Blast the fair face of day; and, madly bold,
To Freedom's foes infernal orgies hold."
Warton was solicited to write a reply, and published accordingly the "Triumph of Isis," in which, after a satirical sneer at the "venal sons of slavish Cam," he proceeds to the defence of his University with considerable dignity, recounts some of the great names that adorn her annals, and concludes with a panegyric on her reputed founder, King Alfred.
The following extracts will afford a specimen of the style of this piece—
"Ye fretted pinnacles, ye fanes sublime,
Ye towers that wear the mossy vest of Time,
Ye massy piles of old munificence,
At once the pride of learning and defence;
Ye high-arched walks, where oft the whispers clear
Of harps unseen, have swept the poet's ear;
Ye temples dim, where pious duty pays,
Her holy hymns of ever-echoing praise;
Lo! your loved Isis, from the bordering vale,
With all a mother's fondness bids you hail!
Hail, Oxford, hail! of all that's good and great,
Of all that's fair, the guardian and the seat;
Nurse of each brave pursuit, each generous aim,
By truth exalted to the throne of fame!
Like Greece in science and in liberty,
As Athens learned, as Lacedæmon free."
Edward the Black Prince, who was a member of Queen's College, is thus referred to.
"Nor all the tasks of thoughtful peace engage,
'Tis thine to form the hero as the sage,
I see the sable-tinted Prince advance,
With lilies crown'd, the spoil of bleeding France,
Edward. The Muses in yon cloistered shade,
Bound on his maiden thigh the martial blade,
Bade him the steel for British Freedom draw,
And Oxford taught the deeds that Cressy saw."
At that time the Bachelors and Gentlemen Commoners of Trinity had a common room of their own. It was
