Verses on Sir Joshua Reynolds's painted window at New-College Oxford

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VERSES ON SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS'S PAINTED WINDOW AT NEW-COLLEGE OXFORD.

AH, stay thy treacherous hand, forbear to trace

Those faultless forms of elegance and grace!

Ah, cease to spread the bright transparent mass,

With Titian's pencil, o'er the speaking glass!

Nor steal, by strokes of art with truth combin'd,

The fond illusions of my wayward mind!

For long, enamour'd of a barbarous age,

A faithless truant to the classic page;

Long have I lov'd to catch the simple chime

Of minstrel-harps, and spell the fabling rime;

To view the festive rites, the knightly play,

That deck'd heroic Albion's elder day;

To mark the mouldering halls of barons bold,

And the rough castle, cast in giant-mould;

With Gothic manners Gothic arts explore,

And muse on the magnificence of yore.

But chief, enraptur'd have I lov'd to roam,

A lingering votary, the vaulted dome,

Where the tall shafts, that mount in massy pride,

Their mingling branches shoot from side to side;

Where elfin sculptors, with fantastic clew,

Oer the long roof their wild embroidery drew;

Where SUPERSTITION, with capricious hand

In many a maze the wreathed window plann'd,

With hues romantic ting'd the gorgeous pane,

To fill with holy light the wonderous fane;

To aid the builder's model, richly rude,

By no Vitruvian symmetry subdued;

To suit the genius of the mystic pile:

Whilst as around the far-retiring ile,

And fretted shrines with hoary trophies hung,

Her dark illumination wide she flung,

With new solemnity, the nooks profound,

The caves of death, and the dim arches frown'd.

From bliss long felt unwillingly we part:

Ah, spare the weakness of a lover's heart!

Chase not the phantoms of my fairy dream,

Phantoms that shrink at Reason's painful gleam!

That softer touch, insidious artist, stay,

Nor to new joys my struggling breast betray!

Such was a pensive bard's mistaken strain.—

But, oh, of ravish'd pleasures why complain?

No more the matchless skill I call unkind

That strives to disenchant my cheated mind.

For when again I view thy chaste Design,

The just proportion, and the genuin line;

Those native pourtraitures of Attic art,

That from the lucid surface seem to start;

Those tints, that steal no glories from the day,

Nor ask the sun to lend his streaming ray;

The doubtful radiance of contending dies,

That faintly mingle, yet distinctly rise;

Twixt light and shade the transitory strife;

The feature blooming with immortal life:

The stole in casual foldings taught to flow,

Not with ambitious ornaments to glow;

The tread majestic, and the beaming eye

That lifted speaks its commerce with the sky:

Sudden, the sombrous imagery is fled,

Which late my visionary rapture fed:

Thy powerful hand has broke the Gothic chain,

And brought my bosom back to truth again:

To truth, by no peculiar taste confin'd,

Whose universal pattern strikes mankind;

To truth, whose bold and unresisted aim

Checks frail caprice, and fashion's fickle claim;

To truth, whose Charms deception's magic quell,

And bind coy Fancy in a stronger spell.

Ye brawny Prophets, that in robes so rich,

At distance due, possess the crisped nich;

Ye Rows of Patriarchs, that sublimely rear'd,

Diffuse a proud primeval length of beard:

Ye Saints, who clad in crimson's bright array,

More pride than humble poverty display:

Ye Virgins meek, that wear the palmy crown

Of patient faith, and yet so fiercely frown:

Ye Angels, that from golden clouds recline,

But boast no semblance to a race divine:

Ye tragic Tales of legendary lore,

That draw devotion's ready tear no more:

Ye Martyrdoms of unenlighten'd days,

Ye Miracles, that now no wonder raise:

Shapes, that with one broad glare the gazer strike,

Kings, Bishops, Nuns, Apostles, all alike!

Ye Colours, that th' unwary sight amaze,

And only dazzle in the noontide blaze!

No more the Sacred Window's round disgrace,

But yield to Grecian groupes the shining space.

Lo, from the canvas Beauty shifts her throne,

Lo, Picture's powers a new formation own!

Behold, she prints upon the crystal plain,

With her own energy, th' expressive stain!

The mighty Master spreads his mimic toil

More wide, nor only blends the breathing oil;

But calls the lineaments of life compleat

From genial alchymy's creative heat;

Obedient forms to the bright fusion gives,

While in the warm enamel Nature lives.

ARTIST, tis thine, from the broad window's height,

To add new lustre to religious light:

Not of it's pomp to strip this antient shrine,

But bid that pomp with purer radiance shine:

With arts unknown before, to reconcile

The willing Graces to the Gothic pile.

THE END.

VERSES ON SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS'S PAINTED WINDOW AT NEW-COLLEGE OXFORD.

LONDON. PRINTED FOR J. DODSLEY IN PALL-MALL, AND SOLD BY MESS. FLETCHERS AT OXFORD. M DCC LXXXII.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The following piece was never originally designed for the press, and would not have appeared in public, if it had not been incorrectly circulated in manuscript.

Information about this book

Title statement

Verses on Sir Joshua Reynolds's painted window at New-College Oxford

Warton, Thomas, 1728-1790.

Publication

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University of Oxford Text Archive
Oxford University Computing Services
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OX2 6NN
ota@oucs.ox.ac.uk

ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/4218

ID [isbn10]

1106012178

ID [isbn13]

9781106012173

ID [TCP]

K046486.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3313806248

ID [ECLL]

0671102000

Availability

Distributed by the University of Oxford under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Source

— Verses on Sir Joshua Reynolds's painted window at New-College Oxford, Warton, Thomas, 1728-1790.. [4],8p. ; 4⁰. London :: printed for J. Dodsley, and sold by Mess. Fletchers at Oxford,. 1782.. [Anonymous. By Thomas Warton.] [With a leaf of advertisement after the titlepage.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT50704.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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