56
ODES.
Thou by the Passions nursed, I greet
The comic sock that binds thy feet! 50
O Humour, thou whose name is known
To Britain's favour'd isle alone:
Me too amidst thy band admit;
There where the young-eyed healthful Wit,
(Whose jewels in his crisped hair 55
Are placed each other's beams to share;
Whom no delights from thee divide)
In laughter loosed, attends thy side.
The comic sock that binds thy feet! 50
O Humour, thou whose name is known
To Britain's favour'd isle alone:
Me too amidst thy band admit;
There where the young-eyed healthful Wit,
(Whose jewels in his crisped hair 55
Are placed each other's beams to share;
Whom no delights from thee divide)
In laughter loosed, attends thy side.
By old Miletus[1], who so long
Has ceased his love-inwoven song; 60
By all you taught the Tuscan maids,
In changed Italia's modern shades;
By him[2] whose knight's distinguish'd name
Refined a nation's lust of fame;
Whose tales e'en now, with echoes sweet, 65
Castilia's Moorish hills repeat;
Or him[3] whom Seine's blue nymphs deplore,
In watchet weeds on Gallia's shore;
Who drew the sad Sicilian maid,
By virtues in her sire betray'd. 70
Has ceased his love-inwoven song; 60
By all you taught the Tuscan maids,
In changed Italia's modern shades;
By him[2] whose knight's distinguish'd name
Refined a nation's lust of fame;
Whose tales e'en now, with echoes sweet, 65
Castilia's Moorish hills repeat;
Or him[3] whom Seine's blue nymphs deplore,
In watchet weeds on Gallia's shore;
Who drew the sad Sicilian maid,
By virtues in her sire betray'd. 70
- ↑ Alluding to the Milesian tales, some of the earliest romances.
- ↑ Cervantes.
- ↑ Monsieur Le Sage, author of the incomparable Adventures of Gil Blas de Santillane, who died in Paris in the year 1745.
