Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray and Smollett

XI For Music

I

‘Hence, avaunt! (’tis holy ground,)
      Comus and his midnight crew,
    And Ignorance, with looks profound,
      And dreaming Sloth, of pallid hue,
    Mad Sedition’s cry profane,
    Servitude that hugs her chain,
    Nor in these consecrated bowers,
  Let painted Flattery hide her serpent-train in flowers;

CHORUS.

Nor Envy base, nor creeping Gain,
  Dare the Muse’s walk to stain,
  While bright-eyed Science watches round:
  Hence, away! ’tis holy ground.’

II

From yonder realms of empyrean day
  Bursts on my ear the indignant lay;
  There sit the sainted sage, the bard divine,
  The few whom Genius gave to shine
  Through every unborn age and undiscover’d clime.
  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’er-arching groves!
  That Contemplation loves,
  Where willowy Camus lingers with delight;
  Oft at the blush of dawn
  I trod your level lawn,
  Oft wooed 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,
  With solemn steps and slow,
  High potentates, and dames of royal birth,
  And mitred fathers, in long orders go:
  Great Edward,[2] with the Lilies on his brow
  From haughty Gallia torn,
  And sad Chatillon,[3] on her bridal morn,
  That wept her bleeding love, and princely Clare,[4]
  And Anjou’s heroine,[5] and the paler Rose,[6]
  The rival of her crown, and of her woes,
  And either Henry[7] there,
  The murder’d saint, and the majestic lord
  That broke the bonds of Rome,—
  (Their tears, their little triumphs o’er,
  Their human passions now no more,
  Save Charity, that glows beyond the tomb,)
  All that on Granta’s fruitful plain
  Rich streams of regal bounty pour’d,
  And bade those awful fanes and turrets rise,
  To hail their Fitzroy’s festal morning come;
  And thus they speak in soft accord
  The liquid language of the skies:

V

‘What is grandeur, what is power?
  Heavier toil, superior pain,
  What the bright reward we gain?
  The grateful memory of the good.
  Sweet is the breath of vernal shower,
  The bee’s collected treasures sweet,
  Sweet Music’s melting fall, but sweeter yet
  The still small voice of Gratitude.’

VI

Foremost, and leaning from her golden cloud,
  The venerable Margaret[8] see!
  ‘Welcome, my noble son!’ she cries aloud,
  ‘To this thy kindred train, and me:
  Pleased, in thy lineaments we trace
  A Tudor’s[9] fire, a Beaufort’s grace.
  Thy liberal heart, thy judging eye,
  The flower unheeded shall descry,
  And bid it round Heaven’s altars shed
  The fragrance of its blushing head;
  Shall raise from earth the latent gem
  To glitter on the diadem.

VII

‘Lo! Granta waits to lead her blooming band;
  Not obvious, not obtrusive, she
  No vulgar praise, no venal incense flings;
  Nor dares with courtly tongue refined
  Profane thy inborn royalty of mind:
  She reveres herself and thee.
  With modest pride, to grace thy youthful brow,
  The laureate wreath[10] that Cecil wore she brings,
  And to thy just, thy gentle hand
  Submits the fasces of her sway;
  While spirits blest above, and men below,
  Join with glad voice the loud symphonious lay.

VIII

‘Through the wild waves, as they roar,
  With watchful eye, and dauntless mien,
  Thy steady course of honour keep,
  Nor fear the rock, nor seek the shore:
  The Star of Brunswick smiles serene,
  And gilds the horrors of the deep.’

[Footnote 4; ‘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 I.; hence the poet gives her the epithet of ‘princely.’ She founded Clare Hall.]

Notes

¹ ‘Music:’ performed in the Senate-house, Cambridge, July 1, 1769, at the installation of his Grace, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the University.

² ‘Great Edward.’ Edward III., who added the Fleur-de-lis of France to the arms of England. He founded Trinity College.

³ ‘Chatillon:’ Mary de Valentia, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, Comte de St Paul, in France, who lost her husband on the day of his marriage. She was the foundress of Pembroke College or Hall, under the name of Aula Marias de Valentia.

⁵ ‘Anjou’s heroine:’ Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI., foundress of Queen’s College.

⁶ ‘Rose:’ Elizabeth Widville, wife of Henry IV. She added to the foundation of Margaret of Anjou.

⁷ ‘Either Henry:’ Henry VI. and Henry VII., the former the founder of King’s, the latter the greatest benefactor to Trinity College.

⁸ ‘Margaret:’ Countess of Richmond and Derby, the mother of
Henry VII., foundress of St John’s and Christ’s Colleges.

⁹ ‘Tudor:’ the Countess was a Beaufort, and married to a Tudor; hence the application of this line to the Duke of Grafton, who claimed descent from both these families.

¹⁰ ‘Wreath:’ Lord Treasurer Burleigh was Chancellor of the
University in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.