There Genius, Learning, Fancy, Wit,
Their ruffled plumage calm refit,
(For stormy troubles loudest roar,
Around their flight who highest soar)
And in her eye, and by her aid,
Shine safe without a fear to fade.

She thus maintains divided sway
With you bright regent of the day;
The plume and poet both we know
Their lustre to his influence owe;
And she the works of Phoebus aiding,
Both poet saves and plume from fading.

VERSES

Supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary abode in the island of Juan Fernandez.

I.

I

AM monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea,

I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O Solitude! where are the charms,

That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place.

II.

I am out of humanity's reach,

I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech,
I start at the sound of my own.
The beasts, that roam over the plain,
My form with indifference see;
They are so unacquainted with man,
Their tameness is shocking to me.

III.

Society, friendship, and love,
Divinely bestow'd upon man,
O, had I the wings of a dove,

How soon would I taste you again!
My sorrows I then might assuage

In the ways of religion and truth, Might learn from the wisdom of age, And be cheer'd by the sallies of youth.

IV.

Religion! what treasure untold
Resides in that heavenly word!
More precious than silver and gold,
Or all that this Earth can afford.
But the sound of the church-going bell
These vallies and rocks never heard,
Never sigh'd at the sound of a knell,
Or smil'd when a sabbath appear'd.

V.

Ye winds, that have made me your sport, Convey to this desolate shore

Some cordial endearing report

Of a land, I shall visit no more. My friends, do they now and then send

A wish or a thought after me?

O tell me I yet have a friend,

Though a friend I am never to see.

IV.

The praise bestow'd was just and wise; He sprang impetuous forth

Secure of conquest, where the prize

Attends superior worth.

ODE TO PEACE.

I.

COME, peace of mind, delightful guest!
Return and make thy downy nest
Once more in this sad heart:
Nor riches I nor pow'r pursue,
Nor hold forbidden joys in view;
We therefore need not part.

II.

Where wilt thou dwell, if not with me, From av'rice and ambition free,

And pleasure's fatal wiles?

For whom, alas! dost thou prepare

The sweets, that I was wont to share,

The banquet of thy smiles?

III.

The great, the gay, shall they partake The Heav'n that thou alone canst make? And wilt thou quit the stream,

That murmurs through the dewy mead,

The grove and the sequester'd shed,

To be a guest with them?