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*Pure plain Devotion to a folemn farce;
To holy dotage Virtue, even to guile,
To murder, and a mockery of oaths;

Brave antient Freedom to the † Rage of Slaves,
Proud of their state, and fighting for their chains; 95
Dishonour'd Courage to the + Bravo's trade,

To civil broil; and Glory to romance.
Thus human life unhing'd, to ruin reel'd,
And giddy Reason totter'd on her throne.

At laft HEAVEN's beft inexplicable scheme,
Disclosing, bade new brightening aeras smile.
The high command gone forth, ARTS in my train,
And azure-mantled SCIENCE, fwift We Spread
A founding pinion. Eager pity, mix'd

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With indignation, urg'd her downward flight.
On Latium first we stoop'd, for doubtful life
That panted, funk beneath unnumber'd woes.
poor Italia! what a bitter
Of vengeance haft thoudrain'd? Goths, Vandals, Huns,
Lombards, barbarians broke from

Ah

cup

every land,

How many a ruffian form haft thou beheld?

What horrid jargons heard, where rage alone
Was all thy frighted ear could comprehend?
How frequent by the red inhuman hand,

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Yet warm with brother's, husband's, father's blood, 115
Haft thou thy matrons and thy virgins seen
To violation dragg'd, and mingled death?

What conflagrations, earthquakes, ravage, floods,
Have turn'd thy cities into ftony wilds;
And fuccourless, and bare, the poor remains
Of wretches forth to nature's common caft?

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The corruptions of the church of Rome. Vaffalage, whence the attachment of clans to their chief.

Duelling.

Added

Added to these, the still continued waste
Of* inbred foes, that on thy vitals prey,

And, double tyrants, feize the very foul.

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Where had'st thou treasures for this rapine all?
These hungry myriads, that thy bowels tore,
Heap'd fack on fack, and bury'd in their rage
Wonders of art; whence this grey scene of mine
Of more than gold becomes and orient gems,
Where Egypt, Greece, and Rome united glow.. 130
Here SCULPTURE,PAINTING, ARCHITECTURE,bent
From antient models to restore their arts,
Remain'd. A little trace we how they rose.
Amid the heary ruins Sculpture first,

Deep digging, from the cavern dark and damp, 135
Their grave for ages, bid her marble race

Spring to new light. Joy sparkled in her eyes,
And old remembrance thrill'd in every thought,
As the the pleafing refurrection faw..

In leaning fite, refpiring from his toils,

The well-known + Hero, who deliver'd Greece,
His ample cheft, all tempefted with force,
Unconquerable rear'd. She faw the head,
Breathing the hero, fmall, of Grecian fize,
Scarce more extensive than the finewy neck ;
The fpreading fhoulders, mufcular and broad;
The whole a mass of swelling finews, touch'd
Into harmonious fhape; fhe faw, and joy'd.
The yellow hunter, Meleager, rais'd

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His beauteous front, and thro' the finish'd whole 150
Shows what ideas fmiled of old in Greece.

Of raging afpect, rufh'd impetuous forth
The Gladiator. Pitylefs his look,

* The Hierarchy.
The Fighting Gladiator.
B b

VOL. I.

The Hercules of Farnese.

And

And each keen finew brac'd, the storm of war,
Ruffling, o'er all his nervous body frowns.
The Dying Other from the gloom she drew.
Supported on his fhortened arm he leans,
Prone, agonizing; with incumbent fate
Heavy, declines his head; yet dark beneath
The fuffering feature fullen vengeance lowrs,
Shame, indignation, unaccomplish'd rage,
And still the cheated eye expects his fall.
All conqueft-fuf'd, from proftrate Python came
The † Quivered God. In graceful act he stands,
His arm extended with the flackened bow.
Light flows his easy robe, and fair displays
A manly-foftened form. The bloom of Gods
Seems youthful o'er the beardless cheek to wave.
His features yet heroic ardor warms;
And sweet fubfiding to a native smile,
Mixt with the joy elating-conqueft gives,
A fcatter'd frown exalts his matchlefs air.
On Flora mov'd; her full-proportion'd limbs
Rife thro' the mantle fluttering in the breeze.
The Queen of Love arofe, as from the deep
She sprung in all the melting pomp of charms.
Bashful fhe bends, her well-taught look afide
Turns in enchanting guife, where dubious mix
Vain confcious beauty, a diffembled sense
Of modest shame, and flippery looks of love.

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The gazer grows enamour'd, and the stone,
As if exulting in its conqueft, fimiles.

So turn'd each limb, fo fwell'd with softening art,
That the deluded eye the marble doubts.

*The Dying Gladiator. ↑ The Apollo of Belvidere.

The Venus of Medici.

At

At laft her utmost Masterpiece fhe found,
That Maro fir'd, the miserable fire,
Wrapt with his fons in Fate's feverest grafp.
The ferpents, twisting round, their stringent folds
Inextricable tie. Such paffion here,

Such agonies, fuch bitternefs of pain,

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Seem fo to tremble thro' the tortur'd stone,

That the touch'd heart engroffes all the view.
Almost unmark'd the best proportions pass,
That ever Greece beheld; and, seen alone,

On the rapt eye th' imperious passions seize :
The father's double pangs, both for himself
And fons convuls'd; to Heaven his rueful look,
Imploring aid, and half-accufing, cast;
His fell defpair with indignation mixt,

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As the strong-curling monfters from his fide
His full-extended fury cannot tear.

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More tender touch'd, with varied art, his fons
All the foft rage of younger passions show.
In a boy's helpless-fate one finks opprefs'd;
While, yet unpierc'd, the frighted other tries
His foot to fteal out of the horrid twine.

She bore no more, but ftrait from Gothic ruft
Her chifel clear'd, and ‡ duft and fragments drove
Impetuous round. Succeffive as it went

From fon to fon, with more enlivening touch,
From the brute rock it call'd the breathing form ;
Till, in a legislator's awful grace

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* The groupe of Laocoon and his two fons, destroyed by two ferpents. + See Æneid II. Ver. 199.-22.7.

It is reported of Michael Angelo Buonaroti, the most celebrated master in modern Sculpture, that he wrought with a kind of inspiration, or enthusiastical fury, which produced the effect here mentioned.

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Dreft, Buonaroti bid a * Moses rise,

And, looking love immenfe, a SAVIOUR-GOD.
Of thefe obfervant, PAINTING felt the fire
Burn inward. Then extatic she diffus'd

The canvafs, feiz'd the pallet, with quick hand
The colours brew'd; and on the void expanfe
Her gay creation pour'd, her mimic world.
Poor was the manner of her eldest race,
Barren, and dry; just struggling from the tafte
That had for ages fcar'd, in cloysters dim,
The fuperftitious herd: yet glorious then
Were deem'd their works; where undevelop'd lay
The future wonders that enrich'd mankind,
And a new light and grace o'er Europe cast.
Arts gradual gather ftreams. Enlarging This
To each his portion of her various gifts
The GODDESS dealt, to none indulging all ;
No, not to Raphael. At kind distance still
Perfection ftands, like Happiness, to tempt
Th' eternal chace. In elegant defign
Improving nature; in ideas fair,

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Or great, extracted from the fine antique ;
In attitude, expreffion, airs divine;

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Her fons of Rome and] Florence bore the prize.

To thofe of Venice the the magic art

Of colours melting into colours gave.
Theirs too it was by one embracing mafs

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Of light and shade, that settles round the whole, 240 Or varies tremulous from part to part,

O'er all a binding harmony to throw,

To raise the picture, and repofe the fight.

The + Lombard fchool fucceeding, mingled both.

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* Efteemed the two fineft pieces of modern Sculpture. The school of the Caracci,

Meantime

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