Yet wide was fpread their fame in ages paft,
And poets once had promis'd they should last.
Some fresh engrav'd appear'd of wits renown'd;
I look'd again, nor could their trace be found.
Critics I faw, that other names deface,
And fix their own, with labour, in their place:
Their own, like others, foon their place refign'd,
Or difappear'd, and left the first behind.
Nor was the work impair'd by storms alone,
But felt the approaches of too warm a fun;
For fame, impatient of extremes, decays
Not more by envy than excess of praife.
Yet part no injuries of heav'n could feel,
Like cryftal faithful to the graving steel:
The rock's high fummit, in the temple's fhade,
Nor heat could melt, nor beating storm invade.
There names infcrib'd unnumber'd ages past,
From Time's first birth, with Time itself shall last ;
Thefe ever new, nor subject to decays,
Spread and grow brighter with the length of days.
So Zembla's rocks (the beauteous work of Froft)
Rise white in air, and glitter o'er the coast;
Pale funs, unfelt, at distance roll away,
And on th' impaffive ice the lightnings play;
Eternal fnows the growing mafs fupply,
Till the bright mountains prop th' incumbent sky;
As Atlas fix'd, each hoary pile appears,
The gather'd winter of a thousand years.
On this foundation Fame's high temple stands;
Stupendous pile! not rear'd by mortal hands.
Whate'er proud Rome or artful Greece beheld,
Or elder Babylon, its frame excell'd.
Four faces had the dome, and ev'ry face
Of various ftructure, but of equal grace.
Four brazen gates, on columns lifted high,
Salute the diff'rent quarters of the sky.
Here fabled chiefs, in darker ages born,
Or worthies old, whom arms or arts adorn,
Who cities rais'd, or tam'd a monftrous race,
The walls in venerable order grace;
Heroes in animated marble frown,
And legiflators feem to think in ftone.
Weftward, a fumptuous frontifpiece appear'd, 75
On Doric pillars of white marble rear'd,
Crown'd with an architrave of antique mould,
And fculpture rifing on the roughen'd gold.
In fhaggy fpoils here Thefeus was beheld,
And Perfeus dreadful with Minerva's fhield:
There great Alcides, ftooping with his toil,
Refts on his club, and holds th' Hefperian spoil:
Here Orpheus fings; trees moving to the found,
Start from their roots, and form a fhade around:
Amphion there the loud creating lyre
Strikes, and beholds a fudden Thebes afpire!
Cythæron's echoes anfwer to his call,
And half the mountain rolls into a wall:
There might you fee the length'ning fpires afcend,
The domes fwell up, the wid'ning arches bend,
The growing tow'rs like exhalations rife,
And the huge columns heave into the skies.
The eastern front was glorious to behold,
With di'mond flaming, and Barbaric gold.
There Ninus fhone, who fpread the Affyrian fame, 95
And the great founder of the Perfian name:
There in long robes the royal Magi stand,
Grave Zoroafter waves the circling wand;
The fage Chaldeans rob'd in white appear'd,
And Brackmans, deep in desert woods rever❜d.
Thefe ftop'd the moon, and call'd th' unbody'd fhades
To midnight banquets in the glimm'ring glades;
Made vifionary fabrics round them rise,
And airy fpectres fkim before their eyes;
Of tailfman's and figils knew the pow'r,
And careful watch'd the planetary hour.
Superior, and alone, Confucius ftood,
Who taught that useful fcience to be good.
But on the fouth, a long majeftic race
Of Egypt's priefts the gilded niches grace,
Who meafur'd earth, defcrib'd the starry fpheres,
And trac'd the long records of lunar years.
High on his car Sesostris struck my view,
Whom fcepter'd flaves in golden harness drew:
His hand a bow and pointed jav'lin hold;
His giant limbs are arm'd in scales of gold.
Between the ftatues obelisks were plac'd,
And the learn'd walls with hieroglyphics grac❜d.
Of Gothic structure was the northern fide,
O'erwrought with ornaments of barb'rous pride. 120
There huge Coloffes rofe, with trophies crown'd,
And Runic Characters were grav'd around:
There fat Zamolxis with erected eyes,
And Odin here in mimic trances dies.
There on rude iron columns, fmear'd with blood, 125 The horrid forms of Scythian heroes stood,
Druids and bards, (their once loud harps unftrung,)
And youths that dy'd to be by poets fung.
Thefe and a thousand more of doubtful fame,
To whom old fables gave a lasting name,
In ranks adorn'd the temple's outward face;
The wall in luftre and effect like glass,
Which o'er each object casting various dyes,
Enlarges fome, and others multiplies:
Nor void of emblem was the mystic wall,
For thus romantic Fame increases all.
The temple shakes, the founding gates unfold,
Wide vaults appear, and roofs of fretted gold,
Rais'd on a thoufand pillars, wreath'd around
With laurel foliage, and with eagles crown'd:
Of bright tranfparent beryl were the walls,
The frizes gold, and gold the capitals:
As heav'n with stars, the roof with jewels glows,
And ever-living lamps depend in rows.
Full in the paffage of each fpacious gate,
The fage hiftorians in white garments wait;
Grav'd o'er their feats the form of Time was found,
His fcythe revers'd, and both his pinions bound.
Within stood heroes, who, through loud alarms,
In bloody fields purfu'd renown in arms.
High on a throne, with trophies charg'd, I view'd
The youth that all things but himself fubdu'd:
His feet on fceptres and tiaras trod,
And his horn'd head bely'd the Libyan god.
There Cæfar, grac'd with both Minervas, fhone; 155
Cæfar, the world's great mafter, and his own;
Unmov'd, fuperior still in ev'ry state,
And fearce detefted in his country's fate.
But chief were those who not for empire fought,
But with their toils their peoples' fafety bought; 160
High o'er the reft Epaminondas ftood;
Timoleon, glorious in his brother's blood;
Bold Scipio, faviour of the Roman state,
Great in his triumphs, in retirement great;
And wife Aurelius, in whofe well-taught mind
With boundless pow'r unbounded virtue join'd;
His own ftrict judge, and patron of mankind.
Much fuff'ring heroes next their honours claim,
Thofe of lefs noify and lefs guilty fame,
Fair Virtue's filent train: fupreme of thefe
Here ever fhines the god-like Socrates;
He whom ungrateful Athens could expell,
At all times juft, but when he fign'd the fhell:
Here his abode the martyr'd Phocion claims,
With Agis, not the last of Spartan names :
Unconquer'd Cato fhews the wound he tore,
And Brutus his ill genius meets no more.
But in the centre of the hallow'd choir,
Six
pompous columns o'er the reft afpire;
Around the fhrine itfelf of Fame they ftand,
Hold the chief honours, and the fane command.
High on the first the mighty Homer shone,
Eternal adamant compos'd his throne;
Father of verfe! in holy fillets dreft,
His filver beard wav'd gently o'er his breaft;
Though blind, a boldness in his looks appears;
In years he feem'd, but not impair'd by years.
The wars of Troy were round the pillars feen:
Here fierce Tydides wounds the Cyprian queen :
Here Hector glorious from Patroclus' fall;
Here dragg'd in triumph round the Trojan wall.
Motion and life did ev'ry part inspire ;
Bold was the work, and prov'd the master's fire;
A ftrong expreffion most he seem'd t' affect,
And here and there difclos'd a brave neglect.
A golden column next in rank appear'd,
On which a fhrine of pureft gold was rear'd;
Finish'd the whole, and labour'd ev'ry part,
With patient touches of unwearied art:
The Mantuan there in fober triumph fate,
Compos'd his pofture, and his look fedate;
On Homer ftill he fix'd a rev'rend eye;
Great without pride, in modest majesty.
In living fculpture on the fides were spread
The Latian wars, and haughty Turnus dead;
Eliza ftretch'd upon the fun'ral pyre;
Æneas bending with his aged fire:
Troy flam'd in burning gold, and o'er the throne
Arms and the Man in golden cyphers fhone.
Four fwans fuftain a car of filver bright,
With heads advanc'd, and pinions ftretch'd for flight:
Here, like fome furious prophet, Pindar rode,
And feem'd to labour with th' infpiring god.
Acrofs the harp a careless hand he flings,
And boldly finks into the founding ftrings.
The figur'd games of Greece the column grace,
Neptune and Jove furvey the rapid race.
The youths hang o'er their chariots as they run ;
The fiery feeds seem starting from the stone;
The champions in diftorted postures threat;
And all appear'd irregularly great.
Here happy Horace tun'd the Aufonian lyre
To fweeter founds, and temper'd Pindar's fire
Pleas'd with Alceus' manly rage t' infuse
The fofter fpirit of the Sapphic mufe.
The polish'd pillar diff'rent sculptures grace,
A work outlasting monumental brass.
Here fmiling Loves and Bacchanals appear,
The Julian ftar, and great Augustus here:
The doves that round the infant poet fpread
Myrties and bays, hang hov'ring o'er his head.
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