POEMS:

ADDRESSED TO, AND IN MEMORY OF,

MR. GRAΥ.

[Except the Second and Eighth, none of these were ever before collected.]

P2

TO

MR. GRAY, UPON HIS ODES.

BY DAVID GARRICK, ESQ. [55]

REPINE not, Gray, that our weak dazzled eyes
Thy daring heights and brightness shun;
How few can trace the eagle to the skies,
Or, like him, gaze upon the sun!

Each gentle reader loves the gentle Muse,
That little dares, and little means;
Who humbly sips her learning from Reviews,
Or flutters in the Magazines.

No longer now from Learning's sacred store
Our minds their health and vigour draw;
Homer and Pindar are rever'd no more,
No more the Stagyrite is law.

Tho' nurst by these, in vain thy Muse appears
To breathe her ardours in our souls;
In vain to sightless eyes and deaden'd ears,
The lightning gleams, the thunder rolls :

[55] From the original MS. in the possession of ISAAC REED, Esq.

Yet droop not, Gray, nor quit thy heaven-born art,
Again thy wond'rous powers reveal;
Wake słumb'ring Virtue in the Briton's heart,
And rouse us to reflect and feel!

With ancient deeds our long-chill'd bosoms fire,
Those deeds that mark Eliza's reign!
Make Britons Greeks again, then strike the lyre,
And Pindar shall not sing in vain.