Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FROM MY MUCH HONORED FRIEND AT HELDELVILLE, by PATRICK DELANY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FROM MY MUCH HONORED FRIEND AT HELDELVILLE, by                    
First Line: Hail to the sage who, from his native store
Last Line: Thou lovely, fleeting image of a sound.
Subject(s): Sheridan, Thomas (1687-1738)


Hail to the sage who, from his native store,
Produced a science never known before,
Science of words, once jargon of the schools,
The plague of wise men and the boast of fools,
Made easy now, and useful, in your rules,
Where wit and humor equally combine
Our mirth at once to raise and to refine.
Till now, not half the worth of sounds we knew;
Their virtual value was reserved for you
To trace their various mazes, and set forth
Their hidden force, and multiply their worth;
For, if t' express one sense our words we choose,
A double meaning is of double use.

Hail, sacred Art! By what mysterious name
Shall I adore thee, various and the same?
The Muses' Proteus, skilled with grateful change,
Through all the pleasing forms of wit to range
In quick succession, yet retain through all
Some faint resemblance of th' original.

Hail, fairest offspring of prodigious birth,
At once the parent and the child of mirth!
With Chloe's charms thy airy form can vie,
And with thy smiles as many thousands die;
The pleasing pain through all their vitals thrills,
With subtle force, and tickles as it kills.
Thee too, like her, the dying swains pursue,
As gay, as careless, as inconstant too;
To raise yet more thy merit and thy fame,
The Cyprian goddess glories in thy name,
Pleased to be thought the laughter-loving dame.
Nor less thy praise, nor less thy pow'r to wound,
Thou lovely, fleeting image of a sound.





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