And talk of Death, like Garlands o'er a Grave.
As fome bold Plunderers, for bury'd Wealth,
We ranfack Tombs for Paftime; from the Duft,
Call up the fleeping Hero; bid him tread
The Scene for our Amufement: How like Gods
We fit; and, wrapt in Immortality,

Shed gen'rous Tears on Wretches born to die;
Their Fate deploring, to forget our Own!·
What, all the Pomps, and Triumphs of our Lives,
But Legacies in Bloffom? Our lean Soil,
Luxuriant grown, and rank in Vanities,

From Friends interr'd beneath; a rich Manure !
Like other Worms, we banquet on the Dead ;
Like other Worms, shall we crawl on, nor know
Our prefent Frailties, or approaching Fate?

LORENZO! fuch the Glories of the World!
What is the World itself? Thy World?-a Grave!
Where is the Duft that has not been alive?
The Spade, the Plough, difturb our Ancestors;
From human Mould we reap our daily Bread :
The Globe around Earth's hollow Surface shakes,
And is the Ceiling of her fleeping Sons'!*
O'er Devastation we blind Revels keep;
Whole bury'd Towns fupport the Dancer's Heel:
The Moift of human Frame the Sun exhales;
Winds fcatter, thro' the mighty Void, the Dry;
Earth re-poffeffes Part of what she gave,

And the freed Spirit mounts on Wings of Fire;
Each Element partakes our scatter'd Spoils;
As Nature wide, our Ruins fpread: Man's Death
Inhabits all Things, but the Thought of Man.

NOR Man alone; his breathing Buft expires;
His Tomb is mortal; Empires die: Where, now,
The Roman? Greek? They stalk an empty Name!
Yet Few regard them in this useful Light;
Tho' Half our Learning is their Epitaph.

When

When down thy Vale, unlock'd by Midnight Thought,
That loves to wander in thy Sunless Realms,

O Death! I stretch my View; what Vifions rife ?
What Triumphs! Toils imperial! Arts divine!
In wither'd Laurels, glide before my Sight?
What Lengths of far-fam'd Ages, billow'd-high
With human Agitation, roll along

In unsubstantial Images of Air?

The melancholy Ghofts of dead Renown,
Whifp'ring faint Echoes of the World's Applaufe,
With penitential Afpect, as they pass,

All point at Earth, and hifs at human Pride,
The Wisdom of the Wife, and Prancings of the Great,
BUT, O LORENZO! far the reft above,

Of ghaftly Nature, and enormous Size,

One Form affaults my Sight, and chills my Blood,
And shakes my Frame: Of One departed World
I fee the mighty Shadow; Oozy Wreath
And difmal Sea weed crown her; o'er her Urn
Reclin'd, the weeps her defolated Realms,
And bloated Sons; and, weeping, prophefies
Another's Diffolution, foon, in Flames;
But, like CASSANDRA, prophefies in vain;
In vain, to Many; not, I truft, to Thee.
FOR, know'st thou not, or art thou loth to know,
The great Decree, the Counsel of the Skies,
Deluge and Conflagration, dreadful Pow'rs!
Prime Ministers of Vengeance! Chain'd in Caves
Diftin&t, apart the Giant-Furies roar;
Apart; or, fuch their horrid Rage for Ruin,
In mutual Conflict would they rife, and wage
Eternal War, till One was quite devour'd:
But not for This, ordain'd their boundless Rage;
When Heav'n's inferior Inftruments of Wrath,
War, Famine, Peftilence, are found too weak
To fcourge a World for her enormous Crimes :

Thefe

Thefe are let loose, alternate: Down they rush,
Swift and tempeftuous, from th' eternal Throne,
With irresistible Commiffion arm'd,

The World, in vain corrected, to destroy,
And ease Creation of the shocking Scene.

SEEST thou, LORENZO! what depends on Man ?
The Fate of Nature; as, for Man, her Birth:
Earth's Actors change Earth's tranfitory Scenes,
And make Creation groan with human Guilt :
How muft it groan, in a new Deluge whelm'd;
But not of Waters? At the destin'd Hour,
By the loud Trumpet fummon'd to the Charge,
See, all the formidable Sons of Fire,

Eruptions, Earthquakes, Comets, Lightnings, play
Their various Engines; All at once difgorge
Their blazing Magazines; and take, by Storm,
This poor terreftrial Citadel of Man.

AMAZING Period! when each Mountain-Height
Out-burns Vefuvius; Rocks eternal pour
Their melted Mass, as Rivers once they pour'd;
Stars rush; and final Ruin fiercely drives
Her Ploughshare o'er Creation!-While aloft,
More than Astonishment! if more can be!
Far other Firmament than e'er was seen,
Than e'er was thought by Man! Far other Stars!
Stars animate, that govern these of Fire ;

Far other Sun!-A Sun, O how unlike
The Babe at Bethle'm? How unlike the Man
'That groan'd on Calvary ?-Yet He it is;

That Man of Sorrows! O how chang'd? What Pomp?
In Grandeur Terrible, All Heav'n defcends!
And Gods, ambitious, triumph in His Train.
As Monarchs grand, on Coronation-Days,
Omnipotence affects Omnipotence;

Wears all his Glories; marfhals all his Pow'rs;
Their State imblazes! Deity exalts!

A fwift

A swift Archangel, with his golden Wing,
As Blots and Clouds, that darken and difgrace;
The Scene divine, fweeps Stars and Suns afide :
And now, all Drofs remov'd, Heav'n's own pure Day,
Full on the Confines of our Æther, flames :
While (dreadful Contrast!) far, how far beneath!
Hell, bursting, belches forth her blazing Seas,
And Storms fulphureous; her voracious Jaws
Expanding wide, and roaring for her Prey.

LORENZO! Welcome to this Scene; the Last

In Nature's Courfe; the Firft in Wifdom's Thought;
This ftrikes, if aught can strike thee; This awakes
The most Supine; This fnatches Man from Death.
Rouze, rouze, LORENZO! then, and follow me,
Where Truth, the most momentous Man can hear,
Loud calls my Soul, and Ardor wings her Flight.
I find my Inspiration in my Theme;

The Grandeur of my Subject is my Mufe.

AT Midnight, when Mankind is wrapt in Peace, And worldly Fancy feeds on golden Dreams, To give more Dread to Man's most dreadful Hour At Midnight, 'tis prefum'd, this Pomp will burst From tenfold Dafs; fudden as the Spark From fmitten Steel from nitrous Grain, the Blaze. Man, ftarting from his Couch, fhall fleep no more! The Day is broke, which never more shall close ! Above, around, beneath, Amazement All! Terror and Glory join'd in their Extremes! Our GOD in Grandeur, and our World on Fire! All Nature ftruggling in the Pangs of Death! Doft thou not hear her? Doft thou not deplore Her ftrong Convulfions, and her final Groan? Where are we now? Ah me! The Ground is gone On which we stood, LORENZO! While thou may'ft, Provide more firm Support, or fink for Ever! 、

Where? How? From whence? Vain Hope! It is too late!

Where, where, for Shelter, shall the Guilty fly,
When Confternation turns the Good Man pale?

GREAT Day! for which all Other Days were made; For which Earth rofe from Chaos; Man from Earth; And an Eternity, the Date of Gods,

Defcended on poor Earth-created Man!

Great Day of Dread, Decifion, and Despair!
At Thought of Thee, each fublunary, Wish
Lets go its eager Grafp, and drops the World;
And catches at each Reed of Hope in Heav'n :
At Thought of Thee!-And art Thou absent, then?
LORENZO! No; 'tis Here ;-it is begun;-
Already is begun the Grand Affize,

In Thee, in All: Deputed Confcience scales
The dread Tribunal, and foreftalls our Doom;
Foreftalls; and, by foreftalling, proves it Sure.
Why on Himself fhould Man void Judgment pafs
Is idle Nature laughing at her Sons ?

Who Confcience fent, her Sentence will fupport,
And GOD Above affert That God in Man.

THRICE happy They! that enter now the Court
Heav'n opens in their Bofoms: But, how rare,
Ah me! that Magnanimity, how rare ?
What Hero, like the Man who ftands Himself?
Who dares to meet his naked Heart alone?
Who hears, intrepid, the full Charge it brings,
Refoly'd to filence future Murmurs There?
The Coward flies; and, flying, is undone;
(Art Thou a Coward? No): The Coward flies;
Thinks, but thinks flightly; asks, but fears to know;
Afks, "What is Truth"? with PILATE; and retires;
Diffolves the Court, and mingles with the Throng;
Afylum fad! from Reafon, Hope, and Heav'n.

SHALL