Meantime a moving fcene was open laid; That lazar houfe, I whilom in my lay Depainted have, its horrors deep display'd, And gave unnumber'd wretches to the day, Who toting there in fqualid mifery lay. Soon as of facred light the unwonted fimile Pour'd on thefe living catacombs its ray, Through the drear caverns ftretching many a mile, [woes a while. The fick up-rais'd their heads, and dropp'd their "O heav'ns! (they cry'd) and do we once • more fee [fair! Yon bleffed fun, and this green carth fo Are we from noifome damps of pest-house • free?
And drink our fouls the sweet ethereal air? "O thou or knight, or god! who holdeft 'there
• That fiend, oh keep him in eternal chains; But what for us, the children of despair, Brought to the brink of hell, what hope
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And with feraphic flame compaffion blends. At once, delighted, to their charge they fly: When, lo! a goodly hospital afcends;
In which they bade cach lenient aid be nigh, That could the fick-bed smoothe of that fad company.
It was a worthy edifying fight,
And gives to human-kind peculiar grace,
To fee kind hands attending day and night,
With tender miniftry, from place to place.
Some prop the head; fome from the pallid face
Wipe off the faint cold dews weak nature sheds;
Some reach the healing draught: the whilft,
to chace
The fear fupreme around their foften'd beds, Some holy man by prayer all-op'ning Hæven difpreads.
Attended by a glad acclaiming train,
Of thofe he refcu'd had from gaping hell, Then turn'd the Knight, and, to his hall again Soft-pacing, fought of Peace the moffy cell : Yet down his checks the gems of pity fell, To fee the helplefs wretches that remain'd, There left through delves and defarts dire to yell; [ftain'd, Amaz'd, their looks with pale difmay were And spreading wide their hands, they mick repentance feign'd.
But, ah their fcorned day of grace was pait: For (horrible to tell!) a defait wild [vaft, Before them stretch'd, bare, comfortless, and With gibbets, bones, and carcafes defil'd' There nor trim field nor lively culture fimil'd; Nor waving fhade was feen, nor fountain fair; But fands abrupt on fands lay loosely pil'd, Through which they flound'ring toil'd with painful care,
Whilft Phoebus fmote them fore, and fir'd the cloudlefs air.
Then, varying to a joyless land of bogs,
The fadden'd country a grey wafte appear'd;
Where nought but putrid ftreams and noifome
fogs
For ever hung on drizzly Aufter's beard;
Or elfe the ground by piercing Caurus fear'd,
Was jagg'd with froft, or heap'd with glazed
[fleurd,
Thro' thefe extremes a ccafelefs round they
By cruel fiends ftill hurry'd to and fro,
Gaunt Beggary, and Scorn, with many hell-
hounds moc.
The first was with bafe dunghill rags volad,
Tainting the gale in which they flutter'd light,
Of morbid hue his features, funk and fad;
His hollow cyne fhook forth a fickly light;
And o'er his lank-jaw bone, in pitcous plight,
His black rough beard was matted, rank, and
vile;
Direful to fee! an heart-appalling fight! Meantime foul fcurf and blotches him defile; And dogs, where'er he went, ftill barked all the while.
The other was a fell defpightful fiend :
Hell holds none worfe in baleful bow'r below:
By pride, and wit, and rage, and rancor keen'd;
Of Man alike, if good or bad the foe:
With nofe up-turn'd, he always made a fhew
As if he fmelt fome naufeous fcent;
his eye
Was cold and keen, like bluft from Boreal
fnow;
And taunts he caften forth most bitterly.
Such were the twain that off drove this ungodly
fry.
Even fo through Brentford town, a town of
An herd of briftly fwine is prick'd along; [mud,
The filthy beafts, that never chew the cud,
Still grunt and fqueak, and fing their troublous
fong,
[among:
And oft they plunge themselves the mire
But aye the ruthlefs driver goads them on,
And aye of barking dogs the bitter throng
Makes them renew their unmelodious moan;
Ne ever find they rest from their unresting fone.
$53. To the Memory of Sir Ifaac Newton.
In some small fray victorious! when (instead
Of thatter'd parcels of this earth ufurp'd
By violence unmanly, and fore deeds
Of cruelty and blood) Nature herself
Stood all fubdu'd by him, and open laid
Her ev'ry latent glory to his view!
All intellectual eye, our folar round
Firft gazing thro', he by the blended pow'r
Of Gravitation and Projection, faw
The whole in filent harmony revolve.
From unaffifted vifion hid, the moons
To cheer remoter planets numerous form'd,
By him in all their mingled tracts were feen.
He alfo fix'd our wand'ring queen of night:
Whether fhe wanes into a scanty orb,
Or, waxing broad, with her pale fhadowy light|
In a foft deluge overflows the sky.
Her ev'ry motion, clear difcerning, He
Adjusted to the mutual Main, and taught
Why now the mighty mats of water fwells
Refiftlefs, heaving on the broken rocks,
And the full river turning; till again
The tide revertive, unattracted, leaves
A yellow wafte of idle fands behind.
Then breaking hence, he took his ardent flight
Thro' the blue infinite; and ev'ry star
Infcribed to the Right Honourable Sir Robert Which the clear concave of a winter's night
LL the
earth,
To mingle with the ftars; and ev'ry Mufe,
Aftonish'd into filence, fhun the weight
Of honours due to his illuftrious name?
But what can man?-Ev'n now the fons of light,
In ftrains high-warbled to seraphic lyre,
Hail his arrival on the coast of blifs.
Yet am I not deterr'd, though high the theme,
And fung to harps of angels; for with you,
Ethereal flames! ambitious I aspire
In Nature's general fymphony to join.
great foul of Newton quit this
And what new wonders can you fhew your
guest!
Who, while on this dim fpot, where mortals toil
Clouded in duft, from motion's fimple laws,
Could trace the fecret hand of Providence,
Wide-working thro' this univerfal frame!
Have ye not liften'd, while he bound the funs
And planets to their spheres! th'unequal task
Of human-kind till then. Oft had they roll'd
O'er erring man the year, and oft difgrac'd
The pride of fchools, before their courfe was
Full in its caufes and effects, to him, [known
All-piercing fage! who fat not down and dream'd
Romantic fchemes, defended by the din
Of fpecious words and tyranny of names;
But, bidding his amazing mind atttend,
And with heroic patience, years on years
Deep-fearching, faw at last the fyftein dawn,
And fhine, of all his race, on him alone!
What were his raptures then! how pure! how
ftrong!
And what the triumphs of old Greece and Rome,
By his diminish'd, but the pride of boys
Pours on the eye, or aftronomic tube,
Far-ftretching, fnatches from the dark abyss,
Or fuch as farther in fucceffive skies
To fancy fhine alone, at his approach
Blaz'd into funs, the living centre each
Of an harmonious fyftem: all combin'd,
And rul'd unerring by that fingle pow'r
Which draws the stone projected to the ground.
O unprofufe magnificence divine!
O wisdom truly perfect! thus to call
From a few caufes fuch a scheme of things,
Effects fo various, beautiful, and great,
An univerfe complete! and, O belov'd
Of Heav'n, whole well-purg'd penetrative eye,
The myftic veil tranfpiercing, inly fcann'd
The rifing, moving, wide-establish'd frame!
He, firft of men, with awful wing purfu'd
The Comet thro' the long elliptic curve,
As round innum'rous worlds he wound his way;
Till to the forehead of our ev'ning sky
Return'd, the blazing wonder glares anew,
And o'er the trembling nations shakes difmay.
The heav'ns are all his own; from the wild
Of whirling vortices, and circling fpheres, [rule
To their first great fimplicity rettor❜d.
The fchools aftonish'd ftood; but found it vain
To combat ftill with demonstration strong,
And, unawaken'd, dream beneath the blaze
Of truth. At once their pleafing visions fled,
With the gay fhadows of the morning mix'd,
When Newton rofe, our philofophic fun.
The aerial flow of found was known to him,
From whence it firft in wavy circles breaks,
Till the touch'd organ takes the meffage in.
Nor could the darting beam, of fpeed immenfe,
Efcape his fwift purfuit, and measuring eye!
Even Light itself, which ev'ry thing difplays,
Shone undifcover'd, till his brighter mind
Untwisted all the thining robe of day;
And from the whit'ning undiftinguith'd
Collecting ev'ry ray into his kind,
To the charm'd eye educ'd the gorgeous train
Of parent-colours. First, the flaming red
Sprung vivid forth; the tawny orange next;
And next delicious yellow, by whofe fide
Fell the kind beams of all-refreshing green;
Then the pure blue, that fivells autumnal fkies,
Ethereal play'd; and then, of fadder hue,
Emerg'd the deepen'd indico, as when
The heavy-kirted ev'ning droops with froft.
While the last gleamings of refracted light
Dy'd in the fainting violet away,
Thefe, when the clouds diftil the rofy fhow'r,
Shine out diftinct adown the wat'ry bow;
While o'er our heads the dewy vifion bends
Delightful, melting on the fields beneath.
Myriads of mingling dyes from these refult,
And myriads ftill remain Infinite source
Of beauty ever Aluthing! ever new!
Did ever poet image aught fo fair, [brook!
Dreaming in whifp'ring groves by the hoarfe
Or prophet, to whofe rapture heav'n defcends!
Even now the fetting fun and fhifting clouds,
Seen, Greenwich, from thy lovely heights, de-
How juft, how beauteous, the refractive law!
The noifelefs tide of time, all bearing down
To vaft eternity's unbounded fea,
Where the green iflands of the happy fhine,
He ftemm'd alone: and to the fource (involv'd
Deep in primæval gloom) afcending, rais'd
His lights at equal diftances, to guide
Hiftorian, wilder'd on his dark fome way.
But who can number up his labours who
His high difcoveries fing! when but a few
Of the deep-ftudying race can ftretch their minds
To what he knew: in fancy's lighter thought
How shall the Mufe then grafp the mighty theme?
What wonder thence that his devotion fwell'd
Refponfive to his knowledge! for could he,
Whofe piercing mental eye diffufive faw
The finish'd univerfity of things,
In all its order, magnitude, and parts,
Forbear inceffant to adore that Pow'r
Who fills, fuftains, and acteates the whole?
Say, ye who beft can tell, ye happy few
Who faw him in the fofteft lights of life,
All unwithheld, indulging to his friends
The vaft unborrow'd treafures of his mind,
Oh fpeak the wond'rous man! how mild, how
How greatly humble, how divinely good I
How firm eftablish'd on eternal truth;
Fervent in doing well, with ev'ry nerve
Still preffing on, forgetful of the past,
And panting for perfection: far above
Thofe little cares and vifionary joys
That fo perplex the fond impaffion'd heart
Of ever-cheated, ever-trufting man!
And you, ye hopeless gloomy-minded tribe,
You, who unconfcious of thofe nobler flights
That reach impatient at immortal life,
Against the prime endearing privilege
Of being dare contend, fay, can a foul
Of fuch extenfive, deep, tremendous powers,
Enlarging ftill, be but a finer breath
Of fpirits dancing thro' their tubes a while,
And then for ever loft in vacant air?
But hark! methinks I hear a warning voice,
Solemn as when fome awful change is come,
Sound thro' the world" 'Tis done! the mea-
"fure's full,
[ftones,
"And I refign my charge."Ye mould'ring
That build the tow'ring pyramid, the proud
Triumphal arch, the monument effac'd
By ruthlefs ruin, and whate'er fupports
The worship'd name of hoar Antiquity,
Down to the duft! what grandeur can ye boaft,
While Newton lifts his column to the skies,
Beyond the wafte of time. Let no weak drop
Be thed for him. The virgin in her bloom
Cut off, the joyous youth, and darling child,
Thefe are the tombs that claim the tender tear
And elegiac fong. But Newton calls
For other notes of gratulation high,
That now he wanders thro' thofe endless worlds
He here fo well defcry'd, and, wond'ring, talks
And hymns their Author with his glad compcers.
O Britain's boaft! whether with angels thou
Sitteft in dread difcourfe, or fellow-bleft,t
Who joy to fee the honour of their kind;
Or whether, mounted on cherubic wing,
Thy fwift career is with the whirling orbs,
Comparing things with things, in rapture loft,
And grateful adoration, for that light
So plenteous ray'd into thy mind below,
From Light himfelf-Oh look with pity down
On human kind, a frail erroneous race!
O'er thy dejected country chief prefide,
Exalt the fpirit of a downward world!
And be her Genius call'd! her ftudies raife,
Correct her manners, and infpire her youth:
For, though deprav'd and funk the brought thee
forth,
And glories in thy name, the points thee out
To all her fons, and bids them eye thy ftar :
While in expectance of the fecond life,
When time thall be no more, thy facred duft
Sleeps with her kings, and dignifies the scene.
$ 54. Hymn on Solitude. THOMSON.
HAIL, mildly-pleafing Solitude,
Companion of the wife and good:
But from whofe holy piercing eye.
The herd of fools and villains fly.
Oh how I love with thee to walk,
And liften to thy whisper'd talk,
Which innocence and truth imparts,
And melts the most obdurate hearts.
A thousand shapes you wear with eafe,
And fill in ev'ry fhape you pleafe.
Now wrapt in fome myfterious dream,
A lone philofopher you feem;
Now quick from hill to vale you fly,
And now you fweep the vaulted sky.
A fhepherd next you haunt the plain,
And warble forth your oaten ftrain,
A lover now, with all the grace
Of that sweet paffion in your face:
Then, calm'd to friendship, you affume
The gentle-looking Hartford's bloom,
As, with her Mufidora, fhe
(Her Mufidora fond of thee)
Amid the long withdrawing vale,
Awakes the rival'd nightingale.
Thine is the baliny breath of morn,
Juft as the dew-bent rofe is born;
And while meridian fervors beat,
Thine is the woodland dumb retreat;
But chief, when ev'ning fcenes decay,
And the faint landfcape fwims away,
Thine is the doubtful foft decline,
And that best hour of mufing thine.
Defcending angels blefs thy train, The virtues of the fage and fwain; Plain innocence, in white array'd, Before thee lifts her fearlefs head: Religion's beams around thee fhine, And cheer thy glooms with light divine: About thee fports fweet Liberty; And wrapt Urania fings to thec.
Oh, let me pierce thy fecret cell! And in thy deep receffes dwell. Perhaps from Norwood's oak-clad hill, When meditation has her fill, I just may caft careless eyes Where London's fpiry turrets rife; Think of its crimes, its cares, its pain, Then fhield me in the woods again.
$55 Hymn to Darkness. YALDEN.
In thy ferener fhades our ghofts delight,
And court the umbrage of the night;
In vaults and gloomy caves they stray,
But fly the morning beams, and ficken at the
day.
Though folid bodies dare exclude the light,
Nor will the brightest ray admit;
No fubftance can thy force repel, [dwell.
Thou reign'ft in depths below, doft in the centre
The fparkling gems, and ore in mines below,
To thee their beauteous luftre owe;
Tho' form'd within the womb of night,
Bright as their fire they fhine, with native rays
of light.
When thou doft raise thy venerable head,
And art in genuine night array'd, Thy negro beauties then delight; Beauties, like polifh'd jet, with their own darknefs bright.
Thou doft thy fimiles impartially bestow,
And know'ft no diff'rence here below:
All things appear the fame by thee,
Though light diftinction makes, thou giv'ft
equality.
Thou, Darkness, art the lover's kind retreat,
And doft the nuptial joys complete;
Thou doft infpire them with thy fhade,
Giv'ft vigour to the youth, and warm'ft the
yielding maid.
Calm as the blefs'd above, the Anch'rites dwell
Within their peaceful gloomy cell;
Their minds with heav'nly joys are fill'd; The pleasures Light deny, thy fhades for ever
In caves of night, the oracles of old Did all their myfteries unfold: Darkness did first religion grace,
DARKNESS, thou first great parent of us all, Gave terrors to the God, and rev'rence to the
Since from thy univerfal womb Docs all thou fhad'st below, thy numerous offfpring come.
Thy wond'rous birth is ev'n to Time unknown,
Or, like Eternity, thou'dft none;
Whilft Light did its firft being owe
Unto that awful thade it dares to rival now.
Say, in what diftant region doft thou dwell,
To Reafon inacceffible?
From form and duller matter free,
Thou foar'st above the reach of man's philofophy.
Involv'd in thee, we first receive our breath,
Thou art our refuge too in death:
Great Monarch of the grave and womb,
Where'er our fouls fhall go, to thec our bodies
The filent globe is ftruck with awful fear
When thy majestic fhades appear: Thou doft compofe the air and fea;
When the Almighty did on Horeb stand,
Thy fhades inclos'd the hallow'd land; In clouds of light he was array'd, And venerable darkness his pavilion made. When he appear'd arm'd in his power and might, He veil'd the beatific light; When terrible with majefty, In tempefts he gave laws, and clad himfelf in thee. Ere the foundation of the earth was laid,
Or brighter firmament was made; Ere matter, time, or place was known, Thou, Monarch Darkness, fway'dft thefe fpacious realms alone.
But now the moon (tho' gay with borrow'd light) Invades thy fcanty lot of Night:
By rebel fubjects thou'rt betray'd, The anarchy of stars depofe their monarch, Shade. Yet fading light its empire muft refign, And Nature's pow'r fubmit to thine: An univerfal ruin fhail erect thy throne,
And Earth a Sabbath keeps, facred to reft and And Fate confirm thy kingdom ever more thy
§ 56.
Education. WEST.
Written in imitation of the Style and Manner of
Spenfer's Fairy Queen.
Infcribed to Lady Langham, widow of Sir Jo.
Langham, Bart.
* Unum ftudium vere liberale eft, quod liberum
"facit. Hoc fapientiæ ftudium est, sublime,
"Forte, magnanimum: cætera pufilla et pue-
❝rilia funt.—Plus fcire velle quam fit faiis in-
"temperantiæ genus eft. Quid, quod ifta libe-
"ralium artium confectatio moleftos, verbofos,
* intempeftivos, fibi placentes facit, et ideo non
"dicentes neceffaria, quia fupervacua didice-
SEN. Ep. 88.
O GOODLY difcipline! from Heav'n yfprung,
Parent of Science, Queen of Arts refin'd!
To whom the Graces and the Nine belong,
O! bid those Graces, in fair chorus join'd
With each-bright Virtue that adorns the mind,
O! bid the Muses, thine harmonious train,
Who, by thy aid, erst humaniz'd mankind,
Infpire, direct, and moralize the strain
That doth effay to teach thy treasures how to gain!
And thou, whofe pious and maternal care,
The fubftitute of heav'nly Providence,
With tend'reft love my orphan life did rear,
And train me up to manly ftrength and fenfe,
With mildeft awe and virtuous influence
Directing my unpractis'd wayward feet
To the fmooth walks of Truth and Innocence,
Where Happiness heartfelt,Contentment sweet,
Philofophy divine, aye hold their bleit retreat!
Thou, most belov'd, most honour'd, most re
ver'd!
Accept this Verfe, to thy large merit due !
And blame me not if by each tie endear'd
Of nature, gratitude, and friendship true,
The whiles this mortal thefis I purfue,
And trace the plan of goodly nurture + o'er,
I bring thy modest virtues into view,
And proudly boast that from thy precious
ftore,
Which erft enrich'd my heart, I drew this facred
lore.
And thus, I ween, thus fhall I beft repay
The valu'd gifts thy careful love bestow'd,
If imitating thee well as I may,
I labour to diffufe th'important good,
Till this great truth by all be understood, "That ail the pious duties which we owe "Our parents, friends, our country, and our "The feeds of ev'ry virtue here below, [God, "From difcipline alone and early culture grow."
THE ARGUMENT.
The Knight, as to Pedia's house
He his young fon conveys,
Is ftaid by Cuftom, with him fights,
And his vain pride difdays.
GENTLE knight there was, whofe noble
deeds
O'er Fairyland by Fame were blazon'd round;
For warlike enterprize and fage areeds ‡
Among the chief alike was he renown'd;
Whence with the marks of highest honours
By Gloriana, in domestic peace, [crown'd
That port to which the wife are ever bound,
He anchor'd was, and chang'd the tolling feas
Of bustling busy life for calm fequefter'd ease.
There, in domeftic virtue rich and great,
As erft in public, 'mid his wide domain
Long in primeval patriarchal state
The lord, the judge, the father of the plain,
He dwelt; and with him in the golden chain
Of wedded faith ylink'd a matron fage
Aye dwelt, fweet partner of his joy and pain!
Sweet charmer of his youth, friend of his age,
Skill'd to improve his blifs, his forrows to affuage.
From this fair union, not of fordid gain
But merit fimilar and mutual love,
True fource of lineal virtue, fprung a train
Of youths and virgins, like the beauteous grove
Which round the temple of Olympic Jove
Begirt with youthful bloom the parent tree ||,
The facred olive, whence old Elis wove
Her verdant crowns of peaceful victory,
The guerdons of bold ftrength and fwift activity.
So round their noble parents goodly rofe
Thefe gen'rous fcions; they with watchful care
Still as the fwelling paffions 'gan difclofe
The buds of future virtues, did prepare
With prudent culture the young shoots to rear;
And aye in this endearing pious toil
Theyby a palmerfage inftructed were, [while
Who from deep thought and studious fearch ére-
Had learnt to mend the heart and till the human
foil.
For, by celeftial Wisdom whilom led,
Thro' all the apartments of th'immortal mind,
He view'd the fecret ftores,and mark'd the fted t
To judgment, wit, and memory affign'd,
Pædia is a Greek word, fignifying Education.
Parent tree, the jacred olive.] This tree grew in the Altis, or facred grove of Olympic Jupiter, at Olym pia, having, as the Eleans pretended, been originally planted there by Hercules. It was esteemed facred and from that were taken the Olympic crowns.
Palmer, pilgrim-The perfon here fignified is Mr. Locke, characterized by his Works.
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