What strings symphonious tremble in the air, What strains of vocal transport round her play! Hear from the grave, great Taliessin, hear; They breathe a soul to animate thy clay. Bright Rapture calls, and, soaring as she sings, Waves in the eye of heaven her many-colour'd wings. III. 3. "The verse adorn again Fierce war, and faithful love, And truth severe by fairy fiction drest. With horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast. Gales from blooming Eden bear; And distant warblings lesson on my ear, Ver. 121. Hear from the grave, great Taliessin, hear] Taliessin, chief of the bards, flourished in the sixth century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen. Ver. 128. In buskin'd measures move.] SHAKS PEARE. Ver. 131. A voice, as of the cherub-choir.] MILTON. Ver. 133. And distant warblings lessen on my ear] The succession of poets after Milton's time. Fond impious man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud, Raised by thy breath, has quench'd the orb of day? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood, And warms the nations with redoubled ray. Enough for me with joy I see The different doom our fates assign. Be thine despair, and sceptred care, To triumph, and to die, are mine." He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height Deep in the roaring tide he plunged to endless night. FOR MUSIC. (IRREGULAR.) Performed in the Senate-house at Cambridge, July 1, 1769, at the Installation of the Duke of Grafton, as Chancellor of the University. I. "HENCE, avaunt, ('tis holy ground) Mad Sedition's cry profane, Nor in these consecrated bowers Let painted Flattery hide her serpent-train in flowers. Nor Envy base, nor creeping Gain, While bright-eyed Science watches round: II. From yonder realms of Empyrean day Rapt in celestial transport they; Yet hither oft a glance from high They send of tender sympathy To bless the place, where on their opening soul First the genuine ardour stole. 'Twas Milton struck the deep-toned shell, And, as the choral warblings round him swell, Meek Newton's self bends from his state sublime, And nods his hoary head, and listens to the rhyme. III. "Ye brown o'erarching groves, Where willowy Camus lingers with delight! I trod your level lawn, Oft woo'd the gleam of Cynthia silver bright In cloisters dim, far from the haunts of Folly. With Freedom by my side, and soft-eyed Melancholy." IV. But hark! the portals sound, and pacing forth High potentates, and dames of royal birth, And sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn Ver. 39. Great Edward, with the lilies on his brow] Edward the Third, who added the fleur de lys of France to the arms of England. He founded Trinity College. Ver. 41. And sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn} Mary de Valentia, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, comte de St. Paul in France; or whom tradition says, that her husband Audemar de Valentia, Earl of Pembroke, was slain at a tournament on the day of his nuptials. She was the foundress of Pembroke College or Hall, under the name of Aula Mariæ de Valentia. That wept her bleeding Love, and princely Clare, And Anjou's heroine, and the paler rose, The murder'd saint, and the majestic lord, Ver. 42. That wept her bleeding Love, and princely Clare] Elizabeth de Burg, Countess of Clare, was wife of John de Burg, son and heir of the Earl of Ulster, and daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, by Joan of Acres, daughter of Edward the First. Hence the poet gives her the epithet of She founded Clare Hall. princely. Ver. 43. And Anjou's heroine, and the paler rose]" Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry the Sixth, foundress of Queen's College. The poet has celebrated her conjugal fidelity in The Bard,' epode 2d, line 13th. Elizabeth Widville, wife of Edward the Fourth, hence called the paler rose, as being of the house of She added to the foundation of Margaret of York. Ver. 45. And either Henry there] Henry the Sixth and Eighth. The former the founder of King's, the latter the greatest benefactor to Trinity College. |