Free Philosophy. Isaac Watts Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T82397 K067329.000 Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748. Horæ lyricæ: Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind. In two books. ... By I. Watts. London Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence at the Sign of the Angel in the Poultrey. MDCCVI. 1706 pp. 153-154. [20],267,[1]p.; 8⁰.

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Free Philosophy . To the much Honoured Mr. Thomas Rowe . THE Director of my Youthful Studies . I. CUSTOM , that Tyranness of Fools , That leads the Learned round the Schools In Magick Chains of Forms and Rules , My Genius storms her Throne : No more ye Slaves with Awe profound Beat the dull Track , nor dance the Round , Loose Hands , and quit th' Inchanted Ground , Knowledge invites us each alone . II . I hate these Shackles of the Mind Forg'd by the haughty Wise ; Souls were not born to be confin'd , And led like Sampson Bound and Blind : I love thy gentle Influence , ROWE , Who only dost Advise : Thy gentle Influence like the Sun Only dissolves the Frozen Snow , Then bids our Thoughts like Rivers flow , And chuse the Channels where they run . III . Thoughts should be free as Fire or Wind ; The Pinions of a Single Mind Will thro' all Nature fly : But who can drag up to the Poles Long fetter'd Ranks of Leaden Souls ? My Genius which no Chain controuls Roves with Delight , or deep or high : Swift I survey the Globe around , Dive to the Centre thro' the Solid Ground , Or travel o're the Sky .