N

O doubt but your foolfcap has known
His highnefs obligingly kind,
-Odzooks I could knock the fool down,
Was e'er fuch a cuckoldy kind?
To be fure, like a good-natured spouse,
You've lent him a part of your bed;
He has fitted the horns to your brows,
And I fee them fpout out of your head,
To keep your wife virtuous and chaste,
The court is a wonderful school,
-My lord you've an excellent tafte,
-And fon, you're a cuckoldy fool.
If your lady fhould bring you an heir,
the blood will flow rich in his veins,
Many thanks to my lord for his care--

-You dog, I could knock out your brains.

VERSES TO THE AUTHOR.

OW

own.

Whom fhalt thou not reform? O thou haft feen, How God defcends to judge the fouls of men. Thou heard'ft the fentence how the guilty mourn, Driven out from God, and never must return.

Yet more, behold ten thousand thunders fall, And fudden vengeance wrap the flaming ball: When nature funk, when every bolt was hurl'd, Thou faw'ft the boundless ruins of the world.

When guilty Sodom felt the burning rain,
And fulphur fell on the devoted plain;
The patriarch thus, the fiery tempest past,
With pious horrour view'd the defert wafte;
The reftlefs fmoke still wav'd its curls around,
For ever rifing from the glowing ground.

But tell me, oh! what heavenly pleasure tell,
To think fo greatly, and defcribe fo wel!!
How waft thou pleas'd the wondrous theme to
try,

And find the thought of man could rise so high?
Beyond this world the labour to pursue,
And open all ETERNITY to view?

But thou art bek delighted to rehearse
Heaven's holy dictates in exalted verse:
O thou haft power the harden'd heart to warm,
To grieve, to raise, to terrify to charm;
To fix the foul on God; to teach the mind
To know the dignity of human-kind;
By stricture rules well-govern'd life to fcan,
And practise o'er the angel in the man.

This daring author fcorns, by vulgar ways.
Of guilty wit, to merit worthless praise.
Full of her glorious theme, his towering Muse,
With gen'rous zeal, a nobler fame purfues:
Religion's caufe her ravish'd heart infpires,
And with a thousand bright ideas fires;
Tranfports her quick, impatient, piercing eye,
O'er the trait limits of mortality.
To boundless orbs, and bids her fearlefs foar,
Where only Milton gain'd renown before;
Where various fcenes alternately excite
Amazement, pity, terror, and delight.

Thus did the Mufes fing in early times,
Ere fkill'd, to flatter vice and varnish crimes.:
Their lyres were tun'd to virtuous fongs alone,
And the chafte poet, and the priest, were one,
But now, forgetful of their infant state,
They footh the wanton pleasures of the great:
And from the prefs, and the licentious ftage,
With luscious poifon taint the thoughtless age;
Deceitful charms attract our wondering eyes
And fpecious ruin unfufpected lies.

So the rich foil of India's blooming fhores, Adorn'd with lavifh nature's choiceft ftores, Where ferpents lurk, by flowers conceal'd from fight,

Hides fatal danger under gay delight.

Thefe purer thoughts from grofs alloys refin'd, With heavenly raptures elevate the mind: Not fram'd to raife a giddy fhort-liv'd joy, Whofe falfe allurements, while they please, def

troy;

But blifs refembling that of Saints above,
Sprung from the vision of th' Almighty Love:
Firm, folid blifs for ever great and new,
The more 'tis known, the more admir'd, like you;
Like you, fair nymph, in whom united meet
Endearing fweetnefs, unaffected wit,
And all the glories of your sparkling race,
While inward virtues heighten every grace.
By thefe fecur'd, you will with pleasure read
Of future judgment, and the rifing dead;
"Of time's grand period, heaven and earth o'er
thrown;'

"And gasping nature's last tremendous groan." Thefe, when the stars and fun fhall be no more, Shall beauty to your ravag'd form restore : Then fhall you fhine with an immortal ray, Improv'd by death, and brighten'd by decay.

The tract forgot where conftellations flione,
'Or where the Stuarts fill'd an awful throne:
Time fhall be flain, all Nature be destroy'd,
Nor leave an atom in the mighty void.

70

75

80

Sooner, or later, in fome future date, (A dreadful fecrct in the book of fate !) This hour, for aught all human wifdom knows, Or when ten thousand harvests more have rofe ; When 'fcenes are chaug'd on this revolving earth, Old empires fall, and give new empires birth; While other Bourbons rule in other lands, And (if man's fin forbids not, other Annes; While fill the bufy world is treading o'er The paths they trod five thousand years before, Thoughlefs as thofe who now life's mazes run, Of earth diffolv'd, or an extinguish'd fun; Ye fublunary worlds, awake, awake! Ye rulers of the nation, hear, and shake) Thick clouds of darknefs fball arife on day; In fudden night all earth's dominions lay; Impetuous winds the fcatter'd forefts rend; Eternal mountains, like their cedars, bend; The valleys yawn, the troubled ocean roar, And break the bondage of his wonted fhore; A fanguine ftain the filvermoon o'erfpread; Darkness the circle of the fan invade; From inmoft heaven inceffant thunders roll, And the fireng echo bound from pole to pole, When, lo, a mighty trump, one half conceal'd In clouds, one half to mortal eye reveal'd, Shall pour a dreadful note: the piercing call 95 Shall rattle in the centre of the ball; Th' extended circuit of creation hake, The diving die with fear, the dead awake.

до

100

Oh powerful blaft! to which no equal found Did e'er the frighted car of nature wound, Though rival clarions have been train'd on high, And kindled wars inmortal through the sky, Though God's whole enginery difcharg'd, and all The rebel angels bellow'd in their fall.

Have angels finn'd? and fhall not man beware?

105

How shall a fon of earth decline the fnare?
Not folded arms, and flackness of the mind,
Can promife for the fafety of mankind:
None are fupinely good: through care and pain,
And various arts, the fleep afcent we gain,
This is the fcene of combat, not the reft,
Man's is laborious happinefs at best;
On this fide death his dangers never ceafe,
His joys are joys of conqueft, not of peace.
I then, obfequious to the will of fate,
And bending to the terms of human state,
When guilty joys invite us to their arms,
When beauty fmiles, or grandeur fpreads her
charms,

150

Ah mournful turn! the blissful earth, who late At leifare on her axle roll d in state; While thoufand golden planets knew no reft, Still onward in their circling journey preft; A grateful change of feafons fome to bring, And fweet viciflitude of fall and fpring: Some through vaft oceans to conduct the keel, 155 And fome those watery worlds to fink, or fwell: Around her fome their fplendors to difplay, And gild her globe with tributary day: This world fo great, of joy the bright abode, Heaven's darling child, and favourite of her God, Now looks an exile from her Father's care, Deliver do'er to darkness and defpair. No fun in radiant glory thines on high: No light, but from the terrors of the sky: Fall'n are her mountains, her fam'd rivers loft, 165 And all into a fecond chaos toft : One univerfal ruin spreads abroad: Nothing is fafe beneath the throne of God,

161

Such, earth, thy fate what then cant thou afford

170

120

The confcious foul would this great scene display,
Call down th' immortal hofts in dread array,
The trumpet found, the Chriftian banner fpread,
And raife from filent graves the trembling dead;
Such deep impreflion would the picture make,
No power on earth her firm refolve could fhake;
Engag'd with angels fhe would greatly fland, 125
And look regardlefs down on fea and land;

175

Imploring shelter from the wrath divine ;
Beg flames to wrap, or whelming feas to fweep,
Or rocks to yawn, compaffionately deep:
Seas caft the monfter forth to meet his doom, 195
And rocks but prifon up for wrath to come.

So fares a traitor to an earthly crown;
While death fits threatening in his prince's frown,
His heart's difmay'd; and now his fears com-
mand,

To change his native for a diftant land:
Swift orders fly, the king's fevere decree
Stands in the channel and locks up the fea;
The port he feeks, obedient to her lord,
Hurls back the rebel to his lifted fword.

200

A fure, a fix'd, inexorable doom?
Ambition fwell, and, thy proud fails to fhow,
Take all the winds that Vanity can blow:
Wealth on a golden mountain blazing stand,
And reach an India forth in either hand;
Spread all thy purple cluiters, tempting vine,
And thou, more dreaded foe, bright beauty,
fhine;

Shine all; in all your charms together rife;
That all, in all your charms, I may defpife,
While I mount upward on a ftrong defire,
Borne, like Elijah, in a car on fire.

215

220

His will can calm, their favage tempers bind,
And turn to mild protectors of mankind.
Did not the prophet this great truth maintain
In the deep chambers of the gloomy main; 245
When darkness round him all her horrors spread,
And the loud ocean bellow'd o'er his head?

When now the thunder roars, the lightening
Alics,

And all the warring winds tumultuous rife ;
When now the foaming furges, toft on high, 250
Disclose the fands beneath, and touch the fky;
When death draws near, the mariners aghaft
Look back with terror on their actions paft;
Their courage fickens into deep difmay,
Their hearts, through fear and anguish, melt

270

They headlong plunge into the briny wave;
Down he defcends, and, booming o'er his head,
The billows clofe; he's number d with the dead.
(Hear, O ye juft! attend, ye virtuous few! 265
And the bright paths of piety purfue)
Lo! the great Ruler of the world, from high,
Looks fmiling down with a propitious eye,
Covers, his fervant with his gracious hand,
And bids tempeftuous nature filent stand;
Commands the peaceful waters to give place,
Or kindly fold him in a foft embrace:
He bridles-in the monsters of the deep:
The bridled monfters awful diflance keep:
Forget their hunger, while they view their prey;
And guiltless gaze, and round the ranger play.

Eut fill arife new wonders; nature's Lord
Sends forth into the deep his powerful word,
And calls the great leviathan the great
Leviathan attends in all his flate;

275

283

Exults for joy, and, with a mighty bound, Makes the fea fhake, and heav'n and earth refound;

air

Blackens the waters with the rifing fand,
And drives yaft billows to the dilant land. 285
As yawns an earthquake, when imprifon'd
Struggles for vent, and lays the centre bare,
The whale expands his jaw, enormous fizz;
The prophet views the cavern with furprize:
Meafures his monftrous teeth, afar delery'd, 295
And rolls his wondering eyes from fide to fide;
Then takes poffeflion of the fpacious feat,
And fails fecure within the dark retreat.

Now is he pleas'd the northern blaft to hear,
And hangs on liquid mountains, void of lear; 295
Or falls immers'd into the depths below;
where the dead filent waters never flow;
To the foundations of the hills convey'd,
Dwells in the thelving mountain's dreadin! shade;
Where