"Lo! ftreaming comfort o'er the troubled deep,
"On every pointed coaft the light-houfe towers;
"And, by the broad imperious mole repell❜d,
"Hark! how the baffled ftorm indignant roars."
As thick to view these varied wonders rofe,
Shook all my foul with transport, unaffur'd,
The Vifion broke; and, on my waking eye,
Rufh'd the ftill ruins of dejected Rome.

715

720

NOTES

Ver. 69.

NOTES on PART V.

Tin.

Ver. 285. Lord Molesworth in his account of Denmark fays, It is observed, that in limited monarchies and commonwealths, a neighbourhood to the feat of the government is advantageous to the subjects; whilst the diftant provinces are lefs thriving, and more liable to oppreffion.

Ver. 409. The famous retreat of the Ten Thoufand was chiefly conducted by Xenophon.

Ver. 414. Epaminondas, after having beat the Lacedemonians and their allies, in the battle of Leuctra, made an incurfion at the head of a powerful army, into Laconia. It was now fix hundred years fince the Dorians had poffeffed this country, and in all that time the face of an enemy had not been feen within their territories. Plutarch in Agefilaus.

Ver. 458. Lewis XIV.

Ver. 473. The canal of Languedoc.

Ver. 475 & 477. The hofpitals for foundlings and

invalids.

Ver. 496. The academies of Sciences, of the Belles Lettres, and of Painting.

Ver. 503. Engraving.

Ver. 518.

The tapestry of the Gobelins.

Ver. 663. An hospital for foundlings.

Ver. 680. A creature which, of all brutes, most re

fembles man.-See Dr. Tyson's treatife on this animal. Ver. 699. Okely woods, near Cirencester.

A POEM,

A POE M,

Sacred to the Memory of Sir ISAAC NEWTON.

Infcribed to the Right Hon. Sir ROBERT WALPOLE.

SH

HALL the great foul of Newton quit this earth, To mingle with his stars; and every Muse, Aftonish'd into filence, fhun the weight

Of honours due to his illuftrious name?

But what can man? Ev'n now the fons of light,
In ftrains high-warbled to feraphic lyre,
Hail his arrival on the coaft of blifs.

Yet am I not deterr'd, though high the theme,
And fung to harps of angels, for with you,
Ethereal flames! ambitious, I afpire,

In nature's general fymphony to join.

And what new wonders can you show your guest !
Who, while on this dim spot, where mortals toil
Clouded in duft, from motion's fimple laws,
Could trace the fecret hand of Providence,
Wide-working through this universal frame.

Have ye not liften'd while he bound the funs,
And planets, to their spheres! th' unequal task
Of human-kind till then. Oft had they roll'd
O'er erring man the year, and oft disgrac'd
The pride of schools, before their course was known
Full in its caufes and effects to him,

All-piercing fage! Who fat not down and dream'd
Romantic schemes, defended by the din

5

10

15

20

Of

Of fpecious words, and tyranny of names;
But, bidding his amazing mind attend,
And with heroic patience years on years
Deep-fearching, faw at laft the fystem dawn,
And shine, of all his race, on him alone.

25

What were his raptures then! how pure! how ftrong!
And what the triumpas of old Greece and Rome,
By his diminish'd, but the pride of boys

In fome fmall fray victorious! when instead
Of shatter'd parcels of this earth ufurp'd
By violence unmanly, and fore deeds
Of cruelty and blood, Nature herfelf
Stood all fubdued by him, and open laid
Her every latent glory to his view.

All intellectual eye, our folar round

First gazing through, he by the blended power
Of gravitation and projection saw

The whole in filent harmony revolve.
From unaffifted vifion hid, the moons

35

40

To chear remoter planets numerous form❜d,
By him in all their mingled tracts were feen.

45

He also fix'd our wandering queen of night,

Whether the wanes into a scanty orb,

Or, waxing broad, with her pale fhadowy light,

In a foft deluge overflows the sky.

Her every motion clear-difcerning, he

Adjusted to the mutual main, and taught
Why now the mighty mafs of water fwells
Refiftlefs, heaving on the broken rocks,
And the full river turning till again

50

The

The tide revertive, unattracted, leaves

A yellow waste of idle fands behind.

Then breaking hence, he took his ardent flight Through the blue infinite; and every star, Which the clear concave of a winter's night

Pours on the eye, or aftronomic tube,

Far-ftretching, fnatches from the dark abyss;
Or fuch as farther in fucceffive skies
To fancy shine alone, at his approach
Blaz'd into funs, the living centre each
Of an harmonious fyftem: all combin❜d,
And rul'd unerring by that fingle power,
Which draws the stone projected to the ground.
O, unprofufe magnificence divine!

55

60

65

O, wisdom truly perfect! thus to call
From a few caufes such a scheme of things,
Effects fo various, beautiful, and great,

70

An universe compleat! And, O belov❜d

Of Heaven! whofe well-purg'd penetrative eye,

The mystic veil tranfpiercing, inly feann'd
The rising, moving, wide-establish'd frame.

75

He, firft of men, with aweful wing pursued

The comet through the long elliptic curve,

As round innumerous worlds he wound his way;
Till, to the forehead of our evening sky
Return'd, the blazing wonder glares anew,
And o'er the trembling nations fhakes difmay.

The heavens are all his own; from the wild rule

Of whirling vortices, and circling Spheres,

To their first great fimplicity reftor'd.

80.

The