To

M

MEMORY.

I.

OTHER OF WISDOM! thou, whose sway
The throng'd ideal hosts obey;

Who bid'ft their ranks, now vanish, now appear,
Flame in the van, or darken in the rear:

Accept this votive verfe. Thy reign
Nor place can fix, nor power reftrain:
All all is thine. For thee the ear, and eye
Rove thro' the realms of Grace, and Harmony:
The Senfes thee fpontaneous ferve,

That wake, and thrill thro' every nerve.
Elfe vainly foft, lov'd Philomel! would flow
The foothing fadnefs of thy warbled woe:
Elfe vainly fweet yon woodbine fhade

With clouds of fragrance fill the glade;
Vainly, the Cygnet fpread her downy plume,
The vine gush nectar, and the virgin bloom.
But fwift to thee, alive, and warm,
Devolves each tributary charm:

See modeft Nature bring her fimple stores,
Luxuriant Art exhaust her plastic powers;

* According to a fragment of Afranius who makes Experience and Memory the parents of Wildom Usus me genuit, Mater peperit MEMORIA,

ΣΟΦΙΑΝ vocant me Graii, voς SAPIENTIAM. The Paffage is preferved by Aulus Gellius, Lib. XIII.

Cap. 8.

While every flower in Fancy's clime,

Each gem of old heroic Time,

Cull'd by the hand of the induftrious Muse,

Around thy fhrine their blended beams diffuse.

II.

Hail, MEM'RY! hail. Behold, I lead
To that high fhrine the facred Maid;
Thy daughter fhe, the Emprefs of the lyre,
The first, the faireft, of Aonia's quire.

She comes, and lo, thy realms expand!
She takes her delegated stand

Full in the midft, and o'er thy num'rous train
Difplays the awful wonders of her reign..

There, thron'd fupreme in native state,
If Sirius flame with fainting heat,

She calls; ideal groves their fhade extend,
The cool gale breaths, the filent fhow'rs defcend
Or, if bleak Winter, frowning round,

Difrobe the trees, and chill the ground,
She, mild Magician, waves her potent wand;

And ready fummers meet her wing'd command.
See, vifionary Suns arife,

Mid filver clouds, and azure skies

See, fportive Zephyrs curl the crisped streams;

Thro' fhadowy brakes light glance the fparkling beams: While, near the fecret mofs-grown cave,

"That ftands befide the cryftal wave,

Sweet