No hov'ring mift obfcures th' emerging day,
Wide o'er the profpect pours the ftreamy ray;
A fresher cloud the dewy fields exhale,
With richer fragrance blows the balmy gale,
The echoing hills with louder notes rebound,
And all th' illumin'd landscape rings around,
Charm'd and furpriz'd we faw the fair abode,
The plains with beauty's flow'ry offspring ftrow'd,
Beheld the city's diftant fpires arife,
Or tow'r's dim top that touch'd the bending skies;
Or view'd the wild, with trackless paths o'ercaft,
Where roams the lion thro' the naked waste;
Or penfive, ey'd the folitary pile
Where flits the night-bird thro' the glimm'ring ifle:
Struck deep with woe, we mark'd the domes o'erthrown
Where once the beauty bloom'd, the warrior fhone;
We fay Palmyra's mould'ring tow'rs decay'd,
The loofe wall tott'ring o'er the trembling fhade!
epolis that defert lay!
nes thatch'd the quiv'ring ray!
s our eyes were roll'd, ham'd with beamy gold. ows the billows heave, k foams the madning wave, down the cliff's fteep fide, fweeps the rufhing tide;
We mark'd the river's long majestic train,
And streams that murmur'd o'er the flow'ry plain,
The lake whofe waves with lucid radiance glow,
Not finer tints imprefs the show'ry bow,
The fountain bubbling thro' the mofs-clad hill,
And wand'ring wild the fweetly-tinkling rill.
Then o'er the champaign's broider'd lawns we ftray,
Where gaily warbling thrill'd the woodland lay,
Survey'd with rapture all th' inviting scene,
The vary'd landscape, and the vivid green;
A charming train of all the mufes themes,
Gay meads, and pointed rocks, and purling streams ;
Hills, vales, and woods in sweet diforder spread,
And blooming fields in all their pomp display'd,
Still at each look, (amid the countless store)
We mark'd fome feature unobserv'd before;
As in the cheek with opening roses warm,
Each piercing glance improves the growing charm.
Then fighing deep, diftracted at the view,
"Adieu, I cry'd, ye blissful scenes adieu :
"That fun muft ceafe to gild the flow'ry plain:
"The moon be loft with all the starry train:
"Plung'd in one fire, each mighty frame confume,
""Tis God, th' eternal God has feal'd their doom."
Lo! at the word (each tranfient ray withdrawn)
A low'ring cloud at once o'ercaft the dawn:
From its dark breaft, with fwelling tempefts ftor'd;
Pale lightning flash'd, and dreadful thunder roar'd.
Earth's glowing bofom felt a fudden wound,
And ftrong convulfions rent the opening ground;
The rapid whirlwind with impetuous sweep
Burfts from its vaults, and rais'd the labouring deep;
Rocks, cities, ftreams at once its wond'rous prey,
It fwept the woods, and bore the hills away.
But now, with terror rifing on the fight,
A burning comet flash'd unusual light.
Quick as the wind, the wing'd destruction came
O'er all the void, and drew a length of flame;
Shap'd thro' the parting clouds its dreadful way,
And pour'd on earth intolerable day.
At once the cave its inmost void displays;
The waving forefts catch the spreading blaze;
The earth no more its central fire contains,
It rag'd and fwell'd refiftless o'er the plains.
Now in a broader range the deluge raves,
And rolls triumphant thro' the boiling waves;
O'er all the hills the rifing flames afpire,
The mountains blaze, a mighty ridge of fire!
Where stood the fnow-crown'd Alps, (an awful name!)
Now roll'd the doubling smoke, and spiry flame;
While o'er the Andes in a whirlwind driv'n
Burft the blue gleam, and darkness wrapt the heav'n.
Ev'n Etna rocks with a reluctant groan,
Sunk in a flame more dreadful than its own:
A fiery ftream the deep Volcano pours,
And from its mouth inceffant thunder roars.
Each humbler vale partakes the gen'ral doom,
The smiling meals refign their lovely bloom;
Not Afia's fields th' impetuous flood retain,
It bounds with fury o'er the wide champaign,
Whate'er to view revolving feafons bring,
Each opening flow'r, the painted child of spring,
Bleak winter's fnow, with fummer's rofy pride,
And autumn's ripening ftores, augment the tide :
On its broad wave it bears the fhining spoil,
Hills burft, rocks melt, woods blaze, and oceans boil.
Such, man, thy life, when death's relentless
Crops thy gay bloom, or chills thy with'ring age;
In vain thy wish would stop th' invader's pow'r,
Who fpares the leaf to revel on the flow'r.
O! how transported with a fleeting dream
We fondly launch, and glide along the ftream!
Nor think of tempefts, mis'ry, pain, or death,
The storms above us, and the wrecks beneath!
When lo! at once a cloudy scene fucceeds,
It low'rs, frowns, blackens, bellows o'er our heads;
Bounds o'er the feas, and with deftructive sweep,
Flings wave on wave, and whelms us in the deep.
Where now the nation, whofe controuling law,
Rul'd ev'ry state, and held a world in awe ?
Say where, Britannia, thy remoter plain?
Thy fields enrich'd with plenty's welcome train ?
Thy fleets, to found their dreadful fame afar,
And rule the deep, the thunderbolts of war?
Still in my thought thy happier days detain'd,
When George, when Anna, when Eliza reign'd;
I see, I hear the battle's wild alarms,
See trembling foes, and thy triumphant arms!
I see sublime the floating navy rise,
The pompous ftreamers waving as fhe flies!
I fee the fhudd'ring hosts that round her fall,
The haughty Spaniard here, and there the Gaul.
I fee great Bourbon fainting and dismay'd,
And view the laurel blafted on his head.
O! while my country's glory fires my lays,
How my fond heart runs lavish in her praise !
But fee, 'tis fled!-I urge, implore its stay,
In vain the charming vifion dies away;
The plains where once her fhouting armies stood,
The ftream's broad wave that blush'd with hostile blood, Roll'd in the mafs of fire neglected lay,
And join'd th' involving cloud that hid the day.
See earth's pale fons! a mighty throng appear
How wild their looks with agonizing fear!
Swift, as the hart, from her pursuing train,
Climbs the fteep rock, and flies along the plain:
'Tis thus, the tempeft's dreadful rage to fhun,
They sweep the field, and shiver as they run.
Here yawning gulphs their dreadful wrecks disclose,
There nature labours with convulfive throws:
Here the flame bursts, and blazes to the skies,
There flash the pointed lightnings on their eyes.
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