Unmov'd, these wild tempestuous feats 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 fong the syren fings in vain,
She can the tuneful hypocrite difdain;
Fix'd and unchang'd the faithless world behold,
Deaf to its threats, and to its favour cold.
Sages remark, we labour not to show
The will is free, but that the man is fo:
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, befides the name ?
The learned, who with anatomic art
Dissect the mind, 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
Those faculties, which two to them'appear,
Are not refiding in the foul the fame,
And not diftinct, but by a different name?

Thus has the Muse pursued her hardy theme,

And fung the wonders of this artful frame.
Ere yet one fubterranean arch was made,
One cavern vaulted, or one girder laid;
Ere the high rocks did o'er the shores arife,
Or fnowy mountains tower'd amidst the skies;
Before the watery troops fil'd off from land,
And lay amidst the rocks entrench'd in sand;

570

575

Before

Before the air its bofom did unfold,
Or burnish'd orbs in blue expanfion roll'd;
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;

580

And shades and lazy mists were chac'd away,
While rosy light diffus'd the tender day ;
When uproar ceas'd, and wild confufion fled,
And new-born Nature rais'd her beauteous head;
She fung the frame of this terrestrial pile,
The hills, the rocks, the rivers, and the foil;

585

She view'd the fandy frontiers, which restrain
The noisy infults of th' imprison'd main ;
Rang'd o'er the wide diffusion of the waves,
The moist cærulean walks, and search'd the coral caves.

590

She then furvey'd the fluid fields of air,

And the crude seeds of meteors fashion'd there;
Then with continued flight she sped her way,
Mounted, and bold pursued the source of day;
With wonder of celestial motions sung,
How the pois'd orbs are in the vacant hung,

595

How the bright sluices of ætherial light,
Now shut, defend the empire of the night,
And now, drawn up with wife alternate care,

600

Let floods of glory out, and spread with day the air.

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

Where

Where far, oh far, beyond what mortals fee,
In the void districts of immenfity,

The mind new funs, new planets, can explore,
And yet beyond can still imagine more.

Thus in bold numbers did th' adventurous Muse

To fing 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 flew.
Then left the Muse the field and waving grove,
And unfatigued with grateful labour strove
To climb th' amazing heights of fenfe, and fing
The power perceptive, and the inward spring
Which agitates and guides each living thing.

610

615

1

620

}

She next effay'd the embryo's rise to trace From an unfashion'd, rude, unchannel'd mass: *Sung how the spirits waken'd in the brain Exert their force, and genial toil maintain; Erect the beating heart, the channels frame,

625

Unfold entangled limbs, and kindle vital flame;
How the small pipes are in meanders laid,

And bounding life is to and fro convey'd;
How spirits,, which for sense and motion ferve,

630

Unguided find the perforated nerve,

Through every dark recess pursue their flight,

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 effay,

The mind's extended empire to furvey.