Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 1 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/274

With the desserts of poetry they fed him,
Instead of solid meats t' increase his force;
Instead of vigorous exercise, they led him
Into the pleasant labyrinths of ever-fresh discourse;
Instead of carrying him to see
The riches which do hoarded for him lie
In Nature's endless treasury,
They chose his eye to entertain
(His curious but not covetous eye)
With painted scenes and pageants of the brain.
Some few exalted spirits this latter age has shown,
That labour'd to assert the liberty
(From guardians who were now usurpers grown)
Of this old minor still, captiv'd Philosophy;
But 't was rebellion call'd, to fight
For such a long-oppressed right.
Bacon at last, a mighty man, arose
(Whom a wise king, and Nature, chose,
Lord chancellor of both their laws),
And boldly undertook the injur'd pupil's cause.

Authority—which did a body boast,
Though 't was but air condens'd, and stalk'd about,
Like some old giant's more gigantick ghost,
To terrify the learned rout
With the plain magick of true Reason's light—
He chac'd out of our sight;
$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$Nor suffer'd living men to be misled
By the vain shadows of the dead;
To graves, from whence it rose, the conquer'd phantom fled.