mercy from my judges, as to be condemned to fuffer without inhumanity: But whatever be the fate of thefe works, they have proved of use to me, and been an agreeable amufement in a conftant folitude. Providence has been pleased to lead me out of the great roads of life, into a private path; where, though we have leifure to chufe the smoothest way, yet we are all fure to meet many obftacles in the journey: I have found poetry an innocent companion, and fupport from the fatigues of it; how long, or how short, the future ftages of it are to be, as it is uncertain, so it is a folly to be over-folicitous about it; he that lives the longest, has but the fmall privilege of creeping more leifurely than others to his grave; what we call living, is in reality but a longer time of dying and if these verses prove as 'fhort-lived as their author, it is a lofs not worth regretting: They only die, as they were born, in obfcurity.

POEMS

BY

DR. BROOM E.

HABBAKKUK, Chap. III. Paraphrafed.

An ODE, written in 1710, as an Exercise.

WHEN in a glorious terrible array,

[way;

From Paran's towering height th' Almighty took his
Borne on a cherub's wings he rode,
Intolerable day proclaim'd the God;
No earthly cloud.

Could his effulgent brightnefs fhroud :
Glory, and majefty, and power,

March'd in a dreadful pomp before;

Behind, a grim and meagre train,

Pining sickness, frantic pain,

Stalk'd widely on! with all the disinal band, Which heaven in anger fends to fcourge a guilty land.

With terror cloath'd, he downward flew, And wither'd half the nations with a view; Through half the nations of th' astonish'd earth He scatter'd war, and plagues, and dearth!

And

And when he spoke,

The everlafting hills from their foundations hook
The trembling mountains, by a lowly nod,
With reverence ftruck, confefs'd the God:
On Sion's holy hill he took his ftand,
Grafping omnipotence in his right hand;
Then mighty earthquakes rock'd the ground,
And the fun darken'd as he frown'd:
Ile dealt affliction from his van,
And wild confufion from his rear;
They through the tents of Cuflian ran,
The tents of Cushan quak'd with fear,
And Midian trembled with despair.
* I fee! his fword wave naked in the air;
It sheds around a baleful ray,

The rains pour down, the lightnings play,
And on their wings vindictive thunders bear.

When through the mighty flood,
He led the murmuring croud,

What ail'd the rivers that they backward fled ?
Why was the mighty flood afraid?
March'd he against the rivers? or was he,
Thou mighty flood! difpleas'd at thee?

VARIATION.

*I fee his fword wave with redoubled ire.
Ah! has it fet the very clouds on fire?
The clouds burft down in deluges of showers;
Fierce lightning flames, vindictive thunder roars.

The

The flood beheld from far,

The deity in all his equipage of war;

And lo! at once it burfts! in diverfe falls
On either hand! it swells in crystal walls !
Th' eternal rocks difclofe! the toffing waves
Ruth in loud thunder from a thousand caves!
Why tremble ye, O! faithlefs, to behold

The opening deeps their gulphs unfold?
Enter the dreadful chafins! 'tis God, who guides
Your wondrous way! the God who rules the tides!
And lo! they march amid the deafening roar
Of tumbling feas! they mount the adverfe fhore!
Advance, ye chosen tribes !—Arabia's fands
Lonely, uncomfortable lands!

Void of fountain, void of rain,
Oppofe their burning coasts in vain!
See the great prophet stand,
Waving his wonder-working wand!

He ftrikes the ftubborn rock, and lo!
The ftubborn rock feels the Almighty blow;

His ftony entrails burft, and rufhing torrents flow.

*Then did the fun his fiery courfers ftay,
And backward held the falling day;

VARIATION.

* Ah, what new fcenes unfold, what voice I hear; Sun, ftand thou ftill; thou moon, thy courfe forbear: Ah, . . . . fun, thy wheels obedient flay,

Doubling the fplendors of the wondrous day.

The nimble-footed minutes ceas'd to run,

And urge the lazy hours on.
Time hung his unexpanded wings,
And all the fecret fprings

That carry on the year,

Stopp'd in their full career :

Then the astonish'd moon,

Forgot her going down;
And paler grew,

The difimal fcene to view,

How through the trembling Pagan nation,
The Almighty ruin dealt, and ghaftly defolation.

But why, ah! why, O Sion, reigns
Wide wafting havoc o'er thy plains?
Ah! me, deftruction is abroad!

Vengeance is loofe, and wrath from God!
See! hofts of spoilers feize their prey !
See! flaughter marks in blood his way!

The nimble-footed minutes cease to run,
And urge the lazy hours on,
Time hangs his unexpanded wings,
And all the fecret fprings
That carry on the year

Stop in their full career;

At once th' aftonifh'd moon

Forgets her going down,

And paler grows,

To view th' amazing train of woes;

While through the trembling Pagan nation,

Th' Almighty ruin deals, and ghaftly defolation.

See!