Your Formian fhore? Once the delight of earth,
Where art and nature, ever-fmiling, join'd
On the gay land to lavish all their stores.

How chang'd, how vacant, VIRGIL, wide around,
Would now your Naples feem? Disaster'd less
By black Vefuvius thund'ring o'er the coast,
His midnight earthquakes, and his mining fires,
Than by defpotic rage*: that inward gnaws,
A native foe; a foreign, tears without.
Firft from your flatter'd CÆSARS this began:
Till, doom'd to tyrants an eternal prey,
Thin-peopled fpreads, at last, the † fyren plain,
That the dire foul of HANNIBAL difarm'd;
And wrapt in weeds the ‡ fhore of Venus lies.
There Baia fees no more the joyous throng;
Her bank all beaming with the pride of Rome :
No gen'rous vines now bask along the hills,
Where fport the breezes of the Tyrrhene main :
With baths and temples mixt, no villas rise;
Nor, art fuftain'd amid reluctant waves,
Draw the cool murmurs of the breathing deep :
No spreading ports their facred arms extend:
No mighty moles the big intrufive storm,
From the calm ftation, roll refounding back.

* Naples then under the Austrian government. + Campagna felice, adjoining to Capua.

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The coast of Baia, which was formerly adorned with the works mentioned in the following lines; and where amidst many magnificent ruins, thofe of a temple erected to Venus are still to be feen.

An almost total defolation fits,

A dreary stillness, fadd'ning o'er the coaft;
*Where, when soft suns and tepid winters rofe,
Rejoicing crouds inhal'd the balm of peace ;
Where city'd hill to hill reflected blaze;

And where with Geres, Bacchus wont to hold
A genial ftrife. Her youthful form, robust,
Ev'n nature yields; by fire, and earthquake rent:
Whose stately cities in the dark abrupt

Swallow'd at once, or vile in rubbish laid,

A neft for ferpents; from the red abyss

New hills, explofive, thrown; the Lucrine lake
A reedy pool; and all to Cuma's point,
The fea recov'ring his ufurp'd domain,

And pour'd triumphant o'er the bury'd dome.

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Hence, BRITAIN, learn; my best-establish'd, laft, And more than GREECE, or ROME, my fteady reign; The land where, King and People equal bound By guardian laws, my fulleft bleffings flow; And where my jealous unfubmitting foul, The dread of tyrants! burns in ev'ry breast : Learn hence, if fuch the miferable fate

Of an heroic race, the masters once

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Of human-kind; what, when depriv'd of ME,
How grievous must be thine? In fpite of climes, 325
Whofe fun-enliven'd ether wakes the foul

To higher pow'rs; in fpite of happy foils,

• All along this coaft, the ancient Romans had their winter retreats; and feveral populous cities flood.

That, but by labour's flightest aid impell❜d,.
With treasures teem to thy cold clime unknown;
If there defponding fail the common arts,
And sustenance of life; could life itself,
Far lefs a thoughtless tyrant's hollow pomp,
Subfift with thee? Against depreffing skies,
Join'd to full-fpread oppreffion's cloudy brow,
How could thy fpirits hold? where vigour find,
Forc'd fruits to tear from their unnative foil?
Or, ftoring ev'ry harvest in thy ports,
To plow the dreadful all-producing wave?

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Here paus'd the GODDESS. By the paufe affur'd, In trembling accents thus I mov'd my pray’r. “Oà first, and most benevolent of pow'rs ! "Come from eternal fplendors, here on earth, Against defpotic pride, and rage, and luft, "To fhield mankind; to raise them to affert "The native rights and honour of their race : "Teach me thy lowest subject, but in zeal "Yielding to none, the PROGRESS OF THY REIGN, And with a strain from THEE enrich the Mafe, "AS THEE alone fhe ferves, her patron, тHOU, "And great infpirer be! then will fhe joy, "Tho' narrow life her lot, and private fhade : "And when her venal voice the barters vile, "Or to thy open or thy fecret foes;

"May ne'er thofe facred raptures touch her more,
"By flavith hearts unfelt! and may her fong,
"Sink in oblivion with the nameless crew!

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"Vermin of state to thy o'erflowing light

"That owe their being, yet betray thy cause." Then, condefcending kind, the HEAV'NLY POW'R Return'd." What here, fuggefted by the feene, "I flight unfold, record and fing at home, "In that blest isle, where (fo we fpirits move) "With one quick effort of my will I'am.

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"There TRUTH, unlicens'd, walks; and dares accoft "Ev'n kings themselves, the monarchs of the free! "Fix'd on my rock, there, an indulgent race "O'er BRITONS wield the fceptre of their choice: "And there, to finish what his fires began, "A PRINCE behold! for ME who burns fincere, "Ev'n with a fubject's zeal. He my great work "Will parent-like sustain; and added give "The touch, the Graces and the Mufes owe. "For BRITAIN'S glory fwells his panting breast; "And ancient arts he emulous revolves:

"His pride to let the fmiling heart abroad;

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"Thro' clouds of pomp, that but conceal the man; "To please his pleafure; bounty his delight; "And all the foul of Tiru's dwells in him."

Hail glorious theme! But how alas! fhall verse, From the crude ftores of mortal language drawn, 380 How faint and tedious, fing, what, piercing deep, The GODDESS flafh'd at once upon my foul. For, clear precifion all, the tongue of gods Is harmony itself; to ev'ry ear Familiar known, like light to ev'ry eye. Mean time difclofing ages, as she spoke, In long fucceffion pour'd their empires forth;

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Scene after fcene, the human drama spread;
And still th' embodied picture rofe to fight.

OH THOU! To whom the Mufes owe their flame; Who bid'ft, beneath the pole, Parnaffus rise, 391 And Hippocrene flow; with thy bold eafe,

The ftriking force, the lightning of thy thought,

And thy ftrong phrafe, that rolls profound, and clear; Oh gracious GODDESS! re-infpire my fong;

While I, to nobler, than poetic fame

Afpiring, thy commands to BRITONS bear.

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