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Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects. (1746, dated 1747)

William Collins.

Note: this Renascence Editions text was transcribed by Risa S. Bear, December 2000, from the 1926 Noel Douglas Replicas facsimile. The copy text is that of the British Museum. Any errors that have crept into the transcription are the fault of the present publisher. The original footnotes have been changed to linked endnotes. The text is in the public domain. Content unique to this presentation is copyright © 2000 The University of Oregon. For nonprofit and educational uses only. Send comments and corrections to the Publisher, rbear at uoregon.edu.

Page 11. Line 4. For Love-born, read Love-lorn.
Page 43. Line 1. For Alluring him from, read Alluring from.

O THOU, the Friend of Man assign'd,
With balmy Hands his Wounds to bind,
    And charm his frantic Woe:
When first Distress with Dagger keen
Broke forth to waste his destin'd Scene,
    His wild unsated Foe!

THOU, to whom the World unknown
With all its shadowy Shapes is shown;
Who see'st appall'd th'unreal Scene,
While Fancy lifts the Veil between:
    Ah Fear! Ah frantic Fear!
    I see, I see Thee near.
I know thy hurried Step, thy haggard Eye!
Like Thee I start, like Thee disorder'd fly,
For lo what Monsters in thy Train appear!
Danger, whose Limbs of Giant Mold
What mortal Eye can fix'd behold?
Who stalks his Round, an hideous Form,
Howling amidst the Midnight Storm,
Or throws him on the ridgy Steep
Of some loose hanging Rock to sleep:
And with him thousand Phantoms join'd,
Who prompt to Deeds accurs'd the Mind:
And those, the Fiends, who near allied,
O'er Nature's Wounds, and Wrecks preside;
Whilst Vengeance, in the lurid Air,
Lifts her red Arm, expos'd and bare:
On whom that rav'ning Brood of Fate,
Who lap the Blood of Sorrow, wait;
Who, Fear, this ghastly Train can see,
And look not madly wild, like Thee?

In earliest Grece to Thee with partial Choice,
    The Grief-full Muse addrest her infant Tongue;
The Maids and Matrons, on her awful Voice,
    Silent and pale in wild Amazement hung.

Yet he the Bard who first invok'd thy Name,
    Disdain'd in Marathon its Pow'r to feel:
For not alone he nurs'd the Poet's flame,
    But reach'd from Virtue's Hand the Patriot's Steel.

But who is He whom later Garlands grace,
    Who left a-while o'er Hybla's Dews to rove,
With trembling Eyes thy dreary Steps to trace,
    Where Thou and Furies shar'd the baleful Grove?

Wrapt in thy cloudy Veil th' Incestuous Queen
    Sigh'd the sad Call her Son and Husband hear'd,
When once alone it broke the silent Scene,
    And He the Wretch of Thebes no more appear'd.

O Fear, I know Thee by my throbbing Heart,
    Thy with'ring Pow'r inspir'd each mournful Line,
Tho' gentle Pity claim her mingled Part,
    Yet all the Thunders of the Scene are thine!

Thou who such weary Length hast past,
Where wilt thou rest, mad Nymph, at last?
Say, wilt thou shroud in haunted Cell,
Where gloomy Rape and Murder dwell?
Or in some hollow'd Seat,
'Gainst which the big Waves beat,
Hear drowning Sea-men's Cries in Tempests brought!
Dark Pow'r, with shudd'ring meek submitted Thought
Be mine, to read the Visions old,
Which thy awak'ning Bards have told:
And lest thou meet my blasted View,
Hold each strange Tale devoutly true;
Ne'er be I found, by Thee o'eraw'd,
In that thrice-hallow'd Eve abroad,
When Ghosts, as Cottage-Maids believe,
Their pebbled Beds permitted leave,
And Gobblins haunt from Fire, or Fen,
Or Mine, or Flood, the Walks of Men!
    O Thou whose Spirit most possest
The sacred Seat of Shakespear's Breast!
By all that from thy Prophet broke,
In thy Divine Emotions spoke:
Hither again thy Fury deal,
Teach me but once like Him to feel:
His Cypress Wreath my Meed decree,
And I, O Fear, will dwell with Thee!

AS once, if not with light Regard,
I read aright that gifted Bard,
(Him whose School above the rest
His loveliest Elfin Queen has blest.)
One, only One, unrival'd Fair,
Might hope the magic Girdle wear,
At solemn Turney hung on high,
The Wish of each love-darting Eye;

Lo! to each other Nymph in turn applied,
    As if, in Air unseen, some hov'ring Hand,
Some chaste and Angel-Friend to Virgin-Fame,
    With whisper'd Spell had burst the starting Band,
It left unblest her loath'd dishonour'd Side;
    Happier hopeless Fair, if never
    Her baffled Hand with vain Endeavour
Had touch'd that fatal Zone to her denied!
Young Fancy thus, to me Divinest Name,
    To whom, prepar'd and bath'd in Heau'n,
    The Cest of amplest Pow'r is giv'n:
    To few the God-like Gift assigns,
    To gird their blest prophetic Loins,
And gaze her Visions wild, and feel unmix'd her Flame!

HOW sleep the Brave, who sink to Rest,
By all their Country's Wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy Fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallow'd Mold,
She there shall dress a sweeter Sod,
Than Fancy's Feet have ever trod.

O THOU, who sit'st a smiling Bride
    By Valour's arm'd and awful Side,
Gentlest of Sky-born Forms, and best ador'd:
    Who oft with Songs, divine to hear,
    Win'st from his fatal Grasp the Spear,
And hid'st in Wreaths of Flow'rs his bloodless Sword!
    Thou who, amidst the deathful Field,
    By Godlike Chiefs alone beheld,
Oft with thy Bosom bare art found,
Pleading for him the Youth who sinks to Ground:
    See, Mercy, see, with pure and loaded Hands,
    Before thy Shrine my Country's Genius stands,
And decks thy Altar still, tho' pierc'd with many a Wound!

    When he whom ev'n our Joys provoke,
    The Fiend of Nature join'd his Yoke,
And rush'd in Wrath to make our Isle his Prey,
    Thy Form, from out thy sweet Abode,
    O'ertook Him on his blasted Road,
And stop'd his Wheels, and look'd his Rage away.
      I see recoil his sable Steeds,
    That bore Him swift to Salvage Deeds,
Thy tender melting Eyes they own;
O Maid, for all thy Love to Britain shown,
    Where Justice bars her Iron Tow'r,
    To Thee we build a roseate Bow'r,
Thou, Thou shalt rule our Queen, and share our Monarch's Throne!

WHO shall wake the Spartan Fife,
And call in solemn Sounds to Life,
The Youths, whose Locks divinely spreading,
    Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen Hue,
At once the Breath of Fear and Virtue shedding,
    Applauding Freedom, lov'd of old to view?
What New Alcæus, Fancy-blest,
Shall sing the Sword, in Myrtles drest,
    At Wisdom's Shrine a-while its Flame concealing,
(What Place so fit to seal a Deed renown'd?)
    Till she her brightest Lightnings round revealing,
It leap'd in Glory forth, and dealt her prompted Wound!
      O Goddess, in that feeling Hour,
    When most its Sounds would court thy Ears,
     Let not my Shell's misguided Pow'r,
    E'er draw thy sad, thy mindful Tears.
No, Freedom, no, I will not tell,
How Rome, before thy weeping Face,
With heaviest Sound, a Giant-statue, fell,
Push'd by a wild and artless Race,
From off its wide ambitious Base,
When Time his Northern Sons of Spoil awoke,
    And all the blended Work of Strength and Grace,
    With many a rude repeated Stroke,
And many a barb'rous Yell, to thousand Fragments broke.

Beyond the Measure vast of Thought,
The Works, the Wizzard Time has Wrought!
    The Gaul, 'tis held of antique Story,
Saw Britain lin'd to his now adverse Strand,
    No Sea between, nor Cliff sulime and hoary,
He pass'd with unwet Feet thro' all our Land.
      To the blown Baltic then, they say,
      The wild Waves found another way,
Where Orcas howls, his wolfish Mountains rounding,
    Till all the banded West at once 'gan rise,
A wide wild Storm ev'n Nature's self confounding,
    With'ring her Giant Sons with strange uncouth Surprise.
      This pillar'd Earth so firm and wide,
        By Winds and inward Labors torn,
      In Thunders dread was push'd aside,
        And down the should'ring Billows born.
And see, like Gems, her laughing Train,
    The little Isles on ev'ry side,
Mona, once hid from those who search the Main'
    Where thousand Elfin Shapes abide,
And Wight who checks the west'ring Tide,
    For Thee consenting Heav'n has each bestow'd,
A fair Attendant on her sov'reign Pride:
    To Thee this blest Divorce she ow'd,
For thou hast made her Vales thy lov'd, thy last Abode!

Then too, 'tis said, an hoary Pile,
'midst the green Navel of our Isle,
Thy Shrine in some religious Wood,
O Soul-enforcing Goddess stood!
There oft the painted Native's Feet,
Were wont thy Form celestial meet:
Tho' now with hopeless Toil we trace
Time's backward Rolls, to find its place;
Whether the fiery-tressed Dane,
Or Roman's self o'erturn'd the Fane,
Or in what Heav'n-left Age it fell,
[']Twere hard for modern Song to tell.
Yet still, if Truth those Beams infuse,
Which guide at once, and charm the Muse,
Beyond yon braided Cloudes that lie,
Paving the light-embroider'd Sky:
Amidst the bright pavilion'd Plains,
The beauteous Model still remains.
There happier than in Islands blest,
Or Bow'rs by Spring or Hebe drest;
The Chiefs who fill our Albion's Story,
In warlike Weeds, retir'd in Glory,
Hear their consorted Druids sing
Their Triumphs to th'immortal String.
    How may the Poet now unfold,
What never Tongue or Numbers told?
How learn delighted, and amaz'd,
What Hands unknown that Fabric rais'd?
Ev'n now before his favor'd Eyes,
In Gothic Pride it seems to rise!
Yet Græcia's graceful Orders join,
Majestic thro' the mix'd Design;
The secret Builder knew to chuse,
Each sphere-found Gem of richest Hues:
Whate'er Heav'n's purer Mold contains,
When nearer Suns emblaze its Veins;
There on the Walls the Patriot's Sight,
May ever hang with fresh Delight,
And, grav'd with some Prophetic Rage,
Read Albion's Fame thro' ev'ry Age.
    Ye Forms Divine, ye Laureate Band,
That near her inmost Altar stand!
Now Sooth Her, to her blissful Train
Blithe Concord's social Form to gain:
Concord, whose Myrtle Wand can steep
Ev'n Anger's blood-shot Eyes in Sleep:
Before whose breathing Bosom'd Balm,
Rage drops his Steel, and Storms grow calm;
Here let our Sires and Matrons hoar
Welcome to Britain's ravag'd Shore.
Our Youths, enamour'd of the Fair,
Play with the Tangles of her Hair,
Till in one loud applauding Sound,
The Nations shout to Her around,
O how supremely art thou blest,
Thou, Lady, Thou shalt rule the West!

IF ought of Oaten Stop, or Pastoral Song,
May hope, O pensive Eve, to sooth thine Ear,
      Like thy own brawling Springs,
      Thy Springs, and dying Gales,
O Nymph reserv'd, while now the bright-hair'd Sun
Sits in yon western Tent, whose cloudy Skirts[,]
      With Brede ethereal wove,
      O'erhang his wavy Bed:
Now Air is hush'd, save where the weak-ey'd Bat,
With short shrill Shriek flits by on leathern Wing,
      Or where the Beetle winds
      His small but sullen Horn,
As oft he rises 'midst the twilight Path,
Against the Pilgrim born in heedless Hum:
      Now teach me, Maid compos'd,
      To breathe some soften'd Strain,
Whose Numbers stealing thro' thy darkning Vale,
May not unseemly with its Stillness suit,
      As musing slow, I hail
      Thy genial lov'd Return!
For when thy folding Star arising shews
His paly Circlet, at his warning Lamp
      The fragrant Hours, and Elves
      Who slept in Buds the Day,
And many a Nymph who wreaths her Brows with Sedge,
And sheds the fresh'ning Dew, and lovelier still,
      The Pensive Pleasures sweet
      Prepare thy shadowy Car.
Then let me rove some wild and healthy Scene,
Or find some Ruin 'midst its dreary Dells,
      Whose Walls more awful nod
      By thy reigious Gleams.
Or if chill blustring Winds, or driving Rain,
Prevent my willing Feet, be mine the Hut,
      That from the Mountain's Side,
      Views Wilds, and swelling Floods,
And Hamlets brown, and dim-discover'd Spires,
And hears their simple Bell, and marks o'er all
      Thy Dewy Fingers draw
      The gradual dusky Veil.
While Spring shall pour his Show'rs, as oft he wont,
And bathe thy breathing Tresses, meekest Eve!
      While Summer loves to sport,
      Beneath thy ling'ring Light:
While sallow Autumn fills thy Lap with Leaves,
Or Winter yelling thro' the troublous Air,
      Affrights thy shrinking Train,
      And rudely rends thy Robes.
So long regardful of thy quiet Rule,
Shall Fancy, Friendship, Science, smiling Peace,
      Thy gentlest Influence own,
      And love thy fav'rite Name!

O Thou, who bad'st thy Turtles bear
Swift from his Grasp thy golden Hair.
      and sought'st thy native Skies:
When War, by Vultures drawn from far,
To Britain bent his Iron Car,
      And bad his Storms arise!

FAREWELL, for clearer Ken design'd,
The dim-discover'd Tracts of Mind:
Truths which, from Action's Paths retir'd,
My silent Search in vain requir'd!
No more my Sail that Deep explores,
No more I search those magic Shores,
What Regions part the World of Soul,
Or whence thy Streams, Opinion, roll:
If e'er I round such Rairy Field,
Some Pow'r impart the Spear and Shield,
At which the Wizzard Passions fly,
By which the giant Follies die!
    Farewell the Porch, whose Roof is seen,
Arch'd with th'enlivening Olive's Green:
Where Science, prank'd in tissued Vest,
By Reason, Pride, and Fancy drest,
Comes like a Bride so trim array'd,
To wed with Doubt in Plato's Shade!
    Youth of the quick uncheated Sight,
Thy Walks, Observance, more invite!
O Thou, who lov'st that ampler Range,
Where Life's wide Prospects round thee change,
And with her mingling Sons ally'd,
Throw'st the prattling Page aside:
To me in Converse sweet impart,
To read in Man the native Heart,
To learn, where Science sure is found,
From Nature as she lives around:
And gazing oft her Mirror true,
By turns each shifting Image view!
Till meddling Art's officious Lore,
Reverse the lessons taught before,
Alluring [him] from a safer Rule,
To dream in her enchanted School;
Thou Heav'n, whate'er of Great we boast,
Hast blest this social Science most.
    Retiring hence to thoughtful Cell,
As Fancy breathes her potent Spell,
Not vain she finds the charmful Task,
In Pageant quaint, in motley Mask,
Behold before her musing Eyes,
The countless Manners round her rise;
While ever varying as they pass,
To some Contempt applies her Glass:
With these the white-rob'd Maids combine,
And those the laughing Satyrs join!
But who is He whom now she views,
In Robe of wild contending Hues?
Thou by the Passions nurs'd, I greet
The comic Sock that binds thy Feet!
O Humour, Thou whose Name is known,
To Britain's favor'd Isle alone:
Me too amidst thy Band admit,
There where the young-eyed healthful Wit,
(Whose Jewels in his crisped Hair
Are plac'd each other's Beams to share,
Whom no Delights from Thee divide)
In Laughter loos'd attends thy Side!
    By old Miletus who so long
Has ceas'd his Love-inwoven Song:
By all you taught the Tuscan Maids,
In chang'd Italia's modern Shades:
By Him, whose Knight's distinguish'd Name
Refin'd a Nation's Lust of Fame;
Whose Tales ev'n now, with Echos sweet,
Castilia's Moorish Hills repeat:
Or Him, whome Seine's blue Nymphs deplore,
In watchet Weeds on Gallia's Shore,
Who drew the sad Sicilian Maid,
By Virtues in her Sire betray'd:
    O Nature boon, from whom proceed
Each forceful Thought, each prompted Deed;
If but from Thee I hope to feel,
On all my Heart imprint thy Seal!
Let some retreating Cynic find,
Those oft-turn'd Scrolls I leave behind,
The Sports and I this Hour agree,
To rove thy Scene-full World with Thee!

WHEN Music, Heav'nly Maid, was young,
While yet in early Greece she sung,
The Passions oft to hear her Shell,
Throng'd around her magic Cell,
Exulting, trembling, raging, fainting,
Possest beyond the Muse's Painting;
By turns they felt the glowing Mind,
Disturb'd, delighted, rais'd, refin'd.
Till once, 'tis said, when all were fir'd,
Fill'd with Fury, rapt, inspir'd,
From the supporting Myrtles round,
They snatch'd her Instruments of Sound,
And as they oft had heard a-part
Sweet Lessons of her forceful Art,
Each, for Madness rul'd the Hour,
Would proue his own expressive Pow'r.
 
First Fear his Hand, its Skill to try,
    Amid the Chords bewilder'd laid,
And back recoil'd he knew not why,
    Ev'n at the Sound himself had made.
 
Next Anger rush'd, his Eyes on fire,
    In Lightnings own'd his secret Stings,
In one rude Clash he struck the Lyre,
    And swept with hurried Hand the Strings.
 
With woful Measures wan Despair
    Low sullen Sounds his Grief beguil'd,
A solemn, strange, and mingled Air,
    'Twas sad by Fits, by Starts 'twas wild.
 
But Thou, O Hope, with Eyes so fair,
    What was thy delightful Measure?
Still it whisper'd promis'd Pleasure,
    And bad the lovely Scenes at distance hail!
 
Still would Her Touch the Strain prolong,
    And from the Rocks, the Woods, the Vale,
She call'd on Echo still thro' all the Song;
    And where Her sweetest Theme She chose,
    A soft responsive Voice was heard at ev'ry Close,
And Hope enchanted smil'd, and wav'd Her golden Hair.
 
And longer had She sung,— but with a Frown,
      Revenge impatient rose,
He threw his blood-stain'd Sword in Thunder down,
      And with a with'ring Look,
    The War-denouncing Trumpet took,
And blew a Blast so loud and dread,
Were ne'er Prophetic Sounds so full of Woe.
      And ever and anon he beat
      The doubling Drum with furious Heat;
    And tho' sometimes each dreary Pause between,
      Dejected Pity at his Side,
      Her Soul-subduing Voice applied,
    Yet still He kept his wild unalter'd Mien,
While each strain'd Ball of Sight seem'd bursting from his Head.
Thy Numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fix'd,
    Sad Proof of thy distressful State,
Of diff'ring Themes the veering Song was mix'd,
    And now it courted Love, now raving call'd on Hate.

With Eyes up-rais'd, as one inspir'd,
Pale Melancholy sate retir'd,
And from her wild sequester'd Seat,
In Notes by Distance made more sweet,
Pour'd thro' the mellow Horn her pensive Soul:
    And dashing soft from Rocks around,
    Bubbling Runnels join'd the Sound;
Thro' Glades and Glooms the mingled Measure stole,
    Or o'er some haunted Stream with fond Delay,
      Round an holy Calm diffusing,
      Love of Peace, and lonely Musing,
    In hollow Murmurs died away.
But O how alter'd was its sprightlier Tone!
When Chearfulness, a Nymph of healthiest Hue,
    Hew Bow a-cross her Shoulder flung,
    Her Buskins gem'd with Morning Dew,
Blew an inspiring Air, that Dale and Thicket rung,
    The Hunter's Call to Faun and Dryad known!
    The Oak-crown'd Sisters, and their chast-eye'd Queen,
    Satyrs and sylvan Boys were seen,
    Peeping from forth their Alleys green;
Brown Exercise rejoic'd to hear,
    And Sport leapt up, and seiz'd his Beechen Spear.
 
Last came Joy's Ecstatic Trial,
He with viny Crown advancing,
    First to the liuely Pipe his Hand addrest,
But soon he saw the brisk awak'ning Viol,
    Whose sweet entrancing Voice he lov'd the best.
      They would have thought who heard the Strain,
      They saw in Tempe's Vale her native Maids.
      Amidst the festal sounding Shades,
To some unwearied Minstrel dancing,
    While as his flying Fingers kiss'd the Strings,
    L O V E fram'd with Mirth, a gay fantastic Round,
    Loose were Her Tresses, seen, her Zone unbound,
    And He amidst his frolic Play,
As if he would the charming Air repay,
Shook thousand Odours from his dewy Wings.

O Music, Sphere-descended Main,
Friend of Pleasure, Wisdom's Aid,
Why, Goddess, why to us deny'd?
Lay'st Thou thy antient Lyre aside?
As in that lov'd Athenian Bow'r,
You learn'd an all-commanding Pow'r,
Thy mimic Soul, O Nymph endear'd,
Can well recall what then it heard.
Where is thy native simple Heart,
Devote to Virtue, Fancy, Art?
Arise as in that elder Time,
Warm, Energic, Chaste, Sublime!
Thy wonders in that God-like Age,
Fill thy recording Sister's Page—
'Tis said, and I believe the Tale,
Thy humblest Reed could more prevail,
Had more of Strength, diviner Rage,
Than all which charms this laggard Age,
Ev'n all at once together found,
Cæcilia's mingled World of Sound—
O bid our vain Endeavors cease,
Revive the just Designs of Greece,
Return in all thy simple State!
Confirm the Tales Her Sons relate!

Euripides, of whom Aristotle pronounces, on a Comparison of him with Sophocles, That he was the greater Master of the tender Passions,

The River Arun runs by the Village in Sussex, where Otway had his Birth.

Alluding to the

of Sophocles. See the E L E C T R A.

Æschylus.

Jocasta.

See the Œdip. Colon. of Sophocles.

The

or Nightingale, for which Sophocle[s]
seems to have entertain'd a peculiar Fondness.

Florimel. See Spenser Leg. 4th.

Alluding to that beautiful Fragment of Alcæus.

Callimach.

The Family of the Medici.

The little Republic of San Marino.

The Venetians.

The Doge of Venice.

Genoa.

Switzerland.

The Dutch, amongst whom there are very severe Penalties for those who are convicted of killing this Bird. They are kept tame in almost all their Towns, and particularly at the Hague, of the Arms of which they make a Part. The common People of Holland are said to entertain a superstitious Sentiment, That if the whole Species of them should become extinct, they should lose their Liberties.

Queen Elizabeth.

This Tradition is mention'd by several of our old Historians. Some Naturalists too have endeavour'd to support the Probility of the Fact, by Arguments drawn from the correspondent Disposition of the two opposite Coasts. I don't remember that any Poetical Use has been hitherto made of it.

There is a tradition in the Isle of Man, that a Mermaid becoming enamour'd of a young Man of extraordinary Beauty, took an Opportunity of meeting him one day as he walked on the Shore, and open'd her Passion to him, but was receiv'd with a Coldness, occasion'd by his Horror and Surprize at her Appearance. This however was so misconstrued by the Sea-Lady, that in revenge for his Treatment of her, she punish'd the whole Island, by covering it with a Mist, so that all who attempted to carry on any Commerce with it, either never arriv'd at it, but wander'd up and down the Sea, or were on a sudden wreck'd upon its Cliffs.

Alluding to the Milesian Tales, some of the earliest Romances.

Cervantes.

Monsieur Le Sage, Author of the incomparable Adventures of Gil Blas de Santillane, who died in Paris in the Year 1745.

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