And hid his head for fhame,

As his inferior flame

80

The new enlighten'd world no more should need; He saw a greater fun appear

Than his bright throne, or burning axletree could

VIII.

The fhepherds on the lawn,

(bear. 85

Or e'er the point of dawn,

Sat fimply chatting in a ruftic row;

Full little thought they then,

That the mighty Pan

Was kindly come to live with them below; 90 Perhaps their lovers, or else their sheep,

Was all that did their filly thoughts so busy keep.

Now was almost won

To think her part was done,

105

And that her reign had here its last fulfilling;

She knew fuch harmony alone

Could hold all Heav'n and Earth in happier union. XI.

At last surrounds their fight

A globe of circular light,

ΠΟ

That with long beams the fhame-fac'd night array'd; The helmed Cherubim,

And fworded Seraphim,

Are seen in glittering ranks with wings display'd, Harping in loud and folemn quire,

115

With unexpreffive notes to Heav'n's new-born Heir. XII.

Such mufic (as 'tis faid)

Before was never made,

But when of old the fons of morning fung,

While the Creator great

His conftellations fet,

120

And the well-balanc'd world on hinges hung,

And caft the dark foundations deep,

And bid the weltring waves their oozy channel keep.

XIII.

Ring out ye crystal Spheres,

Once blefs our human ears,

(If ye have pow'r to touch our senses fo)

Ꮓ

125

And

And let your filver chime

Move in melodious time,

And let the bafe of Heav'n's deep organ blow, 130 And with your ninefold harmony

Make up full confort to th' angelic fymphony.

For if fuch holy fong

XIV.

Inwrap our fancy long,

Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold, 135 And speckled Vanity

Will ficken foon and die,

And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mold, And Hell itself will pafs away,

And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. XV.

Yea Truth and Justice then

Will down return to men,

141

Orb'd in a rainbow; and like glories wearing Mercy will fit between,

Thron'd in celestial sheen,

145

With radiant feet the tiffued clouds down fteering, And Heav'n, as at some festival,

Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.

XVI.

But wifest Fate says no,

This must not yet be so,

The babe lies yet in fmiling infancy,

150

That

That on the bitter cross

Muft redeem our lofs;

So both himself and us to glorify: Yet firft to thofe ychain'd in fleep,

155

The wakeful trump of doom muft thunder through

XVII.

(the deep,

With fuch a horrid clang

As on mount Sinai rang,

While the red fire, and fmouldring clouds out brake:

The aged earth aghast,

With terror of that blast,

Shall from the surface to the center shake;

When at the world's last session,

160

(throne.

The dreadful Judge in middle air fhall spread his

XVIII.

And then at laft our blifs

Full and perfect is,

But now begins; for from this happy day

Th' old Dragon under ground

In ftraiter limits bound,

Not half fo far cafts his ufurped fway,

And wroth to see his kingdom fail,

Swindges the scaly horror of his folded tail.

The oracles are dumb,

XIX.

No voice or hideous hum

170

Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.

Z 2

Apollo

Apollo from his shrine

Can no more divine,

176

With hollow fhriek the steep of Delphos leaving. No nightly trance, or breathed spell

Inspires the pale-ey'd priest from the prophetic cell.

XX.

The lonely mountains o'er,

And the refounding fhore,

A voice of weeping heard and loud lament; From haunted spring, and dale

Edg'd with poplar pale,

181

185

(mourn.

The parting Genius is with fighing fent; With flow'r-inwoven treffes torn

The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets

Affrights the Flamens at their service quaint;

And the chill marble feems to fweat,

195

While each peculiar Pow'r forgoes his wonted feat.

Peor and Baälim

XXII.

Forfake their temples dim,

With that twice batter'd God of Palestine;

And