Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 7.djvu/15

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ODE

TO THE HONOURABLE

SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE.

Written at Moor-park, June, 1689.

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I.

VIRTUE, the greatest of all monarchies!
Till, its first emperor, rebellious man
Depos'd from off his seat,
It fell, and broke with its own weight
Into small states and principalities,
By many a petty lord possess'd,
But ne'er since seated in one single breast!
'Tis you who must this land subdue,
The mighty conquest's left for you,
The conquest and discovery too;
Search out this Utopian ground.
Virtue's Terra Incognita,
Where none ever led the way,
Nor ever since but in descriptions found;
Like the philosopher's stone,
With rules to search it, yet obtain'd by none.

II.

We have too long been led astray;
Too long have our misguided souls been taught
With rules from musty morals brought,

'Tis you must put us in the way;