For still is nature fair, and thought divine,
And art hath won a world in models pure as thine.[52]
XCVI.
Gaze on yon forms, corroded and defaced—
Yet there the germ of future glory lies!
Their virtual grandeur could not be erased;
It clothes them still, though veil’d from common eyes.
They once were gods and heroes[53]—and beheld
As the blest guardians of their native scene;
And hearts of warriors, sages, bards, have swell’d