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Or to the blissful soil, or brush'd the shore
Of Limbo with its wings; or flown, and liv'd:
But yet intelligence from these has come,
By angels, and pale ghosts, and vexed fools,
That, straying as they wont, were blown athwart
The nether world, from the oblivious pool
Scarce 'scaping, on our scornful marge to land;
Thence to be blown by ev'ry idle wind,
Their tale half told, with a new flight of fools,
Eclectick, to the planetary void.
But, be it well advis'd, the learned ear
Alone can taste their mission, or the eye
Of Wisdom their approaching steps foretell:
Thou, then, O Muse, beneath the burning star
Guide me in converse with angelick minds,
And with the fleeting spirits, and protect
My soul, unus'd, from the vain talk of fools.
Of Limbo with its wings; or flown, and liv'd:
But yet intelligence from these has come,
By angels, and pale ghosts, and vexed fools,
That, straying as they wont, were blown athwart
The nether world, from the oblivious pool
Scarce 'scaping, on our scornful marge to land;
Thence to be blown by ev'ry idle wind,
Their tale half told, with a new flight of fools,
Eclectick, to the planetary void.
But, be it well advis'd, the learned ear
Alone can taste their mission, or the eye
Of Wisdom their approaching steps foretell:
Thou, then, O Muse, beneath the burning star
Guide me in converse with angelick minds,
And with the fleeting spirits, and protect
My soul, unus'd, from the vain talk of fools.
Awhile, O dear Companion of my steps,
Awhile to this seclusion let us pass,
Where, underneath the laurel and the yew,
Awhile to this seclusion let us pass,
Where, underneath the laurel and the yew,
