}

Had not the mind a power to will and chuse, 485
One object to embrace, and one refuse;
Could she not act, or not her act suspend,
As it obstructed, or advanc'd her end;
Virtue and Vice were names without a cause,
This would not Hate deserve, nor that Applause; 490
Justice in vain has high tribunals rear'd,
Whom can her sentence punish, whom reward?
If impious children should their father kill,
Can they be wicked, when they cannot will;
When only causes foreign and unfeen

495 Strike with resisless force the springs within, Whence in the engine man all motion must begin ?

Are vapours guilty, which the vintage blast?
Are storms proscrib’d, which lay the forest waste?
Why lies the wretch then tortur'd on the wheel,
If forc'd to treason, or compellid to steal ?
Why does the warrior, by auspicious fate
With laurels crown'd, and clad in robes of state,
In triumph ride amidst the gazing throng
Deaf with applauses, and the Poet's song;

503
If the victorious, but the brute machine
Did only wreaths inevitable win,
And no wise choice or vigilance has shown,
Mov'd by a fatal impulse, not his own?
Should trains of atoms human fense impel,

510 Though not so fierce, so strong, fo visible, As soldiers arın'd, and do not men arrest With clubs upheld and daggers at their breast; Vet means compulsive are not plainer shown, n ruffians drive, or conquerors drag us on ; $15

As

500

As much we're 'forc’d, when by an atom 's fway
Control'd, as when a tyrant we obey;
And, by whatever cause constrain’d to act,
We merit no reward, no guilt contract.
Our mind of rulers feels a conscious awe,

520
Reveres their justice, and regards their law.
She rectitude and deviation knows,
That vice from one, from one that virtue ftows;
Of these she feels unlike effects within,
From virtue pleasure, and remorfe from fin; 525
Hopes of a just reward by that are fed,
By this of wrath vindictive secret dread.
The mind, which thus can rules of duty learn,
Can right from wrong, and good from ill, discern,
Which, the sharp stroke of justice to prevent,
Can shame express, can grieve, reflect, repent;
From fate or chance her rise can never draw,
Those caufes know not virtue, vice, or law.

She can a life succeeding this conceive, Of bliss or woe an endlefs state believe.

535 Dreading the just and universal doom, And aw'd by fears of punishment to come, By hopes excited of a glorious crown, And certain pleasures in a world unknown ; She can the fond desires of sense restrain,

540 Renounce delight, and chuse distress and pain ; Can rush on danger, can destruction face, Joyful relinquith life, and death. embrace ; She to afflicted virtue can adhere, And chains and want to prosperous guilt prefer ; 545

Unmov’d,

53

Unmov'd, these wild tempestuous seats survey,
And view ferene this restless rolling fea.
In vain the monsters, which the coast infest,
Spend all their rage to interrupt her rest;
Her charming song the syren fings in vain,

550
She can the tuneful hypocrite disdain;
Fix'd and unchang'd the faithless world behold,
Deaf to its threats, and to its favour cold.
Sages remaik, we labour not to show
The will is free, but that the man is fo:

555 For what enlighten'd reasoner can declare What human will and understanding are ? What science from those objects can we frame Of which we little know, besides the name? The learned, who with anatomic art

560 Diffect the inind, and thinking substance part, And various powers and faculties affert, Perhaps by such abstraction of the mind Divide the things, that are in nature join'd. What masters of the schools can make it clear

565 Those faculties, which two to them'appear, Are not residing in the soul the same, And not distinct, but by a different name?

Thus has the Muse pursued her hardy theme, And sung the wonders of this artful frame.

570 Ere yet one subterranean arch was made, Che cavern vaulted, or one girder laid ; Ere the high rocks did o’er the shores arise, Or snowy mountains tower'd amidst the skies ; Before the watery troops fil'd off from land,

575 And lay amidst the rocks entrench'd in sand;

Before

Before the air its bofom did unfold,
Or burnish'd orbs in blue expansion rollid;
She sung how Nature then in embryo lay,
And did the secrets of her birth display.

When after, at th' Almighty's high command,
Obedient waves divided from the land;
And shades and lazy mists were chac'd away,
While rosy light diffus’d the tender day ;
When
uproar ceas’d, and wild confusion fled,

585
And new-born Nature rais'd her beauteous head;
She sung the frame of this terrestrial pile,
The hills, the rocks, the rivers, and the soil;
She view'd the sandy frontiers, which restrain
The noisy insults of th' imprison'd main ;

59
Rang’d o'er the wide diffusion of the waves,
The moist cærulean walks, and search'd the coral caves.

She then furvey'd the fluid fields of air,
And the crude seeds of meteors fashion'd there;
Then with continued fight the sped her way, 595
Mounted, and bold pursued the source of day;
With wonder of celestial motions sung,
How the poisid orbs are in the vacant hung,
How the bright suices of ætherial light,
Now shut, defend the empire of the night, 600
And now, drawn up with wise alternate care,
Let floods of glory out, and spread with day the air,

Then with a daring wing she soard sublime,
From realm to realm, from orb to orb did climb :
Swift through the spacious gulph lhe urg'd her way, 605
At length emerg'd in empyrean day;

Where

615

Where far, oh far, beyond what mortals fee,
In the void țistricts of immenfiry,
The mind new fups, new planets, can explore,
And yet beyond can still imagine more.

610
Thus in bold numbers did th' adventurous Muse
To sing the lifeless parts of Nature chuse;
And then advanc'd to Wonders

yet behind, Survey'd and sung the vegetable kind; Did lofty, woods, and humble brakes review, Along the valley swept, and o'er the mountain few. Then left the Muse the field and waving grove, And unfatigued with grateful labour strove To climb th' amazing heights of sense, and sing The power perceptive, and the inward spring 620 Which agitates and guides each living thing.

She next effay'd the embryo's rise to trace From an unfathion’d,, rude, unehannel'd mass : Sung how the spirits waken’d in the brain Exert their force, and genial toil maintain ;

623 Erect the beating heart, the channels frame, Unfold entangled limbs, and kindle vital Aame ; How the small pipes are in meanders. laid, And bounding life is to and fro convey'd; How spirits, which for sense and motion serve, 630 Unguided, find the perforated nerve, Through every dark recess pursue their fight, *Unconscious of the road, and void of fight, Yet, certain of the way, still guide their motions right.

From thence a nobler flight she did eilay, The mind's extended empire to survey.

7

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