In Flight alone the Shepherd puts his Truft, 295
And fhudders at the Talon in the Duft.

Mild is my Behemoth,* tho' large his Frame;
Smooth is his Temper, and repreft his Flame,
While unprovok'd. This Native of the Flood;
Lifts his broad Foot, and puts afhore for Food; 300
Earth finks beneath him, as he moves along
To feek the Herbs, and mingle with the Throng.
See, with what Strength his harden'd Loins are bound,
All over Proof, and shut against a Wound.
How like a Mountain Cedar moves his Tail!
Nor can his complicated Sinews fail.
Built high and wide, his folid Bones furpafs
The Bars of Steel; his Ribs are Ribs of Brafs ¡
His Port majestic, and his armed Jaw,

305

310

315

Give the wide Forest, and the Mountain Law.
The Mountains feed him; there the Beasts admire
The mighty Stranger; and in Dread retire :
At length his Greatnefs nearer they survey,
Graze in his Shadow, and his Eye obey.
'The Fens and Marshes are his cool Retreat,
His Noontide Shelter from the burning Heat;
Their fedgy Bofoms his wide Couch are made,
And Groves of Willows give him all their Shade.
His Eye drinks Jordan up, when, fir'd with Drought,
He trufts to turn its Current down his Throat; 320
In leffen'd Waves it creeps along the Plain :
He finks a River, and He thirts again.

Go to the Nile, and from its fruitful Side,
Caft forth thy Line into the fwelling Tide;
With flender Hair Leviathan command,
And ftretch his Vastness on the loaded Strand.
Will he become Thy Servant? Will he own
Thy Lordly Nod, and tremble at Thy Frown?
Or with his Sport amufe thy leisure Day,

325

And, bound in Silk, with thy foft Maidens play? 330
Shall pompous Banquets fwell with fuch a Prize t
And the Bowl journey round his ample Size?
Or the debating Merchants fhare the Prey,
And various Limbs to various Marts conveyi

Thro' his firm Skull what Steel its Way can win ? 335.
What forceful Engine can fubdue his Skin?

*The River Horse.

Fly

Fly far, and live; tempt not his matchlefs Might ;
The Bravest shrink to Cowards in his Sight;
The rashest dare not rouse him up: Who then
Shall turn on Me, among the Sons of Men?
Am I a Debtor? Haft thou ever heard
Whence come the Gifts which are on me conferr'd?
My lavish Fruit a thousand Valleys fills,

340

And mine the Herds, that graze a Thousand Hills?
Earth, Sea, and Air, All Nature is my own : 345
And Stars and Sun are Duft beneath my Throne.
And dar'ft thou with the World's great Father vye,
Thou, who doft tremble at my Creature's Eye?
At full my large Leviathan fhall rife, [350
Boast all his Strength, and fpread his wond'rous Size.
Who, great in Arms, e'er ftripp'd his fhining Mail,
Or crown'd his Triumph with a fingle Scale?
Whofe Heart fuftains him to draw near? Behold,
Destruction yawns; his fpacious Jaws unfold,
355
And, marshall'd round the wide Expanfe, difclofe
Teeth edg'd with Death, and crowding Rows on Rows:
What hideous Fangs on either Side arife!
And what a deep Abyfs between them lies!

Mete with thy Lance, and with thy Plummet found,
The One how long, the Other how profound.

360

His Bulk is charg'd with fuch a furious Soul, That Clouds of Smoke from his fpread Noftrils roll, As from a Furnace; and, when rous'd his Ire, Fate iffues from his Jaws in Streams of Fire. The Rage of Tempefts, and the Roar of Seas, 365 The Terror, this thy great Superior pleafe; Strength on his ample Shoulder fits on State; His well join'd Limbs are dreadfully complete ; His flakes of Solid Flesh are flow to part; As Steel, his Nerves, as Adamant his Heart.

370

When late awak'd, He rears him from the Floods, And stretching forth his Stature to the Clouds, Writhes in the Sun aloft his fcaly Height, And strikes the distant Hills with tranfient Light, Far round are fatal Damps of Terror fpread, 375 The Mightier fear, nor blush to own their Dread. Large is his Front; and, when his burnish'd Eyes Lift their broad Lids, the Morning seems to rife. In vain may Death in various Shapes invade, The swift-wing'd Arrow, the defcending Blade; 380

His naked Breaft their Impotence defies;
The Dart rebounds, the brittle Faulchion flies.
Shut in Himfelf, the War without he hears.
Safe in the Tempest of their rattling Spheres ;
The cumber'd Strand their wafted Follies ftrow; 385
His Sport, the Rage and Labour of the Foe.
His Paftimes like a Caldron boil the Flood,
And blacken Ocean with the Rifing Mud:
The Billows feel him, as he Works his Way; [390.
His hoary Footsteps fhine along the Sea; [Green,
The Foam high-wrought, with White, divides the
And distant Sailors point where Death has been.
His like, Earth bears not on her fpacious Face:
Alone in Nature ftands his dauntless Race,
For utter Ignorance of Fear renown'd.
In Wrath he rolls his baleful Eye around;
Makes ev'ry fwoln, difdainful Heart, fubfide,
And holds Dominion o'er the Sons of Pride.

Then the Chaldæn eas'd his lab'ring Breaft,
With full Conviction of his Crime oppreft.

395

400

405

"Thou canst accomplish All Things, Lord of "And ev'ry Thought is naked to thy Sight. [Might! "But oh! Thy Ways are wonderful, and lie. "Beyond the deepest Reach of mortal Eye. "Oft have I heard of thine Almighty Pow'r; "But never faw Thee till this dreadful Hour. "O'erwhelm'd with Shame, the Lord of Life I fee; "Abhor myself, and give my Soul to Thee. "Nor fhall my Weakness tempt Thine Anger more; Man was not made to Question, but Adore."

410

*+*

NOTES

Tis difputed among the Critics who was the Author of the Takputed the was the Author of the

As I was engag'd in this little Performance, fome Arguments occur'd to me, which favour the former of thefe Opinions; which Arguments I have flung into the following Notes, were little elfe is to be expected.

Page 255. Thrice happy Jób, &c.] The Almighty's Speech. Chapter xxxviii. Ge which is what I paraphrafe in this little Work, is by much the finest Part of the nobleft, and moft ancient Poem in the World. Bishop Patrick says, its Grandeur is as much above all other Poetry, as Thunder is louder than a Whisper. In Order to fet this diftinguithed Part of the Poem in a fuller Light, and give the Reader a clearer Conception of it, I have abridged the preceding and fubfequent Parts of the Poem, and joined them to it; fo that this Piece is a Sort of an Epitome of the whole Book of Job. · I ufe the word Paraphrafe, because I want another which might better anfwer to the uncommon Liberties I have taken. I have omitted, added, and tranfpos'd. The Mountain, the Comet, the Sun, and other Parts, are entirely added: The Peacock, the Lion, &c. are much inlarg': And I have thrown the Whole into a Method more fuitable to our Notions of Regularity. The judicious, if they compare this Piece with the Original, will, I flatter myself, find the Reafons for the great Liberties I have indulg’d myself in through › the Whole.

Longinus has a Chapter on Interrogations, which thews that they contribute much to the Sublime. The Speech of the Almighty is made up of them. Interrogation feems indeed the proper Style of Majelly incens'd. It differs from other manner of Reproof, as bidding a Perfon execute himself, does from a common Execution; for he that afks the Guilty a proper Question, makes him, in effect, pafs Sentence on himself. Page 256. From the Darkness broke

A dreadful Voice, and thus th' Almighty Jpoke.1. The Book of Job is well known to be Dramatic, and, like the Tragedies of old Greece, is Fiction built on Truth. Probably this most noble Part of it, the Almighty fpeaking out of the Whirlwind (fo fgitable to the After-practice of the Geek Stage, when there happened Dignus Vindice Nodus), is fictitious; but it is a Fiction more agreeable to the Time in which Job lived, to any fince. Frequent, before the Law, were the Appearances of the Almighty after this Manner, Exodus ch. xiv. Ezekiel ch. i. c. Hence he is faid to dwell in thick Darkness; And have his Way in the Whirlwind.

Ibid. Thus far thy floating Tide, &c] There is a very great Air in all that precedes; but this is fignally Sublime. We are ftruck with Admination to fee the vaft and ungovernable Ocean receiving Commands, and punctually obeying them; to find it like a managed Horfe, raging, toffing, and foaming, but by the Rule and Direction of its Mater.

A a

This Paffage yields in Sublimity to that of Let there be Light, &c. fo much only as the abfolute Government of Nature yields to the Creation of it.

The like Spirit in thefe two Paffages is no bad concurrent Argument, that Mofes is the Author of the Book of Job.

Page 259. When, pain'd with Hunger, the wild Raven's Brood, &c. Another Argument that Mofes was the Author, is, that inolt of the Creatures here mention'd are Egyptian. The Reafon given why the Raven is particularly mention'd as an object of the Care of Providence, is because, by her clamorous and importunate Voice, the particularly feems always calling upon it. And fince there were Ravens on the Banks of the Nile more clamorous than the rest of that Species, Thofe probably are meant in this Place.

Ibid. Who in the cruel Ofrich has Jubdu'd, &c.]There are many Instances of this Bird's Stupidity; let two fuffice. Firl, It covers its head in the Reeds, and thinks itself all out of Sight.

-Stat lumine clofo

Ridendum revoluta caput; credique latere,

Que non ipfa videt

Claud.

Secondly, They that go in Pursuit of them, draw the Skin of an Oltrich's Neck on one Hand, which proves a fufficient Lure to take them with the other.

They have fo little Brain, that Heliogabalus had six hundred Heads £ir his Supper.

Here we may obferve, that our Judicious as well as Sublime Author, juft touches the great Points of Distinction in each Creature, and thes haltens to another. A Description is ex aft when you cannot all, but what is common to another thing: nor withdraw, but fomething peculiarly belonging to the thing defcrib'd. A Likeness is lost in too much Description, as a Meaning often in too mach Illuftration.

P. 259 What time she skims along the Field, &c.] Here is mark'd another l'eculiar Quality of this Creature, which neither flies, nor runs diftinctly, but has a Motion compos'd of both, and, ufing its Wings as Sails, makes great Speed. Vanavelur Libya senantum vocibus ales

Cum premitur, calidas curfue trasmitṭit arenas,
Inque modum veli finuatis flamine pennis
Pulverulenta volat-

Claud in Eutr.

Ibid. She fcorns the Rider, and pursuing Steed] Xenophon fays, Cyrus had Horfes that could overtake the Goat, and the Wild- Afs, but none that could reach this Creature. A thoufand golden Ducats, or a hundred Camels, was the stated Price of a Horfe that could equal their Speed.

P. 250 How rich the Peacock, &c.] Though this Bird is but jut mentioned in my Author, could not forbear going a little farther, and freading those beautiful Phimes (which are There fhut up into half a dozen Lines, The Circumtance I have marked of his opening his Plumes to the Sun is prue. Expandit colores adverofo maxime fole, quia fic fulgenius