ON VISITING THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, AT CHARLOTTESVILLE.
Fair Star of Science! Be thy light
Auspicious to that Ancient Realm,
Which gave so oft her men of might
Wisely to guide the nation's helm;—
Nought but the savage war-whoop burst
O'er this wide clime of moral night,
Till from the western chaos first
She raised her urn of trembling light;—
Rear 'neath thy domes a glorious race
Their country's honour to protect,
And on an everlasting base
The fabric of her power erect;
Or, fired with eloquence sublime,
The sinner's slumbering soul to wake,
And bid it, ere the wreck of time,
The harbour of salvation make;
Or, moved by pity to explore
The ills that waste life's fleeting wealth,
Toil through the languid frame to pour
The balm of renovated health.
Nursed in thy halls of lore refined,
May other Franklins spring to birth,
And rule, with unpretending mind,
The fires of Heaven, and lords of earth.*[1]
- ↑ * Eripuit cœlo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis.
