Page:Poems on Several Occasions - Broome (1739, 2nd edition).djvu/73

If by thy Hand th' ^[1]Homeric Lyre be strung,
The Lyre returns such Sounds as Homer sung:
The kind Compulsion of a Friend obey,
And tho' reluctant, swell the lofty Lay;
Then list'ning Groves once more shall catch the Sound,
While Grecian Muses sing on British Ground.

Thus calm and silent thy own ^[2]Proteus roves
Thro' pearly Mazes, and thro' coral Groves;
But when, emerging from the azure Main,
Coercive Bands th' unwilling God constrain,
Then heaves his Bosom with prophetic Fires,
And his Tongue speaks sublime, what Heav'n inspires.

Envy, 'tis true, with barbarous Rage invades
What e'en fierce Lightning spares, the Laurel Shades;

And

1. Mr. Fenton translated four Books of the Odyssey.
2. See the Story of Proteus, Odyssey, lib. 4. translated by Mr. Fenton.