And Kingdoms tott'ring in the Field of Blood.
Now Sons of Riot in Mid-Revel rage.
What shall I do?-fupprefs it? or proclaim?-
Why Лleeps the Thunder? Now, LORENZO! now,
His beft Friend's Couch the rank Adulterer
Afcends fecure; and laughs at Gods and Men.
Prepoft'rous Madmen, void of Fear or Shame,
Lay their Crimes bare to these chaste Eyes of Heaven;
Yet fhrink, and shudder, at a Mortal's Sight.
Were Moon, and Stars, for Villains only made?
To guide, yet fcreen them, with tenebrious Light?
No; they were made to fashion the Sublime
Of human Hearts, and wiser make the Wife.
Those Ends were anfwer'd once; when Mortals liv'd Of Stronger Wing, of Aquiline Afcent
In Theory Sublime. O how unlike
Those Vermin of the Night, this Moment fung,
Who crawl on Earth, and on her Venom feed!
Those antient Sages, Human Stars! They met
Their Brothers of the Skies, at Midnight-Hour;
Their Counsel afk'd; and,`what they ask'd, obey'd.
The Stagyrite, and PLATO, He who drank
The poifon'd Bowl, and He of Tufculum,
With Him of Corduba, (immortal Names!)
In these Unbounded, and Elyfian, Walks,
An Area fit for GoDs, and Godlike Men,
They took their nightly Round, thro' radiant Paths
By Seraphs trod; inftructed, chiefly, thus,
To tread in Their bright Footfteps here Below;
To walk in Worth ftill brighter than the Skies.
There, they contracted their Contempt of Earth;
Of Hopes eternal kindled, There, the Fire;
There, as in near Approach, they glow'd, and grew
(Great Vifitants!) more intimate with GOD,
More worth to Men, more joyous to Themselves.
Thro' various Virtues, they, with Ardor, ran
The Zodiac of their learn'd, illuftrious Lives.
In Chriftian Hearts, O for a Pagan Zeal! A needful, but opprobrious Pray'r! As much Our Ardor Lefs, as Greater is our Light. How monftrous This in Morals! Scarce more ftrange Would this phenomenon in Nature strike,
A Sun, that froze us, or a Star, that warm'd.
What taught these Heroes of the Moral World? To these thou giv'ft thy Praife, give Credit too, These Doctors ne'er were pension'd to deceive thee; And Pagan Tutors are thy Tafte.-They taught, That, Narrow Views betray to Misery;
That, Wife it is to comprehend the Whole:
That, Virtue rofe from Nature, ponder'd well,
The fingle Base of Virtue built to Heaven:
That, GOD, and Nature, our Attention claim :
That, Nature is the Glass reflecting GOD,
As, by the Sea, reflected is the Sun,
Too glorious to be gaz'd on in his Sphere.;
That, Mind immortal, loves immortal Aims:
That, boundless Mind affects a boundless Space :
That, Vaft Surveys, and the Sublime of Things,
The Soul affimilate, and make her Great:
That, therefore, Heav'n her Glories, as a Fund
Of Inspiration, thus fpreads out to Man.
Such are their Doctrines; Such the Night infpir'd,
And what more true? What Truth of greater Weight? The Soul of Man was made to walk the Skies; Delightful Outlet of her Prison Here!
There, difincumber'd from her Chains, the Ties
Of Toys terreftrial, she can rove at large;
There, freely can refpire, dilate, extend,
In full Proportion let loose all her Powers;
And, undeluded, grafp at fomething Great.
Nor, as a Stranger, does the wander There;
But, wonderful Herself, thro' Wonder strays;
Contemplating their Grandeur, finds her own;
Dives deep in their Oeconomy divine,
Sits high in Judgment on their various Laws,
And, like a Mafter, judges not amiss.
Hence greatly pleas'd, and justly proud, the Soul
Grows conscious of her Birth celeftial; breathes
More Life, more Vigour, in her native Air;
And feels herself at home among the Stars;
And, feeling, emulates her Country's Praife.
What call we, then, the Firmament, LORENZO ?-
As Earth the Body, fince, the Skies sustain
The Soul with Food, that gives immortal Life,
Call it, The noble Pafture of the Mind;
Which there expatiates, ftrengthens, and exults,
And riots thro' the Luxuries of Thought.
Call it, The Garden of the DEITY,
Bloffom'd with Stars, redundant of the Growth
Of Fruit ambrofial; moral Fruit to Man.
Call it, The Breaft-plate of the true High-Prieft,
Ardent with Gems oracular, that give,
In Points of highest Moment, right Response;
And ill-neglected, if we prize our Peace.
Thus, have we found a true Aftrology; Thus, have we found a new, and noble Sense, In which alone Stars govern human Fates. O that the Stars (as fome have feign'd) let fall Bloodfhed, and Havock, on embattled Realms, And refcu'd Monarchs from fo black a Guilt! BOURBON! this Wifh how gen'rous in a Foe! Wouldst thou be Great, wouldft thou become a God, And stick thy deathlefs Name among the Stars, For mighty Conquefts on a Needle's Point? Inftead of forging Chains for Foreigners, Baftile thy Tutor: Grandeur All thy Aim? As yet thou know'ft not what it is: How Great,
How Glorious, then, appears the Mind of Man,
When in it All the Stars, and Planets, roll!
And what it seems, it is: Great Objects make
Great Minds, enlarging as their Views enlarge;
Thofe ftill more Godlike, as Thefe more Divine.
And more divine than Thefe, thou canst not fee. Dazled, o'erpower'd, with the delicious Draught Of miscellaneous Splendors, how I reel
From Thought to Thought, inebriate, without End!
An Eden, This! a PARADISE unloft! ;
I meet the DEITY in ev'ry View,
And tremble at my Nakedness before Him!
O that I could but reach the Tree of Life!
For Here it grows, unguarded from our Tafte;
No Flaming Sword denies our Entrance Here;
Would Man but gather, he might live for ever.
LORENZO! much of Moral haft thou feen.
Of curious Arts art thou more fond? Then mark
The Mathematic Glories of the Skies,
In Number, Weight, and Measure, All ordain'd.
LORENZO'S boafted Builders, Chance, and Fate,
Are left to finish his aereal Towers;
Wisdom, and Choice, their well-known Characters
Here deep-imprefs; and claim it for their Own.
Tho' fplendid All, no Splendor void of Ufe;
Ufe rivals Beauty; Art contends with Power;
No wanton Waste, amid effufe Expence ;
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