Whene'er I fink, whene'er I fall, Attempt the heav'nly strain, Again my fpirits to juft heights recall, Touch ev'ry fprightly string and raise my foul again. So may pure joys crown each returning day, Roll smooth each hour, thy breaft no trouble prove, So long may thy inspiring page, And earlier long than thine the deflin'd hour of fate! Support my finking frame, and teach me how to die; Banish defponding nature's gloom, Make me to hope a gentle doom, And fix me all on joys to come; With fwimming eyes I'll gaze upon thy charms, "Sink in foft flumbers to eternal reft; And all things fmile, while Heav'n and thou art there. Now of immortal crowns poffeft, Humbly adoring with th' inferior bleft, I'll leave each mortal care below; Only my love for thee fhall ne'er a period know. Whenever storms are threat'ning, I'll be near, With ftudious pleasure guide my fair And bear th' enjoyment of a smiling God. My flame shall with my ftrength improve; (For taught by thee I too fhall fing) And bless thro' endless years the Fountain of our love.. AN ODE ON LIBERTY... 1. BRIGHTEST offspring of the fkies, Great fource, from whence to hapless mortals flow Pleasure fincere and noble joys, And ev'ry real bleffing left below, Immortal Liberty! to thee The tribute of my voice I bring; Goddess, accept the disproportion'd praife, Accept the well-defigning lays, Mean and humble tho' they be, And wrong the mighty theme they fing: Others may better plead thy glorious caufe, All mankind ('tis Fate's decree, And fix'd as Fate itself can be) The king and beggar fhare an equal doom; To gain that immortality you give ; In vain you seek to shield your deftin'd head, Your finking carcafe from the grave; Dare ye to hope for life, when Pindar's felf is dead? IX. Inexorable Queen, thy force proclaim, In fullen majefty maintain Thy dreaded, universal reign, Nor own imperial Juno's greater name. Let Gods averfe, and hoftile pow'rs Level with earth Thebes' lofty tow'rs; Still the more lafting notes I fung, And rev'renc'd even by foes fhall live, But hark! what founds are these I hear? No longer thou in those bright charms canst trust, And the gay § Teian bard attend my lays; XI. My charming mufic can affuage No longer threatens with his eyes; Here Sifyphus, with endless toil oppreft, Leans on the unmoving stone, and shares a paufe of rest; Fix'd on my voice, there the dire † Sifters lie, Their empty veffels ftand neglected by. Ev'n the ftern Minos, for a while, His rugged vifage soften'd to a smile, And negligent to cut the tender thread, See! ev'n the Furies lift'ning ftand, Forget the care of punishment; And each avenging whip drops gently from their hand. T4 XII. Thus, Ruffel, in the fhades below, The godlike Theban tun'd his lyre; While the fad ghofts th' inchanting founds admire, Thou seeft my trifling rage, and counterfeited fire. Were all my verse like thy just language strong, Beneath its vast original; Like the Dircæan | fwan I'd nobly rise, Spurn the dull earth, and foar above the fkies: The diff'rence ev'n by thee fhould fcarce be known, And the great bard himself my equal numbers own. ETERNAL God, whofe awful pow'r When proftrate low before thy throne, With cover'd faces they adore, And fing thro' all the vaults above, The wonders of thy grace, and glories of thy lovert How vaft the pleasures! how intenfe! That from thy throne in living torrents roll; Pindar. |