----His universal song Who sung by Avon, and with purpose strong Compelled a voice from native oracles, That still survive their altars by their spells-- Guarding with might each avenue to fame, Where, trophied over all, glows Shakspeare's name! The mighty master-hand in his we trace, If erring often, never commonplace; Forever frank and cheerful, even when wo Commands the tear to speak, the sigh to flow; Sweet without weakness, without storming, strong, Jest not o'erstrained, nor argument too long; Still true to reason, though intent on sport, His wit ne'er drives his wisdom out of court; A brooklet now, a noble stream anon, Careering in the meadows and the sun; A mighty ocean next, deep, far and wide, Earth, life and Heaven, all imaged in its tide! Oh! when the master bends him to his art, How the mind follows, how vibrates the heart; The mighty grief o'ercomes us as we hear, And the soul hurries, hungering, to the ear; The willing nature, yielding as he sings, Unfolds her secret and bestows her wings, Glad of that best interpreter, whose skill Brings hosts to worship at her sacred hill! [Footnote 1: The Italian.] [Footnote 2: Norman.] [Footnote 3: The French.] IV.--SPENSER. It was for Spenser, by his quaint device To spiritualize the passionate, and subdue The wild, coarse temper of the British Muse, By meet diversion from the absolute: To lift the fancy, and, where still the song Proclaimed a wild humanity, to sway Soothingly soft, and by fantastic wiles Persuade the passions to a milder clime! His was the song of chivalry, and wrought For like results upon society; Artful in high degree, with plan obscure, That mystified to lure, and, by its spells, Making the heart forgetful of itself To follow out and trace its labyrinths, In that forgetfulness made visible! Such were the uses of his Muse; to say How proper and how exquisite his lay, How quaintly rich his masking--with what art He fashioned fairy realms and paints their queen, How purely--with how delicate a skill-- It needs not, since his song is with us still! V.--MILTON.