Reverse of nature! fhall fuch copies then Finds nothing harsh or out of order there. Truc poets are the guardians of a state, And, when they fail, portend approaching fate.. Of many faults, rhyme is (perhaps) the cause; Subdued, undone, they did at laft obey, And change their own for their invaders' way. I grant I grant that from fome moffy, idol oak, As Bards began, fo Monks rung on the chimes. But now that Phoebus and the facred Nine, With all their beams on our bleft ifland fhine, Why should not we their ancient rites restore, And be, what Rome or Athens were before? *Have we forgot how Raphael's numerous profe • Led our exalted fouls through heavenly camps, And mark'd the ground where proud apoftate thrones Defy'd Jehovah! Here, 'twixt host and host, (A narrow, but a dreadful interval) • Portentous fight! before the cloudy van Satan with vaft and haughty ftrides advanc'd, Came towering arm'd in adamant and gold. • There bellowing engines, with their fiery tubes, • Difpers'd æthereal forms, and down they fell By thoufands, angels on arch-angels roll'd; Recover'd, to the hills they ran, they flew, Which (with their ponderous load, rocks, waters, ' woods) From their firm feats torn by the shaggy tops They bore like fhields before them through the air, • Till more incens'd they hurld them at their foes. All was confufion, heaven's foundations fhook, Threatning no less than univerfal wreck, For Michael's arm main promontories flung, * An effay on blank verse, out of Paradife Loft, B. VI. 'And And over-preft whole legions weak with fin: • Yet they blafphem'd and struggled as they lay, • Till the great ensign of Messiah blaz❜d, • And (arm'd with vengeance) God's victorious Son (Effulgence of paternal deity) • Grafping ten thousand thunders in his hand, A PARAPHRASE ON THE CXLVIII th P S A L M. Azure vaults! O cryftal sky! The world's transparent canopy, Break your long filence, and let mortals know Wing'd fquadrons of the god of war, Let echoing anthems make his praises known Great Great eye of all, whofe glorious ray Rules the bright empire of the day, O praise his name, without whofe purer light Ye moon and planets, who dispense, By God's command, your influence; Refign to him, as your Creator due, That veneration which men pay to you. Faireft, as well as first, of things, Praise him ye loud harmonious fpheres, Who did all forms from the rude chaos draw, Ye watery mountains of the sky, And you fo far above our eye, Vaft ever-moving orbs, exalt his name, Who gave its being to your glorious frame, Ye dragons, whose contagious breath Change your fierce hiffing into joyful fong, And praife your Maker with your forked tongue. Praise Praise him, ye monsters of the deep, That in the feas vaft bofoms fleep; At whofe command the foaming billows roar, Ye mifts and vapours, hail and fnow, And you who through the concave blow, Swift executors of his holy word, Whirlwinds and tempests, praise th' Almighty Lord. Mountains, who to your Maker's view Seem less than mole-hills do to you, Remember how, when first Jehovah spoke, All heaven was fire, and Sinai hid in smoke. Praise him, fweet offspring of the ground, With heavenly nectar yearly crown'd ; And ye tall cedars, celebrate his praise, That in his temple facred altars raife. Idle muficians of the spring, Whofe only care 's to love and fing, Fly through the world, and let your trembling throat Praise your Creator with the sweetest note. Praise him each favage furious beast, And you tame flaves of the laborious plow, Majeftic |