Or, if those scenes delight thee more,
Which erst thy Ariosto drew,
O teach my muse like his to soar,
And ope thy treasures to her view!
For all that captivates the mind,
In his aspiring verse we find;
Where, wrapt in fancy’s pleasing guise
Conceal’d, the useful moral lies;
Where chivalry’s proud hosts, array’d
In all the dignity of war,
Appear, a splendid cavalcade,
Adorn’d with many a trophy’d car;
Where fair Alcina’s radiant charms,
With lawless bliss the bosom warms,
Till, in Atlanta’s reverend form,
Melissa abrogates the charm;
Recals the soul, for nobler deeds design’d,
And writes the glowing moral on the mind.
* * * * *
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