The dog Hydrophoby, and near allied
Scar'd Madness, with her moon-ftruck eye-balls staring wide.
XIV.
There, ftretch'd one huge, beneath the rocky mine *,
With boiling fulphur fraught, and fmouldering fires;
He, the dread delegate of Wrath Divine,
E'er while that stood o'er Taio's hundred spires
Vindictive; thrice he wav'd th' earth-shaking wand,
Powerful as that the fon of Amram bore,
And thrice he rais'd, and thrice he check'd his hand.
He ftruck, the rocking ground with thund'rous roar
Yawn'd! Here from street to ftreet hurries, and there
Now runs, now ftops, then fhrieks and fcours amain,
Staring Distraction: many a palace fair,
With millions finks ingulph'd, and pillar'd fane;
Old Ocean's fartheft waves confess the shock;
E'en Albion trembled, confcious, on his ftedfaft rock.
The meagre Famine there; and, drunk with blood,
Stern War; and the loath'd monfter, whom of yore
The flimy Naïad of the Memphian flood
Engend'ring, to the bright-hair'd Phoebus bore,
Foul Peftilence, that on the wide-ftretch'd wings
Of Commerce speeds from Cairo's fwarthy bay
His weftering flight, and thro' the fick air flings
Spotted Contagion; at his heels Dismay
And Defolation urge their fire-wheel❜d yoke
Terrible; as long of old, when from the height
Of Paran came unwrath'd the Mightiest, shook
Earth's firm fix'd bafe tottering; thro' the black night
Glanc'd the flash'd lightnings; heaven's rent roof abroad
Thunder'd; and univerfal nature felt it's God.
Alluding to the earthquake at Lisbon.
Who on that fcene of terror, on that hour
Of rouzed indignation, fhall withstand
Th' Almighty, when he meditates to fhower
The bursting vengeance o'er a guilty land!!
Canft thou, fecure in Reason's vaunted pride,
Tongue-doughty mifcreant, who but now didst gore
With more than Hebrew rage th' innocent fide
Of agonizing mercy, bleeding fore;
Canft thou confront, with ftedfaft eye unaw'd,
The fworded judgment stalking far and near? Well may'st thou tremble, when an injur'd God
Difclaims thee-guilt is ever quick of fearLoud whirlwinds howl in Zephyr's fofteft breath; And every glancing meteor glares imagin'd death. XVII.
The good alone are fearless, they alone
Firm and collected in their virtue, brave.
The wreck of worlds, and look unfhrinking down
On the dread yawnings of the rav'nous grave:
Thrice happy! who the blameless road along
Of honest praise hath reach'd the vale of death;
Around him, like miniftrant cherubs, throng
His better actions; to the parting breath
Singing their bleffed requiems; he the while
Gently repofing on fome friendly breast,
Breathes out his benizons; then with a fmile
Of foft complacence, lays him down to reft,
Calm as the lumbering infant: from the goal
Free and unbounded flies the disembody'd soul.
Whether fome delegated charge below,
Some much-lov'd friend it's hovering care may claim,
Whether it heaven-ward foars, again to know
That long-forgotten country whence it came;
Conjecture ever, the misfeatur'd child
Of letter'd arrogance, delights to run
Thro' Speculation's puzzling mazes wild,
And all to end at last where it begun.
Fain would we trace, with Reason's erring clue,
The darkfome paths of deftiny aright:
In vain; the task were easier to pursue
The trackless wheelings of the swallow's flight.
From mortal ken himself th' Almighty shrouds,
Pavilion'd in thick night and circumambient clouds.
ON THE EAST WINDOW OF WIN
WRITTEN WHEN AT WINTON SCHOOL
T once to raise our reverence and delight,
To elevate the mind, and please the fight,
in virtue at th' attentive eye,
And waft the foul on wings of extafy;
For this the painter's art with nature vies,
And bids the visionary faint arife;
Who views the facred forms in thought afpires,
Catches pure zeal, and, as he gazes, fires ;
Feels the fame ardour to his breast convey'd,
Is what he fees, and emulates the shade.
Thy ftrokes, great Artist, fo fublime appear,
They check our pleasure with an awful fear;
While, thro' the mortal line, the God you trace,
Author himself, and Heir of Jeffe's race;
In raptures we admire thy bold defign,
And, as the fubject, own the hand divine.
While thro' thy work the rifing day fhall ftream,
So long fhall laft thy honour, praife, and name.
And may thy labours to the Muse impart
Some emanation from her fifter art,
To animate the verse, and bid it shine
In colours eafy, bright, and ftrong, as thine.
Supine on earth an awful figure lies,
While fofteft flumbers feem to feal his eyes;
The hoary fire Heaven's guardian care demands,
And at his feet the watchful angel ftands.
The form auguft and large, the mien divine,
Betray the founder of Meffiah's line *.
Lo! from his loins the promis'd stem afcends,
And high to Heaven it's facred boughs extends:
Each limb productive of fome hero fprings,
'And blooms luxuriant with a race of kings.
Th'eternal plant wide spreads it's arms around,
And with the mighty Branch the myftick top is crown'd.
And lo! the glories of th' illuftrious line,
At their firft dawn with ripen'd splendours shine,
In David all exprefs'd; the good, the great,
The king, the hero, and the man compleat.
Serene he fits, and sweeps the golden lyre,
And blends the prophet's with the poet's fire.
See! with what art he ftrikes the vocal ftrings,
The God, his theme, infpiring what he fings!
Hark! or our ears delude us; from his tongue
Sweet flows, or feems to flow, fome heavenly fong.
O! could thine art arreft the fleeting found,
And paint the voice in magick numbers bound;
Could the warm fun, as erft when Memnon play'd,
Wake with his rifing beam the vocal shade:
Then might he draw th' attentive angels down,
Bending to hear the lay, fo fweet, fo like their own.
On either fide the monarch's offspring fhine,
And fome adorn, and fome difgrace their line.
Here Ammon glories; proud, incestuous lard!
This hand fuftains the robe, and that the fword.
Frowning and fierce, with haughty ftrides he tow'rs,
And on his horrid brow defiance lours.
There Abfalom the ravish'd fceptre fways,
And his ftol'n honour all his fhame' difplays:
The base ufurper youth! who joins in one
The rebel fubject, and th' ungrateful fon.
Amid the royal race, fee Nathan stand:'
Fervent he seems to fpeak, and lift his hand;
His looks th' emotion of his foul difclofe,
And eloquence from ev'ry gefture flows.
Such, and fo ftern he came, ordain'd to bring
Th' ungrateful mandate to the guilty king:
When, at his dreadful voice, a fudden smart
Shot thro' the trembling monarch's confcious heart;
From his own lips condemn'd; fevere decree!!
Had his God prov'd fo ftern a Judge as he..
But man with frailty is ally'd by birth ;
Confummate purity ne'er dwelt on earth:
Thro' all the foul tho' virtue holds the rein,
Beats at the heart, and fprings at ev'ry vein ;
Yet ever from the cleareft fource have ran
Some grofs allay, fome tincture of the man.
But who is he-deep mufing? In his mind
He seems to weigh, in Reafon's fcales, mankind:
Fix'd Contemplation holds his steady eyes!-
I know the fage; the wifeft of the wife
Blefs'd with all man could wish, or prince obtain,
Yet his great heart pronounc'd those bleffings vain.
And lo! bright glittering in his facred hands,
In miniature the glorious temple ftands."
Effulgent frame! ftupendous to behold!
Gold the ftrong valves, the roof of burnish'd gold;
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