"Oheaven! (they cried) and do we once more fee | “Yon blessed fun and this green earth fo fair? "Are we from noifome damps of peft-house free: "And drink our fouls the fweet ethereal air: "O thou! or Knight, or God! who holdeft there "That fiend, oh keep him in eternal chains! "But what for us, the children of despair, Brought to the brink of hell, what hope
"Repentance does itself but aggravate our pains.”
The gentle Knight, who faw their rueful cafe, Let fall adown his filver beard fome tears.
Certes (quoth he) it is not even in grace "Tundo the past, and eke your broken years: Nathlefs, to nobler worlds Repentance rears, With humble hope, her eve; to her is given "A pow'r the truly contrite heart that cheers; "She quells the brand by which the rocks are "riven; [Heaven.
"She more than merely foftens, the rejoices
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For you (refum'd the Knight with fterner tone) "Whofe hard dry hearts th' obdurate demon "fears,
"That villain's gifts will coft you many a groan: "In dolorous manfion long you must bemoan "His fatal charms, and weep your stains away: Till fofe and pure as infant goodnefs grown, "You feel a perfect change: then, who can fay, "What grace may yet fhine forth in heaven's eternal d'y ?"
This faid, his pow'rful wand he wav'd anew; Inftant, a glorious angel-train defcends, The Charities, to wit, of rofy hue; Sweet love their looks a gentle radiance lends, And with feraphic flame compaffion blends. At once, delighted, to their charge they fly: When, lo! a goodly hofpital aftends; In which they bade each lenient aid be nigh, That could the fick-bed finoothe of that fad company.
It was a worthy edifying fight,
And gives to human-kind peculiar grace.
To fee kind hands attending day and night,
With tender miniftry, from place to place.
Some prop the head; fome from the pallid face
Wipe off the faint cold dews weak nature theds;
Some reach the healing draught: the whilft,
to chafe
The fear fupreme around their foften'd beds, Some holy man by prayer all op'ning Heaver difpreds.
Attended by a glad acclaiming train,
Of those he rescued had from gaping hell,
Then turn'd the Knight, and, to his hall again
Soft-pacing, fought of Peace the moffy cell:
Yet down his checks the gems of pity fell,
To fee the helplefs wretches that remain'd,
There left thro' delves and defarts dire to yell;
Amaz'd, their books with pale difmay were
ftain'd,
And fpreading wide their hands they meck repentance feign'd.
But, al! their fcerned day of grace was paft:
For (horrible to tell!) a defart wild
Before them ftretch'd, bare,comfortless, and vafl;
With gibbets, bones, and carcafes defii d.
There nor trim field, nor lively culture fimil'd;
Nor waving fhade was feen, nor fountain fair;
But fands abrupt on fands lay loufely pil'd,
Thro' which they floundering toil'd with painful
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By cruel fiends ftill hurried to and fro, Gaunt Beggary, and Scorn, with many bellhounds moc.
The first was with bafe dunghill rage yehd, Tainting the gale, in which they flutter'd light; Of morbid huc his features, funk, and fad; His hollow eyne fhock forth a fickly light; And o'er his lank jaw-bone, in piteous plight, His black rough beard was matted, rank,and vile, Direful to fee! and heart-appalling fight! Meantime foul fcurf and blotches him defik; And dogs, where'er he went, ftill barked all the while.
The other was a fell defpightful fiend:
Hell holds none worfe in baleful bow'r below:
By pride, and wit, and rage, and rancor keen's;
Of Man alike if good or bad the foe:
With nofe up-turn'd, he always made a fhow
As if he finelt fome nauseous icent; his eye
Was cold and keen, like blaft from boreal inow;
And taunts he called forth most bitterly.
Such were the twain that off drove this ungodly fry.
Even fo through Brentford town, a town of mud,
An herd of briftly fwine is prick'd along;
The filthy beafs, that never chew the cud,
Still grunt and fqueak, and fing their troublous
fong,
And oft they plunge themselves the mire among:
But ay the ruthlets driver goad, them on,
And ay of barking dogs the bitter throng
Makes them renew their unmelodious moan;
Ne ever find they reft from their unrefting fone.
$55. To the Memory of Sir Ifaac Newton.
Inferibed to the Right Honourable Sir Robert
SHALL the great foul of Newton quit this earth,
To mingle with his ftars; and every Mule,
Aftonish'd into filence, thun the weight
Of honours due to his illuftrious name?
The tide revertive, unattracted, leaves
A yellow wafte of idle fands behind.
Then breaking hence, he took his ardent flight
Thro' the blue infinite; and ev'ry star,
Which the clear concave of a winter's night
Pours on the eye, or aftronomic tube,
Far-tretching (natches from the dark abyfs,
Or fuch as farther in fucceffive kies
To fancy thine alone, at his approach
Blaz'd into funs, the living centre each
Of an harmonious fyftem: all combin'd,
And rul'd unerring by that fingle pow'r
Which draws the stone projected to the ground.
O unprofufe magnificence divine !
But what can man-Even now the fons of light, wifdom truly perfect! thus to call
In ftrains high-warbled to feraphic lyre,
Hail his arrival on the coaft of blifs.
Yet am I not deterr'd, though high the theme,
And fung to harps of angels; for with you,
Ethereal flames! ambitious I afpire
In Nature's general fymphony to join.
And what new wonders can you fhew your gueft?
Who, while on this dim spot, where mortals toil
Clouded in duft, from Motion's fimple laws
Could trace the fecret hand of Providence
Wide-working thro' this univerfal frame.
Have ye not liften'd, while he bound the funs
And planets to their spheres th' unequal taik
Of human kind till then. Oft had they roll'd
O'er erving man the year, and oft difgrac'd
The pride of fchools, before their courfe was known
Full in its caufes and effects, to him,
All-piercing fage! who fat not down and dream'd
Romantic fchemes, defended by the din
Of fpecipus words, and tyranny of names;
But, bidding his amazing mind attend,
And, with heroic patience, years and years
Deep-fearching, faw at laft the fyftem dawn,
And fhine, of all his race, on him alone. [ftrong!
What were his raptures then! how pure! how
And what the triumphs of old Greece and Rome,
By his diminish'd, but the pride of boys
In fome fmall fray victorious! when instead
Of thatter'd parcels of this earth ufurp'd
By violence unmanly, and fore deeds
Of cruelty and blood, Nature herfelf
Stood all-fubdued by him, and open laid
Her ev'ry latent glory to his view.
All intellectual eye, our folar round
Firft gazing thro', he, by the blended pow'r
Of gravitation and projection, faw
The whole in filent harmony revolve.
From unaflifted viĝon hid, the moons,
To cheer remoter planets numerous form'd,
By him in all their mingled tracts were feen.
He alfo fix'd our wand'ring queen of night:
Whether fhe wanes into a fcanty orb,
Or, waxing broad, with her pale fhadowy light,
In a foft deluge overflows the fky.
Her ev'ry motion clear difcerning, He
Adjusted to the mutual main, and taught
Why now the mighty mafs of water wells
Refiftlefs, heaving on the broken rocks,
And the full river turning; till again
From a few caufes fuch a fcheme of things,
Effects fo various, beautiful, and great,
An univerfe complete and, O belov'd
Of Heaven, whofe well-purg'd penetrative eye,
The myftic veil tranfpiercing, inly fcann'd
The rifing, moving, wide-eftablith'd frame.
He, first of inen, with awful wing purfued
The Comet thro' the long elliptic curve,
As round innum'rous worlds he wound his way;
Till, to the forehead of our evening fky
Return'd, the blazing wonder glares anew,
And o'er the trembling nations thakes difmay.
The heavens are all his own; from the wild rule
Of whirling vortices and circling fpheres,
To their first great fimplicity reitor d.
The fchools afonifh'd ftood; but found it vain
To combat ftill with demonftration strong,
And, unawaken'd, dream beneath the blaze
Of truth. At once their pleafing vifions fled,
With the gay fhadows of the morning mix'd,
When Newton rofe, our philofophic fun.
The aerial flow of found was known to him,
From whence it firft in wavy circles breaks,
Till the touch'd organ takes the meffage in.
Nor could the darting beam, of fpecd immenfe,
Efcape his fwift purfuit, and meafuring eye.
Even light itfelf, which ev'ry thing difplays,
Shone undifcover'd, till his brighter mind
Untwisted all the fhining robe of day;
And from the whitening undiftinguish'd blaze,
Collecting ev'ry ray into his kind,
To the charm'd eye educ'd the gorgeous train
Of parent-colours. First, the flaming red
Sprung vivid forth; the tawny orange next;
And next delicious yellow, by whofe fide
Fell the kind beams of all-refreshing green;
Then the pure blue, that fwells autumnal skies,
Ethereal play'd; and then, of fadder hue,
Emerg'd the deepen'd indico, as when
The heavy-tkirted evening droops with froft;
While the laft gleamings of refracted light
Died in the fainting violet away.
Thefe, when the clouds diftil the rofy fhow'r,
Shine out diftin&t adown the wat'ry bow;
While o'er our heads the dewy vifion bends
Delightful, melting on the fields beneath.
Myriads of mingling dyes from these refult,
And myriads ftill remain-Infinite fource
Of beauty, ever-flufhing, ever-new!
Did ever poet image aught fo fair, Dreaming in whispering groves by the hoarfe brook! Or prophet, to whofe rapture heaven defcends! Even now the fetting fun and fhifting clouds, Seen, Greenwich, from thy lovely heights, declare How juft, how beauteous the refractive law.
The noifelefs tide of time, all bearing down
To valt eternity's unbounded fea,
Where the green islands of the happy shine,
He ftemm'd alone and to the fource (involv'd
Deep in primæval gloom) afcending, rais'd
His lights at equal diftances, to guide
Hiftorian, wilder'd on his darkfome way.
But who can number up his labours who
His high difcov'ries fing? when but a few
Of the deep-ftudying race can stretch their minds.
To what he knew: in fancy's lighter thought
How thall the Mufe ten grafp the mighty theme?
What wonder thence that his devotion fwell'd
Refponfive to his knowledge? for could he,
Whofe piercing mental eye diffutive faw
The finish'd univerfity of things,
In all its order, magnitude and parts,
Forbear inceffant to adore that Pow'r
Who fills, fuftains, and actuates the whole ?
Say, ye who beft can tell, ye happy few,
Who faw him in the fofteft lights of life,
All unwithheld, indulging to his friends
The vaft unborrow'd treafures of his mind,
Oh fpeak the wondrous man! how mild, how calm,
How greatly humble, how divinely good;
How firm eltablish'd on eternal truth;
Fervent in doing well, with ev'ry nerve
Still preffing on, forgetful of the past,
And panting for perfection: far above
Thofe little cares and vifionary joys
That fo perplex the fond impation'd heart
Of ever-cheated, ever-trufting man!
And you, ye hopeiefs gloomy-minded tribe,
You, who, unconfcious of thole nobler flights
That reach inpatient at immortal life,
Against the prime endearing privilege
Of being dare contend, fay, can a foul
Of fuch extenfive, deep, tremendous pow'rs,
Enlarging till, be but a finer breath
Of fpirits dancing thro' their tubes awhile,
And then for ever loft in vacant air
But hark! methinks I hear a warning voice, Solemn as when fome awful change is come, Sound thro' the world-" 'Tis done! the mea"fure's full;
"And I refign my charge."-Ye mould'ring
That build the tow'ring pyramid, the proud
Triumphal arch, the monument effac'd
By ruthlefs ruin, and whate'er fupports
The worshipp'd name of hoar antiquity,
Down to the duft! what grandeur can ye bcaft,
While Newton lifts his column to the fkies,
Beyond the wafte of time? Let no weak drop
Be thed for him. The virgin in her bloom
Cut off, the joyous youth, and darling child,
Thefe are the tombs that claim the tender tear
And elegiac fong. But Newton calls
For other notes of gratulation high,
That now he wanders thro' thofe endless worlds
He here fo well defcried, and wond'ring talks,
And hymns their Author with his glad compeers.
O Britain's boaft! whether with angels thou
Sitteft in dread discourse, or fellow-bleft,
Who joy to fee the honour of their kind;
Or whether, mounted on cherubic wing,
Thy fwift carcer is with the whirling orbs,
Comparing things with things, in rapture loft,
And grateful adoration, for that light
So plenteous ray'd into thy mind below,
From Light himfelf: Oh look with pity down
On human kind, a frail erroneous race!
Exalt the fpirit of a downward world!
O'er thy dejected country chief prefide,
And be her Genius call'd! her studies raise,
Correct her manners, and infpire her youth:
For, tho' deprav'd and funk, fhe brought thee forth,
And glories in thy name; the points thee cut
To all her fons, and bids them eye thy ftar :
While in expectance of the second life,
When time fhall be no more, the facred dust
Sleeps with her kings, and dignifies the scene.
$56. Hymn on Solitude. THOMSON. HAIL, mildly-pleafing Solitude,
Companion of the wife and good;
But from whofe holy piercing eye
The herd of fools and villains fly.
Oh! how I love with thee to walk,
And liften to thy whifper'd talk,
Which innocence and truth imparts,
And melts the moft obdurate hearts!"
A thoufand fhapes you wear with ease, And fill in ev'ry thape you please. Now wrapt in fome mysterious dream, A lone philofopher you feem; Now quick from hill to vale you fly, And now you fweep the vaulted fky. A fhepherd next you haunt the plain, And warble forth your oaten ftrain ; A lover now, with all the grace Of that fweet paflion in your face: Then, calm'd to friendship, you affume The gentle-looking Hartford's bloom, As, with her Mufidora, fhe (Her Mufidora fond of thee) Amid the long withdrawing vale Awakes the rival'd nightingale.
Thine is the balmy breath of morn, Juft as the dew-bent rofe is born; And while meridian fervors beat, Thine is the woodland dumb retreat; But chief, when evening fcencs decay, And the faint landfcape fwims away, Thine is the doubtful foft decline, And that beft hour of mufing thinc. Defcending angels blefs thy train, The virtues of the fage and fwain; Plain innocence, in white array'd, Before thee lifts her fearless head: Religion's beams around thee fhine, And cheer thy g'coms with light divine :
About thee fports fweet Liberty;
And rapt Urania fings to thee.
Oh, let me pierce thy fecret cell,
And in thy deep receffes dwell.
Perhaps from Norwood's oak-clad hill,
When meditation has her fill,
I just may caft my careless eyes
Where London's fpiry turrets rife;
Think of its crimes, its cares, its pain,
Then fhield me in the woods again.
$57. Hymn to Darkness. YALDEN.
DARKNESS, thou firft great parent of us all,
Thou art our great original;
Since from thy univerfal womb [come.
Does all thou fhad 'ft below, thy numerous offspring
Thy wondrous birth is even to Time unknown,
Or, like eternity, thou 'dft none;
Whilft Light did its firft being owe
Unto that awful fhade it dares to rival now.
Say, in what distant region dost thou dwell,
To Reafon inacceffible?
From form and duller matter free,
Thou foar ft above the reach of man's philofophy.
Involv'd in thec, we first receive our breath,
Thou art our refuge too in death :
Great Monarch of the grave and womb! Where'er our fouls fhall go, to thee our bodies come. The filent globe is ftruck with awful fear,
When thy majeftic fhades appear: Thou doft compofe the air and fea, And Earth a fabbath keeps, facred to rest and thee. In thy ferener fhades our ghofts delight,
And court the umbrage of the night; In vaults and gloomy caves they tray, But fly the morning beams, and ficken at the day. Though folid bodies dare exclude the light,
Nor will the brighteft ray admit;
No fubftance can thy force repel,
Thou reign'ft in depths below, dost in the centre
dwell.
The fparkling gems, and ore in mines below,
To thee their beauteous luftre owe;
Tho' form'd within the tomb of night,
Bright as their fire they faine, with native
of light.
When thou doft raife thy venerable head,
And art in genuine night array'd, Thy negro beauties then delight; Beauties, like polifh'd jet, with their own darknefs bright.
Thou doft thy fimiles impartially bestow,
And know'ft no diff'rence here below: All things appear the fame by thee, Tho' Light diftinétion makes, thou giv'ft equality. Thou, Darknefs, art the lover's kind retreat,
And doft the nuptial joys complete; Thou doft infpire then with thy fhade, Giv'ft vigour to the youth, and warm'ft the yielding maid.
Calm as the blefs'd above the anchorites dwell
Within their peaceful gloomy cell;
Their minds with heavenly joys are fill'd;
The pleafures Light denies, thy fhades for ever
yield.
In caves of night, the oracles of old
Did all their myfteries unfold: Darkness did firft Religion grace, Gave terrors to the God, and reverence to the place, When the Almighty did on Horeb ftand,
Thy fhades inclos'd the hallow'd land, In clouds of night he was array'd, And venerable darkness his pavilion made. When he appear'd arm'd in his pow'r and might, He veil'd the beatific light;
When, terrible with majefty,
In tempefts he gave laws, and clad himself in thee, Ere the foundation of the earth was laid,
Or brighter firmament was made; Ere matter, time, or place was known, Thou, Monarch Darknefs, fway'dit thefe fpacious realms alone.
But now the moon (tho' gay with borrow'd light) Invades thy fcanty lot of Night:
By rebel fubjects thou 'rt betray'd, The anarchy of ftars depofe their monarch, Shade.
Yet fading Light its empire muft refign,
And Nature's pow'r fubmit to thine:
An univerfal ruin fhall erect thy throne, And Fate confirm thy kingdom evermore thy own
§ S. Education. WEST.
Written in imitation of the Style and Manner of Spenfer's Fairy Queen.
Inforibed to Lady Langbam, widow of Sir Jo. Lang bum, Bart.
Unum ftudium vere liberale eft, quod liberum facit. Hoc fapientiae "ftudium cft, fublime, forte, magnanimun.: caetera pufilla et "puerilia funt-----Plus fure velle quam fit fatis, intemperantias genus eft. Quid, quod ifta liberalium artium confectatjo molí tos, verbofus, intempeftivos, fibi placentes facit, et ideo non dicentes neceffaria, quia fupervacua didicerunt."
GOODLY Difcipline! from Heaven yfprung,
Parent of Science, queen of Arts refin'd!
To whom the Graces and the Nine belong,
Oh! bid thofe Graces, in fair chorus join d
With each bright virtue that adorns the mind,
Oh! bid the Mufes, thine harmonious train,
Who by thy aid erft humaniz'd mankind,
Infpire, direct, and moralize the ftrain
That doth effay to teach thy treafures how to gain,
And thou, whofe pious and maternal care,
The fubftitute of heavenly Providence,
With tend'reft love my orphan life did rear,
And train me up to manly ftrength and fenfe,
With mildeft awe and virtuous influence
Directing my unpractis'd wayward feet
To the fmooth walks of Truth and Innocence,
Where Happiness heartfelt, Contentment fweet,
Philofophy divine, aye hold their bleft retreat;
Ff4
Thou, most belov'd, most honour'd, most rever'd
Accept this Verfe, to thy large merit due!
And blame me not, if, by each tie endear'd
Of nature, gratitude, and friendship true,
The whiles this moral thefis I purfue,
And trace the plan of goodly nurture * o'er,
I bring thy modeft virtues into view,
And proudly boaft that from thy precious ftore,
Which erft enrich'd my heart, I drew this facred
lore.
And thus, I ween, thus fhall I beft repay
The valu'd gifts thy careful love bestow'd,
If imitating thee well as I may
I labour to diffufe th' important good,
Till this great truth by all be underflood-
"That all the pious duties which we owe
"Our parents, friends, our country, and our God,
"The feeds of ev'ry virtue here below,
"From difcipline alone and early culture grow."
THE ARGUMENT.
The Knight, as to Paedia's thoufe
He his young fon conveys,
Is fraid by Cuftom, with him fights,
And his vain price difdays.
![Still as the fwelling paffions 'gan difclofe
The buds of future virtues, did prepare
With prudent culture the young shoots to rear,
And aye in this endearing pious toil
A GENTLE knight there was whofe noble deeds
O'er Fairyland by Fame were blazon'd round;
For warlike enterprize and fage areeds
Among the chief alike was he renown'd,
Whence with the marks of highest honourscrown'd
By Gloriana, in domeftic peace,
That port to which the wife are ever bound,
He anchor'd was, and chang'd the toffing feas
Of bustling bufy life for calin fequefter'd cafe.
There in domeftic virtue rich and great,
As erft in public, 'mid his wide domain
Long in primeval patriarchal state,
The lord, the judge, the father of the plain
He dwelt; and with him in the golden chain
Of wedded faith ylink'd a matron fage
Aye dwelt, fweet partner of his joy and pain!
Sweet charmer of his youth, friend of his age,
Skill'd to improve his blifs, his forrows to alluage!
From this fair union, not of fordid gain,
But merit fimilar and mutual love,
True fource of lineal virtue, sprung a train
Of youths and virgins, like the beauteous grove
Which round the temple of Olympic Jove
Begirt with youthful bloom the parent tree §,
The facred olive, whence old Elis wove
Her verdant crowns of peaceful victory,
The guerdons of bold ftrength and fwift activity.
So round their noble parents goodly rofe
Thefe gen'rous fcions; they with watchful care,
They by a palmer fage inftructed were, [while
Who from deep thought and studious search ere-
Had learnt to mend the heart and till the human
foil.
For by celeftial Wisdom whilom led
Thro' all the apartments of th' immortal mind,
He view'd the fecret ftores, and mark'd the fted**
To judgment, wit, and memory, affign'd;
And now fenfation and reflection join'd
To fill with images her dark fome grotte,
Where variously disjointed or combin'd,
As reafon, fancy, or opinion, wrought, [thought,
| Their various masks they play'd,and fed her pentive
With eager fearch, and fent his piercing eve
Als ++thro' the fields of Science had he stray'd
Thro' each learn'd school, each philofophic fhade,
Where Truth and Virtue crft were deem'd to lie,
If haply the fair vagrants he mote‡‡ipy,
Or hear the mufic of their charming lore;
Bút all unable there to fatisfy
His curious foul, he turn'd him to explore
The facred writ of Faith, to learn, believe, adore.
Thence foe profefs'd of Falfehood and Deceit,
Thofe fly artificers of Tyranny,
Aye holding up before uncertain feet
His faithful light to knowledge, Liberty,
Mankind he led to civil policy,
And mild Religion's charitable law,
That fram'd by Mercy and Benignity
The perfecuting fword forbids to draw,
And free-created fouls with penal terrours awe.
Ne with the glorious gifts elate and vain
Lock'd he his wifdom up in churlish pride,
But ftooping from his height would even deign
The feebie fteps of infancy to guide:
Eternal glory him therefore betide;
Let ev'ry gen'rous youth his praife proclaim,
Who wand ring thro' the world's rude forest wide,
By him hath been ytaught his course to frame
ToVirtue's sweet abodes and heaven afpiring Fame!
For this the Fairy knight with anxious thought
And fond paternal care his counfel pray'd,
And him of gentleft courtely befought
His guidance to vouchsafe and friendly aid,
The while his tender offspring he convey'd
Thro' devious paths to that fecure retreat
Where fage Padia with each tuneful maid
On a wide mount had fix'd her rural feat,
'Mid flow'ry gardens plac'd, untrod by vulgar feet.
And that fame virtuous palmer them to guide,
And now forth-pacing with his blooming heir,
Nurture, education. t Pædia is a Greek word, fignifying education. Parent-tree, the facred olive.] This tree grew in the Altis, or facred grove of Olympic Jupiter, at Olym pia, having, as the Eleans pretended, been originally planted there by Hercules. and from at were taken the Olympic crowns.
Palmer, pilgrim. The perfon here fignified is Mr. Locke, characterized by his works. ** Sted, place, station.
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