Classic Poem

ADDRESSED, IN 1782, TO MR. WRIGHT, OF DERBY .

Thou, in whose breast the gentle Virtues shine;
Thou, at whose call th' obsequious Graces bow,
Fain wou'd I, kneeling at the Muses' shrine,
Pluck the green laurel for thy modest brow!

And shou'd in vain my feeble arm extend,
In vain the meed these faltering lays demand;
Shou'd from my touch the conscious laurel bend,
Like coy Mimosa, shrinking from the hand,

Yet thy bright tablet, with unfading hues,
Shall beam on high in Honor's sacred fane,
By him emblazon'd, whose immortal Muse
Adorn'd thy science with her earliest strain;

Brought every gem the mines of Knowledge hide,
Cull'd roseate wreaths from Fancy's flowery plains,
And with their mingled stores new bands supplied,
That bind the Sister-Arts in closer chains.

What living lights, ingenious Artist! stream
In mingling mazes, as thy pencil roves;
With orient hues in bright expansion, beam,
Or bend the flowing curve, that Beauty loves!

Charm'd, as we mark, beneath thy magic hand,
What sweet repose surrounds the sombrous scene,
Where, fring'd with wood, yon moon-bright cliffs expand,
The curl'd waves twinkling, as they wind between,

Start, as on high thy red Vesuvius glares,
O'er earth and Ocean pours his sanguine light,
With billowy smoke obscures the rising stars,
Or darts his vollied lightning thro' the night;

Sigh, where, 'mid twilight shades, yon pile sublime,
In cumbrous ruin, nods o'er Virgil's tomb,
Where nurs'd by thee, poetic ivies climb,
Fresh florets spring, and brighter laurels bloom;

Or weep for Julia in her sea-girt cave,
Exil'd from love in beauty's splendid morn,
Wild as she gazes on the boundless wave,
And sighs in hopeless solitude forlorn!

Now, ardent Wright, from thy creative hand,
With outline bold, and mellowest coloring warm,
Rival of Life, before the canvass stands,
My Father's lov'd, and venerable Form!

O, when his Urn shall drink my falling tears,
Thy faithful tints shall shed a bless'd relief,
Glow, with mild lustre, thro' my darkned years,
And gild the gathering shades of filial grief!