"In thy displeafure dwells eternal pain;
"Pain, our aversion; pain, which strikes me now;
"And, fince all pain is terrible to man,
"Tho' tranfient, terrible; at thy good hour,
"Gently, ah, gently, lay me in my bed,
"My clay-cold bed! by nature, now, so near;
"By nature near, ftill nearer by disease!
"Till then be this an emblem of my grave;
"Let it out-preach the preacher; ev'ry night
"Let it out-cry the boy at Philip's ear,
"That tongue of death! that herald of the tomb! "And when (the fhelter of thy wing implor'd) "My fenfes, footh'd, fhall fink in foft repofe, "O fink this truth ftill deeper in my foul, "Suggested by my pillow, fign'd by Fate, "Fift in Fate's volume, at the page of Man"Man's fickly foul, tho' turn'd and tofs'd for ever, "From fide to fide, can rest on nought but thee "Here in full truft, hereafter in full joy :' "On thee, the promis'd, fure, eternal down "Of fpirits, toil'd in travel thro' this vale : "Nor of that pillow fhall my foul defpond; "For-Love almighty! Love almighty! (fing, "Exult, Creation!) Love almighty reigns! "That death of death! that cordial of despair! 2345 "And loud Eternity's triumphant fong!
"Of whom no more :-for, O thou Patron-God! "Thou God and mortal! thence more God to man! "Man's theme eternal! man's eternal theme! "Thou canst not 'fcape uninjur'd from our praise : "Uninjur'd from our praife can he escape "Who, difembofom'd from the Father, bows "The heaven of heaven's to kifs the diftant earth! "Breathes out in agonies a finless soul ! "Against the crofs Death's iron fceptre breaks! "From famish'd Ruin plucks her human prey 2356 "Throws wide the gates celeftial to his foes! "Their gratitude for fuch a boundless debt, "Deputes their fuff'ring brothers to receive! "And, if deep human guilt in payment fails, 2360
"As deeper guilt prohibits our despair! .. Enjoins it, as our duty, to rejoice! "And (to close all) omnipotently kind, "Take his delights among the fons of men.*** What words are thefe-and did they come from
And were they spoke to man? to guilty man?
What are all mytteries to love like this?
The fongs of angels, all the melodies
Of choral gods, are wafted in the found;
Heal and exhilerate the broken heart.
Tho' plung'd before, in horrors dark as night
Rich prelibation of consummate joy !
Nor wait we diffolution to be blefs'd.
This final effort of the moral Muse,
How justly titled†! n t for me alone
For all that read. What ipirit of fupport,
What heights of Confolation, crown my fong!
Then farewel Night! of darkness, now no more;
Joy breaks, fhines, triumphs: 'tis eternal day.
Shall that which rifes out of nought complain 2380
Of a few evils, paid with endless joys?
My Soul! henceforth, in sweetest union join
The two fupports of human happiness,
Which fome, erroneous, think can never meet,
True taste of life, and conftant thought of death !
The thought of death, fole victor of its dread!
Hope be tay joy, and probity thy skill;
Thy patron he whofe diadem has dropp'd
Yon gems of heaven, eternity thy prize;
And leave the racers of the world their own,
Their feather and their froth, for endless toils:
They part with all for that which is not bread;
They mortify, they starve, on wealth, fame, pow'r,
And laugh to fcorn the fools that aim at more.
How muft a fpirit, late efcap'd from earth,
Suppofe Pailander's, Lucia's, or Narciffa's,
The truth of things new-blazing in its eye,
Look back, aftonifh'd on the ways of men,
Whofe lives' whole drift is to forget their graves!
And when our prefent privilege is past,
To fcourge us with due fenfe of its abuse,
The fame aftonishment will feize us all.
What then must pain us would preferve us now.
Lorenzo! 'tis not yet too late. Lorenzo!
Seize wisdom, ere 'tis torment to be wife;
That is, feize Wisdom ere fhe feizes thee.
For what, my fmall Philofopher! is hell?
'Tis nothing but full knowledge of the truth,
When Truth, refisted long, is sworn our foe,
And calls eternity to do her right.
Thus darkness aiding intellectual light,
And facred Silence whisp'ring truths divine,
And truths divine converting pain to peace,
My fong the midnight raven has outwing'd,
And fhot, ambitious of unbounded scenes,
Beyond the flaming limits of the world
Her gloomy flight. But what avails the flight
Of fancy, when our hearts remain below?
Virtue abounds in flatterers and foes ;
'Tis pride to praise her, penance to perform.
To more than words, to more than worth of tongue, Lorenzo rife, at this aufpicious hour,
An hour when heaven's most intimate with man ;
When, like a falling star, the ray divine
Glides fwift into the bofom of the just;
And just are all determin'd to reclaim,
Which fets that title high within thy reach.
Awake then; thy Philander calls awake!
Thou, who fhalt wake when the Creation fleeps;
When, like a taper, all these funs expire ;
When Time, like him of Gaza in his wrath,
Plucking the pillars that support the world,
In Nature's ample ruins lies entomb'd,
And midnight, universal midnight! reigns.
IN TWO BOOKS.
Gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore virtus.
----Ad cœlum ardentia lumina tollens,
Lumina; nam teneras arcebant vincula palmas. Virg.
ROM lofty themes, from thoughts that foar'd on
high,
And open'd wond'rous fcenes above the sky,
My mufe! defcend: indulge my fond defire :
With fofter thoughts my melting foul infpire,
And finooth my numbers to a female's praise :
A partial world will liften to my lays,
While Anna reigns, and fets a female name
Unrivall'd in the glorious lifts of Fame.
Hear, ye fair daughters of this happy land!
Whofe radiant eyes the vanquifh'd world command, so
Virtue is beauty: but when charms of mind
With elegance of outward form are join'd
When youth makes fuch bright objects ftill more bright,
And Fortune fets them in the strongest light,
'Tis all of heaven that we below may view,
And all but adoration is your due.
Fam'd female virtue did this ifle adorn
Ere Ormond, or her glorious queen, was born;
When now Maria's powerful arms prevail'd,
And haughty Dudley's bold ambition fail'd,
The beauteous daughter of great Suffolk's race,
In blooming youth, adorn'd with ev'ry grace,
Who gain'd a crown by treason not her own,
And innocently fill'd another's throne,
Hurl'd from the fummit of imperial state,
With equal mind fuftain'd the stroke of fate.
But how will Guilford, her far dearer part,
With manly reafon fortify his heart?
At once the longs, and is afraid to know ;
Now fwift the moves, and now advances flow,
To find her lord, and, finding, paffes by,
Silent with fear, nor dares the meet his eye,
Left that, unafk'd, in fpeechless grief disclose
The mournful fecret of his inward woes.
Thus, after fickness, doubtful of her face,
The melancholy virgin fhuns the glafs.
At length, with troubled thought, but look ferene, And forrow foften'd by her heavenly mien,
She clafps her lord, brave, beautiful, and young,
While tender accents melt upon her tongue;
Gentle and fweet, as vernal zephyr blows,
Fanning the lily, or the blooming rofe.
"Grieve not, my lord; a crown, indeed, is loft; "What far outfhines a crown we ftill may bċaft; "A mind compos'd, a mind that can disdain "A fruitlefs forrow for a lofs fo vain. "Nothing is loss that virtue can improve "To wealth eternal, and return above;
"Above where no diftin&tion fhall be known
"""Twixt him whom storms have fhaken from a throne, "And him who, bafking in the fmiles of Fate, "Shone forth in all the fplendor of the great : "Nor can I find the diff'rence here below; "I lately was a queen; I still am so,
"While Guilford's wife, thee rather I obey,
"Than o'er mankind extend imperial fway.
"When we lie down on fome obfcure retreat,
“Incens’d Maria may her rage forget;
"And I to death my duty will improve,
"And what you mifs in empire add in love.
"Your godlike foul is open'd in your look,
“And I have faintly your great meaning spoke.
"For this alone I'm pleas'd I wore the crown,
"To find with what content we lay it down.
"Heroes may win, but 'tis a heavenly race
"Can quit a throne with a becoming grace."
Thus fpoke the fairest of her fex, and cheer'd
Her drooping lord, whofe boding bosom fear'd
A darker cloud of ills would burft, and fhed
Severer vengeance on her guiltless head.
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