ODE XV.

WRITTEN ON A BLANK LEAF OF MILTON'S PARADISE LOST,
PRESENTED BY THE EDITOR CAPEL LOFFT TO THE AUTHOR .

I.

I LLUSTRIOUS bard! whose towering song
Has rov'd the tracks of boundless space,
Upborne, beyond the highest reach of rhyme!
As the bold eagle speeds his flight,
Nor heeds the songsters of the grove,
The purling brook, the sportive breeze,
Nor all the fluttering tribe of spring:
The low dank earth he spurns, upsoaring to the sun.

II.

Young Freedom wak'd the holy flame;
'Till Science nature's heights explor'd,
And, as she led, mute Rapture stopt to gaze.
Now, 'mid creation's untrod ways,
And heaven's transcendent heights,
And darkest hell's profound abyss,
Empyreal forms, and prostrate fiends
Thine eager eye survey'd, then clos'd on mortal things.

III.

Ah! what avail'd the cold disdain
Of critics in a venal age?
Of bardlings, soothing Folly's velvet ear?
Envy has ceas'd th' insidious hiss,
And mov'd her serpent train along,
Cursing her fruitless pains, whilst Fame,
Sounding her golden clarion high,
Hath round thine awful name her outstretch'd pennons wav'd.

IV.

Thee oft when sadness shades his eye,
Or folly leads his thoughts astray,
Shall Genius hail, and cheerful taste thy verse:
Then Fancy glow with magic fires,
Then more than music charm his ear,
Till hush'd each angry passion sleeps,
Till Sorrow's self be seen to smile,
As tho' some angel form warbled 'mid brightest spheres.

V.

What tho' thine eagle fancy rove
Ideal worlds? The rapt'rous notes
Harmonious flow, like music's richest stream.
The tuneful Maro fictions weaves;
Nor less divine Maeonides.
Their Wars, and Loves, Fictions light Beings,
All ages warm: for Poesy,
Fancy's fair daughter, charms in every dress.

VI.

Thus Milton lives, and thou; my Lofft,
(For thou shalt have this heart's esteem)
Still shew thy Milton in his virgin-dress.
I prize the present, friend unknown,
Save by thy learning's fair renown,
Thy noiseless virtues, and a soul
Trembling with tend'rest sympathies,
Scholar profound, and meek philanthropist.