The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper

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ARISE, divine Urania, with new strains
To hymn thy God, and thou, immortal Fame,
Arise, and blow thy everlasting trump.
All glory to th' Omniscient, and praise,
And pow'r, and domination in the height!
And thou, cherubic Gratitude, whose voice
To pious ears sounds silverly so sweet,
Come with thy precious incense, bring thy gifts,
And with thy choicest stores the altar crown.
Thou too, my Heart, whom he, and he alone,
Who all things knows, can know, with love re-
plete,

Regenerate, and pure, pour all thyself

OMNISCIENCE OF THE SUPREME A living sacritice before his throne:

BEING,

And may th' eternal, high mysterious tree,
That in the centre of the arched Heav'ns
Bears the rich fruit of knowledge, with some
branch

Stoop to my humble reach, and bless my toil!

When in my mother's womb conceal'd I lay
A senseless embryo, then my soul thou knewst,
And every faint idea yet unform'd.
Knewst all her future workings, every thought,
When up the imperceptible ascent
Of growing years, led by thy hand, I rose,
Perception's gradual light, that ever dawns
Insensibly to day, thou didst vouchsafe,
And teach me by that reason thou inspir'dst,
That what of knowledge in my mind was low,
Imperfect, incorrect-in thee is wonderous,
Uncircumscrib'd, unsearchably profound,
And estimable solely by itself.

What is that secret pow'r, that guides the
brutes,
Which ignorance calls instinct? 'Tis from thee,
It is the operation of thine hands,
Immediate, instantaneous; 'tis thy wisdom,
That glorious shines transparent thro' thy works.
Who taught the pye, or who forewarn'd the jay
To shun the deadly nightshade? tho' the cherry
Boasts not a glossier hue, nor does the plumb
Lure with more seeming sweets the amorous eye,
Yet will not the sagacious birds, decoy'd
By fair appearance, touch the noxious fruit,
They know to taste is fatal, whence alarm'd
Swift on the winnowing winds they work their

I GIVE my Kislingbury estate to the university of Cambridge for ever: the rents of which shall be disposed of yearly by the vice-chancellor for the time being, as the vice-chancellor, master of Clare-hall, and the Greek professor for the time being, or any two of them, shall agree. Which three persons aforesaid shall give out a subject, which subject shall for the first year be one or other of the perfections or attributes of the Supreme Being, and so the succeeding years, till the subject is exhausted; and afterwards the subject shall be either Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Purity of Heart, &c. or whatever else may be judged by the vice-chancellor, master of Clare-hall, and Greek professor to be most conducive to the honour of the Su-Go to, proud reas'ner, philosophic man, [-No. preme Being and recommendation of virtue. And they shall yearly dispose of the rent of the above estate to that master of arts, whose poem on the subject given shall be best approved by them. Which poem I ordain to be always in English, and to be printed; the expense of which shall be deducted out of the product of the estate, and the residue given as a reward for the composer of the poem, or ode, or copy of

verses.

WE the underwritten, do assign Mr. Seaton's reward to C. Smart, M A. for his poem on The Omniscience of the Supreme Being, and direct the said poem to be printed, according to the tenor of the will.

J. WILCOX, vice-chancellor.
T. FRANKLIN, Greek-professor.

November 2, 1752.

way.

Hast thou such prudence, thou such knowledge?
Full many a race has fall'n into the snare
Of meretricious looks, of pleasing surface,
And oft in desert isles the famish'd pilgrim
By forms of fruit, and luscious taste beguil'd,
Like his forefather Adam, eats and dies.
For why? his wisdom on the leaden feet
Of slow experience, dully tedious, creeps,
And comes, like vengeance, after long delay.

The venerable sage, that nightly trims
The learned lamp, t'investigate the pow'rs
Of plants medicinal, the earth, the air,
And the dark regions of the fossil world,
Grows old in following, what he ne'er shall find;
Studious in vain! till haply, at the last
He spies a mist, then shapes it into mountains,
And baseless fabric from conjecture builds.
While the domestic animal, that guards
At midnight hours his threshold, if oppress'd

By sudden sickness, at his master's feet
Begs not that aid his services might claim,
But is his own physician, knows the case,
And from th' emetic herbage works his cure.
Hark, from afar the feather'd matron' screams,
And all her brood alarms, the docile crew
Accept the signal one and all, expert

In th' art of nature and unlearn'd deceit :
Along the sod, in counterfeited death,
Mute, motionless they lie; full well appriz'd,
That the rapacious adversary's near.

But who inform'd her of the approaching danger,
Who taught the cautious mother that the hawk
Was hatcht her foe, and liv'd by her destruction?
Her own prophetic soul is active in her,
And more than human providence her guard.
When Philomela, e'er the cold domain
Of crippled winter 'gins t' advance, prepares
Her annual flight, and in some poplar shade
Takes her melodious leave, who then's her pilot?
Who points her passage thro' the pathless void
To realms from us remote, to us unknown?
Her science is the science of her God.
Not the magnetic index to the north
E'er ascertains her course, nor buoy, nor beacon,
She Heav'n-taught voyager, that sails in air,
Courts nor coy west nor east, but instant knows
What Newton, or not sought, or sought in
vain2.

Illustrious name, irrefragable proof

Of man's vast genius, and the soaring soul!
Yet what wert thou to him, who knew his works,
Before creation form'd them, long before
He measur'd in the hollow of his hand
Th' exulting ocean, and the highest Heav'ns
He comprehended with a span, and weigh'd
The mighty mountains in his golden scales:
Who shone supreme, who was himself the light,
Ere yet Refraction learn'd her skill to paint,
And bend athwart the clouds her beauteous bow.
When Knowledge at her father's dread com-
mand

Resign'd to Israel's king her golden key,
Oh to have join'd the frequent auditors
In wonder and delight, that whilom heard
Great Solomon descanting on the brutes!
Oh how sublimely glorious to apply
To God's own honour, and good will to man,
That wisdom he alone of men possess'd
In plenitude so rich, and scope so rare!
How did he rouse the pamper'd silken sons
Of bloated ease, by placing to their view
The sage industrious ant, the wisest insect,
And best economist of all the field!
Tho' she presumes not by the solar orb
To measure time and seasons, nor consults
Chaldean calculations, for a guide;

Yet conscious that December's on the march
Pointing with icy hand to want and woe,
She waits his dire approach, and undismay'd
Receives him as a welcome guest, prepar'd
Against the churlish winter's fiercest blow,
For when, as yet the favourable Sun
Gives to the genial earth th' enlivening ray,
Not the poor suffering slave, that hourly toils

1 The hen turkey,

2 The longitude,

To rive the groaning earth for ill-sought gold,
Endures such trouble, such fatigue, as she;
While all her subterraneous avenues,
And storm-proof cells, with management most

meet

And unexampled housewifry, she forms,
Then to the field she hies, and on her back,
Burden immense! she bears the cumbrous corn,
Then many a weary step, and many a strain,
And many a grievous groan subdued, at length
Up the huge hill she hardly heaves it home:
Nor rests she here her providence, but nips
With subtle tooth the grain, lest from her garner
In mischievous fertility it steal,

And back to day-light vegetate its way.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard, learn to live,
And by her wary ways reform thine own.
But, if thy deaden'd sense, and listless thought
More glaring evidence demand; behold,
Where yon pellucid populous hive presents
A yet uncopied model to the world!
There Machiavel in the reflecting glass
May read himself a fool. The chymist there
May with astonishment invidious view
His toils outdone by each plebeian bee,
Who, at the royal mandate, on the wing
From various herbs, and from discordant flow'rs
A perfect harmony of sweets compounds.

Avaunt Conceit, Ambition take thy flight
Back to the prince of vanity and air!
Oh! tis a thought of energy most piercing,
Form'd to make pride grow humble; form'd to

force

Its weight on the reluctant mind, and give her
A true but irksome image of herself.
Woful vicissitude! when man, fail'n man,
Who first from Heav'n, from gracious God him-
self,
[brutes
Learn'd knowledge of the brutes, must know by
Instructed and reproach'd, the scale of being;
By slow degrees from lowly steps ascend,
And trace Omniscience upwards to its spring!
Yet murmur not, but praise-for tho' we stand
Of many a Godlike privilege amerc'd

By Adam's dire transgression, tho' no more
Is Paradise our home, but o'er the portal
Hangs in terrific pomp the burning blade;
Still with ten thousand beauties blooms the
Earth,

With pleasures populous, and with riches crown'd,
Still is there scope for wonder and for love
Ev'n to their last exertion-show'rs of blessings
Far more than human virtue can deserve,
Or hope expect, or gratitude return.
Then, O ye people, O ye sons of men,
Whatever be the colour of your lives,
Whatever portion of itself his wisdom
Shall deign t' allow, still patiently abide,

And praise him more and more; nor cease ta chant

All glory to the Omniscient, and praise,
And pow'r, and domination in the height!
Aud thou, cherubic Gratitude, whose voice

To pious ears sounds silverly so sweet.
Come with thy precious incense, bring thy gifts,
And with the choicest stores the altar crown,

ΤΩ ΘΕΩ ΔΟΞΑ

ON THE

Fall headlong in one horrible cascade,
'Twere but the echo of the parting breeze,

POWER OF THE SUPREME BEING, When Zephyr faints upon the lily's breast,

A POETICAL ESSAY.

A CLAUSE OF

MR. SEATON'S WILL,

Dated Oct. 8, 1738.

"Twere but the ceasing of some instrument,
When the last ling'ring undulation

Dies on the doubting ear, if nam'd with sounds
So mighty! so stupendous! so divine!
But not alone in the aerial vault
Does he the dread theocracy maintain;
For oft, enrag'd with his intestine thunders,
He harrows up the bowels of the Earth,
And shocks the central magnet-Cities then
Totter on their foundations, stately columns,
Magnific walls, and heav'n-assaulting spires.
What tho' in haughty eminence erect
Stands the strong citadel, and frowns defiance
On adverse hosts, though many a bastion jut
Forth from the ramparts elevated mound,
Vain the poor providence of human art,
And mortal strength how vain! while underneath
Triumphs his mining vengeance in th' uproar
Of shatter'd towers, riven rocks, and mountains,
With clamour inconceivable uptorn,
And hurl'd adown th' abyss. Sulphureous pyrites
Bursting abrupt from darkness into day,
With din outrageous and destructive ire
Augment the hideous tumult, while it wounds
Th' afflicted ear, and terrifies the eye
And rends the heart in twain. Twice have we felt,
Within Augusta's walls twice have we felt
Thy threaten'd indiguation, but ev'n thou,
Incens'd Omnipotent, art gracious ever:
Thy goodness infinite but mildly warn'd us
With mercy-blended wrath: O spare us still,
Nor send more dire conviction: we confess

I GIVE my Kislingbury estate to the university of Cambridge for ever: the rents of which shall be disposed of yearly by the vice-chancellor for the time being, as he the vice-chancellor, the master of Clare-hall, and the Greek professor for the time being, or any two of them, shall agree. Which three persons aforesaid shall give out a subject, which subject shall for the first year be one or other of the perfections or attri- | bates of the Supreme Being, and so the succeeding years, till the subject is exhausted; and afterwards the subject shall be either Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Purity of Heart, &c. or whatever else may be judged by the vicechancellor, master of Clare-Hall, and Greek professor to be most conducive to the honour of the Supreme Being and recommendation of virtne. And they shall yearly dispose of the rent of the above estate to that master of arts, whose poem on the subject given shall be best approved by them. Which poem I ordain to be always in English, and to be printed; the expense of which shall be deducted out of the product of the estate, and the residue given as a reward for the composer of the poem,or ode, or copy of verses. WE the underwritten do assign Mr. Sea-That thou art he, th' Almighty: we believe: ton's reward to C. Smart, M. A. for his poem on The Power of the Supreme Being, and direct the said poem to be printed, according to the teuor of the will.

Dec. 5, 1753.

P. YONGE, vice-chancellor.
J. WILCOX, master of Clare-Hall.
THO. FRANKLIN, Greek professor.

TREMBLE,thou Earth!" th' anointed poet said, "At God's bright presence, tremble, all ye mountains,

And all ye hillocks on the surface bound."
Then once again, ye glorious thunders, roll,
The Muse with transport hears ye, once again
Convulse the solid continent, and shake,
Grand music of Omnipotence, the isles.
'Tis thy terrific voice; thou God of power,
'Tis thy terrific voice; all Nature hears it
Awaken'd and alarm'd; she feels its force,
In every spring she feels it, every wheel,
And every movement of her vast machine.
Behold! quakes Apennine, behold! recoils
Athos, and all the hoary-headed Alps
Leap from their bases at the godlike sound.
But what is this, celestial though the note,
And proclamation of the reign supreme,
Compar'd with such as, for a mortal ear
Too great, amaze the incorporeal worlds?
Shou'd Ocean to his congretated waves
Call in each river, cataract, and lake,
And with the watery world down a huge rock
VOL. XVI.

For at thy righteous power whole systems quake,
For at thy nod tremble ten thousand worlds.

Hark! on the winged whirlwind's rapid rage,
Which is and is not in a moment-bark!
On the hurricane's tempestuous sweep he rides
Invincible, and oaks and pines and cedars
And forests are no more. For conflict dreadful!
The West encounters East, and Notus meets
In his career the Hyperborean blast.
The lordly lions shudd'ring seek their dens,
Who dar'd the solar ray, is weak of wing,
And fly like tim'rous deer; the king of birds,
And faints and falls and dies;-while he supreme
Stands stedfast if in the centre of the storm.
Wherefore, ye objects terrible and great,
Ye thunders, earthquakes, and ye fire-fraught
wombs

Of fell volcanoes, whirlwinds, hurricanes,
And boiling billows hail! in chorus join
To celebrate and magnify your Maker,
Who yet in works of a minuter mould
Is not less manifest, is not less mighty.

Survey the magnet's sympathetic love,
That wooes the yielding needle; contemplate
Th' attractive amber's power, invisible
Ev'n to the mental eye; or when the blow
Sent from th' electric sphere assaults thy frame,
Show me the hand, that dealt it !-baffled here
By his omnipotence, Philosophy

Slowly her thoughts inadequate revolves, [her,
And stands, with all his circling wonders round
Like heavy Saturn in th' etherial space
Begirt with an inexplicable ring.

If such the operations of his power,
Which at all seasons and in ev'ry place
(Rul'd by establish'd laws and current nature)
Arrest th' attention! Who? O who shall tell
His acts miraculous, when by his own decrees
Repeals he, or suspends, when by the hand
Of Moses or of Joshua, or the mouths
Of his prophetic seers, such deeds he wrought,
Before th' astonish'd Sun's all-seeing eye,
That faith was scarce a virtue. Need I sing

The fate of Pharaoh and his numerous band
Lost in the reflux of the watry walls,

That melted to their Auid state again?

Need I recount how Sampson's warlike arm With more than mortal nerves was strung t' o'erthrow

Idolatrous Philistia? Shall I tell

How David triumph'd, and what Job sustain'd?
-But, O supreme, unutterable mercy!
O love unequal'd, mystery immense,

[tion

Which angels long t'unfold! 'tis man's redemp-ceeding years, till the subject is exhausted; and

That crowns thy glory, and thy pow'r confirms,
Confirms the great, th' uncontroverted claim.
When from the Virgin's unpolluted womb,
Shone forth the Sun of Righteousness reveal'd
And ou benighted reason pour'd the day;
"Let there be peace" (he said) and all was calm
Amongst the warring world-calm as the sea,
When "Feace, be still, ye boisterous winds,"
he cry'd,

And not a breath was blown, nor murmur heard.
His was a life of miracles and might,
And charity and love, ere yet he taste

The bitter draught of death, ere yet he rise
Victorious o'er the universal foe,
And Death, and Sin and Hell in triumph lead.
His by the right of conquest is mankind,
And in sweet servitude and golden bonds
Were ty'd to him for ever.-O how easy
Is his ungalling yoke, and all his burdens
'Tis ecstacy to bear! Hiin, blessed Shepherd,
His flocks shall follow through the maze of life,
And shades that tend to day-spring from on high;
And as the radiant roses, after fading,
In fuller foliage and more fragrant breath
Revive in smiling spring, so shall it fare
With those that love him-for sweet is their sa-
vour,

And all eternity shall be their spring.
Then shall the gates and everlasting doors,
At which the King of Glory enters in,

Be to the saints unbarr'd: and there, where
pleasure

Boasts an undying bloom, where dubious hope
Is certainty, and grief-attended love

Is freed from passion-there we'll celebrate
With worthier numbers, him, who is, and was,
And in immortal prowess King of Kings
Shall be the Monarch of all worlds for ever,

ON THE

afterwards the subject shall be either Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Purity of Heart, &c. or whatever else may be judged by the vice-chancellor, master of Clare-hall, and Greek professor. to be most conducive to the honour of the Supreme Being and recommendation of virtue, And they shall yearly dispose of the rent of the above estate to that master of arts, whose poem on the subject given shall be best approved by Which poem I ordain to be always in English, and to be printed; the expense of. which shall be deducted out of the product of the estate, and the residue given as a reward for the composer of the poem, or ode, or copy of

them.

ORPHEUS, for the Gentiles call'd thy name',
Israel's sweet psalmist, who alone could wake
Th' inanimate to motion; who alone -
The joyful hillocks, the applauding rocks,
And floods with musical persuasion drew;
Thou, who to hail and snow gav'st voice and sound,
And mad'st the mute melodious !—greater yet
Was thy divinest skill, and rul'd o'er more
Than art or nature; for thy tuneful touch
Drove trembling Satan from the heart of Saul,
And quell'd the evil angel :-in this breast
Some portion of thy genuine spirit breathe,
And lift me from myself; each thought impure
Banish; each low idea raise, refine,

Enlarge, and sanctify;-so shall the Muse

GOODNESS OF THE SUPREME BEING, Above the stars aspire, and aim to praise

A POETICAL ESSAY.

To the right honourable the earl of Dar: lington this essay on the Goodness of the Supreme

Her God on Earth, as he is prais'd in Heaven.
Immense Creator! whose all-powerful hand

'See this conjecture strongly supported by DeJany in his Life of David.

Fram'd universal being, and whose eye

Saw like thyself, that all things form'd were good;

Where shall the tim'rous bard thy praise begin, Where end the purest sacrifice of song,

And just thanksgiving ?-The thought-kindling light,

Thy prime production, darts upon my mind
Its vivifying beams, my heart illumines,
And fills my soul with gratitude and thee.
Hail to the cheerful rays of ruddy morn,

That paint the streaky east, and blithsome

rouse

The birds, the cattle, and mankind from rest!
Hail to the freshness of the early breeze,
And Iris dancing on the new-fall'n dew!
Without the aid of yonder golden globe
Lost were the garnet's lustre, lost the lily,
The tulip and auricula's spotted pride;
Lust were the peacock's plumage, to the sight
So pleasing in its pomp and glossy glow.
O thrice-illastrious! were it not for thee
Those pansies, that reclining from the bank,
View through th' immaculate, pellucid stream
Their portraiture in the inverted Heaven,
Might as well change their triple boast, the
white,

The purple, and the gold, that far outvie
The eastern monarch's garb, ev'n with the dock,
Ev'n with the baneful hemlock's irksome green.
Without thy aid, without thy gladsome beams
The tribes of woodland warblers would remain
Mute on the bending branches, nor recite
The praise of him, who, e'er he form'd their
lord,

Their voices tun'd to transport, wing'd their flight,
And bade them call for nurture, and receive;
And lo! they call; the blackbird and the thrush,
The woodlark, and the redbreast jointly call;
He hears and feeds their feather'd families,
He feeds his sweet musicians,-nor neglects
Th' invoking ravens in the greenwood wide;
And though their throats coarse ruttling hurt the

ear,

They mean it all for music, thanks and praise
They mean, and leave ingratitude to man;-
But not to all,-for hark! the organs blow
Their swelling notes round the cathedral's dome,
And grace th' harmonious choir, celestial feast
To pious ears, and med'cine of the mind;
The thrilling trebles and the manly base
Join in accordance meet, and with one voice
All to the sacred subject suit their song:
While in each breast sweet melancholy reigns
Angelically pensive, till the joy

Improves and purifies ;-the solemn scene
The Sun through storied panes surveys with awe,
And bashfully with-holds each bolder beain.
Here, as her home, from morn to eve frequents
The cherub Gratitude ;-behold her eyes!
With love and gladness weepingly they shed
Ecstatic smiles; the incense, that her bands
Uprear, is sweeter than the breath of May
Caught from the nectarine's blossom, and her
voice

Is more than voice can tell; to him she sings,
To him who feeds, who clothes and who adorns,

Who made and who preserves, whatever dwells
In air, in steadfast earth, or fickle sea.
O he is good, he is immensely good!

Who all things form'd, and form'd them all for

man;

Who mark'd the climates, varied every zone,
Dispensing all his blessings for the best
In order and in beauty :-raise, attend,
Attest, and praise, ye quarters of the world!
Bow down, ye elephants, submissive bow
To him, who made the mite; though Asia's pride,
Ye carry armies on your tow'r-crown'd backs,
And grace the turban'd tyrants, bow to him
Who is as great, as perfect and as good
In his less striking wonders, till at length
The eye's at fault and seeks the assisting glass.
Approach and bring from Araby the blest
The fragrant cassia, frankincense and myrrh,
And meekly kneeling at the altar's foot
Lay all the tributary incense down.
Stoop, sable Africa, with rev'rence stoop,
And from thy brow take off the painted plume;
With golden ingots all thy camels load
T' adorn his temples, hasten with thy spear
Reverted, and thy trusty bow unstrung,
While unpursu'd the lions roam and roar,
And ruin'd tow'rs, rude rocks and caverns wide
Remurmurto the glorious, surly sound.
And thou, fair India, whose immense domain
To counterpoise the hemisphere extends,
Haste from the west, and with thy fruits and

With fortitude assume, and o'er your heart
Fair truth's invulnerable breast-plate spread!
Then join the general chorus of all worlds,
And let the song of charity begin
In strains seraphic, and melodious pray'r.
"O all-sufficient, all beneficent,
Thou God of goodness and of glory, hear!
Thou, who to lowliest minds dost condescend,
Assuming passions to enforce thy laws,
Adopting jealousy to prove thy love:
Thou, who resign'd humility uphold,
Ev'n as the florist props the drooping rose,
But quell tyrannic pride with peerless pow'r,
Ev'n as the tempest rives the stubborn oak,
O all-sufficient, all-beneficent,
Thou God of goodness and of glory, hear!
Bless all mankind, and bring them in the end.
To Heav'n, to immortality, and thee!"

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The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Including the ..., 16권