Does he not tremble, left the Lion's paw
Should join his plea against the fancy'd law ?
Would not the learned coward leave the chair,
If in the schools or porches fhould appear
The fierce Hyæna, or the foaming Bear?

The combatant too late the field declines,
When now the fword is girded to his loins.
When the swift veffel flies before the wind,
Too late the Sailor views the land behind.
And 'tis too late now back again to bring
Enquiry, rais'd and towering on the wing:
Forward fhe ftrives, averse to be withheld
From nobler objects, and a larger field.

Confider with me this ætherial space, Yielding to earth and fea the middle place. Anxious I ask you, how the penfile ball

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Should never ftrive to rife, nor fear to fall?

May not the pleasure of Omnipotence

To each of thefe fome fecret good dispense?
Thofe who aidft the torrid regions live,
May they not gales unknown to us receive;

See

See daily fhowers rejoice the thirsty earth,
And bless the flowery buds' fucceeding birth?
May they not pity us, condemn'd to bear
The various heaven of an obliquer sphere;
While by fix'd laws, and with a just return,

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They feel twelve hours that fhade, for twelve that burn;
And praise the neighbouring fun, whose conftant flame
Enlightens them with feafons ftill the fame ?
And may not thofe, whofe diftant lot is caft
North beyond Tartary's extended waste ;
Where through the plains of one continual day
Six fhining months pursue their even way;
And fix fucceeding urge their dufky flight,
Obfcur'd with vapours, and o'erwhelm'd in night:
May not, I afk, the natives of these climes
(As annals may inform fucceeding times)
To our quotidian change of Heaven prefer
Their own viciffitude, and equal share
Of day and night, difparted through the year?
May they not fcorn our fun's repeated race,
To narrow bounds prefcrib'd, and little space,

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Haftening from morn, and headlong driven from noon,
Half of our daily toil yet fcarcely done?
May they not justly to our climes upbraid
Shortnefs of night, and penury of shade;
That, ere our wearied limbs are justly blest
With wholesome sleep, and necessary rest,
Another fun demands return of care,
The remnant toil of yesterday to bear;

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Whilft, when the folar beams falute their fight,
Bold and fecure in half a year of light,
Uninterrupted voyages they take

To the remoteft wood, and fartheft lake ;

Manage the fishing, and pursue the course

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With more extended nerves, and more continued force?
And, when declining day forfakes their sky,.

When gathering clouds fpeak gloomy winter nigh;
With plenty for the coming feafon blest,

Six folid months (an age) they live, releas'd
From all the labour, procefs, clamour, woe,
Which our fad fcenes of daily action know :
They light the fhining lamp, prepare the feast,
And with full mirth receive the welcome guest;
Or tell their tender loves (the only care
Which now they fuffer) to the liftening fair;
And, rais'd in pleasure, or repos'd in eafe
(Grateful alternate of substantial peace),
They blefs the long nocturnal influence shed
On the crown'd goblet, and the genial bed.

In foreign ifles which our difcoverers find,
Far from this length of continent disjoin'd,
The rugged Bear's, or fpotted Lynx's brood,
Frighten the vallies, and infeft the wood;
The hungry Crocodile, and hiffing Snake,
Lurk in the troubled ftream and fenny brake;
And man, untaught and ravenous as the beast,
Does valley, wood, and brake, and stream, infeft;
Deriv'd thefe men and animals their birth
From trunk of oak, or pregnant womb of earth?

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Whence

Whence then the old belief, that all began
In Eden's fhade, and one created man ?
Or, grant this progeny was wafted o'er

By coafting boats from next adjacent shore;

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Would thofe, from whom we will fuppofe they fpring, Slaughter to harmless lands and poison bring?

Would they on board or Bears or Lynxes take,

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Feed the She Adder, and the brooding Snake?
Or could they think the new-discover'd isle
Pleas'd to receive a pregnant Crocodile ?

And, fince the Savage Lineage we must trace

From Noah fav'd, and his diftinguish'd race;
How should their fathers happen to forget

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The arts which Noah taught, the rules he fet,
To fow the glebe, to plant the generous vine,
And load with grateful flames the holy fhrine;
While the great Sire's unhappy fons are found,
Unprefs'd their vintage, and untill'd their ground,
Straggling o'er dale and hill in queft of food,

And rude of arts, of virtue, and of God?

How shall we next o'er earth and feas pursue

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The varied forms of every thing we view ;

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That all is chang'd, though all is ftill the fame,

Fluid the parts, yet durable the frame?

Of those materials, which have been confefs'd

The priftine fprings and parents of the rest,
Each becomes other. Water ftopp'd gives birth
To grafs and plants, and thickens into carth :
Diffus'd, it rises in a higher sphere,
Dilates its drops, and foftens into air :

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Those

Those finer parts of air again aspire,

Move into warmth, and brighten into fire:

That fire, once more by thicker air o'ercome,

And downward forc'd, in earth's capacious womb
Alters its particles; is fire no more,

But lies refplendent duft, and shining ore;

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Or, running through the mighty mother's veins, 365
Changes its fhape, puts off its old remains;

With watery parts its leffen'd force divides,
Flows into waves, and rifes into tides.

Difparted ftreams fhall from their channels fly,
And deep furcharg'd by fandy mountains lie,
Obfcurely fepulcher'd. By eating rain,

And furious wind, down to the distant plain
The hill, that hides his head above the skies,
Shall fall; the plain by flow degrees shall rise
Higher than erft had stood the summit-hill;
For Time muft Nature's great beheft fulfil.

Thus, by a length of years and change of fate,
All things are light or heavy, fmall or great:
Thus Jordan's waves fhall future clouds appear;
And Egypt's pyramids refine to air:

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Thus later age fhall ask for Pifon's flood;

And travelers enquire, where Babel stood.

Now where we fee these changes often fall,

Sedate we pafs them by as natural;

Where to our eye more rarely they appear,
The pompous name of prodigy they bear.
Let active thought these close mæanders trace;
Let human wit their dubious boundaries place:

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Are