Reader, if instant thy soul-lighted eyes Perceive the claims of GENIUS as they rise, Welcome this noblest effort of the NINE, To deck with Epic wreath their English shrine; Since there they rose, to emulate, at length, The Mantuan sweetness, the Meonian strength, And our green vales and silver shores along Pour'd Eden's grand, imperishable song.
Again, in all their pomp, they strike the lyre, Rapid and glowing with primeval fire; Each human interest with each grace divine Of rapt imagination, where she soars From common Talent's flat and glimmering shores, Her lamp to illumine at that orbit prime Whose fires are quenchless by the floods of time.
Thus, for the glory of the nineteenth age, The EPIC MUSE awakes her sacred rage; In no false ornaments her numbers shine, The diamonds sparkle genuine from the mine. What harmonies our captive ear engage! What living landscapes glow in every page! What characters, in nature's subtlest aid, On Cimbric regions and on Indian shores Call to the EPIC VERSE the DRAMA'S powers!
Mark the bold thoughts with truth and virtue beam, Shewing what GOD shall judge and CHRIST redeem! Th' Asbestos robe which the chaste style arrays, Impassive shield from envy's lurid blaze, There simple, nervous, as in early time, Where plaintive, touching, and where rais'd, sublime.
If thou remembrest thro' how many a year Deaf as the grave was found the general ear To VERSE, whose fame is now the NATION'S cause, With scarce one voice appellant from her laws; How long the owlish orb of general sight Found mist and darkness in excessive light; If, conscious of each grandeur and each grace, The POET'S sun-track thy clear vision trace; If thy heart throb to see thy native land, The Muses proudest eminence command; And if thy spirit o'er such glorious lays Wait not for tardy precedents to praise; Then, reader, then with me, for MADOC claim With voice anticipant, the palm of Fame. And on each leaf, with patriot pride, descry The bursting germs of IMMORTALITY.
Such minds, where never envy's cloud appears, See MADOC buoyant on the tide of years; Float, like the song which left the mortal maze For scenes "where Angels tremble while they gaze," And, touched alike by GENIUS solar ray, Vanquish oblivion and maintain the DAY.
