Inhabitant of earth, to whom is given The gracious ways of providence to learn, eceive my fayings with a stedfast ear — now then, the fovran spirit of the world, Though, self-collected from eternal time, Within his own deep effence he beheld
The bounds of true felicity complete ;
Yet by immenfe benignity inclin'd
To fpread around him that primæval joy
Which fill'd himself, he rais'd his plaftic arm
And founded through the hollow depth of space
The ftrong, creative mandate. Strait arofe
These heavenly orbs, the glad abodes of life
Effufive kindled by his breath divine
Through endless forms of being. Each inhal'd
From him its portion of the vital flame,
In measure fuch, that, from the wide complex
Of coexistent orders, one might rise,
One order, all-involving and intire.
He too beholding in the facred light
Of his effential reafon, all the shapes
Of fwift contingence, all fucceffive ties
Of action propagated through the sum
Of poffible existence, he at once,
Down the long feries of eventful time,
So fix'd the dates of being, fo difpos'd,
To every living foul of every kind
The field of motion and the hour of reft,
That all confpir'd to his fupreme defign,
To univerfal good: with full accord
Anfwering the mighty model he had chofen,
The best and fairest of unnumber'd worlds
That lay from everlasting in the store
Of his divine conceptions. Nor content,
By one exertion of creative power
His goodness to reveal; through every age,
Through evrey moment up the tract of time
His parent-hand with ever-new increase
Of happiness and virtue has adorn'd
The vast harmonious frame: his parent-hand,
From the mute shell-fish gasping on the shore,
To men, to angels, to cœleftial minds,
For ever leads the generations on
To higher scenes of being; while fupply'd
From day to day with his enlivening breath,
Inferior orders in fucceffion rife
As bodies to their proper centre move,
As the pois'd ocean to the attracting moon
Obedient fwells, and every headlong stream
Devolves its winding waters to the main ;
So all things which have life afpire to God,
The fun of being, boundless, unimpair'd,
Centre of fouls! Nor does the faithful voice
Of nature cease to prompt their eager steps
Aright; nor is the care of heaven withheld
From granting to the task proportion'd aid;
That in their stations all may persevere
To climb the afcent of being, and approach
For ever nearer to the life divine.
That rocky pile thou feeft, that verdant lawn
Fresh-water'd from the mountains. Let the scene
Paint in thy fancy the primeval feat
Of man, and where the will fupreme ordain'd
His manfion, that pavilion fair-diffus'd
Along the fhady brink; in this recefs
To wear the appointed season of his youth,
Till riper hours should open to his toil
The high communion of fuperior minds,
Of confecrated heroes and of gods.
Nor did the Sire Omnipotent forget
His tender bloom to cherish; nor withheld
Cœleftial footsteps from his green abode.
Oft from the radiant honours of his throne,
He fent whom moft he lov'd, the fovran fair,
The effluence of his glory, whom he plac'd
Before his eyes for ever to behold.;
The goddess from whofe inspiration flows
The toil of patriots, the delight of friends;
Without whofe work divine, in heaven or earth,
Nought lovely, nought propitious comes to pass,
Nor hope, nor praife, nor honour. Her the fire 385
Gave it in charge to rear the blooming mind,
The folded powers to open, to direct
The growth luxuriant of his young defires,
And from the laws of this majestic world
To teach him what was good. As thus the nymph 390 Her daily care attended, by her fide
With conftant steps her gay companion stay'd,
The fair Euphrofyné, the gentle queen
Of smiles, and graceful gladness, and delights
That cheer alike the hearts of mortal men
And powers immortal. See the fhining pair!
tehold, where from his dwelling now difclos'd
'hey quit their youthful charge and seek the skies.
I look'd, and on the flowery turf there stood
Between two radiant forms a fmiling youth
Vhose tender cheeks display'd the vernal flower
Of beauty; fweeteft innocence illum'd
His bashful eyes, and on his polish'd brow
Sate young fimplicity. With fond regard
He view'd the associates, as their steps they mov'd; 405 The younger chief his ardent eyes detain'd,
With mild regret invoking her return.
Bright as the ftar of evening the appear'd
Amid the dusky scene. Eternal youth
O'er all her form its glowing honours breath'd; 410
And fmiles eternal from her candid eyes
Flow'd, like the dewy lustre of the morn
Effufive trembling on the placid waves.
The spring of heaven had shed its blushing spoils
To bind her fable treffes: full diffus'd
Her yellow mantle floated in the breeze;
And in her hand she wav'd a living branch
Rich with immortal fruits, of power to calm
The wrathful heart, and from the brightening eyes,
To chafe the cloud of fadness. More fublime
The heavenly partner mov'd. The prime of age
Compos'd her steps. The prefence of a god,
High on the circle of her brow inthron'd,
From each majestic motion darted awe,
Devoted awe! till, cherish'd by her looks
Benevolent and meek, confiding love
To filial rapture soften'd all the foul.
Free in her graceful hand she pois'd the sword
Of chafte dominion. An heroic crown
Display'd the old fimplicity of pomp
Around her honour'd head. A matron's robe,
White as the funfhine ftreams through vernal clouds,
Her ftately form invested. Hand in hand
The immortal pair forfook the enamel'd green,
Afcending flowly.. Rays of limpid light
Gleam'd round their path; cœleftial founds were heard,
And through the fragrant air ethereal dews
Diftill'd around them; till at once the clouds
Difparting wide in midway sky, withdrew
Their airy veil, and left a bright expanse
Of empyréan flame, where spent and drown'd,
Afflicted vifion plung`d in vain to scan
What object it involv'd. My feeble eyes
Indur'd not. Bending down to earth I stood,
With dumb attention. Soon a female voice,
As watery murmurs sweet, or warbling shades,
With facred invocation thus began.
Father of gods and mortals! whose right arm
With reins eternal guides the moving heavens,
Bend thy propitious ear. Behold well-pleas'd
I feek to finish thy divine decree.
With frequent steps I vifit yonder feat
Of man, thy offspring; from the tender feeds
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