Chapter IV

Hail bright _Urania_! _Erato_ hail!
_Melpomene_, _Polymnia_, _Euterpe_, hail!
And all ye blessed powers that inspire
The Heaven-born Soul with intellectual fire;
Pardon my humble and unhallow’d Muse,
If she too great a veneration use,
And prostrate at your best lov’d Darling’s feet
Your holy Fane with sacred honour greet:
Her more than _Pythian_ Oracles are so divine,
You sure not onely virtually are
Within the glorious Shrine,
But you your very selves must needs be there.
The _Delian_ Prophet did at first ordain,
That even the mighty Nine should reign,
In distant Empires of different Clime;
And if in her triumphant Throne,
She rules those learned Regions alone,
The fam’d _Pyerides_ are out-done by her omnipotent Rhime.
In proper Cells her large capacious Brain
The images of all things does contain,
As bright almost as were th’.deas laid,
In the last model e’er the World was made.
And though her vast conceptions are so strong,
The powerfull eloquence of her charming tongue
Does, clear as the resistless beams of day,
To our enlightned Souls the noble thoughts convey
Well chosen, well appointed, every word
Does its full force and natural grace afford;
And though in her rich treasury,
Confus’d like Elements great Numbers lie,
When they their mixture and proportion take,
What beauteous forms of every kind they make!
Such was the Language God himself infus’d,
And such the style our great Forefather us’d,
From one large stock the various sounds he fram’d,
And every Species of the vast Creation nam’d.
While most of our dull Sex have trod
In beaten paths of one continued Road,
Her skilfull and well manag’d Muse
Does all the art and strength of different paces use:
For though sometimes with slackned force,
She wisely stops her fleetest course,
That slow but strong Majestick pace
Shews her the swiftest steed of all the chosen Race.

V.

Well has she sung the learned _Daphnis_ praise,
And crown’d his Temple with immortal Bays;
And all that reade him must indeed confess,
Th’effects of such a cause could not be less.
For ne’er was (at the first bold heat begun)
So hard and swift a Race of glory run,
But yet her sweeter Muse did for him more,
Than he himself or all _Apollo’s_ sons before;
For shou’d th’ insatiate lust of time
Root out the memory of his sacred Rhime,
The polish’d armour in that single Page
Wou’d all the tyranny and rage
Of Fire and Sword defie,
For _Daphnis_ can’t but with _Astræa_ die.
And who can dark oblivion fear,
That is co-eval with her mighty Works and Her?
Ah learned Chymist, ‘tis she onely can
By her almighty arm,
Within the pretious salt collect,
The true essential form,
And can against the power of death protect
Not onely Herbs and Trees, but raise the buried Man.