That royal refidence might well befit,
For grandeur or for ufe. Long wavy wreaths
Of flowers, that feared no enemy but warmth,
Blushed on the pannels. Mirror needed none
Where all was vitreous; but in order due
Convivial table and commodious feat
(What seemed at leaft commodious feat) were there; Sofa, and couch, and high-built throne august. The fame lubricity was found in all,
And all was moist to the warm touch; a scene Of evanefcent glory, once a ftream, And foon to flide into a stream again. Alas! 'twas but a mortifying stroke Of undefigned feverity, that glanced (Made by a monarch) on her own estate, On human grandeur and the courts of kings. "Twas tranfient in its nature, as in show 'Twas durable; as worthlefs, as it seemed, Intrinfically precious; to the foot
Treacherous and false; it smiled, and it was cold.
Great princes have great playthings. Some have played
At hewing mountains into men, and fome
At building human wonders mountain-high.
Some have amufed the dull, fad years of life,
(Life spent in indolence, and therefore fad)
With schemes of monumental fame; and fought
By pyramids and mausolean pomp,
Short-lived themselves, to immortalize their bones.
Some feek diverfion in the tented field,
And make the forrows of mankind their sport.
But war's a game, which, were their fubjects wife,
Kings would not play at. Nations would do well
To extort their truncheons from the puny hands
Of heroes, whofe infirm and baby minds
Are gratified with mischief; and who spoil,
Because men fuffer it, their toy the world.
When Babel was confounded, and the great
Confederacy of projectors wild and vain.
Was fplit into diverfity of tongues,
Then, as a fhepherd feparates his flock,
These to the upland, to the valley thofe,
God drave afunder, and affigned their lot
To all the nations.
Ample was the boon
gave them, in its diftribution fair
And equal; and he bade them dwell in peace.
Peace was awhile their care: they ploughed, and
And reaped their plenty without grudge or ftrife.
But violence can never longer fleep
Than human paflions pleafe. In every heart
Are fown the fparks, that kindle fiery war;
Occafion needs but fan them, and they blaze.
Cain had already fhed a brother's blood:
The deluge washed it out; but left unquenched
The feeds of murder in the breaft of man.
Soon by a righteous judgment in the line
Of his descending progeny was found
The firft artificer of death; the fhrewd
Contriver, who firft fweated at the forge,
And forced the blunt and yet unbloodied fteek
To a keen edge, and made it bright for war.
Him, Tubal named, the Vulcan of old times,
The fword and falchion their inventor claim;
And the firft fmith was the firft murderer's fon.
His art furvived the waters; and ere long,
When man was multiplied and fpread abroad
In tribes and clans, and had begun to call
These meadows and that range of hills his own,
The tafted sweets of property begat
Defire of more; and industry in some
To improve and cultivate their just demefne,
Made others covet what they saw so fair.
Thus war began on earth: these fought for fpoil,
And those in self-defence. Savage at first
The onset, and irregular. At length
One eminent above the reft for ftrength,
For ftratagem, for courage, or for all,
Was chofen leader; him they served in war,
And him in peace, for fake of warlike deeds
Reverenced no lefs. Who could with him compare?
Or who so worthy to control themselves
As he, whose prowess had fubdued their foes?
Thus war, affording field for the display
Of virtue, made one chief, whom times of peace,
Which have their exigencies too, and call
For skill in government, at length made king.
King was a name too proud for man to wear
With modefty and meekness; and the crown,
So dazzling in their eyes, who set it on,
Was fure to intoxicate the brows it bound.
It is the abject property of moft,
That, being parcel of the common mass,
And destitute of means to raise themselves,
They fink, and fettle lower than they need.
They know not what it is to feel within
A comprehenfive faculty, that grafps
Great purposes with ease, that turns and wields,
Almost without an effort, plans too vast
For their conception, which they cannot move.
Confcious of impotence they foon grow drunk
With gazing, when they see an able man
Step forth to notice; and befotted thus
Build him a pedeftal, and fay, "Stand there,
"And be our admiration and our praise."
They roll themselves before him in the dust,
Then most deserving in their own account
When most extravagant in his applause,
As if exalting him they raised themselves.
Thus by degrees, felf-cheated of their found
And fober judgment, that he is but man,
They demi-deify and fume him fo,
That in due feafon he forgets it too.
Inflated and aftrut with felf-conceit,
He gulps the windy diet; and ere long,
Adopting their mistake, profoundly thinks.
The world was made in vain, if not for him,
Thenceforth they are his cattle: drudges, born
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