And stop and eat for well you may

Be in a hungry case !"
Said John—" It is my wedding day ;

And folks would gape and stare,
If wife should dine at Edmonton,

And I should dine at Ware !" So turning to his horse, he said,

"I am in haste to dine ; Twas for your pleasure you came here,

You shall go back for inine." Ah! luckless speech, and bootless boast,

For which he paid full dear; For, while he spake, a braying ass,

Did sing most loud and clear:
Whereat his horse did snort, as if

He heard a lion roar;
And gallop'd off with all his might

As he had done before.
Away went Gilpin, and away

Went Gilpin's hat and wig;
He lost them sooner than at first;

For why ?- They were to big.
Now Gilpin's wife, when she had seen

Her husband posting down
Into the country, far away,

She pulld out half a crown: And thus unto the youth she said

That drove them to the Bell, ^ This shall be yours, when you bring back

My husband safe and well."
The youth did ride, and soon they met ;

He tried to stop John's horse
By seizing fast the flowing rein,

But only made things worse : For not performing what he meant,

And gladly would have done, He thereby frighted Gilpin's horse,

And made him faster run.
Away went Gilpin--and away

Went postboy at his heels;
The postboy's horse right glad to mise,

The lumboring of the wheels.
Şix gentlemen upon the road,

Thus seeing Gilpin fly,.
With postboy scamp'ring in the rear,

They rais'd the hue and cry.
Stop thief! stop thief! a highwayman !
Not one of them was mute;

х

So they, and all that pass'd that way,

Soon join'd in the pursuit.
And now the turnpike-gates again

Flew open in short space;
The toliman thinking, as before,

That Gilpin rode a race :
And so he did, and won it too ;

For he got first to town:
Nor stopp'd till where he had got up,

He did again get down.
Now let us sing—“ Long live the king

And Gilpin long live he:
And when he next doth ride abroad,

May I be there to see!"

VII.—The Creation of the World.

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MEANWHILE the Son On his great expedition now appear'd, Girt with omnipoience, with radiance crown'd, Of majesty divine; sapience and love Immense, and all his Father in him shone About his chariot numberless were pour'd Cherub and seraph, potentates and throres, And virtues ; wing'd spirits and chariot's wing'd From the armoury of God; where stand of old Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodg'd Against a solemn day, harness'd at hand. Celestial equipage! and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them spirit liv'd, Attendant on their Lord; heaven open'd wide Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound! On golden hinges moving, to let forth The King of Glory, in his powerful Word And Spirit coming to create new worlds. On heavenly ground they stood, and from the shore They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss, Outrageous as a sea : dark, wasteful, wild; Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds, And surging waves, as mountains to assault Heaven's height, and with the centre mix the pole.

Silence, ye troubled waves! and thou deep, peace! Said then the omnific Word, your discord end : Nor stay'd; but on the wings of Cherubim Uplifted, in paternal glory rode Fär into Chaos, and the world unborn; For Chaos heard his voice; him all his train Follow'd in bright procession to behold Creation, and the wonders of his might. Then stay'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand He took the golden compasses, prepar'd In God's eternal store, to circumscribe

This universe, and all created things.
One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd
Round through the vast profundity obscure,
And said, thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
This be thy just circumference, O world !

Thus God the heaven created, thus the earth,
Matter unform’d and void ! Darkness profound
Cover'd th' abyss; but on the watery calm
His brooding wings the spirit of God outspread,
And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth
Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purg'd
The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs,
Adverse to life; then founded, then conglob'd
Like things to light, the rest to several place
Disparted; and between, spun out the air ;
And earth, self-balanced, on her centre hung.
VIII.-Overthrow of the Rebel Angels.

SO spake the Son, and into terror chang'd His countenance, too severe to be beheld, And full of wrath bent on his enemies. At once the four spread out their starry wings: With dreadful shape contiguous, and the orbs Of his fierce chariot rollid, as with the sound Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host. He on his impious foes, right onward drove, Gloomy as night. Under his burning wheels The steadfast empirean shook throughout, All but the throne itself of God. Full soon Among them he arriv'd; in his right hand Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent Before him, such as in their souls infix'd Plagues. They, astonish'd, all resistance lost, All coxrage ; down their idle weapons drofp'd : O’er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode, Of thrones and mighty seraphim prosti ate, That wish'd the mountains, now, might be again Thrown on them as a shelter from his ire. Nor less on either side, tempestuous fell His arrows, from the fourfold visag'd four Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels Distinct alike with multitude of eyes : One spirit in them rul'd; and every eye Glard lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire Among th' accurs’d, that wither'd all their strength, And, of their wonted vigour, left them drain’d, Exhausted, spiritless, afficted, fall’n. Yet half his strength he put not forth ; but check'd His thunder in mid-volley; for he meant Not to destroy, but to root them out of heaven. The overthrown he rais'd; and as a herd Of goats or timorous flock together throng'd,

Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursu'd
With terrors and with furies, to the bounds
And crystal wall of heaven; which, opening wide,
Rolld inward, and a spacious gap disclos'd
Into the wasteful deep. The monstrous sight
Struck them with horror backward ; but far worse
Urg'd them behind. Headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of heaven; eternal wrath

Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.
IX.Alexander's Feast; or, the Power of Music.—An Ode

for St. Cecilia's Day.
"TWAS at the royal feast, for Persia won

By Philip's warlike son.
Aloft in awful state,
The godlike hero sat
On his imperial throne.

His valiant peers were plac'd around,
Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound;

So should desert in arms be crown'd.
The lovely Thais by his side,
Sat like a blooming eastern bride,
In flower of youth and beauty's pride.

Happy, happy, happy pair!
None but the brave,

None but the brave,
None but the brave, deserve the fair.
Timotheus plac'd on high,

Amid the tuneful choir,

With flying fingers touch'd the lyre:
The trembling notes ascend the sky,

And heavenly joys inspire.
The song began from Jove,
Who leff his blissful seats above;
(Such is the power of mighty love !)
A dragon's fiery form bely'd the god;
Sublime on radiant spheres he rode.

When he to fair Olympia pressid,
And stamp'd an image of himself, a sovereign of the world.

The list'ning crowd admire the Jofty sound;
A present deity, they shout aroumd ;
A present deity; the vaulted roofs rebound.

With ravish'd ears the monarch hears,

Assumes the god, affects to nod,
And seems to shake the spheres.
The praise of Bacchus, then, the sweet musician sung;
Of Bacchus, ever fair and ever young.

The jolly god in triumph comes !
Sound the trumpet ; beat the drums;
Flush'd with a purple grace
He shows his honest face :

Now give the hautboys breath-He comes! he comes !

Bacchus, ever fair and young,
Drinking joys did first ordain :

Bacchus' blessings are a treasure ;
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure :

Rich the treasure ;

Sweet the pleasure ;
Sweet is pleasure, after pain.
Sooth'd with the sound, the king grew vain ;

Fought all his battles o'er again;
And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the skin.

The master saw the madness rise ;
His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;
And while he heaven and earth defyd,
Chang'd his hand and check'd his pride.

He chose a mournful muse,

Soft pity to infuse :
He sung Darius, great and good,

By too severe a fate,
Fall'n, fall’n, fall'n, fall'n,

Fall'n, from his high estate,
And welt'ring in his blood :
Deserted at his utmost need
By those his former bounty fed,
On the bare earth expos’d he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.-

With downcast look the joyless victor sát,
Revolving, in his alter'd soul,

The various turns of fate below;
And now and then, a sigh he stole,

And tears began to flow.
The mighty master smil'd to see
That love was in the next degree:
'Twas but a kindred sound to move ;
For pity melts the mind to love.

Softly sweet, in Lydian measures,
Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasures,
War, he sung, is toil and trouble ;
Honour but an empty bubble ;

Never ending, still beginning,
Fighting still, and still destroying.

If the world be worth thy winning;
Think, oh, think it worth enjoying !

Lovely Thais sits beside thee :

Take the good the gods provide thee,
'T'he many rend the skies with loud applause ;
So love was crown'd; but music won the cause.com
The prince, unable to conceal his pain,

Gaz'd on the fair,

Who caus’d his care ;
And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd;
Sigh'd and look’d, and sigh'd again :

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