RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND ART.
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Religion turned her heaven-beaming eye, And said, while gazing on Art's lofty brow"Thy soul is fired with aspirations high; To us, my sister, tell whence comest now?
"From wand'ring oft by Gracia's classic streams? From gazing on Italia's far-famed skies,When night had lit them with its starry gleams, Or morn illumed them with its rosy dyes?But no! thine eye is lit with deeper ray Than had it gazed where Gracia's waters roll;As if some beams of heav'n's celestial day Had touched the still, deep fountains of thy soul."
Art said, "I come from Inspiration's fount; And up the Mount Ideal have I strayed;To those alone who climb this lovely mount Is spirit real, substance but a shade.And as musicians, painters, poets there Beheld the crystal waters gently flow,They asked of Inspiration, goddess fair, That she would on them her rich gifts bestow.
"First came the poets; with enraptured eyes They gazed upon the waters sparkling clear,All bright with gleams from overarching skies, Like smiles of angels from some far-off sphere;
