Classic Poem

BOOK VI.

" Y E human offsprings of distinguish'd birth,
" So justly substituted lords of earth;
" Who boast the seal of highest heaven impress'd,
" Thence with supremacy of reason bless'd,
" Attend the song, and vindicate your claim!
" Recall your ancestry of antique fame,
" Prime artizans of each sagacious craft,
" The curious model, or designing draft,
" All talents technical for each device,
" The skilful fabrick, and the texture nice!

" Or, if ye pride in science more refined,
" Judicial product of the studious mind,
" The scheme politic, or the moral plan,
" To form the conduct, or the heart of man;
" Attend the depth of maxims which ensue,
" More than e'er Solon, or great Cecil knew;
" The moral, with diviner precepts fraught,
" Than stories, or than eastern magi taught. "

F IRST let the botanist his art forego,
And o'er the mountain trace the Cretan Doe:
Behold the critic stand with curious mien,
And cull the virtues of the various green,
Secrete her foliage from the noxious weed,
And conscious of her skill securely feed!

Where did this Sylvan Leach her lore acquire,
From Æsculapius, or his Radiant Sire?
When to her panting flank the weapon flies,
And deep within the feather'd mischief lies,
She seeks the well known medicine of the plain,
Nor yet despairs where human art were vain;
Mild thro' her frame the sovereign balsams glide,
And the keen shaft falls guiltless from her side.

Ye wanderers of the faithless main! relate,
Whose science then averts impending fate,
When haply on the distant climate thrown,
Ye view strange objects, and a world unknown;
Each tree uncouth, with foreign fruitage crown'd,
And unacquainted plenty blooming round:
But who shall dare with rash adventurous hand,
To pluck the bane of a suspected land?
Half famish'd they devour with wistful eyes;
But fear dissuades to tempt the dangerous prize:
Yet should they spy, amid the fruitful brake,
The skilful trace of some luxurious beak,
With birds their elegant repast they share,
And bless the learn'd inhabitants of air.

Bear, bear my song, ye raptures of the mind!
Convey your bard thro' Nature unconfined,
Licentious in the search of wisdom range,
Plunge in the depth, and wanton in the change;
Waft me to Tempe, and her flowery dale,
Born on the wings of every tuneful gale;
Amid the wild profusions let me stray,
And share with Bees the virtues of the day.

Soon as the matin glory gilds the skies,
Behold the little Virtuosi rise!
Blithe for the task, they preen their early wing,
And forth to each appointed labour spring.
Now Nature boon exhales the morning steam,
And glows and opens to the welcome beam;
The vivid tribes amid the fragrance fly,
And every art, and every business ply.
Each chymist now his subtle trunk unsheathes,
Where, from the flower, the treasured odour breathes;
Here sip the liquid, here select the gum,
And o'er the bloom with quivering membrane hum.
Still with judicious scrutiny they pry,
Where lodg'd the prime essential juices lie;
Each luscious vegetation wide explore,
Plunder the spring of every vital store:
The dainty suckle, and the fragrant thyme,
By chymical reduction, they sublime;
Their sweets with bland attempering suction strain,
And, curious, thro' their neat alembicks drain;
Imbibed recluse, the pure secretions glide,
And vital warmth concocts the ambrosial tide.

Inimitable Art! do thou atone
The long lost labours of the Latent Stone;
Tho' the Five Principles so oft transpire,
Fined, and refined, amid the torturing fire.
Like issue should the daring chymist see,
Vain imitator of the curious Bee,
Nor arts improved thro' ages once produce
A single drachm of this delicious juice.
Your's then, industrious traders! is the toil,
And man's proud science is alone to spoil.
" Sweet's the repast where pains have spread the board,
" And deep the fund incessant labours hoard;
" A friendly arm makes every burden light;
" And weakness, knit by union, turns to might. "

Hail happy tribes! illustrious people hail!
Whose forms minute such sacred maxims veil;
In whose just conduct, framed by wondrous plan,
We read revers'd each polity of man.
Who first in council form'd your embryon state?
Who rose a patriot in the deep debate?
Greatly proposed to reconcile extremes,
And weave in unity opposing schemes?
From fears inferr'd just reason of defence,
And from self-interest rais'd a publick sense;