TO CECILIA. [The Lady to whom these lines are addressed is now living, together with her father, and deservedly held in high esteem by all her friends.] To help the sightless Homer of our land, Blest maiden, who could recompense the care Nor less, Cecilia, do we view in thee An image true of filial piety; Whose parent through a dreary length of years An ear is his with cold obstruction bound, AD CECILIAM. Capto lumine maximo poetæ Dulcem filia præstitit laborem, Doctam cum senis admoneret aurem Thesauris sapientiæ legendis. Felix illa, ter ampliusque felix, Pro multâ bonitate cui liceret Tali reddere gratiam parenti. But for a daughter's love, the same sad gloom And, earthly mist dispelling from the sight, Absque te foret atque amore fido, Custos et comes assidens ministras ; Palmâ tu digitisque! miram enim artem Contactu varioque mobilique Exerces, vice functa nunc loquentis, Nunc lecto recitantis e libello. Ergo illi taciturnitas, tenebræ Solvuntur: sonus est in aure surdâ; Pandens æthera januamque cœli. ITALIA ANTIQUA. [The greater part of this Ode is taken from one which obtained the Gold Medal at Cambridge.] Lugere terram quid facit Italam? Non aura tetro polluit halitu, Non bruma devastavit agros, Aut nebulâ malus urget æther: Non flos in horto, non rosa virginis Rident et æstates serenæ Et placidum sine nube cœlum : Et sole puro et fluctibus aureis Fontesque non absunt loquaces Nec tremuli lacuum susurri: |