And Virtue veil'd her weeping charms,
And fled for refuge to his arms;

Her altars fcorn'd, her fhrines defac'd-
Whom thus th' Effential Good addrefs'd.

Thou, whom my foul adores alone,

• Effulgent fharer of my throne,

Fair Empress of Eternity!

Who, uncreated, reign'ft like me; Whom I, who fole and boundless fway, • With pleasure infinite obey;

To yon diurnal scenes below,

• Who feel their folly in their woe, Again propitious turn thy flight;

Again oppofe yon tyrant's might;

To earth thy clouldless charms disclose,
Revive thy friends, and blast thy foes:

Thy triumphs man fhall raptur'd fee,

Act, fuffer, live, and die for thee.
But fince all crimes their hell contain,
Since all must feel who merit pain,
Let Fortitude thy fteps attend,
And be, like thee, to man a friend;
To urge him on the arduous road,
That leads to virtue, bliss, and God;
• To blunt the fting of ev'ry grief,
And be to all a near relief.'

He faid; and fhe, with fmiles divine, Which made all heaven more brightly shine, To earth return'd with all her train,

And brought the golden age again.

Since erring mortals, unconftrain'd,

The god, that warms their breaft, prophan'd,

She, guardian of their joys no more,
Could only leave them, and deplore:

They, now the eafy prey of pain,

Curs'd in their wish, their choice obtain !

Till arm'd with Heaven and Fate, she came,
Her deftin'd honours to reclaim.

Vice and her flaves beheld her flight,
And fled like birds obfcene from light,
Back to th' abode of plagues return,
To fin and smart, blafpheme and burn.
Thou, Goddefs! fince, with facred aid,
Haft ev'ry grief and pain allay'd,
To joy converted ev'ry smart,
And plac'd a heaven in ev'ry heart.
By thee we act, by thee fuftain,
Thou facred antidote of pain!
At thy great nod the Alps* fubfide,
Reluctant rivers turn their tide;
With all thy force Alcides warm'd,
His hand against oppreffion arm'd.
By thee his mighty nerves were ftrung,
By thee his ftrength for ever young;
And whilft on brutal force he prefs'd,
His vigour with his foes increas'd.
By thee, like Jove's almighty hand,
Ambition's havock to withstand,
Timoleon + rofe, the fcourge of Fate,
And hurl'd a tyrant from his state;
The brother in his foul fubdu'd,

And warm'd the poniard in his blood;
A foul by so much virtue fir'd,
Not Greece alone, but Heav'n admir'd.
But in these dregs of human kind,
These days to guilt and fear refign'd,
How rare fuch views the heart elate!

To brave the laft extremes of fate;

* Alluding to the hiftory of Hannibal.

Timoleon, having long in vain importuned his brother to refign the defpotifm of Corinth, at last restored the liberty of the people by stabbing him.

Like Heav'n's almighty Power, ferene,
With fix'd regard to view the scene,
When Nature quakes beneath the ftorm,
And Horror wears it direft form.
Tho' future worlds are now defcry'd,
Tho' Paul has writ, and Jefus dy'd,
Difpell'd the dark infernal shade,
And all the heaven of heavens display'd:
Curs'd with unnumber'd groundless fears,
How pale yon fhiv'ring wretch appears !
For him the day-light shines in vain,
For him the fields no joys contain;
Nature's whole charms to him are loft,
No more the woods their mufick boast;
No more the meads their vernal bloom,
No more the gales their rich perfume:
Impending mifts deform the sky,
And beauty withers in his eye.
In hopes his terror to elude,
By day he mingles with the crowd;
Yet finds his foul to fears a prey,
In bufy crowds, and open day.
If night his lonely walk furprize,
What horrid vifions round him rife!
That blafted oak, which meets his way,
Shewn by the meteor's fudden ray,
The midnight murd'rer's known retreat,
Felt Heaven's avengeful bolt of late ;
The clashing chain, the groan profound,
Loud from yon ruin'd tower refound;
And now the spot he feems to tread,
Where fome self-flaughter'd corfe was laid;
He feels fix'd earth beneath him bend,
Deep murmurs from her caves afcend;
Till all his foul, by Fancy fway'd,
Sees lurid phantoms croud the fhade;