THE MINSTREL: OR, THE PROGRESS OF GENIUS. THE SECOND BOOK. I. OF chance or change O let not man complain, Else shall he never never cease to wail: For, from th' imperial dome, to where the swain All feel th' assault of fortune's fickle gale; Art, empire, earth itself, to change are doom'd; And gulphs the mountain's mighty mass entomb'd, And where th' Atlantic rolls wide continents have bloom'd*. * See Plato's Timeus. II. But sure to foreign climes we need not range, But spare, O Time, whate'er of mental grace, Of candour, love, or sympathy divine, Whate'er of fancy's ray, or friendship's flame is mine. III. So I, obsequious to Truth's dread command, And smite the Gothic lyre with harsher hand; Sweet, wild, and artless all, as Edwin's infant song. IV. "Perish the lore that deadens young Is the soft tenor of my song no more. desire" Edwin, though loved of Heaven, must not aspire On trembling wings let youthful fancy soar, V. Vigour from toil, from trouble patience grows. Mark yonder oaks! Superior to the power And from the stormy promontory tower, And toss their giant arms amid the skies, While each assailing blast increase of strength supplies. |