Now rapt! now more than man!-I fee him climb,
To view this fpeck of earth from worlds fublime !
I fee him now o'er Nature's works prefide!
How clear the vifion! and the fcene how wide!
Let fome a name by adulation raise,
Or fcandal, meaner than a venal praife!
My Mufe (he cries) a nobler prospect view!
Through fancy's wilds fome moral's point purfue!
From dark deception clear-drawn truth display,
As from black chaos rofe refplendent day!
Awake compaffion, and bid terror rife!
Bid humble forrows ftrike fuperior eyes!
So pamper'd power, unconfcious of diftrefs,
May fee, be mov'd, and, being mov'd, redrefs.
Ye traytors, tyrants, fear his stinging lay
Ye powers unlov'd, unpity'd in decay!
But know, to you sweet-blossom'd Fame he brings,
Ye heroes, patriots, and paternal kings!
O Thou, who form'd, who rais'd the poet's art, 215 (Voice of thy will!) unerring force impart ! If wailing worth can generous warmth excite, If verfe can gild inftruction with delight, Inspire his honest Muse with orient flame, To rife, to dare, to reach the noblest aim !
But, O my friend! myfterious is our fate! How mean his fortune, though his mind elate! Æneas-like he paffes through the crowd, Unfought, unfeen beneath misfortune's cloud; Or feen with flight regard: Unprais'd his name: 225 is after-honour, and our after-shame.
The doom'd defert, to avarice ftands confefs'd;
Her eyes averted are, and steel'd her breast.
Envy afquint the future wonder eyes:
Bold Infult, pointing, hoots him as he flies;
While coward Centure, fkill'd in darker ways,
Hints fure detraction in diffembled praise!
Hunger, thirft, nakednefs, there grievous fall!
Unjuft derifion too!- that tongue of gall!
Slow comes Relief, with no mild charms endued, 235
Ufher'd by Pride, and by Reproach purfued.
Forc'd Pity meets him with a cold respect,
Unkind as Scorn, ungenerous as Neglect.
Yet, fuffering Worth! thy fortitude will fhine:
Thy foes are Virtue's, and her friends are thine! 240
Patience is thine, and Peace thy days fhall crown;
Thy treasure Prudence, and thy claim Renown:
Myriads, unborn, fhall mourn thy hapless fate,
And myriads grow, by thy example, great!
Hark! from the watch-tower rolls the trumpet's found,
Sweet through ftill night, proclaiming fafety round!
Yon fhade illuftrious quits the realms of rest,
To aid fome orphan of its race diftreft,
Safe winds him through the fubterraneous way,
That mines yon manfion, grown with ruin grey, 250
And marks the wealthy, unfufpected ground,
Where, green with ruft, long-buried coins abound.
This plaintive ghost, from earth when newly fled,
Saw thofe, the living trufted, wrong the dead;
He faw, by fraud abus'd, the lifeless hand
Sign the falfe deed that alienates his land;
Heard, on his fame, injurious cenfure thrown, And mourn'd the beggar'd orphan's bitter groan. Commiffion'd now the falfehood he reveals, To juftice foon th' enabled heir appeals; Soon, by his wealth, are coftly pleas maintain'd, And, by discover'd truth, loft right regain'd. But why (may fome enquire) why kind success, Since mystic heaven gives mifery oft to bless? Though mifery leads to happiness and truth, Unequal to the load, this languid youth, Unftrengthen'd virtue scarce his bofom fir'd, And fearful from his growing wants retir'd. Oh, let not cenfure, if (untried by grief, If, amidst woe, untempted by relief,) He stoop'd reluctant to low arts of shame,
Which then, ev'n then he scorn'd, and blush'd to name. Heaven fees, and makes th' imperfect worth its care, And chears the trembling heart, unform'd to bear, Now rifing fortune elevates his mind,
He shines unclouded, and adorns mankind.
So in fome engine, that denies a vent,
If unrespiring is some creature pent,
It fickens, droops, and pants, and gafps for breath, Sad o'er the fight swim shadowy mists of death; 280 If then kind air pours powerful in again,
New heats, new pulfes quicken every vein ; From the clear'd, lifted, life-rekindled eye, ́fners'd, the dark and dampy vapours fly.
trembling tombs the ghofts of greatness rise, 285 their bodies hang with wiftful eyes;
Or difcontented ftalk, and mix their howls
With howling wolves, their screams with creaming owls.
The interval 'twixt night and morn is nigh,
Winter more nitrous chills the shadow'd sky.
Springs with foft heats no more give borders green,
Nor fmoaking breathe along the whiten'd scene;
While steamy currents, fweet in profpect, charm
Like veins blue-winding on a fair-one's arm.
Now Sleep to Fancy parts with half his power 295
And broken flumbers drag the restless hour.
The murder'd feems alive, and ghaftly glares,
And in dire dreams the conscious murderer fcares,
Shews the yet-fpouting wound, th' enfanguin'd floor,
The walls yet-fmoaking with the fpatter'd gore; 300
1 Or fhrieks to dozing justice, and reveals
The deed, which fraudful art from day conceals ;
The delve obfcene, where no fufpicion pries,
Where the disfigur'd corfe unfhrouded lies;
The fure, the striking proof, so strong maintain'd, 305
Pale guilt ftarts felf-convicted, when arraign'd.
Thefe fpirits treafon of its power divest,
And turn the peril from the patriot's breast.
Thofe folemn thought inspire, or bright defcend
To fnatch in vifion fweet the dying friend.
But we deceive the gloom, the matin bell
Summons to prayer!—Now breaks th'inchanter's spell!
And now-But yon fair fpirit's form furvey!
'Tis fhe!—Olympia beckons me away!
I haste!—I fly !—adieu!—and when you see
The youth who bleeds with fondness, think on me :
Tell him my tale, and be his pain careft;
By love I tortur'd was, by love I'm bleft.
When worship'd woman we entranc'd behold,
We praife the Maker in his faireft mould;
The pride of nature, harmony combin'd,
And light immortal to the foul refin'd!
Depriv'd of charming woman, foon we miss
The prize of friendship, and the life of blifs!
Still through the fhades Olympia dawning breaks! 325 What bloom, what brightness lufters o'er her cheeks! Again the calls!—I dare no longer stay!.
A kind farewell-Olympia, I obey.
He turn'd, nor longer in my fight remain'd; The mountain he, I fafe the city gain'd.
mind wild Fancy holds her sway,
Still on ftrange, vifionary land I ftray.
Now fcenes crowd thick! now indiftinct appear!
Swift glide the months, and turn the varying year!
Near the Bull's horn light's rifing monarch draws; 5
Now on its back the Pleiades he thaws!
From vernal heat pale winter forc'd to fly,
Northward retires, yet turns a watery eye;
Then with an aguifh breath nips infant blooms,
Deprives unfolding fpring of rich perfumes,
Shakes the flow-circling blood of human race,
ad in sharp, livid looks contracts the face.
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