Why night, in fable rob'd, as day-light fades,
O'er half the nations draws her awful shades ?
Now peaceful nature lies diffus'd in ease ;
A folemn ftillness reigns o'er land and feas.
* Sleep sheds o'er all his balm! to fleep refign'd,
Birds, beasts lie hush'd, and busy human-kind.
No air of breath disturbs the drewzy woods,
No whispers murmur from the filent floods!
The moon sheds down a filver-streaming light,
And glads the melancholic face of night:
Now clouds swift-skimming veil her fullied ray,
Now bright fhe blazes with a fuller day:
The stars in order twinkle in the skies,
And fall in filence, and in filence rife:
Till, as a giant ftrong, a bridegroom gay,
The fun fprings dancing through the gates of day:
He shakes his dewy locks, and hurls his beams
O'er the proud hills, and down the glowing ftreams:
His fiery courfers bound above the main,
And whirl the car along the ethereal plain:
= No more the monsters of the defert roar,
Doubling the terrors of the midnight hour.
The fowl, the fishes, to repofe refign'd,
All, all lie hush'd, and busy human-kind.
The fainting murmur dies upon the floods,
And fighing breezes lull the drowzy woods,
Now bright the blazes, and fupplies the day.
The fiery courfers and the car display
A ftream of glory, and a flood of day.
Did e'er thy eye descend into the deep,
Or haft thou feen where infant tempests sleep?
Was e'er the grave or regions of the night,
Yet trod by thee, or open'd to thy fight?
Has death difclos'd to thee her gloomy state,
The ghaftly forms, the various woes that wait
In terrible array before her awful gate?
Know'st thou where darkness bears eternal sway,
Or, where the fource of everlasting day?
Say, why, the driving hail with rushing sound
Pours from on high, and rattles on the ground?
Why hover fnows, down-wavering by degrees,
Shine from the hills, or glitter from the trees?
Say, why, in lucid drops, the balmy rain
With sparkling gems impearls the spangled plain?
Or, gathering in the vale, a current flows,
And on each flower a fudden fpring bestows?
Say, why with gentle fighs the evening breeze
Salutes the flowers, or murmurs through the trees!
Or why loud winds in ftorms of vengeance fly,
Howl o'er the main, and thunder in the sky?
Say, to what wondrous magazines repair
The viewlefs beings, when ferene the air?
Till, from their dungeons loos'd, they roar aloud,
Upturn whole oceans, and toss cloud on cloud,
While waves encountering waves in mountains driven,
Swell to the ftarry vault, and dash the heaven.
Know't thou, why comets threaten in the air,
Heralds of woe, deftruction, and despair,
The plague, the fword, and all the forms of war?
On ruddy wings why forky lightning flies,
And rolling thunder grumbles in the skies?
Say, can thy voice, when fultry Sirius reigns,
And funs intenfely glowing cleave the plains,
Th' exhausted urns of thirsty springs supply,
And mitigate the fever of the sky?
Or, when the heavens are charg'd with gloomy clouds, And half the skies precipitate in floods,
Chace the dark horror of the ftorm away,
Reftrain the deluge, and restore the day?
By thee does fummer deck herself with charms,
Or hoary winter lock his frozen arms;
Say, if thy hand inftruct the rofe to glow,
Or to the lily give unfullied fnow?
Teach fruits to knit from bloffoms by degrees,
Swell into orbs, and load the bending trees,
Whofe various kinds a various hue unfold,
With crimson blush, or burnish into gold?
Say, why the fun arrays with fhining dyes
The gaudy bow that gilds the gloomy skies?
He from his urn pours forth his golden ftreams,
And humid clouds imbibe the glittering beams;
Sweetly the varying colours fade or rife,
And the vaft arch embraces half the fkies.
Say, didst thou give the mighty feas their bars,
Fill air with fowl, or light up heaven with stars,
Whofe thousand times ten thousand lamps display
A friendly radiance, mingling ray with ray?
Say, canft thou rule the courfers of the fun,
Or lafh the lazy fign, Boötes, on?
Doft thou inftruct the eagle how to fly,
To mount the viewless winds, and tower the sky?
On founding pinions borne, he foars, and fhrouds
His proud afpiring head among the clouds ;
Strong-pounc'd, and fierce, he darts upon his prey,
He fails in triumph through the ethereal way,
Bears on the fun, and bafks in open day.
Does the dread King, and terror of the wood,
The lion, from thy hand expect his food?
Stung with keen hunger from his den he comes,
Ranges the plains, and o'er the forest roams;
*He fnuffs the track of beafts, he fiercely roars,
Doubling the horrors of the midnight hours;
With fullen majefty he stalk's away,
And the rocks tremble while he seeks his prey:
Dreadful he grins, he rends the savage brood
With unfheath'd paws, and churns the fpouting blood.
Doft thou with thunder arm the generous horfe,
Add nervous limbs, or fwiftnefs for the courfe?
Fleet as the wind, he fhoots along the plain,
And knows no check, nor hears the curbing rein;
He mocks the beating storms and wintery fhowers, Making night hideous, as he fternly roars.
His fiery eye-balls formidably bright,
Dart a fierce glory, and a dreadful light,
Pleas'd with the clank of arms, and trumpets found,
He bounds, and prancing paws the trembling ground;
He fnuffs the promis'd battle from afar,
Neighs at the captains, fhouts, and thunder of the war :
Rouz'd with the noble din and martial fight,
He pants with tumults of fevere delight:
His fprightly blood an even course disdains,
Pours from his heart, and charges in his veins;
He braves the fpear, and mocks the twanging bow,
Demands the fight, and rushes on the foe.
Occafioned by the Death of a beloved Daughter, 1723.
DIEU vain mirth, and noify joys!
Ye gay defires, deluding toys!
Thou, thoughtful Melancholy, deign
To hide me in thy pensive train!
If by the fall of murmuring floods,
Where awful fhades embrown the woods,
Or if where winds in caverns groan,
Thou wandereft filent and alone;
Come, blissful mourner, wifely fad,
In forrow's garb, in fable clad,
Henceforth, thou Care, my hours employ !
Sorrow, be thou henceforth my joy!
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