To fmooth and lengthen out th' unbounded ipace,
And spread an area for all human race.

Now monuments prove faithful to their trust,
And render back their long-committed dust.
Now charnels rattle; fcatter'd limbs, and all
The various bones, obfequious to the call,
Self-mov'd, advance; the neck perhaps to meet
The diftant head; the diftant legs the feet.
Dreadful to view, fee through the dusky sky
Fragments of bodies in confufion fly,
To diftant regions journeying, there to claim
Deferted members and compleat the frame.

When the world bow'd to Rome's almighty fword,

Rome bow'd to Pompey, and confefs'd her lord.
Yet one day loft, this deity below

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Became the fcorn and pity of his foe.
His blood a traitor's facrifice was made,
And fmok'd indignant on a ruffian's blade.
No trumpet's found, no gafping army's yell,
Bid, with due horror, his great foul farewell.
Obfcure his fall! all weltering in his gore,
His trunk was caft to perifh on the shore!
While Julius frown'd the bloody monster dead,
Who brought the world in his great rival's head.
This fever'd head and trunk fhall join once more,
Though realms now rife between, and oceans roar.
The trumpet's found each fragrant mote fhall hear, 45
Or fix'd in earth, or if afloat in air,

Obey the fignal wafted in the wind,
And not one fleeping atom lag behind.

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So fwarming bees, that on a fummer's day

In airy rings, and wild meanders play,

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Charin'd with the brazen found, their wanderings end,
And, gently circling, on a bough defcend.

The body thus renew'd, the confcious foul,
Which has perhaps been fluttering near the pole,
Or midft the burning planets wondering ftray'd,
Or hover'd o'er where her pale corpfe was laid;
Or rather coafted on her final state,
And fear'd, or wish'd for, her appointed fate :
This foul, returning with a conftant flame,
Now weds for ever her immortal frame.

Life, which ran down before, so high is wound,
The fprings maintain an everlasting round.
Thus a frail model of the work defign'd

First takes a copy of the builder's mind,
Before the ftructure 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 furpafs,
With bars of adamant, and ribs of brass.

That antient, facred, and illuftrious * dome,

Where foon or late fair Albion's heroes come,

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From camps, and courts, though great, or wife, or just, To feed the worm, and moulder into duft;

That folemn manfion of the royal dead,

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Where paffing flaves o'er sleeping monarchs tread,

Now

*Westminster Abbey,

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 ftiles the greater lord.

Nor monuments alone, and burial-earth,
Labours with man to this his fecond birth;
But where gay palaces in pomp arife,
And gilded theatres invade the fkies,
Nations fhall wake, whofe unrespected bones
Support the pride of their luxurious fons.
The moft 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 fwarm fhall iffue, and the hive fhall 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 blefs the grave, and call for lafting night.
Others, whofe long-attempted virtue stood
Fix'd as a rock, and broke the rufhing flood,
Whofe firm refolve, nor beauty could melt down,
Nor raging tyrants from their pofture frown;
Such, in this day of horrors, fhall be feen
To face the thunders with a god-like mien;
The planets drop, their thoughts are fixt above;
The centre flakes, their hearts difdain to move:
An earth diffolving, and a heaven thrown wide,
A yawning gulph, and fiends on every fide,
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Serene

Serene they view, impatient of delay,

And blefs the dawn of everlasting day.

Here greatness proftrate falls; there, ftrength gives place;

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Here, lazars fmile; there, beauty hides her face. 110
Chriftians, and Jews, and Turks, and Pagans ftand,
A blended throng, one undistinguish'd band.
Some who, perhaps, by mutual wounds expir'd,
With zeal, for their diftin&t perfuafions fir'd,
In mutual friendship their long flumber break,
And hand in hand their Saviour's love partake.
But none are flufh'd with brighter joy, or, warm
With juster confidence, enjoy the storm,
Than thofe, whofe pious bounties, unconfin'd,
Have made them public 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, 125
Who to far diftant times difpenfe your beams;
Beneath your fhades, and near your crystal springs,.
I first prefum'd to touch the trembling ftrings.

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All hail, thrice honour'd! 'Twas your great renown To blefs a people, and oblige a crown.

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And now you rife, eternally to fhine,

Eternally to drink the rays divine.

Indulgent.

*Founders of New-College, Corpus Chrifti, and All

Souls, in Oxford; of all which the author was a

Member

Indulgent God! Oh how fhall mortal raife
His foul to due returns of grateful praife,
For bounty fo profufe to human kind,
Thy wondrous gift of an eternal mind?

Shall I, who, fome few years ago, was lefs
Than worm, or mite, or fhadow can exprefs,
Was Nothing; fhall I live, when every fire
And every ftar fhall languish and expire?
When earth's no more, fhall I furvive above,
And through the radiant files of angels move?
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!

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But oh before this blifsful ftate, before

Th' afpiring foul this wondrous height can foar,

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Fiction, be far away; let no machine
Defcending here, no fabled God, be feen;
Behold the GOD of Gods indeed defcend,
And worlds unnumber'd his approach attend!
Lo! the wide theatre, whofe ample space
Muft entertain the whole of human race,

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