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Imperial wonders rais'd on Nations spoil'd,
Where mix'd with Slaves the groaning Martyr toil'd;
Huge Theatres, that now unpeopled Woods,
Now drain'd a diftant country of her Eloods :
Fanes, which admiring Gods with pride furvey,
Statues of Men, fcarce lefs alive than they!
Some felt the filent firoke of mould'ring age,
Some hofile fury, fome religious rage.
Barbarian blindncís, Chriftian zeal confpire,
And Papal piety, and Gothic fire.
Perhaps, by its own ruins fav'd from flame,
Some bury'd marble half preserves a name ;
That Name the learn'd with fierce difputes purfus,
And give to Titus old Vefpafian's due.

Ambition figh'd: fhe found it vain, to tru

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The faithlefs Column and the crumbling Buft: Huge moles, whofe fhadow ftretch'd from shore to fhore,

Their ruins perish'd, and their place no more!

VER. 6. Where mix'd with flaves the groaning Martyr teil'd: The inattentive reader might wonder how this circumstance came to find a place here. But let him compare it with ver. 13, 14, and he will see the Reason,

Barbar an blindness, Chriflian zeal conspire,

And Papal piety, and Gothic fire.

For the Slaves mentioned in the 6: line were of the fame nation with the Barbarians in the 13th; and the Chriflians in the 13th, the Succeffors of the Martyrs in the 6th: Providence ordaining that these should ruin what those were so injuriously employed in rearing; for the poet never loftth fight of his great principle.

Convinc'd, the now contracts her vast design,
And all her Triumphs fhrink into a Coin.
A narrow orb each crouded conqueft keeps,
Beneath her Palm here fad Judea weeps.
Now fcantier limits the proud Arch confine,
And scarce are feen the proftrate Nile or Rhine;
A fmall Euphrates thro' the piece is roll'd,
And little Eagles wave their wings in gold.
The Medal, faithful to its charge of fame,
Thro' climes and ages bears each form and name :
In one short view fubjected to our eye
Gods, Emp'rors, Heroes, Sages, Beauties, lie.
With fharpen'd fight pale Antiquaries pore,
Th' infcription value, but the ruft adore.
This the blue varnish, that the green endears,
The facred ruft of twice ten hundred years!
To gain Pefcennius one employs his Schemes,
One grafps a Cecrops in extatic dreams.
Poor Vadius, long with learned fpleen devour'd,
Can tafte no pleasure fince his Shield was fcour'd :
And Curio, reftlefs by the Fair-one's fide,

Sighs for an Otho, and neglects his bride.

Their's is the Vanity, the Learning thine: Touch'd by thy hand, again Rome's glories fhine; Her Gods, and god-like Heroes rife to view, And all her faded garlands bloom a-new. Nor blush, thefe ftudies thy regard engage; These pleas'd the fathers of poetic rage:

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VER. 49. Nor birh, thefe Studies thy regard engage ; ] A fenfelefs affe&tation which fome writers of eminence have

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The verfe and fculpture bore an equal part,

And art reflected images to Art.

Oh when fhall Britain, confcious of her claim, Stand emulous of Greek and Roman fame?

In living medals fee her wars enroll'd,

And vanquish'd realms fupply recording gold?
Here rifing bold, the Patriot's honest face;
e Warriors frowning in hiftoric brass:

en future ages with delight fhall fee

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v Plato's, Bacon's, Newton's looks agree;

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.n fair feries laurell'd Bards be shown,

'irgil there, and here an Addifon.

en fhall thy CRAGGS (and let me call him mine) e caft ore, another Pollio, fhine;

afpect open fhall erect his head,

And round the orb in lafting notes be read,

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betrayed; who when fortune, or their talents have raised hem to a condition to do without those arts, for which onthey gained our esteem, have pretended to think letters ow their Character. This falfe fhame Mr. Voltaire has -y well, and with proper indignation, exposed in his acant of Mr. Congreve: "He had one defect, which was is entertaining too mean an Idea of his first Profession, that of a Writer) though it was to this he owed his ame and Fortune. He spoke of his Works as of Trifles bat were beneath him; and hinted to me in our first Onversation, that I should visit him upon no other foot than that of a Gentleman, who led a Life of plainnefs "and fimplicity. I answered, that, had he been so un"fortunate as to be a mere Gentleman, I fhould never "have come to fee him; and I was very much difgufted at fo unfeasonable a piece of vanity." Letters concerning the English Nation, xix.

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Statesman, yet friend to Truth! of foul find "In action faithful, and in honour clear; « Who broke no promife, ferv'd no private end "Who gain'd no title, and who loft no friend "Ennobled by bimfeff, by all approv'd, "And prais'd, unenvy'd, by the Mufe he lov