The dash of floods, and hollow howl of winds
Through wintery woods or cavern'd ruins heard,.
Rife from the distant depth where uproar reigns.
Anon, with black eruption, from its jaws,
A night of smoke, thick-driving, wave on wave,
In ftormy flow, and cloud involving cloud,
Rolls furging forth, extinguishing the day;
With vollied sparkles mix'd, and whirling drifts
Of ftones and cinders rattling up the air.
Inftant, in one broad burst, a stream of fire,
Red-iffuing, flood's the liemifphere around.
Nor pause, nor reft: again the mountain groans,
Amazing, from its inmost caverns fhook:
Again, with loudening rage, intenfely fierce,
Difgorges pyramids of quivering flame,
Spire after fpire enormous, and torn rocks,
Flung out in thundering ruins to the fky.
But fee, in fecond pangs, the roaring hill:
From forth its depth a cloudy pillar fhoots,
Gradual and vaft, in one afcending trunk
Of length immenfe, heav'd by the force of fire,
On its own bafe direct, aloft in air,
Beyond the foaring eagle's funward fliglit.
Still as it fwells, through all the dark extent,
With wonder feen! ten thoufand lightnings play
In flash'd vibrations; and from height to height
Inceffant thunders roar. No longer now
Protruded by th' explosive breath below,
At once the shadowy summit breaks away
To all fides round, in billows broad and black,
As of a turbid ocean ftir'd by winds,
A vapory deluge hiding earth and heaven.
Thus all day long: and now the beamless fun
Sets as in blood. A dreadful pause entues;
Deceitful calm, portending fiercer storm.
Sad night at once, with all her deep-dy'd shades,
Falls back and boundlefs o'er the fcene. Sufpenfe
And terror rule the hour. Behold, from far,
Imploring heaven with fupplicating hands
And ftreaming eyes, in mute amazement fix`d,
Yon peopled City stands; each fadden'd face
Turn'd towards the hill of fears and hark! once more
The rifing tempest shakes its founding vaults,
Now faint in diftant murmurs, now more near
Rebounding horrible, with all the roar
Of winds and feas; or engines big with death,
That, planted by the murderous hand of War
To shake the round of fome proud capital,
At once difploded, in one bursting peal
Their mortal thunders mix. Along the sky,
From east to south, a ruddy hill of smoke
Extends its ridge, with difmal light inflam'd.
Mean while, the fluid Lake that works below,
Bitumen, fulphur, falt, and iron-fcum,
its boiling tide. The labouring mount
Is torn with agonizing throes-at once,
Forth from its fide difparted, blazing pours
A mighty river, burning in prone waves,
That glimmer through the night, to yonder plain.
Divided there, a hundred torrent-streams,
Each ploughing up its bed, roll dreadful on,
Refiftlefs. Villages, and woods, and rocks,
Fall flat before their fweep. The region round,
Where myrtle-walks and groves of golden fruit.
Rofe fair, where harvest wav'd in all its pride,
And where the vineyard spread her purple itore,
Maturing into nectar, now despoil'd
Of herb, leaf, fruit, and flower, from end to end
Lies buried under fire, a glowing sea!.
Thus roaming with adventurous wing the globe,
From fcene to fcene excurfive, I behold
In all her workings, beauteous, great, or new,
Fair Nature, and in all with wonder trace
The fovereign Maker, firft, fupreme, and best,
Who actuates the whole at whose command,
Obedient fire and flood tremendous rife,
His minifters of vengeance, to reprove,
And scourge the nations. Holy are his ways,
His works unnumber'd, and to all proclaim
Unfathom'd wisdom, goodness unconfin'd.
NDLESS the wonders of creating power,
On earth, but chief on high through heaven difplay'd. There fhines the full magnificence unveil'd
Of Majesty divine: refulgent there
Ten thousand funs blaze forth, with each his train
Of worlds dependent, all beneath the eye
And equal rule of one eternal Lord.
To thofe bright climes, awakening all her powers,
And spreading her unbounded wing, the Muse
Ascending foars, on through the fluid space,
The buoyant atmosphere; whofe vivid breath,
Soul of all fublunary life, pervades
The realms of Nature, to her inmost depths
Diffus'd with quickening energy. Now ftill,
From pole to pole th' aëreal ocean: fleeps,
One limpid vacancy: now rouz'd to rage
By bluftering meteors, wind, hail, rain, or cloud
With thunderous fury charg'd, its billows rife,
And fhake the nether orb. Still as I mount,
A path the vulture's eye hath not observ'd,
Nor foot of eagle trod, th' ethereal sphere
Receding flies approach; its circling arch
Alike remote, translucent, and ferene.
Glorious expanfion! by th' Almighty spread,
Whofe limits who hath feen! or who. with him
Hath walk'd the fun-pav'd circuit from old time,
And visited the host of heaven around!
Gleaming a borrow'd light, from whence how small The fpeck of earth, and dim air circumfus'd! Mutable region, vext with hourly change.
But here, unruffled calm her even reign
Maintains external: here the lord of day,
The neighbouring fun, fhines out in all his ftrength,
Noon without night. Attracted by his beam,,
I thither bend my flight, tracing the fource
Where morning springs; whence her innumerous streams
Flow lucid forth, and roll through trackless ways
Their white waves o'er the sky. The fountain-orb,
Dilating as I rife, beyond the ken
Of mortal eye, to which earth, ocean, air,
Are but a central point, expands immenfe,
A fhoreless fea of fluctuating fire,
That deluges all ether with its tide.
What power is that, which to its circle bounds
The violence of flame! in rapid whirls
Conflicting, floods with floods, as if to leave
Their place, and, bursting, overwhelm the world!
Motion incredible! to which the rage
Of oceans, when whole winter blows at once
In hurricane, is peace. But who shall tell
That radiance beyond measure, on the fun
Pour'd out tranfcendent! thofe keen-flashing rays
Thrown round his state, and to yon worlds afar
Supplying days and seasons, life and joy !
Such Virtue He, the Majefty of Heaven,
Brightnefs original, all-bounteous king,
Hath to his creature lent, and crown'd his fphere
With matchlefs glory. Yet not all alike
Refplendent: in thefe liquid regions pure,
Thick mifts, condenfing, darken into spots,
And dim the day.
When Cæfar bled,
Whence that malignant light,
which fadden'd all the year,
Some at the centre rife
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