Swift, as the fpeaks, Health fpreads the purple
Soars in the colour'd clouds, and fheds the fpring:
Now bland and fweet fhe floats a'ong in air;
Air feels, and foftening own th' æthereal fair!
In ftill defcent fhe melts on opening flowers,
And deep impregnates plants with genial showers,
The genial fhowers, new-riling to the ray,
Exhale in rofeate clouds, and glad the day.
Now in a zephyr's borrow'd voice the fings,
Sweeps the fresh dews, and shakes them from her wings,
Shakes them embalm'd; or, in a gentle kifs,
Breathes the fure earnest of awakening bliss.
Sapphira feels it, with a foft furprize,
Glide through her veins, and quicken in her eyes!
Inftant in her own form the goddess glows,
Where, bubbling warm, the mineral water flows;
Then, plunging, to the flood new virtue gives;
Steeps every charm; and, as fhe bathes, it lives! 90
As from her locks fhe fheds the vital fhower,
'Tis done! (fhe cries) thefe fprings poflefs my power!
Let thefe immediate to thy darling roll
Health, vigour, life, and gay-returning foul.
Thou fmil' Euphrofyne; and conscious fee,
Prompt to thy fmile, how Nature joys with thee.
All is green life! all beauty rofy-bright;
Full Harmony, young Love, and dear Delight!
See vernal Hours lead circling Joys along!
All fun, all bloom, all fragrance, and all fong! 100
Receive thy care! Now Mirth and Health combine. Each heart shall gladden, and each virtue shine.
Quick to Augufta bear thy prize away;
There let her fmile, and bid a world be gay.
TILL let low wits, who fenfe nor honour prize,
Sneer at all gratitude, all truth disguise;
A: living worth, becaufe alive, exclaim,.
Infult the exil'd, and the dead defame!
Such paint, what pity veils in private woes,
And what we fee with grief, with mirth expofe;
Studious to urge-(whom will mean authors fpare?)
The child's, the parent's, and the confort's tear :
Unconscious of what pangs the heart may rend,
To lose what they have ne'er deferv'd-a friend.
Such, ignorant of facts, invent, relate,
Expos'd perfift, and answer'd still debate:
Such, but by foils, the clearest luftre fee,
And deem afperfing others, praifing thee.
Far from thefe tracks my honeft lays afpire,
And greet a generous heart with generous fire.
Truth be my guide! Truth, which thy virtue claims!
This, nor the poet, nor the patron shames!
When party-minds shall lose contracted views,
And history question the recording Mufe;
'Tis this alone to after-times must fine,
And ftamp the poet and his theme divine.
Long has my Muse, from many a mournful cause, Sung with small power, nor fought sublime applause; From that great point fhe now fhall urge her scope; 25% On that fair promise reft her future hope; Where policy, from state-illusion clear, Can through an open aspect fhine fincere ; Where Science, Law, and Liberty depend, And own the patron, patriot, and the friend; (That breaft to feel, that eye on worth to gaze, That smile to cherish, and that hand to raise!) Whose best of hearts her beft of thoughts inflame, Whofe joy is bounty, and whofe gift is fame. Where, for relief, flies Innocence diftrefs'd? To you, who chace oppreffion from th' opprefs'd: Who, when complaint to you alone belongs, Forgive your own, though not a people's wrongs: Who ftill make public property your care, And thence bid private grief no more despair. Afk they what ftate your sheltering care fhall own?
'Tis youth, 'tis age, the cottage, and the throne:
Nor can the prifon 'fcape your fearching eye,
Your ear ftill opening to the captive's cry..
Nor lefs was promis'd from thy early skill,
Ere power enforc'd benevolence of will!
To friends refin'd, thy private life adher'd,
By thee improving, ere by thee prefer'd.
Well hadft thou weigh'd what truth fuch friends afford,
With thee refigning, and with thee reftor'd.
Thou taught'ft them all extenûve love to bear,
And now mankind with thee their friendships fhare.
As the rich cloud by due degrees expands,
And showers down plenty thick on fundry lands,
Thy spreading worth in various bounty fell,
Made genius flourish, and made art excel.
How many, yet deceiv'd, all power oppose?
Their fears increasing, as decrease their woes;
Jealous of bondage, while they freedom gain,
And most oblig'd, most eager to complain.
But well we count our blifs, if well we view,
When power oppreffion, not protection grew;
View prefent ills that punifh diftant climes;
Or bleed in memory here from ancient times.
Mark first the robe abus'd Religion wore, Story'd with griefs, and ftain'd with human gore! What various tortures, engines, fires, reveal, Study'd, empower'd, and fanctify'd by zeal?
Stop here, my Mufe!-Peculiar woes defcry!
Bid them in fad fucceffion ftrike thy eye!
Lo, to her eye the fad fucceffion fprings!
She looks, the weeps, and, as the weeps, the fings.
See the doom'd Hebrew of his ftores bereft!
See holy murder juftify the theft!
His ravag'd gold fome ufelefs fhrine fhall raife,
His gems on fuperftitious idols blaze!
His wife, his babe, deny'd their little home,
Stripp'd, ftarv'd, unfriended, and unpity'd roam.
Lc, the Priest's hand the Wafer-God fupplies!-
A King by confecrated poifon dies!
See Learning range yon broad æthereal plain,
From world to world, and god-like Science gain!
Ah! what avails the curious fearch fuftain'd,
The finifl'd toil, the god-like Science gain'd?
Sentenc'd to flames th' expanfive wisdom fell,
And truth from heaven was forcery from hell.
See Reafon bid each myftic wile retire,
Strike out new light! and mark!-the wife admire!
Zeal fhall fuch herefy, like Learning, hate;
The fame their glory, and the fame their fate.
Lo, from fought mercy, one his life receives!
Life, worse than death, that cruel
mercy gives:
The man, perchance, who wealth and honours bore,
Slaves in the mine, or ceafelefs trains the oar.
So doom'd are these, and such perhaps, our doom, 95 Own'd we a Prince, avert it heaven! from Rome.
Nor private worth alone false Zeal affails; Whole nations bleed when bigotry prevails. What are sworn friendships? What are kindred ties? What's faith with herefy? (the zealot cries.) See, when war finks, the thundering cannon's roar ;When wounds, and death, and'difcord are no more;
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