To form in thee a fair harmonious being;
When languid dullness fhall invade thy frame,
The vital warmth forfake the quivering limbs,
Mifts gather round the eye, and the light breath
Escape, to mingle with the ambient air;-
Thou dieft: nor can th' officious hand of mortals
Attune thy parts to priftine harmony.
If thou art fimple fubftance, and my wifh
Be crown'd with Truth's decifion, thy existence
Will triumph o'er the flight of endless time:
Yet, doubt awakens fear; the fwelling tide
Of dark fufpicion rifes :-how can fubftance,
Not cloth'd in form, not refident in space,
Or feel, or flourish, or with vigour move?
Whence rifes thy unfuitable alliance
With the gross body? Reason, less astonish'd,
Will view heaven join'd to earth, ferpents to birds,
Or bleating lambs to ocean's fcaly brood.
When time shall loose thee from thy carnal prifon,
The active powers of fenfe will all defert thee:
Should ev'n grim Death unbar his iron gate,
To fet thee free,-what boots thy liberty?
If, robb'd of fenfe, thou flieft in space unbounded,
Thinner than air, or evanefcent shade?
Alas! obedient to great Nature's law,
The fun difplays his orient beam, or finks
Beneath the western ocean; whilft the moon
Her fwelling crefcent fills; each lucid ftar,
Loft in the fiercer blaze of golden day,
At night with diamond-luftre fpangles heaven.
The lowly children of the genial earth,
The verdant turf, the painted family
Of flowers, whom Winter's icy hand had nipp'd,
Quick, at the call of Zephyr's gentle voice,
Raise their fair heads above the waving grafs;
Whilft MAN,-the lordly fovereign of the world,
Whose foul aspires to great and glorious deeds,
If once life's fleeting fpring and vigorous youth
Are pafs'd, decays; nor does the general law
Of Nature raife him to th' æthereal realms,
Nor the cold prison of the tomb unbar.
Yet, that repofe is never broke by cares:
There grief, disease, and anger, and revenge,
Pain with her fcourge, and av'rice ever-craving,
Discord, that madly wields her blood-stain'd sword,
And hunger prompting ill, and want in rags,
And hatred, or that deadly foe to virtue
The green-eyed envy, or deceit, whofe face
Wears the infidious mask,-dare not intrude:
But night with friendly gloom enwraps the scene,
And placid Sleep waves flow his dusky wings.
Let Patience then affift thee, to sustain
The lot, which Nature and all-conquering Fate
Impose. The globe, and all that it contains,
Will fink in Chaos' wide-devouring gulf:
Even he, whose fiery front illumes the earth,
Fate's heavy hand will feel, like hapless man:
Old age will bow him down; his hoary fteeds
VOL. I.
Will drag laboriously his fluggish car,
His hand still trembling as he guides the reins:
Time will bedim the luftre of the stars,
Nay, glory only lives a few, fhort years,
Like the frail column that records its triumphs.
The Muse and Virtue long shall brave the fhocks
That lay the world in ruins; yet o'er them
Her dufky veil will late Oblivion fling.
Thus does rafh Error, wearing Truth's fair garb,
Deceive, and we're misled by her false light.
But reafon tells thee, Offspring of the Skies,
That thou shalt ever fhine; thy heavenly Frame
Smiles at grim Death, and night's funereal fhades,
And promises eternal years of joy.
Hence thy prophetic power, thy eager glance,
That reads the volume of futurity:
Hence thy regard for Virtue, and that awe
Of dread Omnipotence;-the rapid thought,
That flies with swiftness of the forked flash
Where'er thy fancy bids, o'erleaping oft
The flaming confines of the universe.
Thou waft not form'd of mix'd, difcordant parts,
But fimple art, mov'd by internal springs.
Ignoble matter, void of fenfe and motion,
Boafts not fuch wondrous faculties as thine.
Either thro' ages thou shalt ftill furvey
The wreck of worlds,-or Fortune blind produc'd
This nether globe; than which no impious thought
Was ever more remote from Reason's rule.
Survey th' expanse of earth, the starry sky, The flowery fields, and ocean's waves immenfe: Nature for Thee unlocks the earth's gay treasures, For Thee fufpends the twinkling lamps on high, Leads on the crystal stream in mazy course, And paints the vernal mead with purple flowers.
When light primeval chas'd the murky fhades, And the unwearied fun began his course; When fruitful earth, and circumambient air, The ocean, and the ever-flowing ftreams Receiv'd their firft inhabitants, and bliss Devoid of reafon crown'd their favour'd birth; Th' Almighty Power furvey'd his fair creation. With looks that spoke ineffable delight.
To crown his works, he breath'd the plastic word, And bade the foul exift.-Thou at his bidding Stood'st forth, and lo! thefe gracious founds were heard.
"Fair offspring, image of th' eternal Mind! "Seek earthly habitation; in a frame "Lovely refide, thyself a lovelier guest. "Remember well thine origin; that thou, "From heaven departing, fhalt to heaven return : "O'er thee no power can vaunting Death exert, "E'en tho' loud threats he mutter, or distain "His way with carnage; or with griefly front "And pointed dart appal a trembling world." He faid-and, to confirm his high beheft, Loud thunders roll'd, and tremor feiz'd the earth.' Hence,
Hence, foon as Death's chill grafp hath loos'd the
Of mortal life, th' æthereal mind to heaven.
Spreads its fair wing, and feeks its native realms;
There, veil'd in light, it joins th' angelic choirs;
Reviews thofe hallow'd feats, which neither ftorms
Sadden, nor thunder's bellowing din alarms,
Nor winter's fnow, nor the wide-wasting fire
Of Sirius can approach; nor bluftering winds,
Nor clouds' dark fhade deform the face of day,
But Love instead,-whofe darts no venom know,—
Lights his pure lamp; whilft Concord his compeer,
Pleasure, and Innocence, and placid Joy,
Fill up the train; than which a groupe more fair
Nor ftands confefs'd to Poets as they dream,
Nor danc'd the jocund round in Eden's bowers,
But, if th' infection of unhallow'd Vice
Should reach the foul, and with deftructive taint Her pinions stain, and ruffle her fair plumage; No bleft return to an immortal home
Awaits her; down the headlong fteep of darknefs, Th' infernal whirlwind drives, where many an age Exil'd and indigent, to grief a prey,
Self-doom'd the roams, a melancholy ghoft,
Heir of immortal climes! of highest heayen,
The genial progeny! whofe inward eye
- Difcerns the bounds that fever right from wrong;
Canft thou, with tame fervility, become
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