O let us still the secret joy partake,

To follow virtue ev'n for virtue's sake."

"And live there men, who slight immortal fame ?
Who then with incense shall adore our name?
But mortals! know, 'tis still our greatest pride
To blaze those virtues, which the good would hide.
Rise! muses, rise; add all your tuneful breath,
These must not sleep in darkness and in death."
She said in air the trembling music floats,
And on the winds triumphant swell the notes ;
So soft, tho' high, so loud, and yet so clear,
Ev'n list'ning Angels leaned from heav'n to hear:
To farthest shores th' Ambrosial spirit flies,
Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies.

Next these a youthful train their vows expressed,
With feathers crown'd, with gay embroid'ry dressed :
'Hither," they cried, "direct your eyes, and see
The men of pleasure, dress, and gallantry;
Ours is the place at banquets, balls, and plays,
Sprightly our nights, polite are all our days;
Courts we frequent, where 'tis our pleasing care
To pay due visits, and address the fair:
In fact, 'tis true, no nymph we could persuade,
But still in fancy vanquished ev'ry maid ;
Of unknown duchesses lewd tales we tell,
Yet, would the world believe us, all were well.
The joy let others have, and we the name,
And what we want in pleasure, grant in fame."

The queen assents, the trumpet rends the skies, And at each blast a lady's honour dies.

Pleased with the strange success, vast numbers prest Around the shrine, and made the same request :

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What? you," (she cried) "unlearned in arts to please,

Slaves to yourselves, and ev'n fatigued with ease,
Who lose a length of undeserving days,

Would you usurp the lover's dear-bought praise?
To just contempt, ye vain pretenders, fall,
The people's fable, and the scorn of all."

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Straight the black clarion sends a horrid sound,
Loud laughs burst out, and bitter scoffs fly round,
Whispers are heard, with taunts reviling loud,
And scornful hisses run thro' all the crowd.

Last, those who boast of mighty mischiefs done,
Enslave their country, or usurp a throne;
Or who their glory's dire foundation laid
On Sov'reigns ruin'd, or on friends betrayed;
Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked counsels and dark politics;

Of these a gloomy tribe surround the throne,
And beg to make th' immortal treasons known.
The trumpet roars, long flaky flames expire,

With sparks, that seemed to set the world on fire.
At the dread sound, pale mortals stood aghast,
And startled nature trembled with the blast.

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This having heard and seen, some pow'r unknown

Straight changed the scene, and snatched me from the throne.
Before my view appeared a structure fair,

Its site uncertain, if in earth or air;

With rapid motion turned the mansion round;
With ceaseless noise the ringing walls resound;
Not less in number were the spacious doors,
Than leaves on trees, or sand upon the shores;
Which still unfolded stand, by night, by day,
Pervious to winds, and open ev'ry way.
As flames by nature to the skies ascend,
As weighty bodies to the centre tend,
As to the sea returning rivers roll,

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And the touched needle trembles to the pole ;
Hither, as to their proper place, arise

All various sounds from earth, and seas, and skies,
Or spoke aloud, or whispered in the ear;
Nor ever silence, rest, or peace is here.
As on the smooth expanse of crystal lakes
The sinking stone at first a circle makes;
The trembling surface by the motion stirred,
Spreads in a second circle, then a third ;

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Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance,
Fill all the wat'ry plain, and to the margin dance :
Thus ev'ry voice and sound, when first they break,
On neighb'ring air a soft impression make;
Another ambient circle then they move;
That, in its turn, impels the next above;
Thro' undulating air the sounds are sent,

And spread o'er all the fluid element.

There various news I heard of love and strife,

life,

Of loss and gain, of famine and of store,

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Of peace and war, health, sickness, death, and

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Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore,

Of prodigies, and portents seen in air,

Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,

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Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,
The falls of fav'rites, projects of the great,
Of old mismanagements, taxations new :
All neither wholly false, nor wholly true.

Above, below, without, within, around,
Confused, unnumbered multitudes are found,
Who pass, repass, advance, and glide away;
Hosts raised by fear, and phantoms of a day:
Astrologers, that future fates foreshow,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few ;

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And priests, and party-zealots, num'rous bands

With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands;

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Each talked aloud, or in some secret place,

And wild impatience stared in ev'ry face.
The flying rumours gathered as they rolled,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it added something new,
And all who heard it, made enlargements too,
In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.
Thus flying east and west, and north and south,
News travelled with increase from mouth to mouth.
So from a spark, that kindled first by chance,
With gath'ring force the quick'ning flames advance;

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Till to the clouds their curling heads aspire,
And tow'rs and temples sink in floods of fire.
When thus ripe lies are to perfection sprung,
Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue,
Thro' thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow,
And rush in millions on the world below.

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Fame sits aloft, and points them out their course,

Their date determines, and prescribes their force :

Some to remain, and some to perish soon;

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Or wane and wax alternate like the moon.

Around, a thousand winged wonders fly,

There, at one passage, oft you might survey

Borne by the trumpet's blast, and scattered thro' the sky.

A lie and truth contending for the way ;

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And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent,

Which first should issue thro' the narrow vent:
At last agreed, together out they fly,

Inseparable now, the truth and lie;

The strict companions are for ever join'd,

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And this or that unmixed, no mortal e'er shall find.
While thus I stood, intent to see and hear,
One came, methought, and whispered in my ear:
What could thus high thy rash ambition raise ?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise?

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'Tis true, said I, not void of hopes I came, For who so fond as youthful bards of Fame? But few, alas! the casual blessing boast,

So hard to gain, so easy to be lost.
How vain that second life in others breath,
Th' estate which wits inherit after death!
Ease, health, and life, for this they must resign,
(Unsure the tenure, but how vast the fine!)
The great man's curse, without the gains, endure,
Be envied, wretched, and be flattered, poor;
All luckless wits their enemies profest,
And all successful, jealous friends at best.
Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favours call;
She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all.

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But if the purchase costs so dear a price,

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As soothing folly, or exalting vice:

Oh! if the muse must flatter lawless sway,

And follow still where fortune leads the way;
Or if no basis bear my rising name,
But the fall'n ruin of another's fame;

Then teach me, heav'n! to scorn the guilty bays,
Drive from my breast that wretched lust of praise,
Unblemished let me live, or die unknown;
Oh grant an honest fame, or grant me none !

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