Cross-legg'd he fat, and his ungartered hofe
Of each lean limb half hide, and half expose;
His cheek he lean'd upon his hand; below
His nut-brown flipper hung upon his toe.

Now with abstracted flight he climbs apace,
High and more high, through pure unbounded space;
Now mere privation fails the wings of thought,

He drops down headlong through the vast of nought;
A friendly vapour Mathefis fupplies,

Born on the furging fmoak he joys to rife;
Matter thro' modes and qualities pursues,

Now caught, entranc'd its naked effence views;
Now wakes; the vifion fading from his fight
Leaves doubts behind, the mifts of mental night:
Exifting not, but poffible alone,

He deems all fubftance, and fufpects his own;
Like wave by wave impell'd, now questions roll-
Does foul in ought fubfift, or all in foul?
Is fpace, extenfion, nothing but a name,
And mere idea Nature's mighty frame?
All power, all forms, to intellect confin'd:
Place, agent, fubject, inftrument combin'd?
Is fpirit diverfe, yet from number free,
Conjoin'd by harmony in unity?-

Truth's fpotlefs white what piercing eye defcries,
When the ray broken takes Opinion's dyes!-
In vain now Philo feeks the facred light,
In Chaos plung'd, where embryo fyftems fight.
Vol. III.

N

In this dark hour, unnotic'd, Cloe came,
His ftudy door admits the fhining dame;

With Nature's charms, fhe join'd the charms of Arts
Wife of his choice, and mistress of his heart:
What on her head she wore, erect and high,
Unnam'd above, is call'd on earth a fly;
In wanton ringlets her fair treffes fell,
Her breafts beneath tranfparent muflin fwell;
Studded with flaming gems a buckle bound
Th' embroidered zone her flender waist around;
Thence to her feet a vast rotund display'd
The mingling colours of the rich brocade ;
This aiding fancy, blending fhame and pride,
Inflames with beauties it was meant to hide :
With careless eafe the Nymph firft fnapp'd her fan,
Roll'd round her radiant eyes, and thus began:
"How canft thou, Philo, here delight to fit,
"Immers'd in learning, naftiness, and wit?

* Clean from the cheft where various odours breathe,
"And dying roses their last sweets bequeath,
"A fhirt for thee, by my command, the maid
"Three hours ago before the fire display'd;
"The barber, waiting to renew thy face,
"Holds thy wig powder'd in the pafte-board cafe;

Thy filken breeches, and thy hose of thread, "Coat, waistcoat, all, lie ready on the bed. "Renounce that odious pipe, this filthy cell, "Where filence, duft, and pagan authors dwell;

"Come!

* Come! shall the ladies wait in vain for thee ?
"Come! taste with us the charms of mirth and tea."
As Philo heard confus'd the filver found,
His foul emerges from the dark profound,
On the bright vifion full he turn'd his eyes;
Touch'd, as he gaz'd, with pleasure and surprize,
The first faint dawnings of a smile appear'd,
And now in act to speak, he ftrok'd his beard,
When from a fhelf juft o'er the fair one's head,
Down dropt ARACHNE by the viscous thread.
Back ftarts the Nymph, with terror and difmay,
"The Spider! oh!" was all that she could say..
At this the Sage refum'd the look fevere,
"Renounce, with woman's folly, woman's fear!"
He said, and careful to the fhelf convey'd
The hapless rival of the blue-ey'd maid.

Th' enormous deed astonish'd Cloe view'd,
And rage the crimfon on her cheek renew'd.
"Must then, said she, such hideous vermin crawl
Indulg'd, protected, o'er the cobweb'd wall?
"Destroy her quickly-here her life I claim,
"If not for love or decency, for shame."

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"Shame be to guilt," replies the man of thought, "To flaves of custom, ne'er by reason taught, "Who fpare no life that touches not their own, By fear their cruelty restrain'd alone.

"No blameless infect lives its deftin'd hour,

46

Caught in the murdering vortex of their power.

N 2

"For

"For me, the virtues of the mind I learn
"From fage ARACHNE, for whofe life you burn;
"From her, when bufy all the fummer's day
"She weaves the curious woof that fnares her prey,
“I learn fair industry and art to prize,

Admiring Nature providently wise,

"Who, tho' her bounty unexhausted flows,
"Not daily bread on idleness bestows.
"ARACHNE, ftill fuperior to despair,
"Reftores with art what accidents impair,
"The thoufandth time the broken thread renews,
"And one great end with fortitude pursues ;
"To me her toil is ne'er renew'd in vain,

Taught what the wife by perfeverance gain, "Warm'd by example to the glorious ftrife, "And taught to conquer in the fight of life,

"When now with rest amidst her labours crown'd, "She watchful, patient, eyes the circle round, "I learn, when toil has well deferv'd fuccefs,

Hope's placid, calm, expectance to possess,
"With care to watch, with patience still to wait
"The golden moment, tho' delay'd by Fate."
Impatient Cloe thus again reply'd:

"How foon is error thro' each veil descry'd!
"Still boafting Reason's power, how weak are we!
"How blind, alas! to all we would not fee!
Elfe how could Philo, in a Spider's caufe,
Talk thus of mercy with deferv'd applause?

< Or

"Or call aught virtuous industry and skill, "Exerted only to furprize and kill ?

"The blameless infect, whom no murder feeds, "For her, the victim of her cunning, bleeds;

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Cunning! which when to wisdom we compare, "Is but to her, to men what monkeys are.”

"Hold! Philo cries, and know, the fame decree "Gave her the fly, which gives the lamb to thee; "Or why those wings adapted to the fiare, "Why interceptive hangs the net in air? "As plain in these the precept, "kill and eat," "As in thy fkill to carve the living treat."

To this, fhe cries," Perfuade me, if you can, "Man's lord of all, and all was made for man. "Vain thought! the child of ignorance and pride!" Difdainful fmiling, quickly he reply'd: "To man, vain reptile! tell me of what ufe "Are all that Afric's peopled waftes produce? "The nameless monfters of the fwarming feas, "The pigmy nations wafted on the breeze? "The happy myriads, by his eyes unfeen, "That baik in flowers, and quicken all the

66

green

Why live these numbers bleft in Nature's state?

"Why lives this Spider object of thy hafe?

?

"Bleft stream! the o'erflowing of the parent mind, "Great without pride, and without weaknefs kind.”