When the world bow'd to Rome's almighty fword,
Rome bow'd to Pompey, and confefs'd her lord;
Yet, one day loft, the deity below
Became the fcorn and pity of his foe.
His blood a traitor's facrifice was made,
And finok'd indignant on a ruffian's blade.
No trumpet's found, no gafping army's yell,
Bid, with due horror, his great foul farewel.
Obfcure his fall! all welt'ring in his gore,
His trunk was caft to perish on the fhore!
While Julius frown'd the bloody monster dead,
Who brought the world in his great rival's head.
This fever'd head and trunk shall join once more,
Tho' realms now rife between, and oceans rore.
The trumpet's found each vagrant mote shall hear,
Or fix'd in earth, or if afloat in air,
Obey the fignal wafted in the wind,
And not one fleeping atom lag behind.
So fwarming bees, that, on a fummer's day,
In airy rings and wild meanders play,
Charm'd with the brazen found their wändrings end,
And gently circling on a bough defcend.
The body thus renew'd, the conscious foul,
Which has perhaps been flutt'ring near the pole,
Or midft the burning planets wond'ring ftray'd,
Or hover'd o'er where her pale corps was laid;
Or rather coasted on her final state,
And fear'd, and wifh'd for her appointed fate:
This foul, returning with a conftant flame,
Now weds forever her immortal frame.
Life, which ran down before, fo high is wound,
The fprings maintain an everlafting round.
Thus a frail model of the work defign'd
First takes a copy of the builder's mind,.
Before the structure, firm with lafting oak,
And marble bowels of the folid rock,
Turns the ftrong arch, and bids the columns rife,
And bear the lofty palace to the skies;
The wrongs of time enabled to furpass,
With bars of adamant and ribs of brass.
That ancient, facred, and illuftrious † dome,
Where foon or late fair Albion's heroes come,
From camps and courts, tho' great, and wife, and juft,
To feed the worm and moulder into dust ;
That folemn manfion of the royal dead,
Where paffing flaves o'er fleeping monarchs tread,
Now populous o'erflows: a numerous race
Of rifing kings fill all th' extended space:
A life well spent, not the victorious sword,
Awards the crown, and stiles the greater lord.
Nor monuments alone, and burial-earth,
Labour with man to this his second birth;
But where gay palaces in pomp arise,
And gilded theatres invade the skies,
Nations fhall wake, whose unrespected bones
Support the pride of their luxurious fons.
The most magnificent, and coftly dome,
Is but an upper chamber to a tomb.
No fpot on earth but has fupply'd a grave,
And human skulls the fpacious ocean pave..
All's full of man, and, at this dreadful turn,
The swarm shall iffue, and the hive shall burn.
Not all at once, nor in like manner rife:
Some lift with pain their flow unwilling eyes;
Shrink backward from the terror of the light,
And bless the grave, and call for lasting night.
Others, whose long-attempted virtue ftood
Fix'd as a rock, and broke the rushing flood,
Whose firm refolve, nor beauty could melt down,.
Nor raging tyrants from their posture frown;,
Such in this day of horrors shall be seen,
To face the thunders with a godlike mein:
The planets drop, their thoughts are fix'd above;
The centre shakes, their heads difdain to move:
An earth diffolving, and a heav'n thrown wide,
A yawning gulph, and fiends on every fide,
Serene thy view, impatient of delay,
And blefs the dawn of everlasting day.
Oh wondrous change! what unknown objects rife,
Shake my belief, and fill me with furprize?
Here greatness proftrate falls, their ftrength gives place;
Here Lazars fmile, there beauty hides her face.
Chriftians, and Jews, and Turks, and Pagans stand,
A blended throng, one undistinguish'd band.
Some who perhaps by mutual wounds expir'd,
With zeal for their distinct perfuafions fir'd,
In mutual friendship their long flumber break,
And hand in hand their Saviour's love partake.
But none are flush'd with brighter joy, or, warm
With jufter confidence, enjoy the storm,
Than those, whofe pious bounties, unconfin'd,
Have made them publick fathers of mankind.
In that illuftrious rank, what fhining light,"
With fuch diftinguish'd glory, fills my fight?
Bend down, my grateful mufe, that homage show
Which to fuch worthies thou art proud to owe.
Wickham! Fox! Chichley! hail illuftrious* names,
Who to far diftant times difpenfe your beams;
Beneath your fhades, and near your crystal springs,
I first prefam'd to touch the trembling strings.
All hail thrice-honour'd! 'twas your great renown
To bless a people, and oblige a crown.
When other records length of years fhall blast,
In your adopted fons your fame fhall laft.
And make those kings to latest ages known,
Those happy monarchs under whom you
A moment fhone illustriously bright,
Then left the mourning world, and set in night;
But now you rise eternally to fhine,
Eternally to drink the rays divine.
Indulgent God! oh how fhall mortal raise
His foul to due returns of grateful praise,
For bounty fo profuse to human kind,
Thy wondrous gift of an eternal mind?
Shall I, who fome few years ago was less
Than worm, or mite, or fhadow can express,
Was nothing; fhall I live, when ev'ry fire
Of ev'ry star shall languish or expire?
When earth's no more, fhall I furvive above,
And thro' the radiant files of angels move?
Founders of New-college, Corpus-chrifti, and All-fouls in Ox
Or, as before the throne of God I stand,
See new worlds rolling from his fpacious hand,
Where our adventures fhall perhaps be taught,
As we now tell how Michael fung or fought?
All that has being in full concert join,
And celebrate the depths of love divine!
But oh! before this blissful ftate, before
Th' afpiring foul this wondrous height can foar,
The Judge, defcending, thunders from afar,
And all mankind is fummon'd to the bar.
This mighty scene I next prefume to draw::
Attend, great ANNA, with religious awe.
Expect not here the known fuccessful arts
To win attention, and command our hearts:
Fiction be far away, let no machine
Descending here, no fabled god be seen;
Behold the God of gods indeed defcend,
And worlds unnumber'd his approach attend.
Lo! the wide theatre, whose ample space
Muft entertain the whole of human race,
At heav'n's all-pow'rful edict is prepar'd,
And fenc'd around with an immortal guard.
Tribes, provinces, dominions, worlds o'erflow
The mighty plain, and deluge all below:
And every age and nation pours along;
Nimrod and Bourbon mingle in the throng:
Adam falutes his youngest fon; no fign
Of all thofe ages which their births disjoin.
How empty learning, and how vain is art,
But as it mends the life, and guides the heart?
What volumes have been fwell'd, what time been spent,
To fix a hero's birth-day or defcent?
What joy must it now yield, what raptures raise,
To fee the glorious race of ancient days?
To greet thofe worthies, who perhaps have stood
Illuftrious on record before the flood?
Alas! a nearer care your foul demands,
Cefar unnoted in your presence ftands.
How vaft the concourfe, not in number more
The waves that break on the refounding fhore,
The leaves that tremble in the shady grove,
The lamps that gild the fpangled vaults above.
Thofe overwhelming armies, whose command
Said to one empire, fall; another, stand:
Whofe rear lay wrapt in night, while breaking dawn
Rouz'd the broad front, and call'd the battle on :
Great Xerxes' world in arms, proud Canna's field,
Where Carthage taught victorious Rome to yield,
(Another blow had broke the fates decree,
And earth had wanted her fourth monarchy.)
Immortal Blenheim, fam'd Ramillia's hoft,
They all are here, and here they all are loft:
Their millions fwell to be difcern'd in vain,
Loft as a billow in th' unbounded main.
This echoing voice now rends the yielding air,
For judgment, judgment, fons of men prepare!"
Earth fhakes a-new, I hear her groans profound,
And hell thro' all her trembling realms refound.
Whoe'er thou art, thou greatest pow'r of earth,
Bleft with most equal planets at thy birth;
Whose valour drew the moft fuccefsful fword,
Most realms united in one common lord;
Who on the day of triumph faid'st, be thine
The fkies, JEHOVAH, all the world is mine :
Dare not to lift thine eye.
-alas! my mufe
How art thou loft? what numbers canft thou chuse?
A sudden blush inflames the waving sky,
And now the crimson curtains open fly;
Lo! far within, and far above all height,
Where heav'n's great Sov'reign reigns in worlds of light; Whence nature he informs, and, with one ray
Shot from his eye, does all her works furvey,
Creates, fupports, confounds! where time and place,
Matter and form, and fortune, life and grace,
Wait humbly at the footstool of their God,
And move obedient at his awful nod;
Whence he beholds his vagrant emmets crawl
At random on this air-fufpended ball,
(Speak of creation) if he pour one breath,
The bubble breaks, and 'tis eternal death.
Thence iffuing I behold (but mortal fight
Suftains not fuch a rufhing fea of light)
I fee on an empyreal flying throne,
Awfully rais'd, heav'n's everlasting Son;
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