*Half of thy heart we consecrate. (The web is wove. The work is done.") 'Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unbless'd, unpitied, here to mourn : But oh! what solemn scenes, on Snowdon's height Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul! 'Girt with many a baron bold, Sublime their starry fronts they rear; And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old In bearded majesty, appear. In the midst a form divine! Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line; What strings symphonious tremble in the air, Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzialiu-ki, ambassador of Poland, says, “And thus she, lion-like rising, daunted the malapert orator no less with her stately port and majestical deporture, than with the tartnesse of her princeife Checkes Taliessin, chief of the bards, flouri-hed in the sixth century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen. The verse adorn again III. 3. Fierce War, and faithful Love, In buskin'd measures move Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain, With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast. A †voice as of the cherub choir, Gales from blooming Eden bear; And ‡distant warblings lessen on my ear, That lost in long futurity expire. Fond, impious man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, Raised by thy breath, hath quench'd the orb of day? To morrow he repairs the golden flood, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. Enough for me: with joy I see The different doom our Fates assign. Be thine Despair, and sceptred Care; To triumph, and to die, are mine.' He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height, Deep in the roaring tide he plung'd to endless night. VII. FOR MUSIC.§ Irregular. I. 'HENCE, avaunt ('tis holy ground), * Shakspeare. + Milton. ↑ The succession of poets after Milton's time. This Ode was performed in the Senate-House at Cambridge, July 1, 1769, at the instal ation of his grace Augustus Henry Fitzroy, duke of Graftou, chancellor of the University. Mad Sedition's cry profane, Servitude that hugs her chain, Nor in these consecrated bowers Let painted Flatt'ry hide her serpent-train in flowers, Nor Envy base, nor creeping Gain Dare the Muse's walk to stain, While bright-ey'd Science watches round: Hence, away, 'tis holy ground!' II. From yonder realms of empyrean day Bursts on my ear th' indignant lay: There sit the sainted Sage, the Bard divine, The few, whom Genius gave to shine Through every unborn age, and undiscover'd clime. Rapt in celestial transport they, Yet hither oft a glance from high They send of tender sympathy To bless the place, where on their opening soul First the genuine ardour stule. "Twas Milton struck the deep-toned shell, And, as the choral warblings round him swell, Meck Newton's self bends from his state sublime, And nods his hoary head, and listens to the rhyme. III. 'Ye brown o'er-arching groves, That Contemplation loves, Where willowy Camus lingers with delight. Oft at the blush of dawn I trod your level lawn, Oft woo'd the gleam of Cynthia silver-bright In cloisters dim, far from the haunts of Folly, With Freedom by my side, and soft ey'd Melancholy.' IV. But hark! the portals sound, and pacing forth With solemn steps and slow, High potentates, and dames of royal birth, And tsad Chatillon, on her bridal morn, That wept her bleeding Love, and princelyt Clare, And Anjou's heroine, and the paler Rose, And ¶ either Henry there, The murder'd Saint, and the majestic Lord, (Their tears, their little triumphs o'er, And bade these awful fanes and turrets rise, And thus they speak in soft accord The liquid language of the skies. V. 'What is grandeur, what is power? Heavier toil, superior pain. What the bright reward we gain? The grateful memory of the good. * Edward the Third; who added the fleur de lys of France to the arms of England. He founded Trinit College. Mary de Valentia, counte s of F mbroke, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, comte de St. Paul in France, of whom tradition says, that her husband, Audemar de Valentia, ea 1 of Pembroke, was slain at a tournament on the day of his nuptials. She was the foundress of Pembroke College, or Hall, under the name of Aula Mariæ de Valentia. Elizabeth de Burg, countess of Clare, was wife of John de Burg, son and heir of the Ear! o Uister, and daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, by Joan of Acres, daughter of Edward the First. Hence the poet gives her the epithet of princely. She tounded Clare Hall. § Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry the Sixth, foundress of Queen's College. The poet has celebrated her conjugal fidelity in the former Ode: V. Epode 24, line 13th. Elizabeth Widville, wife of Edward the Fourth (hence called the paler Rose, as being of the House of York). She added to the foundaion of Margaret of Anjou. Henry the Sixth and Eighth. The former founder of King's, the latter the greatest benefactor to Trinity College. Sweet is the breath of vernal shower, The bee's collected treasures sweet, Sweet Music's melting fall, but sweeter yet The still small voice of Gratitude.' VI. Foremost and leaning from her golden cloud 'Welcome, my noble son, (she cries aloud) VII. gem Lo, Granta waits to lead her blooming band, Not obvious, not obtrusive, She No vulgar praise, no venal incense flings; She reveres herself and thee. With modest pride to grace thy youthful brow And to thy just, thy gentle hand Submits the fasces of her sway, While spirits blest above and men below Join with glad voice the loud symphonious lay. * Countess of Richmond and Derby; the mother of Henry the Seventh, foundress of St. John's and Christ's Colleges. + The countess was a Beaufort, and married to a Tudor: hence the application of this line to the Duke of Grafton, who claims descent from bo.h these families. Lord Treasurer Burghley was chancellor of the University, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. |