Of every worth and every fplendid art;
Modeft, and fimple, in the pomp of wealth.
Then the laft worthies of declining GREECE,
Late-call'd to glory, in unequal times,
Penfive, appear The fair Corinthian boast,
TIMOLEON, happy temper! mild, and firm,
Who wept the brother, while the tyrant bled.
And, equal to the best, the * THEBAN PAIR,
Whose virtues, in heroic concord join'd,
Their country rais'd to freedom, empire, fame.
He too, with whom Athenian honour funk,
And left a mass of fordid lees behind,
PHOCION the Good; in public life fevere,
To virtue still inexorably firm;
But when, beneath his low illustrious roof,
Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth'd his brow,
Not friendship softer was, nor love more kind.
And he, the last of old LYCURGUS' fons,
The generous victim to that vain attempt,
To fave a rotten ftate, AGIS, who faw
Even SPARTA's felf to fervile avarice funk.
The two Achaian heroes close the train.
ARATUS, who a while relum'd the foul
Of fondly-lingering liberty in GREECE:
And he her darling as her latest hope
The gallant PHILOPOEMEN; who to arms
Turn'd the luxurious pomp he could not cure;
Or, toiling in his farm, a fimple fwain;
Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field.
Of rougher front, a mighty people come!
A race of heroes! in thofe virtuous times
Which knew no ftain, fave that with partial flame 500
Their dearest country they too fondly lov'd:
Her better Founder firft, the light of ROME,
NUMA, who foften'd her rapacious fons :
SERVIUS the King, who laid the folid base
On which o'er earth the vast republic spread.
Then the great confuls venerable rise.
The PUBLIC FATHER who the private quell'd,
As on the dread tribunal sternly fad.
He, whom his thankless country could not lose,
CAMILLUS, only vengeful to her foes.
FABRICIUS, fcorner of all-conquering gold;
And CINCINNATUS, awful from the plough.
Thy WILLING VICTIM, Carthage, bursting loofe
From all that pleading Nature could oppofe,
From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith
Imperious call'd, and honour's dire command.
SCIPIO, the gentle chief, humanely brave,
Who foon the race of spotless glory ran,
And, warm in youth, to the poetic fbade
With Friendship and Philofophy retir'd.
TULLY, whose powerful eloquence a while
Reftrain'd the rapid fate of rufhing ROME.
Unconquer'd CATO, virtuous in extreme.
And thou, unhappy BRUTUS, kind of heart,
Whofe fteady arm, by awful virtue urg'd,
Lifted the Roman feel against thy Friend.
Thousands befides the tribute of a verse
Demand; but who can count the stars of heaven?
Who fing their influence on this lower world?
Behold, who yonder comes! in sober state, 530
Fair, mild, and ftrong, as is a vernal fun :
"Tis Phoebus' felf, or elfe the Mantuan Swain !
Great HOMER too appears, of daring wing,
Parent of fong! and equal by his fide,
The BRITISH MUSE; join'd hand in hand they walk, Darkling, full up the middle fteep to fame.
Nor abfent are those fhades, whose skilful touch
Pathetic drew th' impassion'd heart, and charm'd.
Transported Athens with the MORAL SCENE:
Nor those who, tuneful, wak’d'th' inchanting LYRE.
First of your kind! fociety divine!
Still vifit thus my nights, for you referv'd,
And mount my foaring foul to thoughts like yours.
Silence, thou lonely power! the door be thine;
See on the hallow'd hour that none intrude,
Save a few chofen friends, who fometimes deign-
To bless my humble roof, with sense refin❜d,
Learning digested well, exalted faith,
Unstudy'd wit, and humour ever gay.
Or from the Mufes' hill will POPE defcend,
To raise the facred hour, to bid it smile,
And with the social spirit warm the heart:
For tho' not sweeter his own HOMER fings,
Yet is his life the more endearing song.
Where art thou, HAMMOND? thou the darling pride,
The friend and lover of the tuneful throng!
Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime
Of vernal genius, where difclofing faft
Each active worth, each manly, virtue lay,
Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope fo foon? 560
What now avails that noble thirst of fame,
Which stung thy fervent breast? that treasur❜d store
Of knowledge, early gain'd? that eager zeal
To ferve thy country, glowing in the band
OF YOUTHFUL PATRIOTS, who sustain her name?
What now, alas! that life-diffufing charm
Qa
Of sprightly wit? that rapture for the Mufe,
That heart of friendship, and that foul of joy,
Which bad with fofteft light thy virtues smile?
Ah! only fhew'd, to check our fond purfuits,
And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain!
Thus in fome deep retirement would I pafs
The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant foul,
Or blithe, or folemn, as the theme infpir'd:
With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame
Was call'd, late-rifing from the void of night,
Or sprung eternal from th' ETERNAL MIND:
Its life, its laws, its progress, and its end.
Hence larger profpects of the beauteous whole
Would, gradual, open on our opening minds;
And each diffufive harmony unite
In full perfection to th' aftonifh'd eye.
Then would we try to fcan the moral world,
Which tho' to us it seems embroil'd, moves on
In higher order; fitted, and impell'd,
By WISDOM's finest hand, and iffuing all
In general good. The fage hiftoric Mufe
Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time:
Shew us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell,
In fcatter'd ftates; what makes the nations fmile, 590
Improves their foil, and gives them double funs;
And why they pine beneath the brightest fkies,
In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd,
Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale
That portion of divinity, that ray
Of pureft heaven, which lights the public foul
Of patriots, and of heroes... But if doom'd,
In powerless humble fortune, to repress
Théfe ardent rifings of the kindling foul p
Then, even fuperior to ambition, we late
Would learn the private virtues; how to glide
Thro' fhades and plains, along the fmootheft ftream Of rural life: or fnatch'd away by hope,
Thro' the dim spaces of futurity,
With earnest eye anticipate those scenes
Of happiness, and wonder; where the mind,
In endless growth and infinite afcent,
Rifes from state to ftate, and world to world.
But when with these the serious thought is foil'd,
We, fhifting for relief, would play the shapes
Of frolic fancy, and inceffant form
Those rapid pictures, that affembled train
Of fleet ideas, never join'd before,
Whence lively Wit excites to gay furprises
Or folly-painting Humour, grave himself,
Calls Laughter forth, deep-fhaking every nerve.
Meantime the village roufes up the fire
While well attefted, and as well believ'd,
Heard folemn, goes the goblin-itory round;
Till fuperftitious horror creeps o'er all.
Or, frequent in the founding hall, they 'wake
The rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round;
The fimple joke that takes the fhepherd's heart,
Eafily pleas'd; the long loud laugh, fincere ;
The kifs fnatch'd hafty from the fide-long maid, 625
On purpose guardless, or pretending fleep :
The leap, the flap, the haul; and, fhook to notes
Of native music, the refpondent dance.
Thus jocund fleets with them the winter night.
The city fwarms intenfe. The public haunt, 630 Full of each theme, and warm with mix'd discourse, Hums indiftinct. The fons of riot flow
Down the loose stream of false inchanted joy,
To swift deftruction. On the rankled foul
|