‘What charms the Historic Muse adorn, from spoils,
‘And blood, and tyrants, when she wings her flight,
‘To hail the patriot Prince, whose pious toils
‘Sacred to science, liberty, and right,
‘And peace, through every age divinely bright,
‘Shall shine the boast and wonder of mankind!
‘Sees yonder sun, from his meridian height,
‘A lovelier scene, than Virtue thus inshrined
‘In power, and man with man for mutual aid combine!
XLIII.
‘Hail, sacred Polity, by Freedom reared!
‘Hail, sacred Freedom, when by Law restrained!
‘Without you what were man? A grovelling herd,
‘In darkness, wretchedness, and want enchained.
‘Sublimed by you, the Greek and Roman reigned
‘In arts unrivalled: O, to latest days,
‘In Albion may your influence, unprofaned,
‘To godlike worth the generous bosom raise,
‘And prompt the Sage’s lore, and fire the Poet’s lays.
‘But now let other themes our care engage.
‘For lo, with modest, yet majestic grace,
‘To curb Imagination’s lawless rage,
‘And from within the cherished heart to brace,
‘Philosophy appears. The gloomy race,
‘By Indolence and moping Fancy bred,
‘Fear, Discontent, Solicitude give place,
‘And Hope and Courage brighten in their stead,
‘While on the kindling soul her vital beams are shed.
XLV.
‘Then waken from long lethargy to life
‘The seeds of happiness, and powers of thought;
‘Then jarring appetites forego their strife,
‘A strife by ignorance to madness wrought.
‘Pleasure by savage man is dearly bought
‘With fell revenge, lust that defies controul,
‘With gluttony and death. The mind untaught,
‘Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempests howl;
‘As Phœbus to the world, is Science to the soul.
‘And Reason, now, through Number, Time, and Space,
‘Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye,
‘And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace,
‘Whose long progression leads to Deity.
‘Can mortal strength presume to soar so high?
‘Can mortal sight, so oft bedimmed with tears,
‘Such glory bear?—for lo, the shadows fly
‘From Nature’s face; Confusion disappears,
‘And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears.