TO MR. GRAY, UPON HIS ODES. BY DAVID GARRICK, ESQ.a REPINE not, Gray, that our weak dazzled eyes Each gentle reader loves the gentle Muse, Who humbly sips her learning from Reviews, No longer now from Learning's sacred store Though nursed by these, in vain thy Muse appears In vain to sightless eyes and deadened ears a From the original MS. in the possession of the late Isaac Reed, Esq. Yet droop not, Gray, nor quit thy heaven-born art; Wake slumbering Virtue in the Briton's heart, With ancient deeds our long-chilled bosoms fire, Make Britons Greeks again, then strike the lyre, ODE ON THE DEATH OF MR. GRAY. BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF CARLISLE. WHAT spirit's that which mounts on high, They wing their way to yonder opening sky, sail, And scents of heavenly flowers on earth diffuse. What avails the Poet's art? What avails his magic hand? Or charm to sleep his murderous band? Well I know thee, gentle shade! That tuneful voice, that eagle eye.Quick bring me flowers that ne'er shall fade, The laurel wreath that ne'er shall die; With every honour deck his funeral bier, every Muse was dear! The listening Dryad, with attention still, Of all the wonders of th' expanded vale, The distant hamlet, and the winding stream, The grey-robed landscape stealing from the view. Or wrapt in solemn thought, and pleasing woe, O'er each low tomb he breathed his pious strain, A lesson to the village swain, And taught the tear of rustic grief to flow! But soon with bolder note, and wilder flight, O'er the loud strings his rapid hand would run: Mars hath lit his torch of war, Ranks of heroes fill the sight! Hark! the carnage is begun! And see the furies, through the fiery air, O'er Cambria's frightened land the screams of horror bear! a This alludes to Mr. Gray's Elegy, written in a Country Churchyard. The Bard, a Pindaric Ode. |