ODE to the Hon. C. Y. Isaac Hawkins Browne 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. T131163 K104099.002 Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. II. London printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley 1763 [1st ed. 1758] pp. 287-289. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

This e-text is part of the Works section of the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

XML created for the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center; text-align: right; text-align: left; display: inline font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
ODE to the Hon. C. Y. By the Same . CHARLES , son of Yorke , who on the mercy-seat Of justice states the bounds of right and wrong ; Not like the vulgar law-bewilder'd throng , Who in the maze of error , hope to meet Truth , or hope rather to delude with lies And airy phantoms , under truth's disguise . Some wrapt in precedents , or points decreed , Or lop or stretch the laws to forms precise : Some , who the pedantry of rules despise , Plain sense adopt , from legal fetters freed ; Sense without science , fleeting , unconfin'd , Is empty guess , and shifts with ev'ry wind . But he , thy sire , with more discerning toil , Rang'd the wide field , sagacious to explore Where lay dispers'd or hid the precious ore ; Then form'd into a whole the gather'd spoil , Law , reason , equity , which now unite , Reflecting each on each a friendly light . Blest in a guide , a pattern so compleat , Tread , as thou do'st his footsteps ; for not rude Thy genius , not uncultur'd , unsubdu'd . Yet there are intervals and seasons meet , To smooth the brow of thought ; nor thou disdain Fit hour of vacance with the Muse's train . Let meaner spirits , cast in common mould , Who feed on husks of learned lore , refuse To hear the lessons of the warbling Muse ; Nor know that bards , the law-givers of old , By soothing song to moral truth beguil'd Man , till then fierce , a lawless race , and wild . What means the lyre , by which the fabled sage Drew beasts to listen , and made rocks advance Around him as he play'd , in mystick dance ? What , but the Muse ? who soften'd human rage . Parent of concord , she prepar'd the plan Of social life , and man attun'd to man . She taught the sphere to move in fair array , Each in their orbits heark'ning to her strain ; Else would they wander o'er th' etherial plain Licentious , but that she directs their way : She aw'd to temper , by her magick spell , The warring elements , and powers of hell . They err , who think the MUSES not ally'd To THEMIS ; both are of celestial birth : Both give peace , order , harmony to earth ; Both by one heav'nly fountain are supply'd ; And men and angels hymn , in general quire , What law ordains , and what the NINE inspire .