HYMN TO THE NAIADS. Mark Akenside Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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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 K104099.006 Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. VI. London printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley 1763 [1st ed. 1758] pp. [1]-15. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

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HYMN TO THE NAIADS . By Dr. AKENSIDE . MDCCXLVI .
ARGUMENT .

The Nymphs who preside over springs and rivulets are ad dressed at day-break in honour of their several functions , and of the relations which they bear to the natural and to the moral world . Their origin is deduced from the first allegorical deities , or powers of nature ; according to the doctrine of the old mythological poets , concerning the gene ration of the Gods and the rise of things . They are then successively considered , as giving motion to the air and ex citing summer-breezes ; as nourishing and beautifying the vegetable world ; as contributing to the fulness of na vigable rivers , and consequently to the maintenance of commerce ; and by that means , to the maritime part of mi litary power . Next is represented their favourable in fluence upon health , when assisted by rural exercise : which introduces their connection with the art of physic , and the happy effects of mineral , medicinal springs . Lastly , they are celebrated for the friendship which the Muses bear them , and for the true inspiration which temperance only can receive : in opposition to the enthusiasm of the more licentious poets .

HYMN TO THE NAIADS . O'ER yonder eastern hill the twilight throws Her dusky mantle ; and the God of day , With bright Astraea seated by his side , Waits yet to leave the ocean . Tarry , Nymphs , Ye Nymphs , ye blue-ey'd progeny of Thames , Who now the mazes of this rugged heath Trace with your fleeting steps ; who all night long Repeat , amid the cool and tranquil air , Your lonely murmurs , tarry : and receive My offer'd lay . To pay you homage due , I leave the gates of sleep ; nor shall my lyre Too far into the splendid hours of morn Ingage your audience : my observant hand Shall close the strain ere any sultry beam Approach you . To your subterranean haunts Ye then may timely steal ; to pace with care The humid sands ; to loosen from the soil The bubbling sources ; to direct the rills To meet in wider channels ; or beneath Some grotto's dripping arch , at height of noon To slumber , shelter'd from the burning heaven . Where shall my song begin , ye Nymphs ? or end ? Wide is your praise and copious — First of things , First of the lonely powers , ere Time arose , Were Love and Chaos . Love , the fire of Fate ; Elder than Chaos . Born of Fate was Time , Who many sons and many comely births Devour'd , relentless father : till the child Of Rhea drove him from the upper sky , And quell'd his deadly might . Then social reign'd The kindred powers , Tethys , and reverend Ops , And spotless Vesta ; while supreme of sway Remain'd the cloud-compeller . From the couch Of Tethys sprang the sedgy-crowned race , Who from a thousand urns , o'er every clime , Send tribute to their parent ; and from them Are ye , O Naiads : Arethusa fair , And tuneful Aganippe ; that sweet name , Bandusia ; that soft family which dwelt With Syrian Daphne ; and the honour'd tribes Belov'd of Paeon . Listen to my strain , Daughters of Tethys : listen to your praise . You , Nymphs , the winged offspring , which of old Aurora to divine Astraeus bore , Owns ; and your aid beseecheth . When the might Of Hyperion , from his noontide throne , Unbends their languid pinions , aid from you They ask : Favonius and the mild South-west From you relief implore . Your sallying streams Fresh vigour to their weary wings impart . Again they fly , disporting ; from the mead Half-ripen'd and the tender blades of corn , To sweep the noxious mildew ; or dispel Contagious steams , which oft the parched earth Breathes on her fainting sons . From noon to eve , Along the river and the paved brook , Ascend the cheerful breezes : hail'd of bards Who , fast by learned Cam , the Mantuan lyre Sollicit ; nor unwelcome to the youth Who on the highths of Tybur , all inclin'd O'er rushing Anio , with a pious hand The reverend scene delineates , broken fanes , Or tombs , or pillar'd aqueducts , the pomp Of ancient time ; and haply , while he scans The ruins , with a silent tear revolves The fame and fortune of imperious Rome . You too , O Nymphs , and your unenvious aid The rural powers confess ; and still prepare For you their grateful treasures . Pan commands , Oft as the Delian king with Sirius holds The central heavens , the father of the grove Commands his Dryads over your abodes To spread their deepest umbrage . well the God Remembereth how indulgent ye supplied Your genial dews to nurse them in their prime . Pales , the pasture's queen , where'er ye stray , Pursues your steps , delighted ; and the path With living verdure clothes . Around your haunts The laughing Chloris , with profusest hand , Throws wide her blooms , her odours . Still with you Pomona seeks to dwell : and o'er the lawns , And o'er the vale of Richmond , where with Thames Ye love to wander , Amalthea pours Well-pleas'd the wealth of that Ammonian horn , Her dower ; unmindful of the fragrant isles Nysaean or Atlantic . Nor can'st thou , ( Albeit oft , ungrateful , thou dost mock The beverage of the sober Naiad's urn , O Bromius , O Lenaean ) nor can'st thou Disown the powers whose bounty , ill repaid , With nectar feeds thy tendrils . Yet from me , Yet , blameless Nymphs , from my delighted lyre , Accept the rites your bounty well may claim ; Nor heed the scoffings of the Edonian band . For better praise awaits you . Thames , your sire , As down the verdant slope your duteous rills Descend , the tribute stately Thames receives , Delighted ; and your piety applauds ; And bids his copious tide roll on secure , For faithful are his daughters ; and with words Auspicious gratulates the bark which , now His banks forsaking , her adventurous wings Yields to the breeze , with Albion's happy gifts Extremest isles to bless . And oft at morn , When Hermes , from Olympus bent o'er earth To bear the words of Jove , on yonder hill Stoops lightly-sailing ; oft intent your springs He views : and waving o'er some new-born stream His blest pacific wand , " And yet , " he cries , " Yet , " cries the son of Maia , " though recluse " And silent be your stores , from you , fair Nymphs , " Flows wealth and kind society to men . " By you my function and my honour'd name " Do I possess ; while o'er the Boetic vale , " Or through the towers of Memphis , or the palms " By sacred Ganges water'd , I conduct " The English merchant : with the buxom fleece " Of fertile Ariconium while I clothe " Sarmatian kings ; or to the household Gods " Of Syria , from the bleak Cornubian shore , " Dispense the mineral treasure which of old " Sidonian pilots sought , when this fair land " Was yet unconscious of those generous arts " Which wise Phoenicia from their native clime " Transplanted to a more indulgent heaven . " Such are the words of Hermes : such the praise , O Naiads , which from tongues coelestial waits Your bounteous deeds . From bounty issueth power : And those who , sedulous in prudent works , Relieve the wants of nature , Jove repays With generous wealth and his own seat on earth , Fit judgments to pronounce , and curb the might Of wicked men . Your kind unfailing urns Not vainly to the hospitable arts Of Hermes yield their store . For , O ye Nymphs , Hath he not won the unconquerable queen Of arms to court your friendship ? You she owns The fair associates who extend her sway Wide o'er the mighty deep ; and grateful things Of you she uttereth , oft as from the shore Of Thames , or Medway's vale , or the green banks Of Vecta , she her thundering navy leads To Calpe's foaming channel , or the rough Cantabrian coast ; her auspices divine Imparting to the senate and the prince Of Albion , to dismay barbaric kings , The Iberian , or the Celt . The pride of kings Was ever scorn'd by Pallas : and of old Rejoic'd the virgin , from the brazen prow Of Athens o'er Aegina's gloomy surge , To drive her clouds and storms ; o'erwhelming all The Persian's promis'd glory , when the realms Of Indus and the soft Ionian clime , When Lybia's torrid champain and the rocks Of cold Imaüs join'd their servile bands , To sweep the sons of liberty from earth . In vain : Minerva on the brazen prow Of Athens stood , and with the thunder's voice Denounc'd her terrours on their impious heads , And shook her burning Aegis . Xerxes saw : From Heracleum , on the mountain's highth Thron'd in his golden car , he knew the sign Coelestial ; felt unrighteous hope forsake His faltering heart , and turn'd his face with shame . Hail , ye who share the stern Minerva's power ; Who arm the hand of liberty for war : And give , in secret , the Britannic name To awe contending monarchs : yet benign , Yet mild of nature : to the works of peace More prone , and lenient of the many ills Which wait on human life . Your gentle aid Hygeia well can witness ; she who saves , From poisonous cates and cups of pleasing bane , The wretch devoted to the entangling snares Of Bacchus and of Comus . Him she leads To Cynthia's lonely haunts . To spread the toils , To beat the coverts , with the jovial horn At dawn of day to summon the loud hounds , She calls the lingering sluggard from his dreams : And where his breast may drink the mountain-breeze , And where the fervour of the sunny vale May beat upon his brow , through devious paths Beckons his rapid courser . Nor when ease , Cool ease and welcome slumbers have becalm'd His eager bosom , does the queen of health Her pleasing care withold . His decent board She guards , presiding ; and the frugal powers With joy sedate leads in : and while the brown Ennaean dame with Pan presents her stores ; While changing still , and comely in the change , Vertumnus and the Hours before him spread The garden's banquet ; you to crown his feast , To crown his feast , O Naiads , you the fair Hygeia calls : and from your shelving seats , And groves of poplar , plenteous cups ye bring , To slake his veins : till soon a purer tide Flows down those loaded channels ; washeth off The dregs of luxury , the lurking seeds Of crude disease ; and through the abodes of life Sends vigour , sends repose . Hail , Naiads : hail , Who give , to labour , health ; to stooping age , The joys which youth had squander'd . Oft your urns Will I invoke ; and , frequent in your praise , Abash the frantic Thyrsus with my song . For not estrang'd from your benignant arts Is he , the God , to whose mysterious shrine My youth was sacred , and my votive cares Are due ; the learned Paeon . Oft when all His cordial treasures he hath search'd in vain ; When herbs , and potent trees , and drops of balm Rich with the genial influence of the sun , ( To rouze dark fancy from her plaintive dreams , To brace the nerveless arm , with food to win Sick appetite , or hush the unquiet breast Which pines with silent passion ) he in vain Hath prov'd ; to your deep mansions he descends . Your gates of humid rock , your dim arcades , He entereth ; where impurpled veins of ore Gleam on the roof ; where through the rigid mine Your trickling rills insinuate . There the God From your indulgent hands the streaming bowl Wafts to his pale-ey'd suppliants ; wafts the seeds Metallic and the elemental salts Wash'd from the pregnant glebe . They drink : and soon Flies pain ; flies inauspicious care : and soon The social haunt or unfrequented shade Hears Io , Io Paean ; as of old , When Python fell . And , O propitious Nymphs , Oft as for hapless mortals I implore Your salutary springs , thro' every urn O shed selected atoms , and with all Your healing powers inform the recent wave . My lyre shall pay your bounty . Nor disdain That humble tribute . Though a mortal hand Excite the strings to utterance , yet for themes Not unregarded of coelestial powers , I frame their language ; and the Muses deign To guide the pious tenour of my lay . The Muses ( sacred by their gifts divine ) In early days did to my wondering sense Their secrets oft reveal : oft my rais'd ear In slumber felt their music : oft at noon Or hour of sunset , by some lonely stream , In field or shady grove , they taught me words Of power from death and envy to preserve The good man's name . whence yet with grateful mind , And offerings unprofan'd by ruder eye , My vows I send , my homage , to the seats Of rocky Cirrha , where with you they dwell : Where you their chaste companions they admit Through all the hallow'd scene : where oft intent , And leaning o'er Castalia's mossy verge , They mark the cadence of your confluent urns , How tunefull , yielding gratefullest repose To their consorted measure : till again , With emulation all the sounding choir , And bright Apollo , leader of the song , Their voices through the liquid air exalt , And sweep their lofty strings : those awful strings , That charm the mind of Gods : that fill the courts Of wide Olympus with oblivion sweet Of evils , with immortal rest from cares ; Assuage the terrours of the throne of Jove ; And quench the formidable thunderbolt Of unrelenting fire . With slacken'd wings , While now the solemn concert breathes around , Incumbent o'er the sceptre of his lord Sleeps the stern eagle ; by the number'd notes , Possess'd ; and satiate with the melting tone : Sovereign of birds . The furious God of war , His darts forgetting and the rapid wheels That bear him vengeful o'er the embattled plain , Relents , and sooths his own fierce heart to ease , Unwonted ease . The sire of Gods and men , In that great moment of divine delight , Looks down on all that live ; and whatsoe'er He loves not , o'er the peopled earth and o'er The interminated ocean , he beholds Curs'd with abhorrence by his doom severe , And troubled at the sound . Ye , Naiads , ye With ravish'd ears the melody attend Worthy of sacred silence . But the slaves Of Bacchus with tempestuous clamours strive To drown the heavenly strains ; of highest Jove , Irreverent ; and by mad presumption fir'd Their own discordant raptures to advance With hostile emulation . Down they rush From Nysa's vine-impurpled cliff , the dames Of Thrace , the Satyrs , and the unruly Fauns , With old Silenus , through the midnight gloom Tossing the torch impure , and high in air The brandish'd Thyrsus , to the Phrygian pipe's Shrill voice , and to the clashing cymbals , mix'd With shrieks and frantic uproar . May the Gods From every unpolluted ear avert Their orgies ! If within the seats of men , Within the seats of men , the walls , the gates Which Pallas rules , if haply there be found Who loves to mingle with the revel-band And hearken to their accents ; who aspires From such instructers to inform his breast With verse ; let him , fit votarist , implore Their inspiration . He perchance the gifts Of young Lyaeus , and the dread exploits , May sing in aptest numbers : he the fate Of sober Pentheus , he the Paphian rites , And naked Mars with Cytheraea chain'd , And strong Alcides in the spinster's robe , May celebrate , applauded . But with you , O Naiads , far from that unhallow'd rout , Must dwell the man whoe'er to praised themes Invokes the immortal Muse . the immortal Muse To your calm habitations , to the cave Corycian or the Delphic mount , will guide His footsteps ; and with your unsullied streams His lips will bathe : whether the eternal lore Of Themis , or the majesty of Jove , To mortals he reveal ; or teach his lyre The unenvied guerdon of the patriot's toils , In those unfading islands of the blest , Where sacred bards abide . Hail , honour'd Nymphs ; Thrice hail , for you the Cyrenaïc shell , Behold , I touch , revering . To my songs Be present ye with favourable feet , And all profaner audience far remove .