Tho' gay as Mirth, as curious Thought fedate, 'As elegance polite, as pow'r elate;

< Profound as Reason, and as Justice clear;
⚫ Soft as Compaffion, yet as Truth fevere;
As Bounty copious, as Perfuafion fweet,
Like Nature various, and like Art compleat;
So fine her morals, fo fublime her views,
• His life is almost equall'd by his Mufe.

'O Pope!-fince Envy is decreed by Fate,
* Since the pursues alone the wife and great,
• In one fmall emblematick landscape fee
• How vast a distance 'twixt thy foe and thee!
Truth from an eminence furveys our scene,
'(A hill where all is clear and all ferene)

• Rude earth-bred ftorms o'er meaner vallies blow,
And wand'ring mifts roll, black'ning, far below;
'Dark and debas'd, like them, is Envy's aim,
And clear and eminent, like Truth, thy fame."
Thus I. From what dire caufe can envy fpring?

'Or why embosom we a viper's fting?

'Tis Envy Rings our darling paffion pride.'

Alas!' the man of mighty foul reply'd,

Why chufe we mis'ries? Moft derive their birth
From one bad fource-we dread fuperior worth;
Preferr'd, it seems a fatire on our own;

< Then heedless to excel we meanly moan:
Then we abstract our views, and envy show,
Whence springs the mis'ry pride is doom'd to know.
• Thus folly pain creates: by wisdom's pow'r
We fhun the weight of many a restless hour-
Lo! I meet wrong; perhaps the wrong I feel
Tends, by the scheme of things, to publick weal.
I of the whole am part-the joy men fee

Muft circulate, and fo revolve to me.

Why should I then of private lofs complain?

Of lofs that proves perchance a brother's gain?

< The

The wind that binds one bark within the bay • May waft a richer freight it's wish'd-for way. If rains redundant flood the abject ground,

• Mountains are but fupply'd when vales are drown'd; • If with foft moisture fwell'd the vale looks gay,

• The verdure of the mountain fades away.

• Shall clouds but at my welfare's call defcend?

• Shall Gravity for me her laws fufpend?

For me fhall funs their noon-tide course forbear?

• Or motion not fubfift to influence air?

Let the means vary, be they froft or flame;
Thy end, O Nature! ftill remains the fame.
Be this the motive of a wife man's care-
• To fhun deferving ills, and learn to bear.'

CANTO II.

W

WHILE thus a mind humane and wife he shows,

All eloquent of truth his language flows:

Youth, tho' deprefs'd, thro' all his form appears,
Thro' all his fentiments the depth of years.
Thus he. Yet farther Induftry behold,

• Which conscious waits new wonders to unfold.

• Enter my chapel next-Lo! here begin

• The hallow'd rites that check the growth of fin.
• When first we met, how foon you seem'd to know
My bofom, lab'ring with the throbs of woe!

• Such racking throbs!-Soft! when I rouze thofe cares,
On my chill'd mind pale Recollection glares!

• When moping Frenzy ftrove my thoughts to sway, Here prudent labours chas'd her pow'r away.

• Full and rough-rifing from yon sculptur'd wall,

• Bold prophets nations to repentance call!

Meek martyrs fmile in flames! gor'd champions groan!

• And mufe-like cherubs tune their harps in stone!

Next

• Next fhadow'd light a rounding force bestows,
Swells into life, and speaking action grows!
• Here pleafing melancholy fubjects find,
To calm, amuse, exalt, the pensive mind!
This figure tender grief like mine implies,
And femblant thoughts that earthly pomp despise.
'Such penitential Magdalene reveals;

6

'Loose-veil'd, in negligence of charms she kneels,:
Tho' drefs, near-ftor'd, it's vanity fupplies,
The vanity of drefs unheeded lies.

• The finful world in forrowing eye she keeps,
As o'er Jerufalem Meffiah weeps.

'One hand her bofom fmites, in one appears
The lifted lawn that drinks her falling tears.

Since evil outweighs good, and fways mankind,
True fortitude affumes the patient mind:
'Such prov'd Meffiah's, tho' to fuff'ring born,
To penury, repulfe, reproach, and fcorn.
Here, by the pencil, mark his flight defign'd;
'The weary'd virgin by a stream reclin'd,
Who feeds the child. Her looks a charm express,
A modeft charm! that dignifies diftrefs.

Boughs o'er their heads with blushing fruits depend,
Which angels to her bufied confort bend.

• Hence by the fmiling infant seems discern'd,
Trifles, concerning Him, all heav'n concern'd.
• Here the transfigur'd Son from earth retires ;
See! the white form in a bright cloud aspires!
Full on his followers burits a flood of rays,
Proftrate they fall beneath th' o'erwhelming blaze!
• Like noon-tide fummer-funs the rays appear,
• Unfufferable, magnificent, and near !

• What scene of agony the garden brings!
The cup of gall! the fuppliant King of kings!
The crown of thorns! the crofs that felt him die!
Thefe, languid in the sketch, unfinish'd lie.

There, from the dead centurions see him rise,
• See! but ftruck down with horrible furprize!
• As the first glory feem'd a fun at noon,
This cafts the filver fplendor of the moon.
Here peopled day th' afcending God furveys!
The glory varies as the myriads gaze!

• Now foften'd, like a fun at distance feen,
• When thro' a cloud bright-glancing, yet ferene!
Now faft-increafing to the crowd amaz'd,

• Like some vast meteor high in ether rais'd!
My labour yon high-vaulted altar ftains
• With dies that emulate ethereal plains.

⚫ The convex glafs, which in that opening glows, • Mid circling rays a pictur'd Saviour shows!

Bright it collects the beams, which, trembling all,
Back from the God a fhow'ry radiance fall: ·

Lightning the scene beneath, a scene divine!
• Where faints, clouds, feraphs, intermingled shine
Here water-falls, that play melodious round,
• Like a fweet organ, fwell a lofty found;
• The folemn notes bid earthly paffions fly,
• Lull all my cares, and lift my foul on high.
This monumental marble-this I rear
To one-Oh, ever mourn'd!-Oh, ever dear!'
He stopp'd-pathetick fighs the pause supply,
And the prompt tear starts, quiv'ring, on his eye!
I look'd-two columns near the wall were feen,
An imag'd beauty ftretch'd at length between.
Near the wept fair her harp Cecilia ftrung;
Leaning from high, a lift'ning angel hung;
Friendship, whofe figure at the feet remains,
A phoenix with irradiate creft fuftains.

This grac'd one palm, while one extends t' impart
Two foreign hands that clasp a burning heart;

A pendent veil two hov'ring feraphs raise,
Which opening heav'n upon the roof displays;

And

And two, benevolent, lefs diftant, hold
A vafe, collective of perfumes uproll'd;

These from the heart, by Friendship held, arife,
Od'rous as incenfe gath'ring in the skies.
In the fond pelican is love exprefs'd,
Who opens to her young her tender breast.
Two mated turtles hov'ring hang in air,
One by a falcon ftruck!-In wild despair,
The hermit cries- So death, alas! deftroys
The tender confort of my cares and joys!'
Again foft tears upon his eye-lid hung,

Again check'd founds dy'd, flutt'ring, on his tongue.
Too well his pining inmoft thought I know;
Too well e'en filence tells the story'd woe;
To his my fighs, to his my tears reply;

I ftray o'er all the tomb a wat❜ry eye.

Next on the wall her scenes of life I gaz'd,
The form back-leaning, by a globe half-rais'd;
Cherubs a proffer'd crown of glory show,
Ey'd wistful by th' admiring fair below.
In action eloquent difpos'd her hands,
One shows her breaft, in rapture one expands!
This the fond hermit feiz'd-o'er all his foul
The foft, wild, wailing, am'rous paffion ftole!
In stedfast gaze his eyes her aspect keep,
Then turn away, a while dejected weep:
Then he reverts them; but reverts in vain,
Dimm'd with the fwelling grief that streams again,
• Where now is my philosophy?' he cries;
'My joy, hope, reafon, my Olympia dies!
• Why did I e'er that prime of bleffings know?
Was it, ye cruel Fates! t'imbitter woe?
'Why would your bolts not level first my head?
Why must I live to weep Olympia dead?

Sir, I had once a wife! fair bloom'd her youth,
Her form was beauty, and her foul was truth!