And kindled first with indolence and ease;
And since, too oft debauch'd by praise,
'Tis now grown an incurable disease:
In vain to quench this foolish fire I try
In wisdom and philosophy:
In vain all wholesome herbs I sow,
Where nought but weeds will grow:
Whate'er I plant (like corn on barren earth)
By an equivocal birth
Seeds, and runs up to poetry.
ODE,
I.
AS when the deluge first began to fall,
That mighty ebb, never to flow again,
When this huge body's moisture was so great,
It quite o'ercame the vital heat;
That mountain, which was highest first of all,
Appeared above the universal main,
To bless the primitive sailor's weary sight!
And 'twas perhaps Parnassus, if in height
It be as great as 'tis in fame,
And nigh to Heaven as is its name:
So, after th' inundation of a war,
When Learning's little houshold did embark,
With her world's fruitful system, in her sacred ark,
At the first ebb of noise and fears,
Philosophy's exalted head appears;
