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Far from the world disjoin'd; he reigns alone,
Alike the empire, and its king unknown.
A god-like bird! whose endless round of years
Out-lafts the stars, and tires the circling spheres;
Not us'd like vulgar birds to eat his fill,

Or drink the crystal of the murmuring rill;
But fed with warmth from Titan's purer ray,
And flak'd by streams which eastern seas convey;
Still he renews his life in thefe abodes,

Contemns the power of fate, and mates the gods.
His fiery eyes fhoot forth a glittering ray,
And round his head ten thousand glories play ;
High on his crest, a star celestial bright
Divides the darknefs with its piercing light;
His legs are ftain'd with purple's lively dye,
His azure wings the fleeting winds out-fly;
Soft plumes of cheerful blue his limbs infold,
Enrich'd with fpangles, and bedropt with gold.
Begot by none himself, begetting none,
sire of himself he is, and of himself the fon;
His life in fruitful death renews his date,
And kind destruction but prolongs his fate :
Ev'n in the grave new ftrength his limbs receive,
And on the funeral pile begin to live.
For when a thoufand times the fumuner fun
His bending race has on the zodiac run,
And when as oft the vernal figns have roll'd,
As oft the wintery brought the numbing cold;
Then drops the bird, worn out with aged cares,
And bends beneath the mighty load of years.

So falls the ftately pine, that proudly grew,
The fhade and glory of the mountain's brow.
When pierc'd by blafts, and fpouting clouds o'er-fpread,
It, flowly finking, nods its tottering head,

Part dies by winds, and part by sickly rains,
And wafting age destroys the poor remains.
Then, as the filver emprefs of the night,
O'er-clouded, glimmers in a fainter light,
So, froz'n with age, and shut from light's fupplies,
In lazy rounds scarce roll his feeble eyes,

And those fleet wings, for ftrength and speed renown'd,
Scarce rear th' inactive lumber from the ground.
Mysterious arts a fecond time create
The bird, prophetic of approaching fate.
Pil'd on a heap Sabæan herbs he lays,
Parch'd by his fire the fun's intensest rays;
The pile defign'd to form his funeral scene
He wraps in covers of a fragrant green,
And bids his fpicy heap at once become
A grave destructive, and a teeming womb.
On the rich bed the dying wonder lies,
Imploring Phoebus with perfuafive cries,
To dart upon him in collected rays,
And new-create him in a deadly blaze.

The god beholds the fuppliant from afar,
And ftops the progrefs of his heavenly carr.
"O thou, fays he, whom harmless fires fhall burn,

Thy age the flame to fecond youth fhall turn, "An infant s cradle is thy funeral urn.

"Thou, on whom heaven has fix'd th' ambiguous doom To live by ruin, and by death to bloom,

"Thy

Thy life, thy ftrength, thy lovely form renew, "And with fresh beauties doubly charm the view."

Thus fpeaking, 'inidft the aromatic bed

A golden beam he toffes from his head;
Swift as defire, the fhining ruin flies,
And straight devours the willing facrifice,
Who haftes to perifh in the fertile fire,
Sink into strength, and into life expire.
In flames the circling odours mount on high,
Perfume the air, and glitter in the sky,

The moon and stars, amaz'd, retard their flight,
And nature ftartles at the doubtful sight;
For, whilft the pregnant urn with fury glows,
The goddess labours with a mother's throes,
Yet joys to cherish, in the friendly flames,
The noblest product of the skill she claims.

Th' enlivening duft its head begins to rear,
And on the ashes sprouting plumes appear;
In the dead bird reviving vigour reigns,
And life returning revels in his veins :
A new..born Phoenix ftarting from the flame,
Obtains at once a fon's, and father's name;
And the great change of double life displays,
In the fhort moment of one tranfient blaze.

On his new pinions to the Nile he bends,
And to the gods his parent urn commends,
To Egypt bearing, with majestic pride,
The balmy neft, where firft he liv'd and dy'd.
Birds of all kinds admire th' unusual fight,
And grace the triumph of his infant flight;

In crowds unnumber'd round their chief they fly,
Opprefs the air, and cloud the fpacious sky;
Nor dares the fierceft of the winged race
Obftruct his journey through th' æthereal space;
The hawk and eagle ufelefs wars forbear,
Forego their courage, and confent to fear;
The feather'd nations humble homage bring,
And bless the gaudy flight of their ambrofial king.
Lefs glittering pomp does Parthia's monarch yield,
Commanding legions to the dufty field;

Though sparkling jewels on his helm abound,
And royal gold his awful head surround;
Though rich embroidery paint his purple veft,
And his freed bound in coftly trappings dreft,
Pleas'd in the battle's dreadful van to ride,
In graceful grandeur, and imperial pride.
Fam'd for the worship of the sun, there stands
A facred fane in Egypt's fruitful lands,
Hewn from the Theban mountain's rocky womb
An hundred columns rear the marble dome;
Hither, 'tis said, he brings the precious load,
A grateful offering to the beamy god;
Upon whofe altar's confecrated blaze
The feeds and relicks of himself he lays,
Whence flaming incenfe makes the temple fhine,
And the glad altars breathe perfumes divine.
The wafted fmell to far Pelufium flies,
To chear old ocean, and enrich the skies,
With nectar's fweets to make the nations finile,
And fcent the feven-fold channels of the Nile.

Thrice happy Phoenix! heaven's peculiar care Has made thyself thyfelf's furviving heir; By death thy deathlefs vigour is fupply'd, Which finks to ruin all the world befide; Thy age, not thee, affifting Phoebus burns, And vital flames light up thy funeral urns. Whate'er events have been, thy eyes furvey, And thou art fixt, while ages roll away; Thou faw'ft when raging ocean burst his bed, O'er-top'd the mountains, and the earth o'er-spread When the rash youth inflam'd the high abodes, Scorch'd up the skies, and scar'd the deathless gods. When nature ceafes, thou shalt still remain, Nor fecond Chaos bound thy endless reign; Fate's tyrant laws thy happier lot fhall brave, Baffle destruction, and elude the grave.

VERSES TO MRS. LOW THER

ON HER MARRIAGE.

FROM MENAGE.

THE greatest swain that treads th' Arcadian grove,

Our fhepherds envy, and our virgins love,

His charming nymph, his fofter fair obtains,
The bright Diana of our flowery plains;
He, 'midft the graceful, of fuperior grace,
And the the lovelieft of the lovelieft race.

Thy fruitful influence, guardian Juno, shed,
And crown the pleasures of the genial bed :