Sooner, or later, in fome future date,

(A dreadful fecret in the book of fate!)
This hour, for aught all human wisdom knows,
Or when ten thousand harvests more have rofe;
When scenes are chang'd on this revolving earth,
Old empires fall, and give new empires birth;
While other Bourbons rule in other lands,
And (if man's fins forbid not) other Annes;
While the ftill bufy world is treading o'er
The paths they trod five thousand years before,
Thoughtless as those who now life's mazes run,
Of earth diffolv'd, or an extinguish'd fun;
(Ye fublunary worlds, awake, awake!
Ye rulers of the nation, hear, and shake)
Thick clouds of darkness shall arife on day;
In fudden night all earth's dominions lay;
Impetuous winds the scatter'd forests rend;
Eternal mountains, like their cedars bend;
The vallies yawn, the troubled ocean roar,
And break the bondage of his wonted fhore;
A fanguine ftain the filver moon o'erfpread;
Darkness the circle of the fun invade;
From inmoft heaven inceffant thunders roll,
And the strong echo bound from pole to pole.
When, lo, a mighty trump, one half conceal'd
In clouds, one half to mortal eye reveal'd,
Shall pour a dreadful note; the piercing call
Shall rattle in the centre of the ball;
Th' extended circuit of creation shake,
The living die with fear, the dead awake.

Oh powerful blaft! to which no equa! found Did e'er the frighted ear of nature wound, Though rival clarions have been strain'd on high, And kindled wars immortal through the sky, Though God's whole enginery difcharg'd, and all The rebel angels bellow'd in their fall.

Have angels finn'd? and shall not man beware?
How fhall a fon of earth decline the fnare?
Not folded arms, and flacknefs of the mind,
Can promife for the fafety of mankind:
None are fupinely good through care and pain,
And various arts, the fteep afcent we gain.
This is the fcene of combat, not of reft,
Man's is laborious happiness at best;
On this fide death his dangers never cease,
His joys are joys of conqueft, not of peace.
If then, obfequious to the will of fate,
And bending to the terms of heman ftate,
When guilty joys invite us to their arms,
When beauty miles, or grandeur fpreads her
charms,

The confcious foul would this great fcene difplay,
Call down th' immortal hofts in dread array,
The trumpet found, the Chriftian banner spread,
And raife from filent graves the trembling dead;
Such deep impreflion would the picture make,
No power on earth her firm resolve could shake;
Engag'd with angels fhe would greatly ftand,
And look regardlefs down on fea and land;
Not proffer'd worlds her ardour could reftrain,
And death might shake his threatening lance in vain!
Her certain conqueft would endear the fight,
And danger ferve but to exalt delight.

Inftructed thus to fhun the fatal fpring,
Whence flows the terrors of that day I fing;

More boldly we our labours may pursue,
And all the dreadful image fet to view.

The fparkling eye, the fleek and painted breaft,
The burnish'd scale, curl'd train, and rising crest,
All that is lovely in the noxious snake,
Provokes our fear, and bids us flee the brake:
The fting once drawn, his guiltless beauties rife
In pleasing luftre, and detain our eyes;
We view with joy, what once did horror move,
And ftrong averfion foftens into love.

Say then, my mufe, whom difmal scenes delight, Frequent at tombs, and in the realms of night; Say, melancholy maid, if bold to dare

The last extremes of terror and despair;

Oh fay, what change on earth, what heart in man, This blackeft moment fince the world began.

Ah mournful turn! the blifsful earth, who late At leisure on her axle roll'd in state; While thousand golden planets knew no rest, Still onward in their circling journey prest; A grateful change of feafons fome to bring, And fweet viciffitude of fall and spring: Some through vaft occans to conduct the keel, And fome thofe watery worlds to fink, or fwell: Around her fome their fplendours to display, And gild her globe with tributary day: This world fo great, of joy the bright abode, Heaven's darling child, and favourite of her God, Now looks an exile from her Father's care, Deliver'd o'er to darkness and despair. No fun in radiant glory fhines on high; No light, but from the terrors of the fky: Fall'n are her mountains, her fam'd rivers loft, And all into a fecond chaos toft : One univerfal ruin spreads abroad; Nothing is fafe beneath the throne of God.

Such, earth, thy fate: what then canft thou
afford

To comfort and support thy guilty lord?
Man, haughty lord of all beneath the moon,
How muft he bend his foul's ambition down?
Proftrate, the reptile own, and difavow
His boafted flature, and affuming brow?
Claim kindred with the clay, and curfe his form,
That fpeaks diftinction from his fifter worm?
What dreadful pangs the trembling heart invade!
Lord, why dost thou forfake whom thou haft made?
Who can fuftain thy anger? Who can stand
Beneath the terrors of thy lifted hand?
It flies the reach of thought; oh save me, Power
Of powers fupreme, in that tremendous hour!
Thou who beneath the frown of fate haft ftood,
And in thy dreadful agony fweat blood;
Thou, who for me, through every throbbing vein,
Haft felt the keeneft edge of mortal pain;
Whom death led captive through the realms below.
And taught thofe horrid mysteries of woe;
Defend me, O my God! Oh fave me, Power
Of powers fupreme, in that tremendous hour!
From caft to weft they fly, from pole to line,
Imploring fhelter from the wrath divine;
Beg flames to wrap, or whelming fea sto fweeps
Or rocks to yawn, compaffionately deep:
Seas caft the monster forth to meet his doom,
And rocks but prifon up for wrath to come.

Shakes off the flumber of ten thousand years,'
And on the borders of new worlds appears.
Whate'er the bold, the rafh, adventure cost,
In wide eternity I dare be loft.

The mufe is wont in narrow bounds to fing,
To teach the frain, or celebrate the king.
I grafp the whole, no more to parts confin'd,
I lift my voice, and fing to human kind :
I fing to men and angels; angels join, [mine.
While fuch the theme, their facred fongs with
Again the trumpet's intermitted found
Rolls the wide circuit of creation round,
An univerfal concourse to prepare

Of all that ever breath'd the vital air:
In fome wide field, which active whirlwinds fweep,
Drive cities, forests, mountains, to the deep,
To fmooth and lengthen out th' unbounded space,
And spread an area for all human race.

Now monuments prove faithful to their truft,
And render back their long-committed duft.
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 distant head, the diftant legs the feet.
Dreadful to view, fee through the dusky sky
Fragments of bodies in confufion fly,
To distant regions journeying, there to claim
Deferted members, and complete 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
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 gasping army's yell,
Bid, with due horror, his great foul farewell.
Obfcure his fall! all weltering in his gore,
His trunk was caft to perish on the shore!
While Julius frown'd the bloody monfter dead,
Who brought the world in his great rival's head.
This fever'd head and trunk shall join once more,
Though realms now rife between, and oceans roar.
The trumpet's found each fragrant mote shall hear,
Or fix'd in earth, or if afloat in air,
Obey the signal wafted in the wind,
And not one fleeping atom lag behind.

So fwarming bees, that on a fummer's day
In airy rings and wild meanders play, [end,
Charm'd with the brazen found, their wanderings
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,

D

Turns the strong arch, and bids the columns rife,
And bear the lofty palace to the skies;
The wrongs of time enabled to surpass, 1
With bars of adamant, and ribs of brass.

That ancient, facred, and illuftrious * dome,
Where foon or late fair Albion's heroes come,
From camps, and courts, though great, or wife, or
To feed the worm, and moulder into duft; [just,
That folemn mansion of the royal dead,
Where paffing flaves o'er fleeping monarch's tread,
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 styles 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 threatres invade the skies,
Nations fhall wake, whose unrespected bones
Support the pride of their luxurious fons.
The most magnificent and costly dome
Is but an upper chamber to a tomb
No fpot on earth but has supply'd a grave,
And human skulls the fpacious ocean pave.
All's full of man; and, at this dreadful turn,
The swarm shall iffue, and the hive shall burn.
Not all at once, nor in like manner, rise :
Some lift with pain their flow unwilling eyes;
| Shrink backward from the terror of the light,
And bless the grave, and call for lafting night.
Others, whofe long-attempted virtue ftood
Fix'd as a rock, and broke the rushing flood,
Whose firm refolve nor beauty could melt down,
Nor raging tyrants from their posture frown;
Such, in this day of horrors, fhall be seen
To face the thunders with a godlike mien;
The planets drop, their thoughts are fix'd above
The centre shakes, their hearts difdain to move:
An earth diffolving, and a heaven thrown wide,
A yawning gulf, and fiends on every fide,
Serene they view, impatient of delay,
And blefs the dawn of everlasting day.

Here greatness proftrate falls, there ftrength
gives place,

Here lazars fmile, there beauty hides her face.
Chriftians, and Jews, and Turks, and Pagans stand
A blended throng, one undistinguish'd band.
Some who, perhaps, by mutual wounds expir'd,
With zeal for their diftin& 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 those whose pious bounties unconfin'd
Have made them public fathers of mankind.
In that illuftrious rank, what fhining light
With fuch diftinguifh'd glory fills my fight?
Bend down, my grateful mufe, that homage fhow
Which to fuch worthies thou art proud to owe.
Wickham! Fox! Chichley! hail, illuftrious names,
Who to far diftant times difpenfe your beams;

Weftminster Abbey.

+Founders of New- College, Corpus Chrifti, and AllSouls, in Oxford; of all which the author was a member,

Beneath your shades, and near your crystal springs,,
I firft prefum'd to touch the trembling strings.
All hail, thrice honour'd! 'Twas your great re-
To biefs a people, and oblige a crown. [nown
And now you rife, eternally to shine,
Eternally to drink the rays divine.

Indulgent God! Oh, how fhall mortal raife
His foul to due returns of grateful praise,
For bounty fo profufe to human kind,
Thy wondrous gift of an eternal mind?
Shad I, who fome few years ago was lefs
Than worm, or mite, or fhadow, can express,
Was nothing; fhall I live, when every fire
And every far shall languish and expire?
When earth's no more, fhall I survive above,
And through the radiant files of angels move?
Or, as before the throne of God I stand,
See new worlds rolling from his spacious 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.

But oh before this blissful state, before
Th' afpiring foul this wondrous height can foar,
The Judge, defcending, thunders from afar,
And all mankind is fummon'd to the bar.

This mighty scene I next prefume to draw:
Attend, great Anna, with religious awe.
Expect not here the known fuccessful arts
To win attention, and command our hearts:
Fiction, be far away; let no machine
Defcending here, no fabled God, be seen;
Behold the God of Gods indeed descend,
And worlds unnumber'd his approach attend!
Lo! the wide theatre, whofe ample space
Muft entertain the whole of human race,
At heaven's all-powerful edict is prepar'd,
And fenc'd around with an immortal guard.
Tribes, provinces, dominions, worlds, o'erflow
The mighty plain, and deluge all below:
And every age and nation pours along;
Nimrod and Bourbon mingle in the throng:
Adam falutes his youngest fon; no fign
Of all those ages which their births disjoin.

How empty learning, and how vain is art,
But as it mends the life, and guides the heart!
What volumes have been fwell'd, what time been
fpent,

To fix a hero's birth-day or defcent!

What joy must it now yield, what rapture raise,
To fee the glorious race of ancient days;
To greet thofe worthies, who perhaps have stood
ILuftrious on record before the flood!
Alas! a nearer care your foul demands.
Cæfar unnoted in your prefence ftands.

How vaft the concourfe! not in number more
The waves that break on the refounding thore,
The leaves that tremble in the shady grove,
The lamps that gild the fpangled vaults above :
Thole overwhelming armies, whofe command
Said to one empire, fall, another, fiand;
Whole rear lay wrapt in night, while breaking

dawa

Roas'd the broad front, and call'd the battle on: Great Xerxes' world in arms, proud Canna's field, Where Carthage taught victorious Rome to yield,

(Another blow hati broke the fate's decree,
And earth had wanted her fourth monarchy)
Immortal Blenheim, fam'd Ramillia's hoft,
They all are here, and here they all are loft:
Their millions fwell to be difcern'd in vain,
Loft as a billow in th' unbounded main.

This echoing voice now rends the yielding air,
"For judgment, judgment, fons of men prepare!"
Earth thakes anew; I hear her groans profound;
And hell through all her trembling realms refound.
Whoe'er thou art, thou greateft power of earth,
Bleft with moft equal planets at thy birth;
Whose valour drew the most fuccessful fword,
Moft realms united in one common lord;
Who, on the day of triumph, saidft, Be thine
The fkies, Jehovah, all this world is mine:
Dare not to lift thine eye-Alas! my mufe,
How art thou loft! what numbers canft thou choose?
A fudden blufh inflames the waving sky,
And now the crimson curtains open fly;
Lo far within, and far above all height,
Where heaven's great Sovereign reigns in world's
of light,

Whence nature He informs, and with one ray
Shot from his eye, does all her works survey,
Creats, fupports, confounds! Where time and place,
Matter, and form, and fortune, life, and grace,
Wait humbly at the footstool of their God,
And move obedient at his awful nod;
Whence he beholds us vagrant emmets crawl
At random on this air. fufpended ball.
(Speck of creation) : if he pour one breath,
The bubble breaks, and 'tis eternal death.

Thence iffuing i behold (but mortal fight
Suftains not fuch a rushing fea of light)
I fee, on an empyreal flying throne
Sublimely rais'd, Heaven's everlafting SoN;
Crown'd with that majefty that form'd the world,
And the grand rebel flaming downward hurl'd.
Virtue, dominion, praife, omnipotence,
Support the train of their triumphant prince.
A zone, beyond the thought of angels bright,
Around him, like the zodiac, winds its light.
Night fhades the folemn arches of his brows
And in his cheek the purple morning glows.
Where'er ferene he turns propitious eyes,
Or we expect, or find, a paradife :

But if refentment reddens their mild beams,
The Eden kindles, and the world's in flames.
On one hand, Knowledge fhines in pureft lights
On one, the word of Justice, fiercely bright.
Now bend the knee in fport, prefent the reed;
Now tell the fcourg'd Impoflor he fhali bleed!

Thus glorious through the courts of heaven, the

fource

Of life and death eternal bends his course;
Loud thunders round him roll, and lightnings play;
Th' angelic hoft is rang'd in bright array: [thell,
Some touch the ftring, fome ftrike the founding
And mingling voices in rich concert fwell;
Voices feraphic; bleft with fúch à strain,
Could Satan hear, he were a god again.

Triumphant King of Glory! Soul of Blifs!
What a ftupendous turn of fate is this?
O! whither art thou ráis'd above the form
And indigence of him in Beth'lem born;

Aceste helplefs, unaccounted, guest,

cond to the fodder'd beaft?

y'd from bim, who meekly proftrate laid, f'd to wash the feet himself had made? bim who was betray'd, forfook, deny'd, Wept, languifh'd, pray'd, bled, thirsted, groan'd, and dy'd;

Hung pierc'd and bare, infulted by the foe, [low?
All heaven in tears above, earth unconcern'd be-
And was't enough to bid the fun retire?
Why did not nature at thy groan expire?
I fee, I hear, I feel, the pangs divine;
The world is vanifh'd I am wholly thine.

Mistaken Caiaphas! Ah! which blafphem'd; Thou, or thy prisoner? which shall be condemn'd? Well might'st thou rend thy garments, well exclaim;

Deep are the horrors of eternal flame!

But God is good! 'Tis wond'rous all! Ev'n he
Thou gav't to death, shame, torture, dy'd for thee.
Now the defcending triumph ftops its flight,
From earth full twice a planetary height.
There all the clouds condens'd, two columns raise,
Diftin&t with orient veins and golden blaze.
One fix'd on earth, and one in fea, and round
Its ample foot the fwelling billows found.
These an immeafurable arch fupport,
The grand tribunal of this awful court.
Sheets of bright azure, from the purest sky,
Stream from the crystal arch, and round the co-
lumns fly.

Death, wrapt in chains, low at the bafis lies,
And on the point of his own arrow dies.

Here high enthron'd th' Eternal Judge is plac'd,
With all the grandeur of his godhead grac'd;
Stars on his robes in beauteous order meet,
And the fun burns beneath his awful feet.
Now an archangel eminently bright,
From off his filver staff of wond'rous height,
Unfurls the Chriftian flag, which waving flies,
And shuts and opens more than half the skies:
The crófs fo ftrong a red, it fheds a stain,
Where'er it floats, on earth, in air, or main;
Flushes the hill, and fets on fire the wood,
And turns the deep-dy'd ocean into blood.
Oh, formidable glory! dreadful bright!
Refulgent torture to the guilty fight.
Ah turn unwary mufe, nor dare reveal
What horrid thoughts with the polluted dwell.
Say, (not to make the fun fhrink in his beam)
Dare not affirm, they wish it all a dream;
Wifh, or their fouls may with their limbs decay,
Or God be fpoil'd of his eternal fway.
But rather, if thou know'ft the means, unfold
How they with transport might the scene behold.
Ah how! but by repentance, by a mind
Quick, and fevere its own offence to find?
By tears, and groans, and never-ceafing care,
And all the pious violence of prayer?
Thus then, with fervency till now unknown,
I caft my heart before th' eternal throne,
In this great temple, which the skics furround,
For homage to its Lord, a narrow bound.

"O thou! whofe balance does the mountains

weigh,

Whofe will the wild tumultuous feas obey,

"Whose breath can turn those watery worlds te "flame,

"That flame to tempeft, and that tempest tame; "Earth's meanest fon, all trembling, proftrate falls, "And on the boundless of thy goodness calls.

"Oh! give the winds all paft offence to sweep, "To fcatter wide, or bury in the deep: "Thy power, my weakness, may I ever fee, "And wholly dedicate my foul to thee: "Reign'd o'er my will; my paffions ebb and flow "At thy command, nor human motive know! "If anger boil, let anger be my praise, "And fin the graceful indignation raise. "My love be warm to fuccour the distress'd, "And lift the burden from the foul opprefs'd. “Oh, may my understanding ever read "This glorious volume, which thy wisdom made! "Who decks the maiden fpring with flowery pride? "Who calls forth fammer, like a sparkling bride? "Who joys the mother autumn's bed to crown? "And bids old winter lay her honours down! "Not the great Ottoman, or greater Czar, "Not Europe's abitress of peace and war.

May fea and land, and earth and heaven be join'd, "To bring th' Eternal Author to my mind! "When oceans roar, or awful thunders roll, "May thoughts of thy dread vengeance shake my

foul!

"When earth's in bloom, or planets proudly shine, "Adore, my heart, the Majefty Divine!

"Through every fcene of life, or peace, or war, "Plenty, or want, thy glory be my care! "Shine we in arms? or fing beneath our vine? "Thine is the vintage, and the conqueft thine : "Thy pleasure points the fhaft, and bends the bow; "The cluster blasts, or bids it brightly glow: " 'Tis thou that lead'ft our powerful armies forth, "And giv'ft great Anne thy fceptre o'er the north. "Grant I may ever, at the morning-ray, "Open with prayer the confecrated day; "Tune thy great praise, and bid my, foul arife, "And with the mounting fun afcend the skies: "As that advances, let my zeal improve, "And glow with ardour of confummate love; "Nor ceafe at eve, but with the setting fun "My endless worship shall be still begun.

And, oh! permit the gloom of folemn night "To facred thought may forcibly invite. "When this world's fhut, and awful planets rife, "Call on our minds, and raise them to the skies; Compose our fouls with a lefs dazzling fight, "And show all nature in a milder light; "How every boisterous thought in calms fubfides! "How the fmooth'd fpirit into goodness glides ! "O how divine! to tread the milky way, "To the bright palace of the Lord of Day; "His court admire, or for his favour fue, "Or leagues of friendship with his faints renew; "Pleas'd to look down, and fee the world asleep, "While I long vigils to its founder keep!

"Canft thou not fhake the centre? Oh! controul "Subdue by force, the rebel in my foul: "Thou, who canft ftill the raging of the flood, "Reftrain the various tumults of my blood; "Teach me with equal firmness to sustain