Walks the dire power of pestilent disease.
A thousand hideous fiends her course attend, Sick Nature blasting, and to heartless woe, And feeble desolation, casting down
The towering hopes and and all the pride of man. Such as, of late, at Carthagena quench'd
The British fire. You, gallant Vernon *), saw The miserable scene; you, pitying, saw
To infant-weakness sunk the warrior's arm; Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghastly form, The lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eye No more with ardour bright: you heard the groans Of agonizing ships from shore to shore; Heard, nightly plung'd amid the sullen waves, The frequent corse; while, on each other fix'd, In sad presage, the blank assistants seem'd, Silent, to ask, whom Fate would next demand.
What need I mention those inclement skies. Where, frequent o'er the sickening city, Plague, The fiercest child of Nemesis divine, Descends **)? From Ethiopia's poison'd woods, From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields With locust - armies putrefying heap'd,
This great destroyer sprung. Her awful rage The brutes escape: Man is her destin'd prey, Intemperate man! and, o'er his guilty domes, She draws a close incumbent cloud of death Uninterrupted by the living winds,
Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze; and stain'd With many a mixture by the sun, suffus'd, Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then, Dejects his watchful eye; and from the hand Of feeble justice, ineffectual, drop
The sword and balance; mute the voice of joy, And hush'd the clamour of the busy world, Empty the streets, with uncouth verdure clad: Into the worst of deserts sudden turn'd
*) Der Englische Admiral Vernon belagerte 1741 die im Spanischen Süd-Amerika belegene Stadt Carthagena.
**) These are the causes supposed to be the first origin of the Plague, in Dr. Mead's elegant book on that subject.
The cheerful haunt of men, unless escap'd
From the doom'd house, where matchless horror reigns, Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch, With frenzy wild, breaks loose; and, loud to heaven Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns, Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door, Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge Fearing to turn, abhors society:
Dependants, friends, relations, love himself, Savag'd by woe, forget the tender tie,
The sweet engagement of the feeling heart. But vain their selfish care: the circling sky, The wide enlivening air is full of fate; And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs They fall, unblest, untended, and unmourn'd. Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair Extends her raven wing; while, to complete The scene of desolation, stretch'd around, The grim guards stand, denying all retreat, And give the flying wretch a better death.
And his Amelia were a matchless pair; With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace, The same, distinguish'd by their sex alone: Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn, And his the radiance of the risen day.
They lov'd. But such their guileless passion was, As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart Of innocence, and undissembling truth. 'Twas friendship heighten'd by the mutual wish, Th' enchanting hope, and sympathetic glow, Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all To love, each was to each a dearer self; Supremely happy in th' awaken'd power Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd
The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart, Or sigh'd, and look'd unutterable things.
So pass'd their life, a clear united stream, By care unruffled; till, in evil hour,
The tempest caught them on the tender walk, Heedless how far, and where its mazes stray'd, While, with each other blest,. creative love Still bade eternal Eden smile around. Presaging instant fate, her bosom heav'd Unwonted sighs, and stealing oft a look Of the big gloom on Celadon her eye Fell tearful, wetting her disordered cheek. In vain assuring love, and confidence
In heaven, repress'd her fear; it grew, and shook Her frame near dissolution. He perceiv'd Th' unequal conflict, and as angels look On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed, With love illumin'd high.,, Fear not, he said, ,, Sweet sinnocence! thou stranger to offence, ,,And inward storm! He, who yon skies involves ,,In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee
With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft "That wastes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour ,,Of noon, flies harmless: and that very voice ,,Which thunders terror through the guilty heart, "With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to thine. "Tis safety to be near thee, sure, and thus To clasp perfection!" From his void e embrace, Mysterious heaven! that moment, to the ground, A blacken'd corse, was struck the beauteous maid. But who can paint the lover, as he stood, Pierc'd by severe amazement, hating life, Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe! So, faint resemblance! on the marble-tomb, The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands, For ever silent, and for ever sad.
Chear'd by the milder beam, the sprightly youth Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystall depth
A sandy bottom shews. A while he stands Gazing th' inverted landskip, half- afraid To meditate the blue profound below; Then plunges headlong down the circling flood. His ebon tresses, and his rosy cheek
Instant emerge; and through th' obedient wave, At each short breathing by his lip repell'd, With arms and legs according well, he makes, As humour leads, an easy-winding path; While, from his polish'd sides, a dewy light. Effuses on the pleas'd spectators round.
This is the purest exercise of health,
The kind refresher of the Summer-heats;
Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, Would I weak - shivering linger on the brink. Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserv'd, By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs Knit into force; and the same Roman arm, That rose victorious o'er the conquer'd earth, First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave. Even from the body's purity, the mind Receives a secret sympathetic, aid.
4) PROSPECT OF A RICH, WELL-CULTIVATED COUNTRY; A PANEGYRIC ON GREAT-BRITAIN *).
eavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around,
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires, And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till all
The stretching landskip into smoke decays! Happy Britannia! Where, the queen of arts, Inspiring vigour, Liberty abroad
Walks, unconfin'd, even to thy farthest cots, And scatters plenty with unsparing hand.
Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime; Thy streams unfailing in the summer's drought; Unmatch'd thy guardian-oaks; thy valleys float With golden waves: and on thy mountains flocks
Bleat numberless: while, roving round their sides, Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves. Beneath thy meadows glow, and rise unquell'd Against the mower's scythe. On every hand Thy villas shine. Thy country teems with wealth; And property assures it to the swain, Pleas'd, and unwearied, in his guarded toil.
Full are thy cities with the sons of art; And trade with joy, in every busy street, Mingling are heard: ev'n drudgery himself, As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews The palace-stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, Where rising masts an endless prospect yield, With labour burn, and echo to the shouts Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet, Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind.
Bold, firm, and graceful, are thy generous youth; By hardship sinew'd, and by danger fir'd, Scattering the nations where they go; and first Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas. Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plans Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires preside; In genius, and substantial learning, high; For every virtue, every worth, renown'd; Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind; Yet, like the mustering thunder, when provok'd, The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource Of those that under grim oppression groan.
Thy Sons of glory many! Alfred *) thine, In whom the splendor of heroic war, And more heroic peace, when' govern'd well," Combine; whose hallow'd name the Virtues saint. And his own Muses love; the best of Kings! With him thy Edwards **) and thy Henrys ***) shine,
rer der Gelehrsamkeit bekannt. sen Namen.
*) Alfred regierte um 872; er ist als Held und Beförde **) Sechs Könige führen dieUnter ihnen sind Edward I, gestorben 1509, und Edward III, gestorben 1372, am berühmtesten. ***) Ihrer sind acht, und unter ihnen zeichnen sich Henry II, IV, VII und VIII am meisten aus.
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