In the dry desart of a thousand lines,
Or lengthen’d thought that gleams thro’ many a page,
Has sanctified whole poems for an age. Pope.
Custom, my Lord, that sovereign arbiter, from whose decision in literary as well as in civil causes, there frequently lies no appeal, will lead us to consider boldness of transition as a circumstance which is peculiarly characteristic of the Ode. Lyric Poets have in all ages appropriated to themselves the liberty of indulging imagination in her most irregular excursions; and when a digression is remotely similar to the subject, they are permitted to fall into it at any time by the invariable practice of their Predecessors. Pindar expressly lays claim to this privilege.
Εγκαμιων γαρ αωτες ὑμνων
επ’ αλλοτ’ αλλον ως τε με-
λισσα θυνει λογον.[71]
The song that spreads some glorious name
Shifts its bold wing from theme to theme;
Roves like the bee regardless o’er,