ODE ON BEAUTY. To ******. William Gerard Hamilton 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. T116245 1122 K093079.001 Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. I. [The second edition]. London printed for G. Pearch 1770 pp. 120-123. 4v. ; 8⁰.

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ODE ON BEAUTY . To ****** . BY THE SAME . I. AND wilt thou , Romeo , still maintain That Beauty holds a boundless reign , Soft power , by all confest ! See'st thou the coward and the brave , The free-born Briton and the slave , With equal rapture blest ? II . The gods indulgent to mankind The tenderest passions of the mind With frugal hands dispense : For faithless I can ne'er believe , That rude untutor'd hearts perceive The finer joys of sense . III . Mark but the ruthless Indian's soul , Which no ingenuous thoughts controul , Where Pity never dwelt : By Beauty , Fancy's loveliest child , Mid lorn Savannahs waste and wild , With human feelings melt ! IV . Behold the powerful charm assuage The hoary lion's lawless rage : He owns the wanton fire ; And lordly roaming o'er the plain Singles the fairest of his train To feed the loose desire ! V. But would'st thou feel a purer flame Than ev'n the warmest wish can frame , By much too fine to cloy ; Far , far beyond that aking breast , With which the village-hind's opprest , Who idly terms it joy ? VI . Has heaven indulgent to thy make Form'd thee to every sense awake , Blithe hope , or frantic fear ? Can human miseries steal a sigh , Or from thy soft consenting eye Can pity draw the tear ? VII . Canst thou with wild Othello glow In all his maddening jealous woe , By Love's dark doubts distrest ? With treacherous Jaffier dost thou feel Th' impending tortures of the wheel , That wound his guilty breast ? VIII . Tell me , can Pindar's lofty strain , Luxuriant Fancy's fruitful vein , The noblest thoughts infuse ? Say , do you taste his generous fire , Or canst thou feelingly expire To Sappho's plaintive muse ? IX . See'st thou the warmth , the grace divine , That breathes thro' mild Correggio's line , By heaven's peculiar care : Does Guido wrap thee in delight ? Can Titian's colours charm thy sight ? Or Julio's godlike air ? X. Say , does thy heart with rapture spring , When Handel strikes the magic string , With transport do you hear ? Or dost thou languish into pain When soft Corelli's tender strain Subdues the ravish'd ear ? XI . Canst thou with Freedom's sons rejoice To hear th' Athenian Demosthenes . patriot's voice 'Mid tyrants undismay'd ; But fails his bolder fire — O say , Can Tully charm each sense away , And baffle reason's aid ? XII . Canst thou with pity mov'd bewail The simple Emma's hapless tale And fond believing heart ? Or say , does Eloisa's line , Where learning , taste , and love combine , A nobler flame impart ? XIII . The Muse in mild melodious lays Instruction's awful voice conveys , And each wild wish disarms : While picture's arts alone can trace Each soften'd line , each secret grace , And add to Beauty's charms . XIV . Should Hope her lenient aid refuse , Tho' each disasterous day renews One sadden'd scene of woe , From pleasing symphony of sound , When melting notes dissolve around , Unnumber'd raptures flow . XV. Music her sister arts may aid , And Poetry o'er light and shade Reflect her mutual fire ; Meek suppliants all at Beauty's shrine In one united there shall join The Pencil , Muse , and Lyre .