"Ages remote by thee, Volition, taught
Chain'd down in characters the winged thought;
With silent language mark'd the letter'd ground,
And gave to sight the evanescent sound.
Now, happier lot! enlighten'd realms possess
The learned labours of [the immortal Press]; 270
Nursed on whose lap the births of science thrive,
And rising Arts the wrecks of Time survive.
"Ye patriot heroes! in the glorious cause
Of Justice, Mercy, Liberty, and Laws,
Who call to Virtue's shrine the British youth,
And shake the senate with the voice of Truth;
Rouse the dull ear, the hoodwink'd eye unbind,
And give to energy the public mind;
While rival realms with blood unsated wage
Wide-wasting war with fell demoniac rage; 280
In every clime while army army meets,
And oceans groan beneath contending fleets;
Oh save, oh save, in this eventful hour
The tree of knowledge from the axe of power;
With fostering peace the suffering nations bless,
And guard the freedom of the immortal Press!
So shall your deathless fame from age to age
Survive recorded in the historic page;
And future bards with voice inspired prolong
Your sacred names immortalized in song. 290
"Thy power Association next affords
Ideal trains annex'd to volant words,
Conveys to listening ears the thought superb,
And gives to Language [her expressive verb];
Which in one changeful sound suggests the fact
At once to be, to suffer, or to act;
And marks on rapid wing o'er every clime
The viewless flight of evanescent Time.
"[Call'd by thy voice] contiguous thoughts embrace
In endless streams arranged by Time or Place; 300
The Muse historic hence in every age
Gives to the world her interesting page;
While in bright landscape from her moving pen
Rise the fine tints of manners and of men.
"Call'd by thy voice Resemblance next describes
Her sister-thoughts in lucid trains or tribes;
Whence pleased Imagination oft combines
By loose analogies her fair designs;
Each winning grace of [polish'd wit bestows]
To deck the Nymphs of Poetry and Prose. 310
"Last, at thy potent nod, Effect and Cause
Walk hand in hand accordant to thy laws;
Rise at Volition's call, in groups combined,
Amuse, delight, instruct, and serve Mankind;
Bid raised in air the ponderous structure stand,
Or pour obedient rivers through the land;
With cars unnumber'd crowd the living streets,
Or people oceans with triumphant fleets.
"Thy magic touch imagined forms supplies
From colour'd light, the language of the eyes; 320
On Memory's page departed hours inscribes,
Sweet scenes of youth, and Pleasure's vanish'd tribes.
By thee Antinous leads the dance sublime
On wavy step, and moves in measured time;
Charm'd round the Youth successive Graces throng,
And Ease conducts him, as he moves along;
Unbreathing crowds the floating form admire,
And Vestal bosoms feel forbidden fire.
"When rapp'd Cecilia breathes her matin vow,
And lifts to Heaven her fair adoring brow; 330
From her sweet lips, and rising bosom part
Impassion'd notes, that thrill the melting heart;
Tuned by thy hand the dulcet harp she rings,
And sounds responsive echo from the strings;
Bright scenes of bliss in trains suggested move,
And charm the world with melody and love.
III. "Soon the fair forms with vital being bless'd,
Time's feeble children, lose the boon possess'd;
[The goaded fibre] ceases to obey,
And sense deserts the uncontractile clay; 340
While births unnumber'd, ere the parents die,
The hourly waste of lovely life supply;
And thus, alternating with death, fulfil
The silent mandates of the Almighty Will;
Whose hand unseen the works of nature dooms
By laws unknown—WHO GIVES, AND WHO RESUMES.
"Each pregnant Oak ten thousand acorns forms
Profusely scatter'd by autumnal storms;
[Ten thousand seeds] each pregnant poppy sheds
Profusely scatter'd from its waving heads; 350
[The countless Aphides], prolific tribe,
With greedy trunks [the honey'd sap] imbibe;
Swarm on each leaf with eggs or embryons big,
And pendent nations tenant every twig.
Amorous with double sex, the snail and worm,
Scoop'd in the soil, their cradling caverns form;
Heap their white eggs, secure from frost and floods,
And crowd their nurseries with uncounted broods.
Ere yet with wavy tail [the tadpole swims],
Breathes with new lungs, or tries his nascent limbs; 360
Her countless shoals the amphibious frog forsakes,
And living islands float upon the lakes.
The migrant herring steers her myriad bands
From seas of ice to visit warmer strands;
Unfathom'd depths and climes unknown explores,
And covers with her spawn unmeasured shores.
—All these, increasing by successive birth,
Would each o'erpeople ocean, air, and earth.