In anguish of their hearts their mantles rent,
And feven long days in folemn filence spent ;
A debt of reverence to diftrefs fo great!
Then Job contain'd no more; but curs'd his

fate.

His day of birth, its inaufpicious light,
He wishes funk in fhades of endless night,
And blotted from the year; nor fears to crave
Death, instant death; impatient for the grave,
That feat of peace, that mansion of repofe,
Where rest and mortals are no longer foes;
Where counsellors are hush'd, and mighty kings
(O happy turn!) ho mote are wretched thing.
His words were daring, and difpleas'd his
friends;

His conduct they reprove, and he defends;
And now they kindled into warm debate,
And fentiments oppos'd with equal heat;
Fix'd in opinion, both refufe to yield,
And fummon all their reafon to the field:
So high at length their arguments were wrought,
They reach'd the last extent of human thought :
A paufe enfued. When, lo! heaven interpos'd,
And awfully the long contention clos'd.
Full o'er their heads, with terrible surprise,
A fudden whirlwind blacken'd all the fkies:
(They faw, and trembled!) from the darkness
broke

A dreadful voice, and thus th' Almighty spoke :
Who gives his tongue a loose fo bold and vain,
Cenfures my conduct, and reproves my reign;
Lifts up his thought against me from the duft,
And tells the world's Creator what is just?
Of late fo brave, now lift a dauntless eye,
Face my demand, and give it a reply:
Where didft thou dwell at nature's early birth?
Who laid foundations for the spacious earth?
Who on its surface did extend the line,
Its form determine, and its bulk confine?
Who fix'd the corner stone? What hand, declare,
Hung it on nought, and faften'd it on air;
When the bright morning ftars in concert fung,
When heaven's high arch with loud hofannahs

rung,

When fhouting fons of God the triumph crown'd, And the wide concave thunder'd with the found? Earth's numerous kingdoms, haft thou view'd them all?

And can thy span of knowledge grafp the ball? Who heav'd the mountain, which fublimely ftands, And cafts its fhadow into diftant lands?

Who, ftretching forth his fceptre o'er the deep,
Can that wide world in due fubjection keep?
I broke the globe, 1 fcoop'd its hollow fide,
And did a bafon for the floods provide;

I chain'd them with my word; the boiling fea,
Work'd up in tempefts, hears my great decree;
"Thus far, thy floating tide fhall be convey'd ;
"And here, O main, be thy proud billows stay`d."
Haft thou explor'd the fecrets of the deep,
Where, fhut from ufe, unnumber'd treafures fleep?
Where, down a thousand fathoms from the day,
Springs the great fountain, mother of the fea?
Thofe gloomy paths did thy bold foot e er tread,
Whofe worlds of waters rolling o'er thy head?

Hath the cleft centre open a wide to thee?' Death's inmoft chambers didst thou ever fee? E'er knock at his tremendous gate, and wade To the black portal through th' incumbent shade? Deep are thofe fhades; but fhades ftill deeper hide My counfels from the ken of human pride.

Where dwells the light? In what refulgent dome? And where has darkness made her difmal home? Thou know'ft, no doubt, fince thy large heart is fraught

With ripen'd wisdom, through long ages brought; Since nature was call'd forth when thou was by, And into being rose beneath thine eye!

Are mifts begotten? Who their father knew?
From whom defcend the pearly drops of dew?
To bind the stream by night what hand can boaft,
Or whiten morning with the hoary froft?
Whofe powerful breath, from northern regions
blown,

Touches the fea, and turns it into stone?
A fudden defart spreads o'er realms defac'd,
And lays one half of the creation wafte?

Thou know'ft me not; thy blindne!s cannot fee
How vaft a distance parts thy God from thee.
Canft thou in whirlwinds mount aloft Canft thou
In clouds and darkness wrap thy awful brow;
And, when day triumphs in meridian light,
Put forth thy hand, and fhade the world with
night?

Who launcl.'d the clouds in air, and bid them roll Suspended feas aloft, from pole to pole? Who can refresh the burning fandy plain, And quench the fummer with a waste of rain? Who, in rough defarts, far from human toil, Made rocks bring forth, and defolation smile? There blooms the rofe, where human face ne'er fhone,

And fpreads its beauties to the fun alone.

To check the fhower, who lifts his hand on high, And fhuts the fluices of th' exhausted sky, When earth no longer mourns her gaping veins, Her naked mountains, and her ruffet plains; But, new in life, a cheerful prospect yields Of fhining rivers, and of verdant fields; When groves and forefts lavish all their bloom, And earth and heaven are fill'd with rich perfume!

Haft thou e'er fcal'd my wintery skies, and feca
Of bail and fnows my northern magazine?
Thefe the dread treafures of mine anger are,
My funds of vengeance for the day of war,
When clouds rain death, and forms at my com
mand

Rage through the world, or wafte a guilty land.
Who taught the rapid winds to fly so fast,
Or fhakes the centre with his eastern blast?
Who from the skies can a whole deluge pour?
Who ftrikes through nature with the folemn rear
Of dreadful thunder, points it where to fall,
And in fierce lightning wraps the flying ball?
Not he who trembles at the darted fires,
Falls at the found, and in the flash expires.

Who drew the comet out to fuch a size,
And pour'd his flaming train o'er half the fkies?
Did thy refentment hang him out? Does he
Glare on the nation, and denounce, from thee?

Who on low earth can moderate the rein, That guides the fars along th' ethereal plain? Appoint their feasons, and direct their course, Their luftre brighten, and supply their force ? 140 Cant thou the fikies benevolence restrain, And catife the Pleiades to shine in vain; Or, when Orion sparkles from his sphere, Thaw the cold feason, and unbind the year; Bid Mazzaroth his deftin'd station know, And teach the bright Arcturus where to glow? Mine is the night, with all her ftars; I pour Myriads, and myriads I referve in store. Det thou pronounce where day-light shall be born,

150

And draw the purple curtain of the morn;
Awake the fun, and bid him come away,
And glad thy world with his obfequious ray!
Haft thou, enthron'd in flaming glory, driven
Triumphant round the fpacious ring of heaven?
That pomp of light, what hand fo far difplays,
That diftant earth lies basking in the blaze?
Who did the foul with her rich powers inveft,
And light up reafon in the human breast?
To hide, with fresh increase of lukte bright,
When ftars and fun are fet in endless night?
To thefe my various queftions make reply:
Th' Almighty (poke; and, speaking, fhook the sky.
What then, Chaldean fire, was thy furprise !
Thus thou, with trembling heart and down-cast
eyes:

160

Once and again, which I in groans deplore, My tongue has err'd; but shall prefume no more. "My voice is in eternal filence bound, *And all my foul falls proftrate to the ground."

He ceas'd: when, lo! again th' Almighty fpoke; The fame dread voice from the black whirlwind broke: 170

Cad that arm measure with an arm divine? And canft thou thunder with a voice like mine; Or in the hollow of thy hand contain The bulk of waters, the wide-fpreading main, When, mad with tempefts, all the billows rife In all their rage, and dash the diftant skies?

180

Come forth, in beauty's excellence array'd; And be the grandeur of thy power difplay'd; Put on omnipotence, and, frowning, make The fpacious round of the creation shake; Lafach thy vengeance, bid it overthrow Trumphant vice, lay lofty tyrants low, And crumble them to duft. When this is done, I grant thy fafety lodg'd in thee alone; Other thou art, and may'st undaunted stand, 3nd the buckler of thine own right hand. Fond man! the vifion of a moment made! Dream of a dream and fhadow of a fhade! What workds haft thou produc'd, what creatures

fram'd;

Whrifcats cherish'd, that thy God is blam'd? 190 When pain'd with hunger, the wild raven's brood And calls on God, importanate for food:

who hears their cry, who grants their hoarfe request,

And fw's the clamour of the craving neft?
Who is the stupid of rich has fubdued
A parents care, and fond inquietude?

VOL. X.

200

While far fhe flies, her scatter'd eggs are found,
Without au owner, on the fandy ground;
Caft out on fortune, they at mercy lie,
And borrow life from an indulgent fky:
Adopted by the fun, in blaze of day,
They ripen under his prolific ray.
Uamindful fhe, that some unhappy tread
May crush her young in their neglected bed.
What time the fkims along the field with fpeed,
She fcorns the rider, and pursuing steed.

How rich the peacock! what bright glories rum
From plume to plume, and vary in the fun!
He proudly spreads them to the golden ray,
Gives all his colours, and adorns the day;
With confcious state the fpacious round displays,
And flowly moves amid the waving blaze

210

Who taught the hawk to find, in feafons wife, Perpetual fummer, and a change of skies? When clouds deform the year, the mounts the wind Shoots to the fouth, nor fears the ftorm behind; The fun returning, the returns again, Lives in his beams, and leaves ill days to men. Though ftrong the hawk, though practis'd well to fly,

220

An eagle drops her in a lower fky;
An eagle, when, deserting human fight,
She feeks the fun in her unweary'd flight:
Did thy command her yellow pinion lift,
So high in air, and fet her on the clift,
Where far above thy world fhe dwells alone,
And proudly makes the ftrength of rocks her own
Thence wide o'er nature takes her dread furvey,
And with a glance predeftinates her prey? [o'er
She feafts her young with blood; and, hovering
Th'unilaughter'd host, enjoys the promis'd gore. 230

Know't thou how many moons, by me affign'd, Roll o'er the mountain goat, and forest hind, While pregnant they a mother's load fuítain? They bend in anguish, and caft forth their pain. Hale are their young, from human frailties freed; Walk infuftain'd, and unaffifted feed;

They live at once; forfake the dam's warm fide; Take the wide world, with nature for their guide; Bound o'er the lawn, or feek the distant glade; And find a home in each delightful fhade.

240

Will th' tall reem, which knows no lord but me, Low at the crib, and ask an alms of thee? Submit his unworn fhoulder to the yoke, Break the stiff clod, and o'er thy furrow smoke? Since great his ftrength, go truft him, void of careg Lay on his neck the toil of all the year; Bid him bring home the feafons to thy doors, And caft his load among thy gather d ftores.

Didit thou from fervice the wild-afs difcharge,
And break his bonds, and bid him live at large, 250
Through the wide wafte, his ample manfion, roam,
And lofe himfelf in his unbounded home?
By nature's hand magnificently fed,

His meal is on the range of mountains fpread;
As in pure air aloft he bounds along,
He fees in diftant fmoke the city throng;
Confcious of freedom, fcorns the fmother'd train,
The threatening driver, and the fervile rein.
Survey the warlike horfe! didit thou invest
With thunder his robuft diftended cheft ?

D

260

[laft.

No fenfe of fear his dauntless foul allays; 'Tis dreadful to behold his noftrils blaze; To paw the vale he proudly takes delight, And triumphs in the fulness of his might; High-rais'd he fauffs the battle from afar, And burns to plunge amid the raging war; And mocks at death, and throws his foam around, And in a ftorm of fury fhakes the ground. How does his firm, his riting heart, advance 269 Full on the brandish'd fword, and shaken lance; While his fix'd eye-balls meet the dazzling fhield, Gaze, and return the lightning of the field! He finks the fenfe of pain in generous pride, Nor feels the fhaft that trembles in his fide; But neighs to the fhrill trumpet's dreadful blast Till death; and when he groans, he groans his But, fiercer ftill, the lordly lion talks, Grimly majestic in his lonely walks; When round he glares, all living creatures fly; He clears the defart with his rolling eye. Say, mortal, does he roufe at thy command, And roar to thee, and live upon thy hand? Deft thou for him in forefts bend thy bow, And to his gloomy den the morfel throw. Where bent on death lie hid his taway brood, And, couch'd in dreadful ambush, pant for blood; Or, fretch'd on broken limbs, confume the day, In darkness wrapt, and flumber o'er their prey? By the pale moon they take their deftin'd round, And lafh their fides, and furious tear the ground. Now fhricks and dying groans the defart fill; 291 They rage, they rend; their ravenous jaws diftil With crimson foam; and, when the banquet's o'er,

280

They ftride away, and paint their steps with gore;
In flight alone the fhepherd puts his trust,
And fhudders at the talon in the duft.

Mild is my Behemoth, though large his frame;
Smooth is his temper, and repreft his flame,
While unprovok'd. This native of the flood
Lifts his broad foot, and puts afhore for food; 3C0
Earth finks beneath him, as he moves along
To feek the herbs, and mingle with the throng.
See with what ftrength his harden'd loins are
bound,

All over proof and shut against a wound.
How like a mountain cedar moves his tail!
Nor can his complicated finews fail.
Built high and wide, his folid bones furpass
The bars of fteel; his ribs are ribs of brass;
His port majestic and his armed jaw

Give the wide foreft, and the mountain, law. 310
The mountains feed him; there the beafts admire
The mighty ftranger, and in dread retire,
At length his greatneis nearer they furvey,
Graze in his fhadow, and his eye obey.
The fens and marshes are his cool retreat,
His noontide fhelter from the burning heat;
Their fedgy bofoms his wide couch are made,
And groves of willows give him all their fhade.
His eye drinks Jordan up, when fir'd with
drought,

He trufts to turn its current down his throat; 320
In leffen'd waves it creeps along the plain :
He finks a river, and he thirfts again.

Go to the Nile, and, from its fruitful fide, Catt forth thy line into the fwelling tide: With flender hair Leviathan command, And ftretch his vaftnefs on the loaded ftrand. Will he become thy fervant: Will he own Thy lordly nod, and tremble at thy frown? Or with his fport amufe thy leifure day, 329 And, bound in filk, with thy foft maidens play? Shall pompous banquets fwell with fuch a prize? And the bowl journey round his ample size? Or the debating merchants fhare the prey, And various limbs to various marts convey? Through his firm skull what steel its way can win? What forceful engine can fubdue his skin? Fly far, and live; tempt not his matchlefs might : The braveft fhrink to cowards in his fight; The rafheft dare not roufe him up: Who then Shali turn on me, among the fons of men?

340

What hideous fangs on either fide arife!
And what a deep abyfs between them lies!
Mete with thy lance, and with thy plumbet sound,
The one how long, the other how profound. 360
His bulk is charg'd with fuch a furious foul,
That clouds of fnmoke from his fpread noftrils roll,
As from a furnace; and when rous'd his ire,
Fate iffues from his jaws in ftreams of fire.
The rage of tempefts, and the roar of feas,
Thy terror, this thy great fuperior please ;
Strength on his ample fhoulder fits in ftate;
His well-join'd limbs are dreadfully complete ;
His flakes of folid fleth are flow to part;
As fteel his nerves, as adamant his heart.

370

When, late awak'd, he rears him from the floods, And ftretching forth his ftature to the clouds, Writhes in the fun aloft his fcaly height, And ftrikes the diftant hills with transient light, Far round are fatal damps of terror spread, The mighty fear, nor blush to own their dread. Large is his front; and when his burnish'd eyes Lift their broad lids, the morning feems to rife. In vain may death in various fhapes invade, The fwift-wing'd arrow, the defcending blade; His naked breaft their impotence defies; 38r The dart rebounds, the brittle faulchion flies. Shut in himself, the war without he hears, Safe in the tempeft of their rattling fpears; The cumber'd ftrand their wasted vollies ftrow; His fport, the rage and labour of the foe.

389

His paftimes like a cauldron boil the flood,
And blacken ocean with the rifing mud;
The billows feel him, as he works his way;
His hoary footsteps shine along the fea; [green,
The foam high-wrought with white divides the
And distant failors point where death has been.
His like earth bears not on her fpacious face;
Alone in nature ftands his dauntless race,
For utter ignorance of fear renown'd,
In wrath he roils his baleful eye around:
Makes every swoll'n, disdainful heart, subfide,
And holds dominion o'er the fons of pride.
Then the Chaldean eas'd his labouring breaft,
With full conviction of his crime oppreft. 400

Thou canft accomplish all things, Lord of
Might:

"And every thought is naked to thy fight.
"But, oh! thy ways are wonderful, and lie
"Byond the deepest reach of mortal eye.
"Oft have I heard of thine almighty power;
"But never faw thee till this dreadful hour.
"O erwhelm'd with fhame, the Lord of Life I fee,
Abhor myself, and give my foul to thee.
"Nor fhall my weakness tempt thine anger more:
"Man is not made to queflion, but adore.”
410

NOTES ON THE PARAPHRASE.

Book of Job.] It is difputed amongst the critics who was the author of the Book of Job; fome give it to Mofes, fome to others. As I was engaged in this little performance, fome arguments occurred to me which favour the former of thofe opinions; and becaufe I do not find them mentioned by any one elfe, I have flung them into the following notes, where little elfe is to be expected. Ver. 1. The Almighty's fpeech, chapter xxxviii, &c. which is what I paraphrafe in this little work, is by much the fineft part of the noblest and most ancient poem in the world. Bifhop Patrick fays, its grandeur is as much above all other poetry, as thunder is louder than a whifper. In order to fet this diftinguifh'd part of the poem in a fuller light, and give the reader a clearer conception of it, I Lave abridged the preceding and fubfequent parts of the poem, and joined them to it; fo that this piece is a fort of epitome of the whole Book of Job. Iufe the word paraphrafe, because I want another which might better anfwer to the uncommon liberties I have taken. I have omitted, added, and tranfpofed. The mountain, the comet, the fun, and other parts, are entirely added: thofe upon the pracol, the lion, &c. are much enlarged; and I have thrown the whole into a method more fuitable to our notions of regularity. The judicious, if they compare this piece with the original, will, I flatter myself, find the reafons for the great liberties 1 have indulged myself in through the whole.

from a common execution; for he that afks the guilty a proper queftion, makes him, in effect, pafs fentence on himfelf.

Ver. 41.] The Book of Job is well known to be dramatic, and like the tragedies of old Greece, is fiction built on truth. Probably this most noble part of it, the Almighty fpeaking out of the whirlwind (fo fuitable to the after-practice of the Greek ftage, when there happened" dignus vindice no"dus"), is fictitious; but is fiction more agreeagble to the tinte in which Job lived, than to any fince. Frequent before the Law were the appearances of the Almighty after this manner, Exod. chap. xix. Ezek chap. i. &c. Hence is he said to "dwell in thick darkness: and have his way in the "whirlwind."

Ver 69 There is a very great air in all that precedes, but this is fignally fublime. We are ftruck with admiration to fee the váit and ungovernable ocean receiving commands, and punctually obeying them; to find it like a managed horse, raging, toffing, and foaming, but by the rule and direction of its mater. This paffage yields in fublimity to that of "Let there be light," &c. fo much only, as the abfolute government of nature yields to the creation of it.

The like fpirit in thefe two paffages is no bad concurrent argument, that Mofes is author of the Book of Job.

Ver. 191 Another argument that Mofes was the author is, that most of the creatures here are Egyptian. The reafon given why the raven is particularly mentioned as an object of the care of Providence is, becaufe by her clamorous and im portunate voice, the particularly feems always calling upon it; thence xogteow, à xópa, Ælian, 1. ii. c. 48, is to afk carneftly." And since there were ravens on the bank of the Nile more clamorou s

than the rest of that fpecies, thofe probably are meant in that place.

bird's ftupidity: let two fuffice. First, it covers its Ver. 195. There are many inftances of this

head in the reeds, and thinks itfelf all out of fight: "Stat lumine claufo

"Ridendum revoluta caput, creditque latere Que non ipfa videt." CLAUS.

Secondly, They that go in pursuit of them, draw the ikin of an oftrich's neck on one hand, which proves a fufficient lure to take them with the other. They have fo little brain, that Heliogabalus had fix hundred heads for his fupper.

Here we may obferve, that our judicious, as well as fublimhe author, just touches the great points of diftinction in each creature, and then haftens to another. A defcription is exact when you cannot add, but what is common to another thing; nor withdraw, but fomething peculiarly belonging to the thing defcribed. A likeness is loft in too much defcription, as a meaning ofte in too much illus

Ver 205.] Here is marked another peculiar qua lity of this creature, which neither flies nor runs directly, but has a motion compofed of both, and afing its wings as fails, makes great speed.