Upon your vital influence await

"The health and sickness of the comtnon weal:
"The maladies you cause yourselves must heal.
"In vain to the unthinking harden'd crowd
Will truth and reason make their just appeal;
In vain will sacred wisdom cry aloud,
"And justice drench in vain her vengeful sword
"in blood.

66

"With you must reformation first take place: "You are the head, the intellectual mind "Of this vast body politic, whose base "And vulgar limbs to drudgery consign'd, All the rich stores of science have resign'd To you, that, by the craftsman's various toil, "The sea-worn mariner and sweating hind, "How vice and folly had o'erspread the land: "In peace and affluence maintain'd the while "And canst thou then, O Fairy Son! demand" You for yourselves and them may dress the "The reason of my wo? or hope to ease

"How vast his influence, how wide his sway,
"Thyself erewhile by proof didst understand,
"And saw'st, as through his realms thou took'st"
"thy way,

* Overkest, for overcast.

↑ Sith, since.

"mental soil.

Lustihead, strong health, vigor.

"Bethink you then, my children! of the trust
"In you repos'd; ne let your heaven-born mind"
"Consume in pleasure or unactive rust,
"But nobly rouse you to the task assign'd,
"The godlike task, to teach and mend mankind!
"Learn, that ye may instruct: to virtue lead
"Yourselves the way; the herd will crowd be-
hind,

"By you invited to her secret bow'rs,

66

Then shall Pædia re-ascend her throne, "With vivid laurels girt and fragrant flow'rs; "While from their forked mount descending "down

"Yon supercilious pedant train shall own
"Her empire paramount, ere long by her
Ytaught a lesson in their schools unknown,
To learning's richest treasure to prefer
"The knowledge of the world and man's great
"business there.

"And gather precepts from each worthy deed:
Example is a lesson that all men can read.
"But if (to all or most I do not speak)
"In vain and sensual habits now grown old
"The strong Circæan charm you cannot break,"
"Nor reassume at will your native mould*
"Yet envy not the state you could not hold,
"And take compassion on the rising age;
"In them redeem your errors manifold,
"And by due discipline and nurture sage
"In virtue's lore betimes your docile sons
66 engage.

"You chiefly who like me in secret mourn
"The prevalence of custom lewd and vain,
"And, you who, though by the rude torrent

borne

"Unwillingly along, you yield with pain
"To his behests, and act what you disdain,
"Yet nourish in your hearts the gen'rous love
"Of piety and truth, no more restrain
"The manly zeal, but all your sinews move
"The present to reclaim, the future race im-
66 prove.

"Eftsoons by your joint efforts shall be quell'd
"Yon haughty giant, who so proudly sways
"A sceptre by repute alone upheld,

"On this prime science, as the final end
"Of all her discipline and nurt'ring care,
"Her eye Pædia fixing, aye shall bend
"Her ev'ry thought and effort to prepare
"Her tender pupils for the various war
"Which vice and folly shall upon them wage
"As on the perilous march of life they fare,

With prudent lore fore-arming ev'ry age
"'Gainst Pleasure's treach'rous joys and Pain's
"embattled rage.

66

"Then shall my youthful sons, to wisdom led
By fair example and ingenuous praise,
"With willing feet the paths of duty tread,

Through the world's intricate or rugged ways
"Conducted by Religion's sacred rays,
"Whose soul-invigorating influence
"Shall purge their minds from all impure allays
Of sordid selfishness and brutal sense,
"And swell th' ennobled heart with blest be-
"nevolence.

"Then also shall this emblematic pile,

"Who where he cannot dictate straight obeys: "Accustom'd to conform his flatt'ring phrase "To numbers and light-plac'd authority, "Your party he will join, your maxims praise, "And, drawing after all his menial fry, "Soon teach the gen'ral voice your act to ratify. "Ne for th' achievement of this great emprise "The want of means or counsel may ye dread;" Its radiant cross uplift; the while to grace "From my twin-daughters' fruitful wombs" The multiplying niches fresh supplies "Of worthies shall succeed, with equal pace

By magic whilom fram'd to sympathise "With all the fortunes of this changeful isle, "Still as my sons in fame and virtue rise, "Grow with their growth, and to th' applaud-. ing skies

"" shall rise

"A race of letter'd sages deeply read
"In learning's various writ, by whom yled
"Through each well-cultur'd plot, each beau-
66 teous grove,

"Where antic wisdom whilom wont to tread,
"With mingled glee and profit may ye rove,
And cull each virtuous plant, each tree of
"knowledge prove.

Yourselves with virtue thus and knowledge

fraught,

"Of what in ancient days of good or great
"Historians, bards, philosophers, have taught,
"Join'd with whatever else of modern date
"Maturer judgement, search more accurate,
"Discover'd have of Nature, Man, and God,

Mould, shape, form.

Fir'd with th' idea of her future fame,
She rose majestic from her lowly stead,
While from her vivid eyes a sparkling flame
Outbeaming, with unwonted light o'erspread
That monumental pile; and, as her head
To ev'ry front she turn'd, discover'd round
The venerable forms of heroes dead,

Who for their various merit, erst renown'd,
In this bright fane of glory shrines of honor
found.

On these that royal dame her ravish'd eyes
Would often feast; and ever as she spied
Forth from the ground the length'ning structure
rise,

With new-plac'd statues deck'd on ev'ry side,

Her parent breast would swell with gen'rous | And oh! I find my mortal pow'rs

And from the wave arose its guardian queen,
Known by her sweeping stole of glossy green,
While in the coral crown that bound her brow,
Was wove the Delphic laurel's verdant bough.
As the smooth surface of the dimply flood
The silver-slipper'd virgin lightly trod,
From her loose hair the dropping dew she press'd,
And thus mine ear in accents mild address'd:
No more, my son, the rural reed employ,
Nor trill the tinkling strain of empty joy;
No more thy love-resounding sonn ts suit
Written on the To notes of past'ral pipe or oaten flute.

Misguided youth! with rude unclassic rage
To blot the beauties of thy whiter page;
A rage that sullies e'en thy guiltless lays,
And blasts the vernal bloom of half thy bays.
Let * boast the patrons of her name,
Each splendid fool of fortune and of fame:
Still of preferment let her shine the queen,
Prolific parent of each bowing dean :
Be hers each prelate of the pamper'd cheek,
Each courtly chaplain, sanctify'd and sleek :
Still let the drones of her exhaustless hive
On rich pluralities supinely thrive:
Still let her senates titled slaves revere,
Nor dare to know the patriot from the peer;
No longer charm'd by virtue's lofty song,
Once heard sage Milton's manly tones among,
Where Cam, meand'ring through the matted
reeds,

With loit'ring wave his groves of laurel feeds.
'Tis ours, my son, to deal the sacred bay,
Where honor calls, and justice points the way;
To wear the well-earn'd wreath that merit
brings,

And snatch a gift beyond the reach of kings.
Scorning and scorn'd by courts, yon Muse's
bow'r

Still nor enjoys nor seeks the smile of pow'r.
Though wakeful vengeance watch my crystal
spring,

Though persecution wave her iron wing,
And o'er yon spiry temples as she flies,
"Those destin'd seats be mine," exulting cries;
Fortune's fair smiles on Isis still attend:
And, as the dews of gracious heaven descend
Unask'd, unseen, in still but copious show'rs,
Her stores on me spontaneous bounty pours.
See, Science walks with recent chaplets crown'd,
With Fancy's strain my fairy shades resound;
My Muse divine still keeps her custom'd state,
The mien erect, and high majestic gait :
Green as of old each oliv'd portal smiles,
And still the Graces build my Grecian piles:
My Gothic spires in ancient glory rise,
And dare with wonted pride to rush into the skies.
E'en late when Radcliffe's delegated train
Auspicious shone in Isis' happy plain: [shrine,
When yon proud dome, fair learning's amplest
Beneath its Attic roofs received the Nine;
Was rapture mute, or ceas'd the glad acclaim,
To Radcliffe due, and Isis' honor'd name?
What free-born crowds adorn'd the festive day,
Nor blush'd to wear my tributary bay !
How each brave breast with honest ardors heav'd,
When Shelton's fane the patriot band receiv'd;
While, as we loudly hail'd the chosen few,
Rome's awful senate rush'd upon the view!

O may the day in latest annals shine,
That made a Beaufort and an Harley mine;
That bade them leave the loftier scene a while,
The pomp of guiltless state, the patriot toil,
For bleeding Albion's aid the sage design,
To hold short dalliance with the tuneful Nine!
The Radcliffe Library.

Then Music left her silver sphere on high,
And bore each strain of triumph from the sky;
Swell'd the loud song, and to my chiefs around
Pour'd the full paæans of mellifluous sound.
My Naiads blythe the dying accents caught,
And listening danc'd beneath their pearly grot:
In gentler eddies play'd my conscious wave,
And all my reeds their softest whispers gave;
Each lay with brighter green adorn'd my bow'rs,
And breath'd a fresher fragrance on my flow'rs.
But lo! at once the pealing concerts cease,
And crowding theatres are hush'd in peace.
See, on yon stage, how all attentive stand,
To catch his parting eye, and waving hand.
Hark, he begins with all a Tully's art,
To pour the dictates of a Cato's heart; [spire,
Skill'd to pronounce what noblest thoughts in-
He blends the speaker's with the patriot's fire;
Bold to conceive, nor tim'rous to conceal,
What Britons dare to think he dares to tell.
"Tis his alike the ear and eyes to charm,
To win with action, and with sense to warm.
Untaught in flow'ry periods to dispense
The lulling sound of sweet impertinence;
In frowns or smiles he gains an equal prize,
Nor meanly fears to fall, nor creeps to rise;
Bids happier days to Albion be restor❜d,
Bids ancient Justice rear her radiant sword;
From me, as from my country, claims applause,
And makes an Oxford's a Britannia's cause.

While arms like these my stedfast sages wield,
While mine is Truth's impenetrable shield;
Say, shall the puny champion fondly dare
To wage with force like this scholastic war?
Still vainly scribble on with pert pretence,
With all the rage of pedant impotence?
Say, shall I foster this domestic pest,
This parricide, that wounds a mother's breast?

Thus in some gallant ship that long has bore
Britain's victorious cross from shore to shore,
By chance, beneath her close sequester'd cells
Some low-born worm, a lurking mischief dwells;
Eats his blind way, and saps with secret guile
The deep foundations of the floating pile.
In vain the forest lent its stateliest pride,
Rear'd her tall mast, and fram'd her knotty side;
The martial thunder's rage in vain she stood,
With ev'ry conflict of the stormy flood;
More sure the reptile's little arts devour
Than wars or waves, or Eurus' wintry pow'r.

Ye fretted pinnacles, ye fanes sublime.
Ye tow'rs that wear the mossy vest of time!
Ye massy piles of old munificence,
At once the pride of learning and defence;
Ye cloisters pale, that length'ning to the sight,
To contemplation, step by step, invite; [clear,
Ye high arch'd walks, where oft the whispers
Of harps unseen have swept the poet's ear;
Ye temples dim, where pious duty pays
Her holy hymns for ever echoing praise;
Lo! your lov'd Isis, from the bord'ring vale,
With all a mother's fondness bids you hail!
Hail, Oxford, hail! of all that's good and great,
Of all that's fair, the guardian and the seat;