And, fwift into the boundlefs ocean borne,
Our foolish confidence too late we mourn;
Round our devoted heads the billows beat;
And from our troubled view the leffen'd lands retreat. O mighty Love! from thy unbounded power
How fhall the human bofom reft secure?
How shall our thought avoid the various fnare?
Or Wisdom to our caution'd foul declare
The different fhapes thou pleafeft to employ,
When bent to hurt, and certain to destroy?
The haughty Nymph, in open beauty dreft,
To-day encounters our unguarded breast :
She looks with majefty, and moves with state;
Unbent her foul, and in misfortune great,
She fcorns the world, and dares the rage of Fate. 555
Here whilst we take ftern manhood for our guide,
And guard our conduct with becoming pride;
Charm'd with the courage in her action fhewn,
We praise her mind, the image of our own.
She that can please is certain to perfuade,
To-day belov'd, to-morrow is obey'd.
We think we fee through Reafon's optics right;
Nor find how Beauty's rays elude our sight:
Struck with her eye, whilft we applaud her mind;
And when we fpeak her great, we with her kind. 565
To-morrow, cruel power! thou arm'ft the fair
With flowing forrow, and dishevel'd hair;
Sad her complaint, and humble is her tale,
Her fighs explaining where her accents fail.
Here generous foftness warms the honest breast;
We raise the fad, and fuccour the diftrefs'd.
And, whilst our with prepares the kind relief,
Whilft pity mitigates her rifing grief,
We ficken foon from her contagious care,
Grieve for her forrows, groan for her despair;
And against Love too late those bosoms arm,
Which tears can soften, and which fighs can warm.
Against this nearest, cruelest of foes,
What shall wit meditate, or force oppofe?
Whence, feeble Nature, fhall we fummon aid,
If by our pity and our pride betray'd ?
External remedy fhall we hope to find,
When the clofe fiend has gain'd our treacherous mind; Infulting there does Reason's power deride,
And, blind himself, conducts the dazzled guide?
My conqueror now, my lovely Abra, held
My freedom in her chains; my heart was fill'd
With her, with her alone; in her alone
It fought its peace and joy: while she was gone,
It figh'd, and griev'd impatient of her stay; 590
Return'd, fhe chas'd thofe fighs, that grief, away:
Her abfence made the night: her presence brought
the day.
The ball, the play, the mask, by turns fucceed :
For her I make the fong; the dance with her I lead.
I court her various in each shape and drefs,
That luxury may form, or thought express.
To-day, beneath the palin-tree on the plains,
In Deborah's arms and habit Abra reigns :
The wreath denoting conqueft guides her brow;
And low, like Barak, at her feet I bow.
The mimic chorus fings her profperous hand;
As fhe had flain the foe, and fav'd the land.
To-morrow fhe approves a fofter air,
Forfakes the pomp and pageantry
The form of peaceful Abigail affumes,
And from the village with the prefent comes :
The youthful band depose their glittering arms,
Receive her bounties, and recite her charms;
Whilft I affume my Father's ftep and mien,
To meet with due regard my future Queen.
If haply Abra's will be now inclin'd
To range the woods, or chafe the flying hind;
Soon as the fun awakes, the fprightly court
Leave their repofe, and haften to the sport.
In leffen'd royalty, and humble ftate,
Thy King, Jerufalem, defcends to wait,
Till Abra comes: fhe comes; a milk-white steed,
Mixture of Perfia's and Arabia's breed,
Suftains the nymph: her garments flying loofe
(As the Sydonian maids or Thracian use),
And half her knee and half her breast appear,
By art, like negligence, difclos'd and bare.
Her left-hand guides the hunting courfer's flight,
A filver bow fhe carries in her right,
And from the golden quiver at her fide
Ruftles the ebon arrow's feather'd pride.
Sapphires and diamonds on her front difplay
An artificial moon's increafing ray.
Diana, huntress, mistress of the groves,
The favourite Abra fpeaks, and looks, and moves. 630
Her, as the prefent goddefs, I obey:
Beneath her feet the captive game I lay.
The mingled chorus fings Diana's fame :
Clarions and horns in louder peals proclaim
Her myftic praife; the vocal triumphs bound
Against the hills; the hills reflect the found.
If, tir'd this evening with the hunted woods,
To the large fifh-pools, or the glaffy floods,
Her mind to-morrow points: a thousand hands,
To-night employ'd, obey the King's commands.
Upon the watery beach an artful pile
Of planks is join❜d, and forms a moving ifle :
A golden chariot in the midft is fet;
And filver cygnets feem to feel its weight.
Abra, bright Queen, ascends her gaudy throne,
In femblance of the Grecian Venus known :
Tritons and fea-green Naiads round her move,
And fing in moving ftrains the force of Love;
Whilft, as th' approaching pageant does appear,
And echoing crouds speak mighty Venus near,
I, her adorer, too devoutly stand
Fast on the utmoft margin of the land,
With arms and hopes extended, to receive
The fancy'd Goddess rifing from the wave.
O fubject Reason! O imperious Love!
Whither yet further would my folly rove ?
Is it enough, that Abra should be great
In the wall'd palace, or the rural feat ?
L 4
That masking habits, and a borrow'd name,
Contrive to hide my plenitude of fhame?
No, no: Jerufalem combin'd must fee
My open fault, and regal infamy.
Solemn a month is destin'd for the feaft.
Abra invites the nation is the guest.
To have the honour of each day fuftain'd,
'The woods are travers'd, and the lakes are drain’d:
Arabia's wilds, and Ægypt's, are explor'd:
The edible creation decks the board :
Hardly the phoenix 'fcapes
The men their lyres, the maids their voices raife, 670 To fing my happiness, and Abra's praife :
And flavish bards our mutual loves rehearfe
In lying strains and ignominious verse :
While, from the banquet leading forth the bride, Whom prudent Love from public eyes fhould hide; 675 I fhew her to the world, confefs'd and known
Queen of my heart, and partner of my throne.
And now her friends and flatterers fill the court;
From Dan and from Beersheba they resort :
They barter places, and dispose of grants,
Whole provinces unequal to their wants;
They teach her to recede, or to debate ;
With toys of love to mix affairs of ftate;
By practis'd rules her empire to fecure;
And in my pleasure make my ruin fure.
They gave, and the transferr'd the curs❜d advice,
That Monarchs should their inward foul disguise,
Diffemble and command, be falfe and wife;
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