Thus the fond swain his Doric oate essay'd, Manhood's prime honours rising on his cheek: Trembling he strove to court the tuneful Maid With strippling arts, and dalliance all too weak, Unseen, unheard, beneath an hawthorn shade. But now dun clouds the welkin 'gan to streak ; And now down-dropt the larks, and ceased their strain: They ceased, and with them ceased the shepherd swain.

VOL. I.

ODES.

ODE I.

TO MEMORY.

I.

MOTHER OF WISDOM!* thou, whose sway

The throng'd ideal hosts obey;

Who bid'st their ranks, now vanish, now appear,
Flame in the van, or darken in the rear;

Accept this votive verse. Thy reign

Nor place can fix, nor power restrain.
All, all is thine. For thee, the ear and eye
Rove through the realms of grace and harmony:
The senses thee spontaneous serve,

That wake, and thrill through every nerve.
Else vainly soft, loved Philomel! would flow
The soothing sadness of thy warbled woe:
Else vainly sweet yon woodbine shade
With clouds of fragrance fill the glade;

NOTE.

* According to a fragment of Afranius, who makes Experience and Memory the parents of Wisdom.

Usus me genuit, Mater peperit MEMORIA

ZOOIAN vocant me Graii, vos SAPIENTIAM.

This passage is preserved by Aulus Gellius, lib. xiii. cap. 8.