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(Should fleeting victory to the vanquish'd go;
Should the deprefs my arms, and raise the foe)
Would for that foe with equal ardour wait
At the high palace, or the crouded gate;
With restless rage would pull my ftatues down;
And caft the brass anew to his renown.

O impotent defire of worldly sway!
That I, who make the triumph of to-day,
May of to-morrow's pomp one part appear,
Ghaftly with wounds, and lifelefs on the bier!
Then [vileness of mankind!] then all of thefe,
Whom my dilated eye with labour fees,
Would one, alas! repeat me good, or great,
Wafh my pale body, or bewail my fate?
Or, march'd I chain'd behind the hoftile carr,
The victor's paftime, and the sport of war?
Would one, would one his pitying forrow lend,
Or be fo poor, to own he was my friend?

Avails it then, O Reason, to be wife?
To fee this cruel fcene with quicker eyes?
To know with more diftinction to complain,
And have fuperior fenfe in feeling pain?

Let us revolve that roll with ftricteft eye, Where fafe from time diftinguish'd actions lie; And judge if greatnefs be exempt from pain, Or pleasure ever may with power remain. Adam, great type, for whom the world was made, The fairest bleffing to his arms convey'd, A charming wife; and air, and sea, and land, And all that move therein to his command

Render'

Render'd obedient: fay, my penfive Mufe,
What did thefe golden promifes produce?
Scarce tafting life, he was of joy bereav'd:
One day, I think, in Paradife he liv'd;
Deftin'd the next his journey to purfue,
Where wounding thorns, and curfed thiftles grew.
E'er yet he earns his bread, a-down his brow,
Inclin'd to earth, his labouring fweat muft flow:
His limbs muft ake, with daily toils opprefs'd;
E'er long-wish'd night brings necessary reft:
Still viewing with regret his darling Eve,
He for her follies, and his own must grieve.
Bewailing ftill a-fresh their hapless choice;
His ear oft frighted with the imag'd voice
Of Heaven, when first it thunder'd; oft his view
Aghaft, as when the infant lightning flew;
And the ftern Cherub ftop'd the fatal road,
Arm'd with the flames of an avenging God.
His younger fon on the polluted ground,
First fruit of death lies plaintive of a wound
Given by a brother's hand: his eldest birth
Flies, mark'd by Heaven, a fugitive o'er earth.
Yet why thefe forrows heap'd upon the fire,
Becomes not man, nor angel to enquire.

Each age finn'd on; and guilt advanc'd with time:
The fon ftill added to the father's crime;
'Till God arose, and great in anger faid:
Lo! it repenteth me, that man was made,
Withdraw thy light, thou fun! be dark, ye
And from your deep abyfs, ye waters, rife!

fkies!

The

The frighted angels heard th' Almighty Lord; And o'er the earth from wrathful viols pour'd Tempefts and ftorms, obedient to his word. Mean time, his Providence to Noah gave The guard of all, that he defign'd to fave. Exempt from general doom the Patriarch flood; Contemn'd the waves, and triumph'd o'er the flood. The winds fall filent: and the waves decrease: The Dove brings quiet, and the Olive peace : Yet ftill his heart does inward forrow feel, Which Faith alone forbids him to reveal. If on the backward world his views are caft; 'Tis death diffus'd, and universal waste. Prefent (fad profpect!) can he ought defcry, But (what affects his melancholy eye)

The beauties of the antient fabric loft,

In chains of craggy hill, or lengths of dreary coaft?
While to high Heaven his pious breathings turn'd,
Weeping he hop'd, and facrificing mourn'd;
When of God's image only eight he found
Snatch'd from the watery grave, and fav'd from na-
tions drown'd;

And of three fons, the future hopes of earth,
The feed, whence empires muft receive their birth,
One he forefees excluded heavenly grace,
And marked with curfes, fatal to his race.
Abraham, potent prince, the friend of God,
Of human ills must bear the deftin'd load;
By blood and battles must his power maintain,
And flay the monarchs, ere he rules the plain;
VOL. II.

G

Muft

Muft deal just portions of a servile life
To a proud handmaid, and a peevish wife;
Muft with the mother leave the weeping fon,
In want to wander, and in wilds to groan;
Muft take his other child, his age's hope,
To trembling Moriam's melancholy top,
Order'd to drench his knife in filial blood;
Deftroy his heir, or difobey his God.

Mofes beheld that God; but how beheld
The Deity in radiant beams conceal'd,
And clouded in a deep abyfs of light;
While prefent, too fevere for human fight,
Nor staying longer than one swift-wing'd night.
The following days, and months, and years decreed
To fierce encounter, and to toil fome deed.
His youth with want and hardships must engage:
Plots and rebellions must disturb his age.
Some Coram ftill arofe, fome rebel slave,
Prompter to fink the ftate, than he to fave:
And Ifrael did his rage fo far provoke,

That when the Godhead wrote, the Prophet broke
His voice scarce heard, his dictates scarce believ'd,
In camps, in arms, in pilgrimage, he liv'd;
And dy'd obedient to feverest law,

Forbid to tread the promis'd land, he faw.

My father's life was one long line of care, A fcene of danger, and a ftate of war. Alarm'd, expos'd, his childhood muft engage The bear's rough gripe, and foaming lion's rage.

By

By various turns his threaten'd youth must fear
Goliah's lifted fword, and Saul's emitted fpear.
Forlorn he must, and perfecuted fly;

Climb the steep mountain in the cavern lie;
And often afk, and be refus'd to die.

}

For ever, from his manly toils, are known
The weight of power, and anguish of a crown.
What tongue can speak the reftlefs monarch's woes;
When God, and Nathan were declar'd his foes?
When every object his offence revil'd,

The husband murder'd, and the wife defil'd,
The parent's fins imprefs'd upon the dying child?
What heart can think the grief which he sustain'd;
When the king's crime brought vengeance on the
land;

And the inexorable Prophet's voice

Gave famine, plague, or war; and bid him fix his choice?

He dy'd; and oh! may no reflection shed
Its poisonous venom on the royal dead:
Yet the unwilling truth must be exprefs'd;
Which long has labour'd in this penfive breaft:
Dying he added to my weight of care:
He made me to his crimes undoubted heir:
Left his unfinish'd murder to his fon,
And Joab's blood intail'd on Judah's crown.
Young as I was, I hafted to fulfill
The cruel dictates of my parent's will.
Of his fair deeds a distant view I took;
But turn'd the tube upon his faults to look;

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