( 9 ) 

 O D E. 



BY SIR EGERTON BRYDGES. 

 WRITTEN MAY, 12, 1831. 



What line of knowledge high 

 Is alien to the Muse ? 

 She traverses both mind and space, 

 And thro' the earth and sky 

 Her searches can diffuse, 

 And thro* all paths obscure and vast her dark pursuits can trace. 



Her ever-piercing eye 

 Can penetrate the depths of earth 

 And forward draw the gem of worth, 

 That buried uselessly did lie 10 



With ray in dross imbedded. 

 The quickening beam of life, 

 In happy union wedded 

 She gives to all the tribes of mind, 

 And regions new for haunts can find, 

 Where flowers of every hue, in climate kind, 

 Spring up in lovely pride, or in bright wreaths combin'd. 



A Bard* of magic strain 



Has sung, that when the great Creator formed 

 This rolling orb, and hung it in the skies, 20 



And bade the land and main 

 Its limits each retain, 

 And plac'd the mountains and the vales, 

 And clad with verdure and with woods, 

 And pour'd the fertilizing floods, 

 That near their narrow channels spread 

 Their healthful moisture, and breath'd forth the gales, 

 That clear the pests by vapours fed. 



The Muse sat by his side, 

 And with congenial rapture view'd 30 



The varied fabric grow ; 

 And, as the wonders started into life 



Or shape, full notes of triumph tried, 

 That through the azure vaults resounded wide, 



Collins. 

 M.M. No. 103. C 



