ORIGINAL POETRY.

FOR THE ANTHOLOGY.

To the REV. SAMUEL KENDALL,

HON. OLIVER FISKE, and

WILLIAM S. SHAW, ESQ.....Committee of the Society of B K.

GENTLEMEN,

To you it is not necessary now to state as an apology for the numerous imperfections of the following Poem, that it was written after a long recess from literary employments, upon a notice unusually short, and that, did I feel at liberty to consult my own inclination, it would be entirely suppressed. But in compliance with the vote of the Society, I now commit it to you for publication, relying on the benevolence of the fraternity and the liberality of general criticism.

ENTHUSIASM.

AN OCCASIONAL POEM,

WRITTEN BY APPOINTMENT OF THE SOCIETY OF

ФВК,

AND DELIVERED AT CAMBRIDGE, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR INSTITUTION,

August 31, 1809.

BY JOSEPH HEAD, JUN.

-Glory pursues and generous shame,

The unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame.

Hail to this festive day, whose light recalls
Fair friendship's votaries to these hallow'd walls.
Freed from the cares of gain, the Forum's strife,
The thousand crosses of laborious life,
Hither our steps long absent friends inclining,
A band of brothers round the altar joining,
While grateful transports in each bosom burn,
Auspicious day, we greet thy glad return.
To joys refin'd thy laughing hours give birth,
To chasten'd wit, gay hope, and temporate mirth,
And all that Virtue's cheerful sway allows,
And all that Science's liberal hand bestows.
Nor does the present bound their magick power;
Sooth'd recollection to the mind portrays,
As pencil'd tints preserve the fading flower,
The faded pleasures of departed days.
Rich with the mellow hues its rays impart,
They glow with primal influence on the heart.

Though not a stranger now his fear avows,
Nor first the Muses' fillets bind my brows,

Yet with a stranger's step, a stranger's awe,
Towards the long unwonted springs I draw.*

Ver. 19.--Neque enim Aonium nemus advena lustro

Nec mea punc primis albescunt tempora vittis. >

Perennial honours that their banks adorn,

By others cull'd, have hail'd this festal morn :
For these bright wreaths that other years have grac❜d,
Call'd forth by genius and matur'd by taste,
Accept the humble offering I bestow

of flowers that wither in the day they blow.

To chase the gloomy shadows that annoy
The stagnant mind and all its powers destroy,
Wake genius' force, and prompt its boldest aim,
What power the proud prerogative can claim ?
In forms of light the enchantress Hope in vain
Arrays each brighter image of the brain;
Entwines the laurel with the Queen of flowers,
The emblematick wreath of future hours:
E'en while her fair creations charm the eye,
In disappointment dark they fade and die.
Does Reason's voice to excellence inspire,
And the warm breast with love of glory fire?
Experience sad attests the truth severe,
Doubt urges doubt and fear succeeds to fear,
Cold prudence hence with leaden sceptre sways,
And exil'd feeling silently obeys.

Enthusiasm pure, indignant of control,
The joy, and health, and vigour of the soul,
To this high province vindicates its claim,
Etherial guardian of the paths of fame.

The kindling power, where'er it rears its throne, Infuses joys to all beside unknown ;

In souls that nature's nobler gifts disclose

Like Vesta's fire imperishably glows.

For nature, govern'd still by equal laws,
Bestows not blessings blindly without cause;
Not to the owl is given the eagle's eye,
That hails the splendour of the noontide sky.

The varied charms of nature's changeful face
The enthusiast's eyes with livelier interest trace.
Their tribute of delight the seasons bring:
The fragrance, bloom, and musick of the spring,
The vegetable gold of summer's sheaves,
The motley colours of the autumnal leaves,
E'en the wild storms that own old winter's sway
Sublimest pleasures to his soul convey.

Oft far remote from Commerce's crowded mart,
Wandering where nature scorns the guise of art,
Skirted by hills that fade along the sky,
Unbidden prospects greet his ravished eye,
With potent spell his straying steps detain,
While fancy, roving o'er the fair domain,
The lasting image to reflection dear

On memory's tablet writes with rapture's tear.

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If nature's forms inanimate impart

Such vivid pleasures to the Enthusiast's heart,
How strong her power where life and beauty join,
And in her "most replenished" work combine!
That impulse sweet on every heart imprest,
The master passion of the human breast,
When softer thoughts disturb the living snows,
And beauty's eye yet more bewitching glows,
Who has not felt? Exists the savage soul,
But owns and blesses her benign control?
Though over all the sweet enchantment steals,
New hopes infuses and new joys reveals,
Enthusiasm's heightening power on Love display
The ancient legend and the pastoral lay.
Of Fancy's hall the most delightful court,
Here Fiction with the Muses loves to sport;
The days of chivalry the mind entrance,
And all the wonders of the old romance.
Hence too Arcadia's shades the heart engage,
And the pure pleasures of the golden age.

From walks that Fiction's fairy footsteps grace
We turn, Enthusiasm's power on life to trace.
The social virtues, from its glow benign,

With stronger warmth and brighter lustre shine.
Philanthropy, with active force endued,
Pursues its thousand purposes of good.
Not the vagary of the sophist train,
A cold inactive phantom of the brain,

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But that which Christian principles impart,
Warm as the ruddy current of the heart,

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That seeks where'er its influence may be spread,

St. Luke.

Ver. 115.--There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

What bliss divine, what blessings must attend
The fostering kindness of the Orphans' friend,
That spreads to victims else of sin and strife
The calm asylum of domestick life.

To Howard's worth we bow; whose toilsome days
Claim the just tribute of immortal praise.

To climes remote his noble ardour led,

Where want and sickness bow'd the languid head;
His soothing voice dispell'd the gloom of grief;
His skilful hand afforded kind relief;
From sorrow's couch he bade the sufferer rise,
Breathe the pure air and hail the genial skies;
Gave to the wasted form its wonted grace,
Health to the frame and beauty to the face.

Enthusiasm, with philanthropy combin'd,
Inspires sublimest courage in the mind.
This Pliny led, in ancient days, when first
The burning torrent from Vesuvius burst,

When the strong earthquake clave the groaning plain,
And heav'd the billows of the frighted main,

And the loud thunder shook the vault of heaven,

When burning rocks swift through the air were driven,

While darkness brooded o'er the fated land,
To guide his galley to the crowded strand.
Alas, he sunk! But, while the mountain towers
Above the level of the neighbouring shores,
His name shall still be reverenc'd by the just,
And living laurel deck his honour'd bust.

But lo! a holy band burst on the sight,
Robed in the radiance of celestial light;

The conqueror's palm their better hands sustain,
The badge of triumph o'er the fiery pain;
Unfading crowns around their temples shine,
The martyr champions of truth divine.
Their matchless zeal and constancy attest
Enthusiasm's influence on the faithful breast.
Though England's poet with indignant breath ́
Reproves the cold narrator of their death,
Far other than the historian's frail record,
Eternal meeds the suffering saints reward,
Ambrosial garlands that all sorrows flee,,
The healing leaves of life's immortal tree.

Though higher scenes Enthusiasm's powers swell,
Its cheering lustre gilds the scholars cell.
Neglect nor want his generous ardour damp,
He courts coy Science by the midnight lamp.
Then while his eye the glowing page explores,
And classick learning spreads its richest stores,
Sages and bards the studious spell shall raise,
The venerable sons of ancient days;

Ver. 153. See the Task, Book V.

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And spreads its poison through the nation's veins,
Though no red comet, blazing from afar,
Portend destruction, pestilence and war,

Strip the false angel of his borrow'd guise,

And point the Spectre to their straining eyes.
Nor less applause that statesman firm commands,
Who freed his country from delusion's bands,

Explor❜d the mazy labyrinth of deceit,
And drag'd to open light the hidden cheat;
Although by alien flatterers upborne,
The chief of party meets a nation's scorn.
Now fall less frequent on the insulted ear

The pompous address and the rabble's cheer;-
The present age, ere yet he finds the tomb,
Anticipates impartial history's doom.

Ver. 206.--See No. I. of Letters on a Regicide peace.

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