Classic Poem

T HE " Vale of Years — no date for you:
Which is the eldest of the two?
Repuls'd and baffled in my scent,
Ev'n I can play with my descent:
But you , with spirit, grace, and skill,
Can fly across and round the Hill;
No precipice with toil assail,
But ever distant from THE Vale .
Your intellect as bright and clear
As Murray's in his eightieth year;
You are the Titian of the mind ,
Whose colours never have declin'd;
In you Saint Evremond appears,
Whom sense adorns, and wit endears;
A Fontenelle in grace of youth,
Poetic taste, and moral truth;
As ready and as debonnaire ,
Though a good Christian, as Voltaire ;
But, older still than all of these,
You interest, reform, and please: —
A Bard , a Moralist , and Sage ,
As old — as the Augustan age .