Classic Poem

I.

O N Stow , the Muse's happy Theme,
Let Fancy's Eye enamour'd gaze;
Where thro' one nobly simple Scheme,
Ten thousand various Beauties please;
Where Patriot-Virtue rears her Shrine,
Nor Love! ar't thou depriv'd of thine.

II.

Mark how from P OPE'S exhaustless Vein,
Flows the pure Flood of copious Thought,
Where Nature pours the genial Strain,
With the fair Springs of Learning fraught;
The Treasures of each Clime and Age,
Grace and enrich his sacred Page.

III.

So while thro' Britain 's Fields her Thames ,
Prolifick rolls his Silver Tide;
Rich with unnumber'd confluent Streams,
Swells the majestick River's Pride;
And where his gen'rous Current strays,
The Wealth of either World conveys.

IV.

Far other, B AVIUS , is thy Song;
The scanty Rill, devoid of Force,
With idle Tinklings creeps along,
A narrow, crooked, dubious Course;
Or big with mixt polluted Floods,
Tumbles thro' Rocks, and Plains, and Woods.

V.

Thus is each diff'rent Mind express'd:
A P OPE shines forth in true Sublime,
A Stow unfolds a C OBHAM'S Breast,
A B AVIUS crawls in doggrel Rhime:
In all their various Works we trace,
The greatly Virtuous and the Base.