Odes.
91
Shall then impartially confess
Our demonstration was but guess; 100
That knowledge, which from human reason flows;
Unless Religion guide its course,
And Faith her steady mounds oppose,
Is ignorance at best, and often worse. 104
Our demonstration was but guess; 100
That knowledge, which from human reason flows;
Unless Religion guide its course,
And Faith her steady mounds oppose,
Is ignorance at best, and often worse. 104
AN ODE
TO THE RIGHT HON.
JOHN LORD GOWER.
WRITTEN IN THE SPRING 1716.
I.
O'er Winter's long inclement sway
At length the lusty Spring prevails,
And, swift to meet the smiling May,
Is wafted by the western gales:
Around him dance the rosy Hours, 5
And, damasking the ground with flow'rs,
With ambient sweets perfume the morn:
With shadowy verdure flourish'd high,
A sudden youth the groves enjoy,
Where Philomel laments forlorn. 10
O'er Winter's long inclement sway
At length the lusty Spring prevails,
And, swift to meet the smiling May,
Is wafted by the western gales:
Around him dance the rosy Hours, 5
And, damasking the ground with flow'rs,
With ambient sweets perfume the morn:
With shadowy verdure flourish'd high,
A sudden youth the groves enjoy,
Where Philomel laments forlorn. 10
II.
By her awak'd, the woodland choir
To hail the coming god prepares,
And tempts me to resume the lyre,
Soft warbling to the vernal airs.
By her awak'd, the woodland choir
To hail the coming god prepares,
And tempts me to resume the lyre,
Soft warbling to the vernal airs.
