Salmagundi (Huddesford, 1791)/Illusions of Fancy
ILLUSIONS OF FANCY.
TO RICHARD WYATT, ESQ.
ON LEAVING HIS MANSION, AFTER ASCOT RACES.
ILLUSIONS OF FANCY.
Congenial to my pensive breast,O'ershadowing clouds the skies invest;Fast falling showers deform the glade,No cheering ray dispels the shade,No lark's clear carol wakes the mornThat low'ring bids my steps forlornAbandon Surry's smiling plains,Fly the Lov'd Roof where Friendship reigns,Circling whose hospitable hearthFair Freedom, Sense, and liberal Mirth,Their heart-enlivening influence shed;Where Time throws off his wings of lead,And, clad in purple plumage light,Speeds swifter than the winds his flight. Thence, as my devious course I steer,Fancy, in fairy visions clear,Bids, to beguile my 'tranced eyes,Past joys in sweet succession rise:Refreshing airs she bids me breatheWhere, Ascot, thine enchanting Heath,Impregnated with mild perfume,Bares its broad bosom's purple bloom:Gives me to view the splendid croud,The high-born racer neighing loud,The manag'd steeds that side by sidePrecede the glittering chariot's pride,Within whose silken covertureSome peerless Beauty fits secure,And, fatal to the soul's repose,Around her thrilling glances throws.
Hence, Fancy, wing thy rapid flightO'er oaks in deepest verdure dight, Whose writhed limbs of giant mouldWave to the breeze their umbrage bold;Bear me, embowering shades between,Through many a glade and vista green,Whence silver streams are seen to glide,And towering domes th' horizon hide,To Leonard's forest-fringed Mound;aWhere lavish Nature spreads aroundWhate'er can captivate the sight,Elysian lawns, and prospects bright[errata 1]As visions of expiring saints,Or scenes that Harcourt's pencil paints.Bear me where, 'midst enamell'd meads,Redundant Thames his bounty sheds,Teeming with many a plenteous freight:Where o'er the vale, in antique ftateImperial Windsor's turrets frown,And massy fanes of old renown.Give me to gaze with ardent eyeOn gorgeous spoils of Chivalry; To ken aloft the radiant rowsOf banners won from Britain's foes:Recall the glorious deeds of yore;Shew the dark mail that Edward wore;The falchion shew, whose thund'ring strokeCressy's pale ranks impetuous broke;From whose fell glare appall'd with dreadProud Gallia's trembling chieftains fled,Or on its edge destruction found,And dyed with regal gore the ground.
Give me, fair Fancy, to pervadeChambers in pictur'd pomp array'd!Peopling whose stately walls I viewThe godlike forms that Raffaelle drew;I seem to see his magic handWield the wondrous pencil-wand,Whose touches animation give,And bid th' insensate canvass live; Glowing with many a deed divineAchiev'd in holy Palestine.The Passions feel its potent charm,And round the mighty master swarm;Lo, where Dismay with haggard gazebThe death-smote Hypocrite surveys;Beholds his eyes convulsive roll,And Fate arrest his sordid soul!—
Lo! Motionless Attention stands,cWhere to the firmament his hands.Sublime the great Instructor rears!While Athens, rapt in wonder, hearsTruth's energetic voice proclaimHer unknown God's tremendous name!—
Deep read in superstition's lore,Behold capricious Zeal adored (In sublunary weeds array'd)The fabled Gods her fears have made!"Those pow'rful sounds," she cries, "I know:"Hark! from the honied lips they flow"Of Maia's Son!—Can Man dispense"Activity to impotence?"Can energy of mortal hand."The shrunk, distorted limb expand?"Inveterate force of ills confound,"And bid the lame with transport bound?—"'Tis Jove's,—the unexampled deed!"To Jove th' Isaurian Steer shall bleed!"To Jove the rich libations pour!"Braid in bright wreaths each blooming flow'r,"Swell each loud strain of festive mirth,"To gratulate the Gods on earth!"—
Artist supreme! by nature taughtTo clothe with life each glowing thought, Too soon the Destinies conspireTo quench thy pencil's glorious fire;Too soon the soul that warm'd thy clayAspir'd to realms of endless day,On wings of ecstasy, to joinSages and saints, a band divine,Whose awful forms (ere death withdrewThe veil that darkens mortal view)Heav'n bade thy penetrative eyeAmid her dazzling courts descry;Thence bade thee trace the faultless line,Th' expressive grace, the chaste design,The mien that love and awe inspires,And wakes Devotion's purest fires.Thy memory, still to genius dear,Britain's enlighten'd sons revere;And grateful hail their Monarch's name,Whose liberal care thy labours claim:To heights impervious heretoforeWho bids immortal science soar; Far seen in venerable pride,Whose regal seat, expanding wideIts portals at his high behest,Hails ev'ry Art an honour'd guest:Beneath whose mild auspicious reignThe Genius old of Greece again,Awaken'd from his deep repose,In Reynolds' living canvass glows;(Where Grace and Energy divineWith Beauty truly blent combine)And braids his deathless bays aroundThe British Raffaelle's brows renown'd.Lo! by his daring hand pourtray'd,eThe sanguinary scene display'dWhere martial peers, in glittering mail,Unfold their pennons to the gale;O'er Normandy's dismantled plains.Where iron-clad Contention reigns;And Havoc waits (his tresses wetWith gore) thy nod, Plantagenet! Wafted from Albion's Isle afar,Where wake her sons the storm of war;Where, ravish'd from the parent stemTo grace the Victor's diadem,Thy Lilies, France, no more assumeThe splendour of their wonted bloom;No more with peerless lustre glow,But soil with blood their native snow!—
Now o'er the braid from Fancy's loomThe rich tints breathe a deeper gloom;While, consecrated domes beneath,Midst hoary shrines and caves of death,Secluded from the eye of day,She bids her pensive votary stray:Brooding o'er monumental cells,Where awe-diffusing Silence dwells;Save when along the lofty faneDevotion wakes her hallow'd strain, When the vast Organ's breathing frameEchoes the voice of loud acclaim,And the deep diapason's soundThunders the vaulted iles around.From the broad window's fretted heightStreams the rich flood of mellow'd light,That bids the pav'd expanse belowWith hues of gold and crimson glow,Reflected from the gorgeous pane,Where picture holds her lasting reign:Where, in translucent glories dight,Celestial forms arrest the sight;Th' enraptur'd gazer's pow'rs control,And bathe in ecstasy the soul.While rang'd in reverend majesty,The taper shafts ascending high,To decorate the crisped roof,Their mingling branches shoot aloof;Where, blazon'd in projecting gold,Flame the proud crests of Barons bold.
Now beams on Fancy's eye no moreThe spangled roof, the polish'd floor,The speaking chrystal's various stain,Illumining the wondrous fane:Choirs, altars, shrines, illusive fade.—Enliv'ning Airs my sense invade;Encircled by the young and fair,The blithe Assembly's bliss I share;Swift o'er the lyre's harmonious stringsHis magic hand the minstrel flings;Obedient to the sprightly sound,The dancer's quivering feet rebound;Diffusing wide their silver rays,Aloft the sparkling lustres blaze;While milder emanations flowFrom love-enkindling orbs below.Here, peerless Cheshire, I beholdThy loose robe float in airy fold! Tall as the pine's cerulean crest,Encircling plumes thy brows invest,Amid whose snowy summits highInsidious Cupids ambush'd lie.To each enchanting Grace allied,Here Fancy bids fair Bouverie glide,Light as the breath of opening mornO'er beds of unsunn'd violets borne;And every captive heart surprise,Unconscious of her victories.There Townshend threads the pleasing maze:Ah who can unenamour'd gaze!How shall my bosom freedom knowWhere Law's ingenuous beauties glow!Fresh as the spring, as Hebe fair,Where Egham sends a gentle Pair,And bids the charm'd affections hailThe sister lilies of her Vale;Whose bloom disdains fictitious aid,Loveliest amid seclusion's shade.— The measures cease—her tempting storesAround prolific Fancy pours;The sumptuous board, extended wide,Her visionary viands hide:Beauty and youth the banquet share—Hence to the winds intrusive Care!Fly, haggard Spleen, the glad abodeWhere holds his state the Rosy God!Where Cytherea, hand in hand,The Graces leads, a blissful band;Where Comus to his festive rites,To joy and genial cheer, invites;Where Frolic, Sport, and Jollity,Await their queen, Euphrosyne;And Love, around her hovering,Beats the light air with sapphire wing;With lustre shed from Beauty's eyesGilds his gay vest of thousand dyes,Whose undulating folds dispenseCassia's ambrosial redolence. Crown'd with each lovely charmer's name,I see the ruddy nectar flame!Latent amid th' inspiring draughtSpeeds the blind God his subtle shaft;And, while the flask his votary drains,Despotic in his bosom reigns;Whence, for the Nymph his soul admires,Th' involuntary sigh expires,And languor steals through every vein.—Now to the sprightly dance again!Wing'd with delight and melody,Swift let the jocund moments fly,Startling the sombrous reign of Night;'Till, heav'n's blue arch ascending bright,Aurora the wide welkin streaksWith roses, such as Chloe's cheeksAmid encircling snows reveal,When her soft palms love's pressure feel.Till Sol his steeds of golden hoofDrives through revolving spheres aloof; And wakes the blooms that odours breathe,Enliv'ning earth and air beneath;And o'er old Ocean's boundless deepsHis regal robe of glory sweeps.Then home they hie, and, warm with wine,Still, as they press the couch supine,See fairy-visions round them float,Lift the soft lyre's imperfect note,Exhaust th' imaginary vase,Fair forms in faultering measures chase,Catch from bright eyes the melting beam,And of Ideal Transports dream.
O Fancy! blest Enchantress, deignStill to prolong thy blissful reign!Frequent to sooth my languid sense,Thy visionary balm dispense!Invest in varying colours brightEach grateful scene of past delight! Sweet dalliance let me hold with Thee,Eftrang'd from sad reality!
O deign to cheer my humble cell!Thence grave Parochial Cares expel:Shield me from Swathed Infants' scream,And clouds of suffocating steamThat from the Gossip's bowl exhale,Mix'd with Tobacco's potent gale!From Undertakers' gloomy brows,From Overseers' important bows,From ruthless Sexton's lethal face,And Beadles bristled o'er with lace!Shield me from puritanic cantOf faded Maids, who matins haunt;fAnd, lowering o'er each lonely pew,At once their sins and wrinkles rue!My trembling ears, O Fancy, saveFrom Sternhold's inharmonious stave! From the sad Brief's unpitied tale,From Exposition trite and stale,And many an opiate Inference!Shield me from sounds at strife with sense!From Pedantry of formal port,And Consequence in Cassoc short!—
So, Goddess, thy propitious smile[errata 2]Shall Time's ungenial flight beguile;Wake into joy my torpid hours,And strew life's barren path with flow'rs.Nor shall the kindred Muse declineTo blend her simple blooms with thine;Blest, if the wreath by Fancy woveKind Friendship's partial voice approve;Nor sigh for unsubstantial baysIf Wyatt's plaudit crown her lays.
Errata