With tafte fuperior fcorn'd the venal tribe,
Whom fear can fway, or guilty greatness bribe;
At Fancy's call who rear the wanton fail,
Sport with the ftream, and trifle in the gale:
Sublimer views thy daring Spirit bound;
Thy mighty Voyage was Creation's round;
Intent new Worlds of Wisdom to explore,
And blefs Mankind with Virtue's facred store ;
A nobler joy than Wit can give, impart :
And pour a moral transport o'er the heart.
Fantastic Wit shoots momentary fires,
And, like a meteor, while we gaze, expires:
Wit kindled by the fulphurous breath of Vice,
Like the blue lightning, while it fhines, destroys: 490
But Genius, fir'd by Truth's eternal ray,
Burns clear and conftant, like the source of day:
Like this its beam, prolific and refin'd,
Feeds, warms, infpirits, and exalts the mind
Mildly difpels each wintery Paffion's gloom,
And opens all the Virtues into bloom.
This praife, immortal Pope, to thee be given.
Thy Genius was indeed a Gift from Heaven.
Hail, Bard unequal'd, in whofe deathlefs line
Reafon and wit with ftrength collected shine;
Where matchlefs Wit but wins the second praise,
Loft, nobly loft, in Truth's fuperior blaze.
Did Friendship e'er mislead thy wandering Mufe?
That Friendship fure may plead the great excuse :
That facred Friendship which infpir'd thy Song,
Fair in defect, and amiably wrong.