Ode to William Boothby, Esq.

Ere yet ALEXIS bend his purposed way
The Peak’s rude rocks and devious vales among,
O! may he pause, and, listening to my lay,
Accept the moral precept of the song!
And ye, blest sisters of th’ inspiring spring,
Too partial, cease to wander and to sing
Where Arethusa’s silver fountain flows!
Or, if Castalian plains ye haunt, ah, bend
Your steps where rival scenes extend,
And every varied tint of beauty glows,
Mix’d with the spirit of the mountain gale,
Whose stolen perfumes float and wanton o’er the vale!

There, under pendant rocks, his amber flood,
As Hebrus swift, impetuous Derwent pours;
And now, beneath the broad, incumbent wood,
Silent and smooth and deep, he laves the shores;
Till, gaily rushing from his darksome way,
His foamy waters glitter on the day,
Resistless, dashing o’er each rugged mound;
And still, on his umbrageous bank, he shows
Woodbines and harebells and the musky rose,
The heavy, velvet wild bees murmuring sound.
His every grace that decks Pieria’s clime,
Green vale, and steepy hill, and broken rock sublime.

Here, in meanders swift, the silver Wie
Wantons around the Naiads of his wave,
Thro’ scenes, where mighty Nature’s spirit free
Each coy and wood-wild grace luxuriant gave.
Behold, in lucid beauty, from the tide
Rise his kind nymphs, and for the race that glide
With sinuous track, and in their eddies play,
Ask mercy!--Wilt thou then, with barbarous care,
Th’ unreal insect, false and fair,
Seductive fling along their glassy way?
Hasten, ye Muses, from Sicilian glades,
The guiltless tenants guard of these all-lovely shades!

And may your strains a purer joy impart,
And cruel purposes in pity melt!
Humane of song! O steal into his heart,
Till life-destroying hopes no more are felt!
Tell him how much profaned that eye benign,
By Nature form’d with other fires to shine,
Love’s ardent beam, and Mercy’s dewy ray,
How much profaned, when, with inhuman lour,
Its deathful level streams!--ah, pour
The sacred strain, and save the tender prey!
Avert each cruel, unresisted blow,
Tell him, no laureate meeds for such achievements grow!

Of wasted hours may generous minds beware,
Nor fatal be their strength, their skill, their speed!
Link’d with the Graces, lo, the Nine appear!
Hark, how they warn thee from each ruthless deed!
Now, while thy life’s purpureal moments reign,
Rove with these guardian nymphs, hill, dale, and plain!
Their zones shall gird thee, and their lays inspire,
Storing each sense with permanent delight;
That, when thy youth has wing’d its flight,
When faded all the tints of gay desire,
On the mild evening of thy vital day
Science and Taste may shine with cloud-dispelling ray!