Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/42

28 Of nature and of science; nurse divine Of all heroic deeds and fair desires! O! let the breath of thy extended praise Inspire my kindling bosom to the height Of this untempted theme. Nor be my thoughts Presumptuous counted, if, amid the calm That sooths this vernal evening into smiles, I steal impatient from the sordid haunts Of strife and low ambition, to attend Thy sacred presence in the sylvan shade, By their malignant footsteps ne'er profan'd. Descend, propitious! to my favour'd eye; Such in thy mien, thy warm, exalted air, As when the Persian tyrant, foil'd and stung With shame and desperation, gnash'd his teeth To see thee rend the pageants of his throne; And at the lightning of thy lifted spear Crouch'd like a slave. Bring all thy martial spoils, Thy palms, thy laurels, thy triumphal songs, Thy smiling band of arts, thy godlike sires Of civil wisdom, thy heroic youth Warm from the schools of glory. Guide my way Thro' fair Lycéum's walk, the green retreats Of Academus, and the thymy vale, Where oft inchanted with Socratic sounds, Ilissus