T is not from his form, in which we trace
Strength join'd with beauty, dignity with
That man, the mafter of this globe, derives
His right of empire over all that lives.
That form indeed, th' afsociate of a mind
Vaft in its pow'rs, ethereal in its kind,
That form, the labour of almighty skill,
Fram'd for the fervice of a free-born will,
Afferts precedence, and bespeaks controul,
But borrows all its grandeur from the soul.
Hers is the state, the splendour, and the throne,
An intellectual kingdom, all her own.
For her, the mem'ry fills her ample page
With truths pour'd down from ev'ry distant age;
For her amaffes an unbounded store,
The wisdom of great nations, now no more;
Though laden, not incumber'd with her spoil,
Laborious, yet unconfcious of her toil,
When copioufly supplied, then most enlarg'd, "
Still to be fed, and not to be furcharg❜d.
For her, the fancy roving unconfin'd,
The prefent mufe of every penfive mind, 1
Works magic wonders, adds a brighter hue
To nature's scenes, than nature ever knew ;
At her command, winds rife and waters roar,
Again the lays them flumb'ring on the shore,
With flow'r and fruit the wilderness supplies,
Or bids the rocks in ruder pomp arise...
For her, the judgment, umpire in the ftrife,
That grace and nature have to wage throughlife,
Quick-fighted arbiter of good and ill,
Appointed fage preceptor to the will,
Condemns, approves, and with a faithful voice
Guides the decifion of a doubtful choice. I'
Why' did the fiat of a God give birth :
To yon fair fun and his attendant earth ;
And, when defcending he refigns the skies,
Why takes the gentler moon her turn to rife,
Whom ocean feels through all his countless waves,
And owns her pow'r on ev'ry fhore he laves?
Why do the feasons ftill enrich the year,
Fruitful and young as in their first career?
Spring hangs her infant bloffoms on the trees,
Rock'd in the cradle of the western breeze;
Summer in hafte the thriving charge receives
Beneath the fhade of her expanded leaves,
'Till autumn's fiercer heats and plenteous dews
Dye them at last in all their glowing hues-
"Twere wild profufion all, and bootless waste,
Pow'r mifemploy'd, munificence mifplac'd,
Had not its Author dignified the plan,
And crown'd it with the majefty of man.
Thus form'd, thus plac'd, intelligent, and taught,
Look where he will, the wonders God has wrought,
The wildeft fcorner of his Maker's laws
Finds in a fober moment time to pause,
To prefs th' important question on his heart,
"Why form'd at all, and wherefore as thou art ?
If man be what he feems, this hour a slave,
The next, mere dust and ashes in the grave;
Endu'd with reafon only to defcry
His crimes and follies with an aching eye;
With paffions just that he may prove, with pain,
The force he spends against their fury, vain;
And if, foon after having burnt, by turns,
With ev'ry luft with which frail nature burns,
His being end where death diffolves the bond,
The tomb take all, and all be blank beyond;
Then he, of all that nature has brought forth,
Stands felf-impeach'd the creature of least worth,
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