130

And draw the purple curtain of the morn;
Awake the fun, and bid him come away,
And glad thy world with his obfequious ray?
Haft Theu, inthron'd in flaming glory, driven
Triumphant round the fpacious ring of heaven?
That pomp of light, what hand fo far difplays,
That diftant earth lies balking in the blaze? 156
Who did the foul with her rich powers inveft,
And light up reafon in the human breaft?
To fhine, with fresh increase of luftre bright,
When itars and fun" are fet in endless night? 160
To thefe my various questions make reply.
Th' Almighty fpoke; and, faking, fhook the
fky.

"My voice is in eternal filence bound,

And all my foul falls proftrate to the ground." He ceas'd: When, lo again th' Almighty fpoke;

The fame dread voice from the black whirlwind broke.

Can that arm meafure with an arm divine? And canst Thou thunder with a voice like Mine; Or in the hollow of thy hand contain The bulk of waters, the wide-fpreading main, When, mad with tempefts, all the billows rife In all their rage, and dath the diftant skies? 176 Come forth, in beauty's excellence array'd; And be the grandeur of thy power difplay'd ; Put on onnipotence, and, frowning, make The fpacious round of the creation shake; Difpatch thy vengeance, bid it overthrow Triumphant vice, lay lofty tyrants low, And crumble them to duft. When this is done, I grant thy fafety iodg'd in Thee alone; Of Thee Thou art, and mayft undaunted stand, Behind the buckler of thine own right-hand.

180

Will th' tall Reem, which knows no Lord but Me,

Low at the crib, and afk an aims of thee?
Submit his unworn fhoulder to the yoke,
Break the stiff clod, and o'er thy furrow smoke?
Since great his ftrength, go trust him, void of

care;

Lay on his neck the toil of all the year;
Bid him bring home the feafons to thy doors,
And cat his load among thy gather'd stores.,

245

Didft thou from fervice the Wild-Ass discharge, And break his bonds, and bid him live at large, 250

Through the wide wafte, his ample mansion,

roam,

And lofe himself in his unbounded home?

By nature's hand magnificently fed,

His meal is on the range of mountains spread; As in pure air aloft he bounds along,

280

But, fiercer ftill, the lordly Lion stalks, Grimly majestic in his lonely walks ; When round he glares, all living creatures fly; He clears the defart with his rolling eye. Say mortal, does he roufe at thy command, And roar to Thee, and live upon thy hand? Doft thou for him in forefts bend thy bow, And to his gloomy den the morfel throw. Where bent on death lie hid his tawny brood 285 And couch'd in dreadful ambuh, rant for blood; Or, ftretch'd on broken limbs, confume the day, In darkness wrapt, and flumber o'er their prey? By the pale moon they take their defin'd round, And lafh their fides, and furious tear the ground. Now fhrieks and dying groans the defart fill; They rage, they rend; their ravenous jaws diftil With crimson foam; and, when the banquet's

o'er,

They Aride away, and paint their steps with gore; In flight alone the fhepherd puts his truft, 225 And fhudders at the talon in the duft.

Mild is my Behemoth, though large his frame;
Smooth is his temper, and repreft his flame,
While unprovek'd. This native of the flood
Lifts his broad foot, and puts afhore for food; 3c0
Earth finks beneath him, as he moves along
To feek the herbs, and mingle with the throng.
See with what ftrength his harden'd loins are
bound,

All over proof and fhut against a wound.
How like a mountain cedar moves his tail! 305
Nor can his complicated finews fail.
Built high and wide, his folid bones furpafs
The bars of fteel; his ribs are ribs of brass ;
His port majestic and his armed jaw

Give the wide forest, and the mountain, law. 310 The mountains feed him; there the beafts admire "

The mighty ftranger, and in dread retire,
At length his greatness nearer they furvey,
Graze in his fhadow, and his eye obey.
The fens and marshes are his cool retreat,
His noontide fheiter from the burning heat;

340

What forceful engine can subdue his skin ?
Fly far, and live; tempt not his matchlefs might :
The braveft fhrink to cowards in his fight;
The rafheft dare not roufe him up :Who then
Shall turn on Me, among the fons of men?
Am I a debtor? Haft thou ever heard
Whence come the gifts that are on Me conferr'd?
My lavish fruit a thousand valleys fills,
And Mine the herds that graze a thousand hills:
Earth, fea, and air, all nature is my own; 345
And ftars and fun are duft beneath my throne.
And dar'ft Thou with the World's great Father
vye,

Thou, who doft tremble at my creature's cye?
At full my lage Leviathan fhall rife,

Boat all his ftrength, and fpread his wondrous, fize.

350

What hideous fangs on either fide arise!
And what a deep abyfs between them lies!
Mete with thy lance, and with thy plumbet
found,

The one how long, the other how profound 350
His bulk is charg'd with fuch a furious foul,
That clouds of imoke from his fpread noftrils roll,
As from a furnace; and, when rous'd his ire,
Fate iffues from his jaws in ftreams of fire.
The rage of tempefts, and the roar of feas, 365
Thy terror, this thy great Superior pleafe;
Strength on his ample thoulder fits in ftate;
His well-join'd limbs are dreadfully complete;
His flakes of folid flesh are flow to part;
As feel his nerves, as adamant his heart.
When, late awak'd, he rears him from the
floods,

370

315

And, ftretching forth his ftature to the clouds,

202

Each rifing agony, each dreadful grace,
Yet warm tranfplanting to his Saviour's face.
Oh glorious theft! oh nobly wicked draught!
With its full charge of death each feature fraught:
Such wondrous force the magic colours boat,
From his own fkill he ftarts in horror loft.

TO MR. ADDISON,

ON

His paftimes like a cauldron boil the flood, And blacken ocean with the rifing mud; The billows feel him, as he works his way; His hoary footsteps fine along the sea ; The foam high-wrought with white divides the green,

390

And diftant failors point where death has been.
His like earth bears not on her ipacious face;
Alone in nature ftands his dauntless race,
For utter ignorance of fear renown'd,
In wrath he rolls his baleful eye around:
Makes every fwoln, difdainful heart, fubfide,
And holds dominion o'er the fons of pride.

305

400

Then the Chaldæan eas'd his labouring breast,
With full conviction of his crime oppreft.
"Thoir canft accomplish All things, Lord o
Might:

"And every thought is naked to Thy fight.
"But, oh Thy ways are wonderful, and lie

Beyond the deepest reach of mortal eye. "Oft have I heard of Thine Almighty Power;

A greater name in Britain than in Rome ? Does mankind no admire his virtues more, Though Lucan, Horace, Virgil, wrote before? How will pofterity this truth explain? "Cato begins to live in Anna's reign." The world's great chiefs, in council or in arms, Rife in your lines with more exalted charms; Illuftrious deeds in diftant nations wrought, And virtues by departed heroes taught, Raife in your foul a pure immortal flame, Adorn your life, and confecrate your fame; To your renown all ages you fubdue, And Cæfar fought, and Cato bled for you.

HISTORICAL EPILOGUE

more:

TO THE BROTHERS.

A TRAGEDY.

N Epilogue, through cufcom, is your right, But ne er perhaps was needful till this night: To-night the virtuous falls, the guilty flies, Guilt's dreadful clofe our narrow fcene denies. What ample vengeance gluts Demetrius fhade; In hiftory's authentic record read Vengeance fo great, that when his tale is told, With pity fome ev'n Perfeus may behold.

Perfeus furviv'd, indeed, and fill'd the throne, But ceafelefs cares in conqueft made him groan: Nor reign'd he long; from Rome swift thunder Alew.

And headlong from his throne the tyrant threw: Thrown headlong down, by Rome in triumph

led,

For this night's deed his perjur'd bofom bled:
His brother's ghost each moment made him ftart,
And all his father's anguish rent his heart.

When, rob'd in black, his children round him
hung,

And their rais'd arms in early forrow wrung;
The younger fmil'd, unconscious of their woe;
At which thy tears, O Rome! began to flow;
So fad the scene! What then muft Perfeus feel,
To fee Jove's race attend the victor's wheel:
To fee the flaves of his worst foes increafe,
From fuch a fource !-An emperors embrace!
He ficken'd foon to death; and what is worse,
He welldeferv'd, and felt, the coward's curfe;

The ftatesman, patriot, chriftian, and the friend!
His glory fuch, it borders on difgrace
To fay he fung the heft of human race.

110

In joy once join'd, in forrow now for years, Partner in grief, and brother of my tears, Tickell! accept this verfe, thy mournful due; Thou farther halt the facred theme purfue; And, as thy flrain defcribes the matchless man, Thy life fhall fecond what thy Mufe began. 116 Though fweet the numbers, though a fire divine Dart through the whole, and burn in every line, Who ftrives not for that excellence he draws, Is ftain'd by fame, and fuffers from applause. 120 But hafte to thy illuftrious tafk; prepare The noble work well trufted to thy care, The gift bequeath'd by Addifo's command, To Craggs made facred by his dying hand. Collect the labours, join the various rays, The fcatter'd light in one united blaze; Then bear to him fo true, fo truly lov'd, In life distinguifh'd, and in death approv'd, Th' immortal legacy. He hangs a-while In genereus anguish o'er the glorious pile; With anxious pleafure the known page reviews, And the dear pledge with falling tears bedews. What though thy tears, pour'd o'er thy godlike friend,

125

130

Thy other cares for Britain's weal fufpend?
Think not, O Patriot! while thy eyes o'erflow,
Thofe cares fufpended for a private woe;
Thy love to him is to thy country fhown,
He mourns for her, who mourus for Addifon.

25

That far outweighs all Europe's thrones in one.
Let greatness prove its title to be great.
"Tis power's fupreme perogative to flamp
On others' minds an image of its own.
Bend the ftrong influence of high place, to stem 20
The ftream that fweeps away the country's weal;
The Stygian fiream, the torrent of our guilt.
Far as thou may't give life to virtue's cause;
Let not the ties of perfonal regard
Betray the nation's truft to feeble hands:
Let not fomented flames of private pique
Prey on the vitals of the public good:
Let not our freets with blafphemies refound,
Nor lewdness whisper where the laws can reach :
Let not beft laws, the wildom of our fire, 30
Turn fatires on their funk degenerate fons,
The bastards of their blood! and ferve no point
But, with more emphasis to call them fools:
Let not our rank enormities unhinge
Britania's welfare from divine fupport.

35

Such deeds the minifter, the prince, adorn; No power is thown but in fuch deeds as thefe : All, all is impotence but acting right;

And where's the ftateiman but would fhew his

power?

To prince and people thou, of equal zeal ! 50 Be it henceforward but thy fecond care

45

To grace thy country, and fupport the throne;
Though this fupported, that adorn'd fo well,
A throne fuperior our firft homage claims;
To Cæfar's Cæfar our first tribute due:
A tribute which, unpaid, makes fpecious wrong
And fplendid facrilege of all befide:
illuftrious followers; we must first be juft;
And what fo juft as awe for the Supreme?
Lefs fear we rugged ruffians of the north,
Than Virtue's well-clad rebels nearer home;
Lefs Loyola's difguis'd, all aping fons,
Than traitors lurking in our appetites;
Lefs all the legions Seine and Tagus fend,
Than unrein'd paffions rufhing on our peace:
Yon' favage mountaineers are fame to these.
Again thofe rioters fend forth the laws,
And break to reafon's yoke their wild careers,

50

Prudence for all things points the proper hour, Though fome feem more importunate and great. Though Britain's generous views and intereits spread

65

Beyond the narrow circle of her fhores,
And their grand entries make on diftant lands;
Though Britain's genius the wide wave heftrides,
And, like a vaft Coloffus, towering ftands
With one foot planted on the continent;
Yet be not wholly wrapp'd in public cares,
Though fuch high cares fhould call as call'd of
late;

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