An ODE Performed in the Senate-House at Cambridge July 1, 1749, At the Installation of his Grace THOMAS HOLLES Duke of NEWCASTLE CHANCELLOR of the University. By Mr. MASON, Fellow of Pembroke-Hall. Set to Musick by Mr. BOYCE, Composer to his Majesty. Recitative. HERE all thy active fires diffuse, Thou genuine British Muse; Hither descend from yonder orient sky, Cloth'd in thy heav'n-wove robe of harmony. Air I. Come, imperial queen of song; Come with all that free-born grace, Which lifts thee from the servile throng, Who meanly mimic thy majestic pace; That glance of dignity divine, Which speaks thee of celestial line; Proclaims thee inmate of the sky, Daughter of Jove and Liberty. II. Recitative. The elevated soul, who feels Thy aweful impulse, walks the fragrant ways Of honest unpolluted praise: He with impartial justice deals The blooming chaplets of immortal lays: He flies above ambition's low career; And nobly thron'd in Truth's meridian sphere, Thence, with a bold and heav'n-directed aim, Full on fair Virtue's shrine he pours the rays of fame. III. Air II. Goddess! thy piercing eye explores The radiant range of Beauty's stores, The steep ascent of pine-clad hills, The silver slope of falling rills, Catches each lively-colour'd grace, The crimson of the wood-nymph's face, The verdure of the velvet lawn, The purple in the eastern dawn, Or all those tints, which rang'd in vivid glow Mark the bold sweep of the celestial bow. IV. Recitative. But chief she lifts her tuneful transports high, When to her intellectual eye The mental beauties rise in moral dignity: The sacred zeal for Freedom's cause, That fires the glowing Patriot's breast; The honest pride that plumes the Hero's crest, When for his country's aid the steel he draws; Or that, the calm, yet active heat, With which mild Genius warms the Sage's heart, To lift fair Science to a loftier seat, Or stretch to ampler bounds the wide domain of art. Air III. These, the best blossoms of the virtuous mind, She culls with taste refin'd; From their ambrosial bloom With bee-like skill she draws the rich perfume, And blends the sweets they all convey, In the soft balm of her mellifluous lay. V. Recitative. Is there a clime, where all these beauties rise In one collected radiance to her eyes? Is there a plain, whose genial soil enhales Glory's invigorating gales, Her brightest beams where Emulation spreads, Her kindliest dews where Science sheds, Where every stream of Genius flows, Where ev'ry flower of Virtue glows? Thither the Muse exulting flies, There she loudly cries — Chorus I. All hail, all hail, Majestic Granta! hail thy aweful name, Dear to the Muse, to Liberty, to Fame. VI. Recitative. You too, illustrious Train, she greets Who first in these inspiring seats Caught the bright beams of that aetherial fire, Which now sublimely prompts you to aspire To deeds of noblest note: whether to shield Your country's liberties, your country's laws; Or in Religion's hallow'd cause To hurl the shafts of reason, and to wield Those heav'nly-temper'd arms, whose rapid force Arrests base Falshood in her impious course, And drives rebellious Vice indignant from the field. VII. Air IV. And now she tunes her plausive song To you her sage domestic throng; Who here, at Learning's richest shrine, Dispense to each ingenuous youth The treasures of immortal Truth, And open Wisdom's golden mine. Recitative. Each youth inspir'd by your persuasive art, Clasps the dear form of virtue to his heart; And feels in his transported soul Enthusiastic raptures roll, Gen'rous as those the sons of Cecrops caught In hoar Lycaeum's shades from Plato's fire-clad thought. [VIII.] Air V. O Granta! on thy happy plain Still may these Attic glories reign: Still mayst thou keep thy wonted state, In unaffected grandeur great; Recitative. Great as this illustrious hour, When He, whom GEORGE'S well-weigh'd choice And Albion's general voice Have lifted to the fairest heights of pow'r, When He appears, and deigns to shine The leader of thy learned line; And bids the verdure of thy olive bough 'Mid all his civic chaplets twine, And add fresh glories to his honour'd brow. IX. Air VI. Haste then, and amply o'er his head The graceful foliage spread; Mean while the Muse shall snatch the trump of Fame, And lift her swelling accents high, To tell the world that PELHAM'S name Is dear to Learning as to Liberty. Full Chorus. The Muse shall snatch the trump of Fame, And lift her swelling accents high, To tell the world that PELHAM'S name Is dear to Learning as to Liberty.