"But still increas'd the senseless happy mass,
Plow'd in the stream, or shiver'd in the grass?
"Father of mercies! why from silent earth
"Didst thou awake, and curse me into birth?
"Tear me from quiet, ravish me from night,
"And make a thankless present of thy light!
"Push into being a reverse of thee,

"And animate a clod with misery?

169

"The beasts are happy; they come forth, and keep "Short watch on earth, and then lie down to sleep: "Pain is for man; and, oh! how vast a pain

"For crimes, which made the Godhead bleed in vain ? "Annull'd his groans, as far as in them lay, "And flung his agonies and death away? "As our dire punishment for ever strong, "Our constitution, too, for ever young, "Curs'd with returns of vigour, still the same, Pow'rful to bear, and satisfy the flame; "Still to be caught, and still to be pursu'd! "To perish still, and still to be renew'd!

180

"And this, my Help! my God! at thy decree ? "Nature is chang'd, and hell should succour me. And canst thou then look down from perfect bliss, And see me plunging in the dark abyss?

Calling thee Father in a sea of fire?

"Or pouring blasphemies at thy desire? "With mortals' anguish wilt thou raise thy name, "And by my pangs omnipotence proclaim?

"Thou who canst toss the planets to and fro, 190 "Contract not thy great vengeance to my woe; "Crush worlds; in hotter flames fall'n angels lay; "On me almighty wrath is cast away.

"Call back thy thunders, Lord? hold in thy rage,

Nor with a speck of wretchedness engage:

Forget me quite, nor stoop a worm to blame,
But lose me in the greatness of thy name.

"Thou art all love, all mercy, all divine,
"And shall I make those glories cease to shine?
"Shall sinful man grow great by his offence,

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And from its course turn back Omnipotence? "Forbid it! and, oh! grant, great God! at least This one, this slender, almost no request; "When I have wept a thousand lives away, "When Torment is grown weary of its prey, "When I have rav'd ten thousand years in fire, "Ten thousand thousands, let me then expire." Deep anguish! but too late; the hopeless soul Bound to the bottom of the burning pool, Tho' loath, and ever loud blaspheming, owns He's justly doom'd to pour eternal groans; Enclos'd with horrors, and transfix'd with pain, Rolling in vengeance, struggling with his chain; To talk to fiery tempests, to implore

The raging flame to give its burnings o'er;
To toss, to writhe, to pant beneath his load,
And bear the weight of an offended God,
Young.

Dij

210

The favour'd of their Judge in triumph move
To take possession of their thrones above,
Satan's accurs'd desertion to supply,
And fill the vacant stations of the sky;
Again to kindle long-extinguish'd rays,

And with new lights dilate the heav'nly blaze;
To crop the roses of immortal youth,

And drink the fountain-head of sacred truth;
To swim in seas of bliss, to strike the string,
And lift the voice to their Almighty King;
To lose eternity in grateful lays,

And fill heav'ns wide circumference with praise.
But I attempt the wondrous height in vain,
And leave unfinish'd the too lofty strain:
What boldly I begin let others end;

220

239

My strength exhausting, fainting I descend,
And chuse a less, but no ignoble theme,
Dissolving elements, and worlds in flame.
The fatal period, the great hour is come,
And Nature shrinks at her approaching doom;
Loud peals of thunder give the sign, and all
Heav'n's terrors in array surround the ball;
Sharp lightnings with the meteors' blaze conspire, 240
And, darted downward, set the world op fire:
Black rising clouds the thicken'd ether choke,
And spiry flames dart thro' the rolling smoke,
With keen vibrations cut the sullen night,
And strike the darken'd sky with dreadful light?

From heav'n's four regions, with immortal force,
Angels drive on the wind's impetuous course,
T'enrage the flame; it spreads, it soars on high,
Swells in the storm, and billows thro' the sky;
Here winding pyramids of fire ascend,

153

Cities and deserts in one ruin blend;
Here blazing volumes, wafted, overwhelm
The spacious face of a far distant realm;
There, undermin'd, down rush eternal hills,
The neighb'ring vales the vast destruction fills.
Hear'st thou that dreadful crack? that sound which
Like peals of thunder, and the centre shook?
What wonders must that groan of Nature tell?
Olympus there, and mightier Atlas, fell,
Which seem'd, above the reach of Fate to stand
A tow'ring monument of God's right-hand,
Now dust and smoke, whose brow so lately spread
O'er shelter'd countries its diffusive shade.

Shew me that celebrated spot, where all
The various rulers of the sever'd ball

[broke

Have humbly sought wealth, honour, and redress,
That land which Heav'n seem'd diligent to bless,
Once call'd Britannia; can her glories end?
And cann't surrounding seas her realms defend?
Alas! in flames behold surrounding seas!
Like oil, their water but augment the blaze.
Some angel say where ran proud Asia's bound?
Or where with fruits was fair Europa crown'd?

260

Where stretch'd waste Lybia? where did India's stor

Sparkle in di'monds, and her golden ore?

Each lost in each, their mingling kingdoms glow,

And all dissolv'd, one fiery deluge flow:

Thus earth's contending monarchies are join'd,
And a full period of ambition find.

And now whate'er or swims, or walks, or flies, 280 Inhabitants of sea, or earth, or skies;

All on whom Adam's wisdom fix'd a name,

All plunge, and perish in the conqu'ring flame.
This globe alone would but defraud the fire,
Starve its devouring rage; the flakes aspire,

And catch the clouds, and make the heav'n's their
The sun, the moon, the stars, all melt away; [prey;
All, all is lost; no monument, no sign,

Where once so proudly blaz'd the gay machine.
So bubbles on the foaming stream expire,

So sparks that scatter from the kindling fire;

The devastations of one dreadful hour
The great Creator's six days work devour:
A mighty, mighty ruin! yet one soul

Has more to boast, and far outweighs the whole;
Exalted in superior excellence,

Casts down to nothing such a vast expense.
Have ye not seen th' eternal mountain's nod,
An earth dissolving, a descending God?
What strange surprises thro' all nature ran?
For whom these revoluti, nebut for man?

290

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