ODE TO WISDOM BY A LADY
I. The solitary bird of night Thro' thick shades now wings his flight, And quits his time-shook tow'r; Where, shelter'd from the blaze of day, In philosophic gloom he lay, Beneath his ivy bow'r.
II. With joy I hear the solemn sound, Which midnight echoes waft around, And sighing gales repeat. Fav'rite of Pallas! I attend, And, faithful to thy summons, bend At Wisdom's awful seat.
III. She loves the cool, the silent eve, Where no false shows of life deceive, Beneath the lunar ray. Here folly drops each vain disguise; Nor sport her gaily colour'd dyes, As in the beam of day.
IV. O Pallas! queen of ev'ry art, That glads the sense, and mends the heart, Blest source of purer joys! In ev'ry form of beauty bright, That captivates the mental sight With pleasure and surprise;
V. To thy unspotted shrine I bow: Attend thy modest suppliant's vow, That breathes no wild desires; But, taught by thy unerring rules, To shun the fruitless wish of fools, To nobler views aspires.
VI. Not Fortune's gem, Ambition's plume, Nor Cytherea's fading bloom, Be objects of my prayer: Let av'rice, vanity, and pride, Those envy'd glitt'ring toys divide, The dull rewards of care.
VII. To me thy better gifts impart, Each moral beauty of the heart, By studious thought refin'd; For wealth, the smile of glad content; For pow'r, its amplest, best extent, An empire o'er my mind.
VIII. When Fortune drops her gay parade. When Pleasure's transient roses fade, And wither in the tomb, Unchang'd is thy immortal prize; Thy ever-verdant laurels rise In undecaying bloom.
IX. By thee protected, I defy The coxcomb's sneer, the stupid lie Of ignorance and spite: Alike contemn the leaden fool, And all the pointed ridicule Of undiscerning wit.
X. From envy, hurry, noise, and strife, The dull impertinence of life, In thy retreat I rest: Pursue thee to the peaceful groves, Where Plato's sacred spirit roves, In all thy beauties drest.
XI. He bad Ilyssus' tuneful stream Convey thy philosophic theme Of perfect, fair, and good: Attentive Athens caught the sound, And all her list'ning sons around In awful silence stood.
XII. Reclaim'd her wild licentious youth, Confess'd the potent voice of Truth, And felt its just controul. The Passions ceas'd their loud alarms, And Virtue's soft persuasive charms O'er all their senses stole.
XIII. Thy breath inspires the Poet's song The Patriot's free, unbiass'd tongue, The Hero's gen'rous strife; Thine are retirement's silent joys, And all the sweet engaging ties Of still, domestic life.
XIV. No more to fabled names confin'd; To Thee supreme, all perfect mind, My thought direct their flight. Wisdom's thy gift, and all her force From thee deriv'd, Eternal source Of Intellectual Light!
XV. O send her sure, her steady ray, To regulate my doubtful way, Thro' life's perplexing road: The mists of error to controul, And thro' its gloom direct my soul To happiness and good.
XVI. Beneath her clear discerning eye The visionary shadows fly Of Folly's painted show. She sees thro' ev'ry fair disguise, That all but Virtue's solid joys, Is vanity and woe.
[Facsimile of the music to "The Ode to Wisdom" (verse 14).]