Ode: Who with ungovern'd tongue will blame

I. 1.
Who with ungovern'd tongue will blame
The verse th' eternal Muse inspires?
The soul-illuminating flame,
Kindled at heaven's own sacred fires?
Who but the wretch of narrow mind,
Whose sentiments are unrefin'd
From the vile dross, with base alloy
Condemning him, to plod along
Scarce elevated o'er the bestial throng,
Unconscious of each nobler source of joy?

I. 2.
Yet tho unto the frigid ear
Of native Dullness every strain
Of melody uncouth appear,
And all the gifts of Science vain;
Tho dazzled by the blaze of light,
Vice starting, turns away her sight
From where the Muses fix their sway;
Tho Cruelty, Revenge, and Strife,
And all the plagues which harrass human life,
Keep far aloof, and tread a distant way:

I. 3.
Thy sons, O Virtue, with respect sincere,
Bend lowly down before their holy shrine,
To them they offer up the grateful prayer,
And bless the influence of the powers divine.
All who with more exalted thought
Have Wisdom's valued precepts sought;
All who delight with spotless breast
In Beauty by the Graces drest;
All who to bounteous Nature just
Dare her instinctive feelings trust,
The Muses hallow'd votary approve,
Enjoy his confidence, and share his love.

II. 1.
Hence then away, ye vulgar crew!
Such wish I to reject my lays;
But hither turn ye worthier few,
Embold'ned by whose genuine praise,
Let the half-soul'd, cold-blooded friend,
Sneer, while affecting to commend,
Let the unfeeling fool laugh loud,
To you alone the bard his lyre
Shall strike, and quitting every mean desire,
Soar far beyond the falsely-judging croud.

II. 2.
Hard and unjust the poet's fate,
Th' intrinsic value of his name
While all presume to estimate,
Depress, or fix his height of fame.
Empty deceit! as if their eye
Could trace the light'ning thro the sky,
Pursue the comet's devious maze,
Or looking on the blue profound,
Where not the fathom-line could ever sound,
Pierce to the bottom with a single gaze.

II. 3.
Ah wretch, whoe'er is destined to possess
Superior strength and energy of mind,
Unless high-seated in a sphere to bless,
Even against their wills, perverse mankind!
Else mingling with the common train
He speaks to fond self-love in vain:
The voice sublime of Truth is stiled
Extravagant, excentric, wild.
For Reason, on the wings of light
Up-borne, eludes their grosser sight,
And active sense springs t'ward the distant goal,
Dwells not on parts, but largely scans the whole.

III. 1.
Yet if their weakness He befriend,
His piercing thought benignly veil,
Reflection's serious brow unbend,
And her intenser rays conceal;
They view him with familiar eyes,
And being like themselves despise.—
O contradicting law! the chain
Of Nature, draws with all it's power,
To mix in life, and seek the social hour;
Indignant Reason goads us thence again.

III. 2.
She proves how vague the hope, how blind,
Which on external good relies;
Which seeks for aught among mankind,
To gratify the just and wife.
Ah! where then shall the Bard remove,
Whose song the choral Nine approve?
Or where the Sage, whose breast disdains
The fickle throng, the sordid Great?
To those sequester'd shades, that still retreat
Where Solitude close-leagued with Virtue reigns.

III. 3.
Her's are the Graces, her's the winning charms,
Which the fix'd bosom from conviction please;
From necessary choice, within her arms
We wish to spend the remnant of our days;
Not so in our first greener years,
New to this world of vice and cares,
By Flattery taught: for what is Fame,
But a delusive idle name,
Which fades before the living breath?—
Though having pass'd the vale of Death,
She may with vain solicitude return,
And deck with fruitless wreathes the funeral urn.