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FUGITIVE POETRY.

VERSES,

Being an Apology for the Errors and Eccentricities of Genius: written for the Anniversary of the LITERARY FUND, May 8, 1806*.

BY THE REV. T. MAURICE.

WHEN Man's majestic form, at Nature's birth,
Rose, newly fashion'd, from the teeming earth,
Pleased with his noblest work, th' Eternal Sire
A portion of his own ethereal fire

Breathed on the senseless mass-the kindling clay
Felt the pure flame, and bounded at the ray.
But Life with myriad humbler forms he shared,
For MAN a nobler boon his hand prepared;
He gave him Reason's powers, and thro' his soul
Bade the warm current of the Passions roll:

* These verses having been considerably curtailed, for the purpose of recitation, are here given at length; and on that account they may possibly appear more connected and intelligible than when spoken, though delivered with all that peculiar energy and spirit which distinguish the gentleman (Charles Tweedie, Esq.) who undertook the kind office of recitation.

FUGITIVE POETRY.

VERSES,

Being an Apology for the Errors and Eccentricities of Genius: written for the Anniversary of the LITERARY FUND, May 8, 1806*.

BY THE REV. T. MAURICE.

WHEN Man's majestic form, at Nature's birth,
Rose, newly fashion'd, from the teeming earth,
Pleased with his noblest work, th' Eternal Sire
A portion of his own ethereal fire

Breathed on the senseless mass-the kindling clay
Felt the pure flame, and bounded at the ray.
But Life with myriad humbler forms he shared,
For MAN a nobler boon his hand prepared;
He gave him Reason's powers, and thro' his soul
Bade the warm current of the Passions roll:

* These verses having been considerably curtailed, for the purpose of recitation, are here given at length; and on that account they may possibly appear more connected and intelligible than when spoken, though delivered with all that peculiar energy and spirit which distinguish the gentleman (Charles Tweedie, Esq.) who undertook the kind office of recitation.

Almighty GENIUS, then, that hand bestow'd,
And all his features with the Godhead glow'd.
Uninjur'd, unimpair'd, by age or clime,
Bright as the Sun, and as its source sublime,
While Time's uncounted cycles roll away,
Fervid, immortal, flames its hallow'd ray.
Soul of the daring thought, and glowing lyre,
What shall repress its rage, or damp its fire!
Unchanged by climate-at the burning line,
With warmth congenial glows the spark divine;
'Mid Scythia's snows the tropic heat displays,
And pours through Lapland glooms its ardent blaze.
Now, where parch'd Afric's burning sands extend,
And raging Cancer's glowing beams descend,
In dauntless Hannibal its fires behold,

Who o'er proud Rome the Punic thunder roll'd;
'Twas Genius o'er the Alps his standard bore,
And purpled Canna with patrician gore!
Now, mid the darkness of the frozen pole,
Behold those fires inflame great Peter's soul.
With daring schemes of high ambition fraught,
What vast conceptions fill his labouring thought!
Of boundless empire, midst a trackless wild,
The haunt of savages, with blood defil'd!
The stern Lycurgus forms the mighty base,
And glows to civilize a barbarous race;
In barren swamps bids tow'ring cities rise,
And Science bloom beneath Siberian skies;
With verdure clothes the rock's incumbent brow,
While at his feet th' eternal forests bow;
O'er half the Arctic circle spreads his reign,
And with new navies crowds th' astonish'd main.
E'en Slavery's bonds its radiant beams illume,
And penetrate the dungeon's deepest gloom;