UPON THE SIGHT OF A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE
PAINTED BY SIR G. H. BEAUMONT, BART.
UPON THE SIGHT OF A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE
PRAISED be the Art whose subtle power could stay Yon cloud, and fix it in that glorious shape; Nor would permit the thin smoke to escape, Nor those bright sunbeams to forsake the day; Which stopped that band of travellers on their way, Ere they were lost within the shady wood; And showed the Bark upon the glassy flood For ever anchored in her sheltering bay. Soul-soothing Art! whom Morning, Noontide, Even, Do serve with all their changeful pageantry; 10 Thou, with ambition modest yet sublime, Here, for the sight of mortal man, hast given To one brief moment caught from fleeting time The appropriate calm of blest eternity. 1811.