Eight hundred years of death is not fo deep, "So unconcern'd, as my lethargic fleep.

"My patience even a facrilege becomes,
"Disturbs the dead, and opes their facred tombs.
"Ah! Benjamin, kind father! who for me
"This curfed world endur'ft again to fee!
"All thou haft faid, great vifion! is so true,

325

330

"That all which thou command'ft, and more, I'll do: "Kill him! yes, mighty ghoft! the wretch fhall die, "Though every ftar in heaven fhould it deny; "Nor mock th' affault of our juft wrath again, "Had he ten times his fam'd ten thousand flain. "Should that bold popular madman, whofe defign "Is to revenge his own difgrace by mine, "Should my ungrateful fon oppofe th' intent, "Should mine own heart grow fcrupulous and relent, "Curfe me, juft Heaven! (by which this truth I fwear) "If I that feer, my fon, or felf, do fpare.

335

"No, gentle ghoft! return to thy ftill home;
"Thither, this day, mine and thy foe fhall come. 340
"If that curft object longer vex my fight,

"It must have learnt t' appear as thou to-night."
Whilft thus his wrath with threats the tyrant fed,
The threaten'd youth slept fearless on his bed;
Sleep on, reft quiet as thy confcience take,

345

For, though thou fleep'ft thyself, thy God 's awake.

Above the fubtle foldings of the sky;

Above the well-fet orbs' foft harmony;

Above thofe petty lamps that gild the night;

There is a place o'erflown with hallow'd light;

350 Where

Where heaven, as if it left itself behind,

Is ftretch'd-out far, nor its own bounds can find :
Here peaceful flames fwell up the facred place,
Nor can the glory contain itself in th' endless space;
For there no twilight of the fun's dull ray
Glimmers upon the pure and native day;
No pale-fac'd moon does in ftol'n beams appear,
Or with dim taper scatters darkness there;
On no smooth sphere the reftlefs feafons flide,
No circling motion doth swift time divide;
Nothing is there to come, and nothing past,
But an eternal Now does always last.
There fits th' Almighty, First of all, and End;
Whom nothing but himself can comprehend;
Who with his word commanded all to be,

355

366

365

And all obey'd him, for that word was He :
Only he spoke, and every thing that is

From out the womb of fertile nothing ris'.

Oh, who fhall tell, who fhall defcribe thy throne,

Thou great Three-One!

370

There thou thyfelf doft in full prefence show,
Not abfent from these meaner worlds below
No, if thou wert, the elements' league would ceafe,
And all thy creatures break thy Nature's peace;
The fun would ftop his courfe, or gallop back,
The ftars drop out, the poles themselves would crack;
Earth's ftrong foundations would be torn in twain,
And this vaft work all ravel out again

To its firft nothing: for his spirit contains

375

The well-knit mafs; from him each creature gains 380

Being and motion, which he still bestows;
From him th' effect of our weak action flows:
Round him vaft armies of swift angels ftand,
Which feven triumphant generals command;
They fing loud anthems of his endless praise,
And with fix'd eyes drink-in immortal rays :
Of thefe he call'd-out one; all heaven did shake,
And filence kept whilst its Creator spake.

"Are we forgotten then fo foon ? can he
"Look on his crown, and not remember me
"That gave it? can he think we did not hear

385

390

(Fond man!) his threats? and have we made the ear, "To be accounted deaf? No, Saul ! we heard ;

"And it will coft thee dear: the ills thou'ft fear'd, "Practis'd, or thought on, I'll all double fend; 395 "Have we not spoke it, and dares man contend? "Alas, poor duft! didst thou but know the day "When thou muft lie in blood at Gilboa,

66

Thou, and thy fons, thou would'st not threaten ftill; Thy trembling tongue would stop against thy will. 400 "Then fhall thine head fix'd in curft temples be, "And all their foolish gods fhall laugh at thee. "That hand which now on David's life would prey, "Shall then turn juft, and its own master flay;

"He whom thou hat'ft, on thy lov'd throne shall fit, 405 "And expiate the difgrace thou dost to it.

"Hafte then; tell David what his king has fworn, "Tell him whofe blood must paint this rifing morn; "Yet bid him go securely, when he sends;

"Tis Saul that is his foe, and We his friends : 410.

"The

"The man who has his God, no aid can lack,
"And We, who bid him go, will bring him back."
He spoke; the heavens feem'd decently to bow,
With all their bright inhabitants; and now
The jocund spheres began again to play,
Again each Spirit fung Halleluia;

Only that Angel was strait gone; even fo
(But not so swift) the morning-glories flow

415

At once from the bright fun, and strike the ground;
So winged lightning the foft air does wound.

Slow Time admires, and knows not what to call
The motion, having no account so small.

So flew this Angel, till to David's bed
He came, and thus his facred message said:

420

"Awake, young man, hear what thy king has fworn; "He fwore thy blood fhould paint this rifing morn: "Yet to him go fecurely, when he sends;

"'Tis Saul that is your foc, and God your friends :
"The man who has his God, no aid can lack;
"And he who bids thee go, will bring thee back." 430
Up leap'd Jeffides, and did round him ftare,
But could fee nought; for nought was left but air:
Whilft this great vifion labours in his thought,
Lo! the short prophecy t' effect is brought:
In treacherous hafte he 's fent for to the king,
And with him bid his charmful lyre to bring.
The king, they say, lies raging in a fit,
Which does no cure but facred tunes admit ;
And true it was, foft mufic did appeale
Th' obfcure fantastic rage of Saul's disease.

G 3

435

449 Tell

Tell me, oh Mufe! (for thou, or none, cant tell, The mystic powers that in blest numbers dwell; Thou their great nature know`st, nor is it fit This nobleft gem of thine own crown t' omit) Tell me from whence these heavenly charms arise ; 445 Teach the dull world t' admire what they defpife!

450

As first a various unform'd hint we find Rife in fome godlike poet's fertile mind, Till all the parts and words their places take, And with just marches verfe and music make; Such was God's poem, this world's new effay; So wild and rude in its firft draught it lay; Th' ungovern'd parts no correfpondence knew, An artless war from thwarting motions grew; Till they to number and fix'd rules were brought 455 By the Eternal Mind's poetic thought.

Water and Air he for the tenor chofe,

Earth made the bafs, the treble Flame arofe:

To th' active moon a quick brisk stroke he gave,
To Saturn's ftring, a touch more foft and grave. 460
The motions ftrait, and round, and swift, and flow,
And short, and long, were mix'd and woven fo—
Did in fuch artful figures finoothly fall-

As made this decent-meafur'd Dance of All.

And this is mufic: founds that charms our ears, 465
Are but one dreffing that rich fcience wears.
Though no man hear 't, though no man it rehearse,
Yet will there ftill be mufic in my verfe;
In this great world fo much of it we fee,
The lefler, Man, is all o'er harmony;

470

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