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Think not, my friend, with fupercilious air,

I rank the portrait as beneath thy care.

Bleft be the pencil! which' from death can fave *
The femblance of the virtuous, wife, and brave;
That youth and emulation ftill may gaze

On those inspiring forms of ancient days,
And, from the force of bright example bold,
Rival their worth," and be what they behold,"
Bleft be the pencil! whofe confoling pow'r,
Soothing foft Friendship in her penfive hour,
Difpels the cloud, with melancholy fraught,
That abfence throws upon her tender thought.
Bleft be the pencil! whose enchantment gives
To wounded Love the food on which he lives.

Rich in this gift, tho' cruel ocean bear

The youth to exile from his faithful fair,

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He in fond dreams hangs o'er her glowing cheek,
Still owns her present, and still hears her speak :
Oh! Love, it was thy glory to impart

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Her boding heart his near departure knew,
Yet long'd to keep his image in her view:
Pleas'd fhe beheld the fteady fhadow fall,
By the clear lamp upon the even wall:
The line the trac'd with fond precifion true,
And, drawing, doated on the form she drew;
Nor, as fhe glow'd with no forbidden fire,
Conceal'd the fimple picture from her fire':
His kindred fancy, ftill to nature just,
Copied her line, and form'd the mimic buft.
Thus from thy power, inspiring Love, we trace
The modell'd image, and the pencil'd face!
We pity Genius, when, by interest led,
His toils but reach the femblance of a head;
Yet are thofe cenfures too fevere and vain,
That fcorn the Portrait as the Painter's bane.
Tho' up the mountain winds the arduous road
That leads to pure Perfection's bright abode,
In humbler walks fome tempting laurels grow,
Some flowers are gather'd in the vale below:
Youth on the plain collects increasing force,
To climb the steep in his meridian course.
While Nature fees her living models share
The rifing artist's unremitting care,

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She

She on his mind her every charm imprints,

Her easy poftures, and her perfect tints,

Till his quick pencil, in maturer hour,
Becomes her rival in creative power.

Yet in these paths difdain a long delay,
While eager Genius points a nobler way:
For fee! expanding to thy raptur'd gaze,
The epic field a brighter scene displays!
Here ftands the temple, where, to merit true,
Fame gives her laurel to the favour'd few :
Whofe minds, illumin'd'with cœleftial fire,
Direct the pencil, or awake the lyre;

Who trace the springs of nature to their fource,

And by her guidance, with resistless force,

The tides of error and of transport roll

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Thro' every channel of the human foul!

How few, my friend, tho' millions boast the aim,

Leave in this temple an unclouded name!

Vain the attempt, in every age and clime,

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The elders of thy art, ordain'd to stand
In the first circle of this honour'd band,

(Whose pencil, ftriving for the noblest praise,
The heart to foften and the mind to raise,
Gave life and manners to the finish'd piece)
These fons of glory were the fons of GREECE !
Hail throne of genius, hail ! what mighty hand
Form'd the bright offspring of this famous land?
Firft in the annals of the world they shine:

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Such gifts, O LIBERTY, are only thine;

Thy vital fires thro' kindling spirits run,

Thou foul of life, thou intellectual fun;

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Thy rays call forth, profuse and unconfin'd,
The richest produce of the human mind.

First taught by thee, the Grecian pencil wrought 190

The forceful leffons of exalted thought,

And generously gave, at glory's call,

The patriot picture to the public hall.

'Twas then PANEUS drew, with freedom's train,

The chief of Marathon's immortal plain,

In glorious triumph o'er the mighty host

That Perfia pour'd in torrents on their coaft.

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* Ver. 194.

See NOTE V.

There

There POLYGNOTUS, fcorning fervile hire, *
Display'd the embattled scene from HOMER's lyre.
His country view'd the gift with fond regard,
And rank'd the painter with their nobleft bard.
Thy tragic pencil, ARISTIDES, caught †
Each varied feeling, and each tender thought;
While moral virtue fanctified thy art,
And paffion gave it empire o'er the heart.

Correct Parrhafius firft to rich defign +

Gave nice proportion, and the melting line,
Whose foft extremes from obfervation fly,
And with ideal distance cheat the eye.

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The gay, the warm, licentious ZEUXIS drew $

Voluptuous Beauty in her richest hue:

Bade in one form her scatter'd rays unite,

And charm'd the view with their collected light.

§

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But Grace confign'd, while her fair works he plann'd, Her fofteft pencil to APELLES' hand :

Yet oft to gain fublimer heights he strove, ||

Such strong expreffion mark'd his mimic Jove,

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Inimitably

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