ODE To the Right Honourable FRANCIS Earl of HUNTINGDON. MDCCXLVII. Mark Akenside Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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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. 15-24. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

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ODE To the Right Honourable FRANCIS Earl of HUNTINGDON . MDCCXLVII . By the Same . I. 1. THE wife and great of every clime , Through all thy spacious walks of Time , Where'er the Muse her power display'd , With joy have listen'd and obey'd . For , taught of heaven , the sacred Nine Persuasive numbers , forms divine , To mortal sense impart : They best the soul with glory fire ; They noblest counsels , boldest deeds inspire ; And high o'er Fortune's rage inthrone the fixed heart . I. 2. Nor less prevailing is their charm The vengeful bosom to disarm ; To melt the proud with human woe , And prompt unwilling tears to flow . Can wealth a power like this afford ? Can Cromwell's arts , or Marlborough's sword , An equal empire claim ? No , HASTINGS . Thou my words wilt own : Thy breast the gifts of every Muse hath known ; Nor shall the giver's love disgrace thy noble name . I. 3. The Muse's awful art , And the fair function of the poet's tongue , Ne'er shalt thou blush to honour ; to assert From all that scorned vice or slavish fear hath sung . Nor shall the blandishment of Tuscan strings Warbling at will in pleasure's myrtle bower ; Nor shall the baser notes to Celtic kings By lying minstrels paid in evil hour , Move Thee to spurn the heavenly Muse's reign . A different strain , And other themes From her prophetic shades and hallow'd streams ( Thou well can'st witness ) meet the purged ear : Such , as when Greece to her immortal shell Rejoicing listen'd , godlike sounds to hear ; To hear the sweet instructress tell ( While men and heroes throng'd around ) How life its noblest use may find , How best for freedom be resign'd ; And how , by glory , virtue shall be crown'd . II . 1. Such was the Homer . Chian father's strain To many a kind domestic train , Whose pious hearth and genial bowl Had cheer'd the reverend pilgrim's soul : When , every hospitable rite With equal bounty to requite , He struck his magic strings ; And pour'd spontaneous numbers forth , And seiz'd their ears with tales of ancient worth , And fill'd their musing hearts with vast heroic things . II . 2. Now oft , where happy spirits dwell , Where yet he tunes his charming shell , Oft near him , with applauding hands , The genius of his country stands . To listening gods he makes him known , That man divine , by whom were sown The seeds of Graecian fame : Who first the race with freedom fir'd ; From whom Lycurgus Sparta's sons inspir'd ; From whom Plataean palms and Cyprian trophies came . II . 3. O noblest , happiest age ! When Aristides rul'd , and Cimon fought ; When all the generous fruits of Homer's page Exulting Pindar saw to full perfection brought . O Pindar , oft shalt thou be hail'd of me : Not that Apollo fed thee from his shrine ; Not that thy lips drank sweetness from the bee ; Nor yet that , studious of thy notes divine , Pan danc'd their measure with the sylvan throng ; But that thy song Was proud to unfold What thy base rulers trembled to behold ; Amid corrupted Thebes was proud to tell The deeds of Athens and the Persian shame : Hence on thy head their impious vengeance fell . But thou , O faithful to thy fame , The Muse's law didst rightly know ; That who would animate his lays , And other minds to virtue raise , Must feel his own with all her spirit glow . III . 1. Are there , approv'd of later times , Whose verse adorn'd a Octavius Caesar . tyrant's crimes ? Who saw majestic Rome betray'd , And lent the imperial ruffian aid ? Alas ! not one polluted bard , No , not the strains that Mincius heard , Or Tibur's hills reply'd , Dare to the Muse's ear aspire ; Save that , instructed by the Graecian lyre , With freedom's ancient notes their shameful task they hide . III . 2. Mark , how the dread Pantheon stands , Amid the domes of modern hands : Amid the toys of idle state , How simply , how severely great ! Then turn , and , while each western clime Presents her tuneful sons to Time , So mark thou Milton's name ; And add , " Thus differs from the throng " The spirit which inform'd thy aweful song , " Which bade thy potent voice protect thy country's fame . " III . 3. Yet hence barbaric zeal His memory with unholy rage pursues ; While from these arduous cares of public weal She bids each bard begone , and rest him with his Muse . O fool ! to think the man , whose ample mind Must grasp at all that yonder stars survey ; Must join the noblest form of every kind , The world's most perfect image to display , Can e'er his country's majesty behold , Unmov'd or cold ! O fool ! to deem That He , whose thought must visit every theme , Whose heart must every strong emotion know By nature planted , or by fortune taught ; That He , if haply some presumptuous foe , With false ignoble science fraught , Shall spurn at freedom's faithful band ; That He , their dear defence will shun , Or hide their glories from the sun , Or deal their vengeance with a woman's hand ! IV . 1. I care not that in Arno's plain , Or on the sportive banks of Seine , From public themes the Muse's quire Content with polish'd ease retire . Where priests the studious head command , Where tyrants bow the warlike hand To vile ambition's aim , Say , what can public themes afford , Save venal honours to an hateful lord , Reserv'd for angry heaven and scorn'd of honest fame ? IV . 2. But here , where freedom's equal throne To all her valiant sons is known ; Where all are conscious of her cares , And each the power , that rules him , shares ; Here let the bard , whose daftard tongue Leaves public arguments unsung , Bid public praise farewell : Let him to fitter climes remove , Far from the heroe's and the patriot's love , And lull mysterious monks to slumber in their cell . IV . 3. O HASTINGS , not to all Can ruling heav'n the same endowments lend : Yet still doth nature to her offspring call , That to one general weal their different powers they bend , Unenvious . Thus alone , though strains divine Inform the bosom of the Muse's son ; Though with new honours the patrician's line Advance from age to age ; yet thus alone They win the suffrage of impartial fame , The poet's name He best shall prove , Whose lays the soul with noblest passions move . But thee , O progeny of heroes old , Thee to severer toils thy fate requires : The fate which form'd thee in a chosen mould , The grateful country of thy sires , Thee to sublimer paths demand ; Sublimer than thy sires could trace , Or thy own EDWARD teach his race , Though Gaul's proud genius sank beneath his hand . V. 1. From rich domains and subject farms , They led the rustic youth to arms ; And kings their stern atchievements fear'd ; While private strife their banners rear'd . But loftier scenes to thee are shown , Where empire's wide-establish'd throne No private master fills : Where , long foretold , The People reigns : Where each a vassal's humble heart disdains ; And judgeth what he sees ; and , as he judgeth , wills . V. 2. Here be it thine to calm and guide The swelling democratic tide ; To watch the state's uncertain frame , And baffle faction's partial aim : But chiefly , with determin'd zeal , To quell that servile band , who kneel To freedom's banish'd foes ; That monster , which is daily found Expert and bold thy country's peace to wound ; Yet dreads to handle arms , nor manly counsel knows . V. 3. 'Tis highest heaven's command , That guilty aims should sordid paths pursue ; That what ensnares the heart should curb the hand , And virtue's worthless foes be false to glory too . But look on freedom . see , through every age , What labours , perils , griefs , hath she disdain'd ! What arms , what regal pride , what priestly rage , Have her dread offspring conquer'd or sustain'd ! For Albion well have conquer'd . Let the strains Of happy swains , Which now resound Where Scarsdale's cliffs the swelling pastures bound , Bear witness . there , oft let the farmer hail The sacred orchard which imbowers his gate , And shew to strangers passing down the vale , Where Candish , Booth , and Osborne fate ; When bursting from their country's chain , Even in the midst of deadly harms , Of papal snares and lawless arms , They plann'd for freedom this her aweful reign . VI . 1. This reign , these laws , this public care , Which Nassau gave us all to share , Had ne'er adorn'd the English name , Could fear have silenc'd freedom's claim . But fear in vain attempts to bind Those lofty efforts of the mind Which social good inspires ; Where men , for this , assault a throne , Each adds the common welfare to his own ; And each unconquer'd heart the strength of all acquires . VI . 2. Say , was it thus , when late we view'd Our fields in civil blood imbrued ? When fortune crown'd the barbarous host , And half the astonish'd isle was lost ? Did one of all that vaunting train , Who dare affront a peaceful reign , Durst one in arms appear ? Durst one in counsels pledge his life ? Stake his luxurious fortunes in the strife ? Or lend his boasted name his vagrant friends to cheer ? VI . 3. Yet , HASTINGS , these are they , Who challenge to themselves thy country's love : The true ; the constant : who alone can weigh , What glory should demand , or Liberty approve ! But let their works declare them . Thy free powers , The generous powers of thy prevailing mind , Not for the tasks of their confederate hours , Lewd brawls and lurking slander , were design'd . Be thou thy own approver . Honest praise Oft nobly sways Ingenuous youth : But , sought from cowards and the lying mouth , Praise is reproach . Eternal GOD alone For mortals fixeth that sublime award . He , from the faithful records of his throne , Bids the historian and the bard Dispose of honour and of scorn ; Discern the patriot from the slave ; And write the good , the wise , the brave , For lessons to the multitude unborn .