So may thy hospitable board With health and peace be crowned; And every charm of heartfelt ease Beneath thy roof be found. So when destruction lurks unseen, Which men, like mice, may share, May some kind angel clear thy path, And break the hidden snare. The kindred arts to please thee shall conspire, POPE. AMANDA bids;-at her command again I seize the pencil, or resume the pen; And Friendship, better than a Muse inspires. Painting and Poetry are near allied; The kindred arts two sister Muses guide: This charms the eye, that steals upon the ear; There sounds are tuned, and colours blended here: This with a silent touch enchants our eyes, And bids a gayer, brighter world arise : That, less allied to sense, with deeper art Can pierce the close recesses of the heart; By well-set syllables, and potent sound, Can rouse, can chill the breast, can soothe, can wound; To life adds motion, and to beauty soul, And breathes a spirit through the finished whole : Each perfects each, in friendly union joined ; This gives Amanda's form, and that her mind. But humbler themes my artless hand requires, 1 Nor higher than the feathered tribe aspires. That plough with busy wing the peopled air? Some haunt the rushy moor, the lonely woods; Some fly to man, his household gods implore, Wait the known call, and find protection there The tawny Eagle seats his callow brood Amidst the gathering clouds and sullen storms; And marks his destined victim from afar : His pinions like the rush of waters sound; The fairest of the fold he bears away, And to his nest compels the struggling prey ; He scorns the game by meaner hunters tore, And dips his talons in no vulgar gore. With lovelier pomp along the grassy plain They sleek the glossy wing, and tune the lay; With emulative strife the notes prolong, And pour out all their little souls in song. |