Orpheus, we learn from Ovid and Lempriere, Led all wild beasts but women by the ear; And had he fiddled at the present hour, We'd seen the lions waltzing in the Tower; And old Amphion, such were minstrels then, Had built St. Paul's without the aid of Wren. Verse too was justice, and the bards of Greece 669 Did more than constables to keep the peace; Abolish'd cuckoldom with much applause, Call'd county meetings, and enforced the laws, Cut down crown influence with reforming scythes, And served the church ing tithes; without demand And hence, throughout all Hellas and the East, Each poet was a prophet and a priest, Whose old-establish'd board of joint con trols press'd, Behold a quarto! rest. Tarts must tell the THE CURSE OF MINERVA Pallas te hoc vulnere, Pallas Immolat, et pœnam scelerato ex sanguine sumit. Eneid xii. [948, 949]. ATHENS: CAPUCHIN CONVENT, March 17, 1811. SLOW sinks, more lovely ere his race be run, Along Morea's hills the setting sun; Not, as in northern climes, obscurely bright, But one unclouded blaze of living light! O'er the hush'd deep the yellow beam he throws, Gilds the green wave that trembles as it glows. On old Egina's rock and Hydra's isle Though there his altars are no more divine. Descending fast, the mountain-shadows kiss 40 Her emblem sparkles o'er the minaret: And dull were his that pass'd them heedless by. Again the Ægean, heard no more afar, Lulls his chafed breast from elemental war; Again his waves in milder tints unfold The olive branch, which still she deign'd to clasp, Shrunk from her touch and wither'd in her Then thousand schemes of petulance and pride Despatch her scheming children far and wide: Some east, some west, some every where but north, 150 In quest of lawless gain, they issue forth. 168 Without one spark of intellectual fire, The state receiver of his pilfer'd prey. Europe's worst dauber, and poor Britain's best, With palsied hand shall turn each model o'er That art and nature may compare their styles; 180 |