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CANTO II.

CONTAINS, on the fame plan, a furvey of the folar system, and of the fixed stars.

This poem is among the author's earlieft performances. Whether the writing may, in fome degree, atone for the irregularity of the compofition, which he confesses, and does not even attempt to excufe, is fubmitted entirely to the candour of the reader.

CANTO I.

COMPANION of the muse, creative power,
Imagination! at whofe great command
Arife unnumber'd images of things,
Thy hourly offspring: thou, who canft at will
People with air-born fhapes the filent wood,
And folitary vale, thy own domain,

Where contemplation haunts; oh come, invok'd,
To waft me on thy many-tinctur'd wing,
O'er earth's extended space: and thence, on high,
Spread to fuperior worlds thy bolder flight,
Excurfive, unconfin'd. Hence from the haunts
Of vice and folly, vanity and man—

To yon expanfe of plains, where truth delights, Simple of heart; and hand in hand with her," Where blameless virtue walks. Now parting Parent of beauty and of fong, has left [Spring, His mantle, flower-embroider'd on the ground. While fummer laughing comes, and bids the months

Crown his prime seafon with their choiceft ftores; Fresh rofes opening to the folar ray,

And fruits flow-fwelling on the loaded bough.

Here let me frequent roam, preventing morn, Attentive to the cock, whofe early throat, Heard from the diftant village in the vale, Crows cheerly out, far founding through the gloom. [fky,

Night hears from where, wide-hovering in mid-
She rules the fable hour: and calls her train
Of vifionary fears; the fhrouded ghost,
The dream diftressful, and th' encumbent hag,
That rise to fancy's eye in horrid forms,
While reafon flumbering lies. At once they fly,
As fhadows pafs, nor is their path beheld.
And now, pale-glimmering on the verge of
heaven,

From east to north in double twilight seen,
A whitening luftre fhoots its tender beam;
While fhade and filence yet involve the ball.
Now facred morn, afcending, fmiles ferene
A dewy radiance, brightening o'er the world.
Gay daughter of the air, for ever young,
For ever pleafing! lo, fhe onward comes,
In fluid gold and azure loose-array'd,
Sun-tinctur'd, changeful hues. At her approach,
The western gray of yonder breaking clouds
Slow-reddens into flame: the rifing mists,
From off the mountain's brow, roll blue away
In curling fpires; and open all his woods,
High waving in the sky: th' uncolour'd stream,
Beneath her glowing ray translucent fhines.
Glad nature feels her through her boundlefs realms
Of life and fenfe: and calls forth all her fweets,
Fragrance and fong. From cach unfolding flower
Tranfpires the balm of life, that zephyr wafts,
Delicious, on his rofy wing: each bird,
Or high in air, or fecret in the fhade,
Rejoicing warbles wild his matin hymn.
While beafts of chase, by secret instinct mov'd,

Scud o'er the lawns, and plunging into night,
In brake, or cavern, flumber out the day.
Invited by the cheerful morn abroad,
See, from his humble roof, the good man comes
To tafte her freshness, and improve her rife
In holy mufing. Rapture in his eye,
And kneeling wonder fpeak his filent foul,
With gratitude o'erflowing, and with praise!
Now industry is up. The village pours
The labourer here, with every inftrument
Her useful fons abroad to various toil:
Of future plenty arm'd; and there the swain,
A rural king amid his fubject-flocks,
The traveller too, purfues his early road,
Whose bleatings wake the vocal hills afar.
And all the living landscape moves around.
Among the dews of morn.

Aurora calls:

But fee, the flush'd horizon flames intenfe With vivid red, in rich profusion ftream'd O'er heaven's pure arch. At once the clouds af

fume

Their gayeft liveries; thefe with filvery beams
Fring'd lovely, fplendid thofe in liquid gold:
And fpeak their fovereign's ftate. He comes, be
hold!

Fountain of light and colour, warmth and life!
The king of glory! round his head divine,
Diffufive fhowers of radiance circling flow,
As o'er the Indian wave up-rifing fair
He looks abroad on nature, and invests,
Where-c'er his univerful eye furveys,
Her ample bofom, earth, air, fea, and fky,
In one bright robe, with heavenly tinctures gay.
From this hoare hill, that climbs above the

plain,
[woods
Half-way up heaven ambitions, brown with
Of broadeft fhade, and terrafs'd round with walks,
Winding and wild, that deep embowering rife,
Maze above maze, through all its fhelter'd height;
From hence, th' aëreal concave without cloud,
Tranflucent, and in pureft azure dreft;
The boundless scene beneath, hill, dale, and plain
The precipice abrupt; the diftant deep,
Whofe fhores remurmur to the founding furge;
The nearest foreft in wide circuit spread,
Solemn recefs, whofe folitary walks,
Fair truth and wisdom love; the bordering lawnt
With flocks and herds enrich'd; the daify'd vale
The river's cryftal, and the meadows green-
Grateful diverfity! allure the eye
Abroad, to rove amid ten thousand charms.

These scenes, where every virtue, every mufe Delighted range, ferene the foul, and lift, Borne on devotion's wing, beyond the pole, To higheft heaven her thought; to nature's God, First fource of all things lovely, all things good, Eternal, infinite! before whofe throne Sits fovereign bounty, and through heaven and Carelefs diffufes plenitude of blifs (carth Him all things own: he fpeaks, and it is day,

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vale fequefter'd, or the fir-crown'd fide fairy mountain, whence with lucid lapfe 's many a dew-fed ftream, invites the ftep fmufing poet, and fecures repofe o weary pilgrim. In the flood of day, ppreffive brightness deluging the world, sk nature pants: and from the cleaving earth ight vapours, undulating through the air, ontagious fly, engendering dire difeafe, ed plague, and fever; or, in fogs aloft ondening, fhow a ruffling tempeft nigh. And fee, exhaling from th' Atlantic furge, ild world of waters, diftant clouds afcend vapoury confluence, deepening cloud on cloud: hen rolling dufk along to caft and north,

* the blaft bears them on his humid wing, raw total night and tempeft o'er the noon! o, bird and beaft, imprcis'd by nature's hand homeward warnings through each feeling

nerve,

lafte from the hour of terror and of storm. The thunder now, from forth his cloudy fhrine, mid conflicting elements, where dread and death attend, the fervants of his nod, irft, in deaf murmurs, founds the deep alarm, leard from afar, awakening awful thought. Jumb fadnefs fills this nether world: the gloom With double blacknefs lours; the tempeft fwells, And expectation flakes the heart of man.

When yonder clouds in dufky depth extend 3road o'er the fouth; fermenting in their womb, Pregnant with fate, the fiery tempeft fwells, Sulphureous steam and nitrous, late exhal'd From mine or unctuous foil: and lo, at once,. Forth darted in flant ftream, the ruddy flash, Quick-glancing, fpreads a moment's horrid day. Again it flames expanfive; fheets the fky, Wide and more wide, with mournful light around, On all fides burning; now the face of things Difcofing; fwallowed now in tenfold night. Again the thunder's voice, with pealing roar, From cloud to cloud continuous roll'd along, Amazing burits! Air, fea, and fhore refound. Herror fits huddering in the felon-breast, And feels the deathful flash before it flies: Each fleeping fin, excited, ftarts to view; And all is form within. The murderer, pale

VOL. IX.

With confcious guilt, though hid in deepest shade,
Hears and flies wild, pursued by all his fears:
And fees the bleeding fhadow of the flain
Rife hideous, glaring on him through the gloom!
Hark! through th' aerial vault, the form

flam'd

Comes nearer, hoarfely loud, abrupt and fierce,
Peal hurl'd on peal inceffant, burft on burst:
Torn from its bafe, as if the general frame
Were tumbling into chaos-There it fell,
With whirlwind-wing, in red diffusion flash'd.
Deftruction marks its path, yon riven oak
Is hid in smouldering fires: furpris'd beneath,
The traveller ill-omen'd proftrate falls,
A livid corfe. Yon cottage flames to heaven:
And in its fartheft cell, to which the hour,
All-horrible, had sped their steps, behold!
The parent breathlefs lies; her orphan-babes
Shuddering and speechless round-O Power di-

vine!

Whofe will, unerring, points the bolt of fate!
Thy hand, though terrible, fhall man decide
If punishment, or mercy, dealt the blow?

Appeas'd at last, the tumult of the skies
Subfides, the thunder's falling roar is hufh'd:
At once the clouds fly fcattering, and the fun
Breaks out with boundless fplendour o'er the
world,

Parent of light and joy! to all things he
New life reftores, and from each drooping field
Draws the redundant rain, in climbing mifts
Faft-rifing to his ray; till every flower
Lift up its head, and nature fimiles reviv'd.
At first 'tis awful filence over all,
From fenfe of late-felt danger; till confirm'd,
In grateful chorus mixing, beaft and bird
Rejoice aloud to heaven: on either hand,
The woodlands warble, and the valleys low.
So pafs the fongful hours: and now the fun,
Declin'd, hangs verging on the western main,
Whofe fluctuating bofom, blushing red,
The space of many feas beneath his eye,
Heaves in foft fwellings murmuring to the fhore,
A circling glory glows around his difk
Of milder beams: part, ftreaming o'er the sky,
Inflame the diftant azure: part below
In level lines fhoot through the waving wood,
Clad half in light, and half in pleasing shade,
That lengthens o'er the lawn. Yon evening
Lucid or dufk, with flamy purple edg'd, [clouds,
Float in gay pomp the blue horizon round,
Amufive, changeful, shifting into shapes
Of visionary beauty, antique towers
With fhadowy domes and pinnacles adorn'd;
Or hills of white extent, that rife and fink
As fportful fancy lifts: till late, the fun
From human eye, behind earth's fhading orb
Total withdrawn, th' aerial landscape fades.

Diftinction fails: and in the darkening weft,
The last light quivering, dimly dies away.
And now th' illufive flame, oft feen at eve,
Up-borne and blazing on the light-wing'd gale,
Glides o'er the lawn betokening night's approach
Arifing awful o'er the eastern fky,

Onward fhe comes with filent ftep and flow,
In her brown mantle wrapt, and brings along.
The fill, the mild, the melancholy hour,
And meditation, with his eye on leaven.

XX

Mufing, in fober mood, of time and life,
That fly with unreturning wing away
To that dark world, untravell'd and unknown,
Eternity! through defert ways I walk;
Or to the cyprefs-grove, at twilight fhun'd
By paffing fwains. The chill breeze murmurs low,
And the boughs ruffle round me where I ftand,
With fancy all-arous'd.-Far on the left,
Shoots up a fhapeless rock of dufky height,
The raven's haunt: and down its woody fteep
A dafhing flood in headlong torrent hurls
His founding waters; white on every cliff
Hangs the light foam, and fparkles through the
Behind me rifes huge a reverend pile [gloom.
Sole on his blafted heath, a place of tombs,
Waite, defolate, where ruin dreary dwells.
Brooding o'er fightlefs fkulls, and crumbling
bones,

Ghaftful he fits, and eyes with stedfast glare.
(Sad trophies of his power, where ivy twines
Its fatal green around) the falling roof,
The time-fhook arch, the column gray with mofs,
The leaning wall, the fculptur'd flone defac'd,
Whole monumental flattery, mix'd with duft,
Now hides the name it vainly meant to raise."
All is dread filence here, and undisturb'd,
Save what the wind fighs, and the wailing owl
Screams folitary to the mournful moon,
Glimmering her western ray through yonder ifle,
Where the fad fpirit walks with shadowy foot
His wonted round, or lingers o'er his grave.
Hail, midnight-fhades! hail, venerable dome!
By age more venerable; facred fhore,
Beyond time's troubled fea, where never wave,
Where never wind of paffion, or of guilt,
Of fuffering or of forrow, fhall invade
The calm found night of those who rest below.
The weary are at peace: the fmall and great,
Life's voyage ended, meet and mingle here.
Here fleeps the prifoner fafe, nor feels his chain,
Nor hears th' oppreffor's voice. The poor and old,
With all the fons of mourning, fearless now
Of want or woe, find unalarm'd repofe.
Proud greatnefs, too, the tyranny of power,
The grace of beauty, and the force of youth,
And name and place, are here--for ever loft!

But, at near distance, on the mouldering wall
Behold a monument, with emblem grac'd,
And fair infcription: where with head declin'd,
And folded arms, the virtues weeping round
Lean o'er a beauteous youth who dies below.
Thyristis he! the wifeft and the best!
Lamented fhade! whom every gift of heaven
Profufely bleft: all learning was his own.
Pleafing his fpeech, by nature taught to flow,
Perfuafive fenfe and strong, fincere and clear.
His manners greatly plain; a noble grace,
Self-taught, beyond the reach of mimic art,
Adorn'd him: his calm temper winning mild;
Nor pity fofter, nor was truth more bright.
Conftant in doing well, he neither fought
Nor fhunn'd applaufe. No bafhful merit figh'd
Near him neglected: fympathizing he
Wip'd off the tear from forrow's clouded eye
With kindly hand, and taught her heart to fmile.
'Tis morning: and the fun, his welcome light,
Swift, from beyond dark ocean's orient ftream,
Cafts through the air, renewing nature's face

With heaven-born beauty. O'er her ample be
O'er fea and shore, light fancy ípeeds along,
Quick as the darted beam, from pole to pok,
Excurfive traveller. Now beneath the north,
Alone with winter in his inmoft realm,
Region of horrors! Here, amid the roar
Of winds and waves, the drifted turbulence
Of hail-mix'd fnows, refides th' ungenial pow
For ever filent, fhivering, and forlorn!
From Zembla's cliffs on to the ftraits formid
Of Anian eastward, where both worlds oppo
Their fhores contiguous, lies the polar fea,
One glittering waste of ice, and on the morn
Cafts cold a cheerless light. Lo, hills of fnow,
Hill behind hill, and Alp on Alp afcend,
Pil'd up from eldest age, and to the fun
Impenetrable; rifing from afar

In mifty profpect dim, as if on air
Each floating hill, an azure range of clords.
Yet here, ev'n here, in this difaftrous clime,
Horrid and harbourlefs, where all life dies,
Adventurous mortals, urg'd by thirft of gan.
Through floating ifles of ice, and fighting form,
Roam the wild waves, in fearch of doubtful f
By weft or eaft; a path yet unexplor'd.

Hence eastward to the Tartar's cruel conft, By utmost ocean wafh'd, on whofe laft ware The blue fky leans her breaft, diffus'd immens In folitary length the desert lies,

Where defolation keeps his empty court.
No bloom of fpring, o'er all the thirfty vaf,
Nor fpiry grafs is found; but fands instead
In fteril hills, and rough rocks rifing gray,

A land of fears! where vifionary forms,
Of griefly spectres, from air, flood, and fire,
Swarm: and before them fpeechless horror f
Here, night by night, beneath the ftarless dz
The fecret hag and forcerer unbleft
Their Sabbath hold, and potent fpells compo
Spoils of the violated grave: and now,
Late, at the hour that fevers night from mer",
When fleep has filenc'd every thought of max.
They to their revels fall, infernal throng!
And as they mix in circling dance, or turn
To the four winds of heavens with haggard ga
Shot ftreaming from the bofom of the north,
Opening the hollow gloom, red meteors blaze,
To lend them light, and diftant thunders rell
Heard in low murmurs through the lowering

From thefe fad fcenes, the waste abodes of diet, With devious wing, to fairer climes remote Southward I ftray; where Caucafus in view, Bulwark of nations, in broad eminence Upheaves from realm to realm a hundred his On from the Cafpian to the Euxine ftretch'd, Pale-glittering with eternal fnows to heaven. From this chill fteep, which midnight's highe

fhades

Scarce climb to darken, rough with mantarag
Imagination travels with quick eye

Unbounded o'er the globe, and wondering views
Her rolling feas and intermingled ifles;
Her mighty continents out-ftretch'd in:menfe,
Where Europe, Afia, Afric, of old fame,
Their regions numberless extend: and where
To farthest point of weft, Columbus late,
Through untry'd oceans borne to shores unknow
Moor'd his firft keel adventurous, and behold

A new, a fair, a fertile world arife!
But nearer scenes of happy rural view,
Green dale, and level down, and bloomy hill,
The Mufe's walk, on which the fun's bright eye
ropitious looks, invite her willing step.
Here fee, around me fmiling, myrtle groves,
And mountains crown'd with aromatic woods
Of vegetable gold, with vales amidst,

avih of flowers and fragrance; where fóft Lord of the year, indulges to each field [fpring, The fanning breeze, live spring, and fheltering

grove.

In thefe bleft plains, a fpacious city spreads
ts round extent magnificent, and feems
The feat of empire. Dazzling in the fky,
With far-feen blaze her towery ftructures shine,
Ilaborate works of art! each opening gate
ends forth its thousands: peace and plenty
Inviron her. In each frequented school [round
Learning exalts his head: and commerce pours
nto her arms a thousand foreign realms.
How fair and fortunate! how worthy all
Of lafting blifs fecure! Yet all muft fail, [found.
J'erturn'd and loft-nor fhall their place be
A fullen calm unusual, dark and dead,
Arifes inaufpicious o'er the heavens.

The beamlefs fun looks wan; a fighing cold
Winters the fhadowed air; the birds on high,
Shrieking, give fign of fearful change at hand:
And now, within the bofom of the globe,
Where fulphur ftor'd, and nitre peaceful flept,
For ages, in their fubterranean bed, [ftreams,
Ferments th' approaching tempeft. Vapoury
Inflammable, perhaps by winds fublim'd,
Their deadly breath apply. Th' enkindled mass,
Mine fir'd by mine in train, with boundless rage,
With horror unconceiv'd, difploded bursts
Its central prifon-Shook from fhore to fhore,
Reels the broad continent with all its load,
Hills, forefts, cities. The lone defert quakes:
Her favage fons howl to the thunder's groan,
And lightning's ruddy glare: while from beneath,
Deaf diftant roarings, through the wide profound,
Rueful are heard, as when defpair complains.
Gather'd in air, o'er that proud capital,
Frowns an involving cloud of gloomy depth,
Cafting dun night and terror o'er the heads
Of her inhabitants. Aghaft they ftand,
Sad-gazing on the mournful skies around;
A moment's dreadful filence! Then loud fcreams
And eager fupplications rend the skies.

Lo, crowds on crowds, in hurry'd stream along,
From street to ftreet, from gate to gate roll'd on,
This, that way burst in waves, by horror wing'd
To diftant hill or cave: while half the globe,
Her frame convulfive rocking to and fro,
Trembles with fecond agony. Upheav'd
la furges, her vext surface rolls a fea.
Ruin enfues: towers, temples, palaces,
Flung from their deep foundations, roof on roof
Crush'd horrible, and pile on pile o'erturn'd,
Fall total-In that univerfal groan,
Sounding to heaven, expir'd a thousand lives,
O'erwhelm'd at once, one undistinguifh'd wreck!
Sight full of fate! up from the centre torn,
The ground yawns horrible a hundred mouths,
Flahing pale flames down through the gulfs
profound,

Screaming, whole crowds of every age and rank,
With hands to heaven rais'd high imploring aid,
Prone to th' abyss descend; and o'er their heads
Earth fhuts her ponderous jaws. Part loft in night
Return no more: part on the wafting wave,
Borne through the darknefs of th' infernal world,
Far diftant rife, emerging with the flood;
Pale as afcending ghofts caft back to day,
A fhuddering band! Diftraction in each eye
Stares wildly motionlcis: they pant, they catch
A gulp of air, and grasp with dying aim
The wreck that drives along, to gain from fate,
Short interval! a moment's doubtful life.
For now earth's folid fphere afunder rent
With final diffolution, the huge mafs
Fails undermin'd-down, down th' extenfive feat
Of this fair city, down her buildings fink!
Sinks the full pride her ample walls enclos'd,
In one wild havoc crafh'd, with burft beyond
Heaven's loudest thunder! Uproar unconceiv'd!
Image of nature's general frame destroy'd!

How greatly terrible, how dark and deep
The purposes of Heaven! At once o'erthrown,
White age and youth, the guilty and the just,
O, feemingly fevere! promifcuous fall.
Reafon, whofe daring eye in vain explores
The fearful providence, confus'd, fubdu'd
To filence and amazement, with due praise
Acknowledges th' Almighty, and adores
His will unerring, wifeft, jufteft, best!

The country mourns around with alter'd look.
Fields, where but late the many-colour'd spring
Sat gaily dreft, amid the vernal breath
Of roles, and the fong of nightingales,
Soft-warbled, filent languish now and die.
Rivers ingulf'd their ample channels leave
A fandy tract; and goodly mountains, hurl'd
In whirlwind from their feat, obftruct the plain
With rough encumbrance; or through depths of
earth

Fall ruinous, with all their woods immers'd.

Sulphureous damps of dark and deadly power, Steam'd from th' abyfs, fly fecret over-head, Wounding the healthful air; whence foul disease, Murrain and rot, in tainted herds and flocks: In man fore fickness, and the lamp of life Dimm'd and diminifh'd; or more fatal ill Of mind, unfettling reafon overturn'd. Here into madnefs work'd, and boiling o'er Outrageous fancies, like the troubled fea Foaming out mud and filth: here downward funk To folly, and in idly mufing wrapt; Now chafing with fond aim the flying cloud: Now numbering up the drops of falling rain.

A while the fiery fpirit in its cell
Infidious flumbers, till fome chance unknown,
Perhaps fome rocky fragment from the roof
Detach'd, and roll'd with rough collufion dow
Its echoing vault, ftrikes out the fatal spark
That blows it into rage. Shakes earth again,
Wide through her entrails torn. To all fides
flash'd,

The flames bear downward on the central deep,
Imineafurable fource, whencé ocean fills [globe,
His numerous feas, and pours them round the
The liquid orb, through all its dark expanse,
in dire commotion boils; and bursting way
Up through th' unfounded bottoms of the main.

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Where never tempeft ruffled, lifts the deeps,
At once, in billowy mountains to the fky,
With raving violence. And now their fhores,
Rebellowing to the furge, they fwallow fierce,
O'erfwelling mound and cliff: now swift and
ftrange,

With refluent wave retreating, leave the beach
A naked waste of fands-Meantime, behold!

Yon neighbouring mountain rifing bleak and Its double top in fteril afhes hid, [bare,

But green around its bafe with oil and wine,
Gives fign of ftorm and defolation near:
Storehoufe of fate! from whofe infernal womb,
With fiery minerals and metallic ore
Pernicious fraught, afcends eternal finoke :
Now wavering loofe in air; now borne on high,
A dufky column heightening to the fun!
Imagnation's eye looks down difmay'd
The fteepy gulf, palc-flaming and profound,
With hourly tumult vcxt, but now incens'd
To fevenfold fury. Firft, difcordant founds,
As of a clamouring multitude enrag'd,
The dafh of floods and hollow howl of winds
Through wintery woods or cavern'd ruins heard,
Rife from the diftant depth where uproar reigns.
Anon, with black eruption, from its jaws,
A night of fmoke, thick-driving, wave on wave,
In ftormy flow, and cloud involving cloud,
Rolls furging forth, extinguishing the day;
With vollied sparkles mix'd, and whirling drifts
Of tones and cinders rattling up the air.
Inftant, in one broad burst, a ftream of fire,
Red-iffuing, floods the hemisphere around.
Nor paufe, nor reft; again the mountain groans.
Amazing, from its inmoft cavern fhook:
Again, with loudening rage, intenfely fierce,
Difgorges pyramids of quivering flame,
Spire after fpire enormous, and torn rocks,
Flung out in thundering ruins to the sky.

But fee, in fecond pangs, the roaring hill
From forth its depth a cloudy pillar fhoots,
Gradual and vaft, in one afcending trunk
Of length immenfe, heav'd by the force of fire,
On its own bafe direct, aloft in air,
Beyond the foaring eagle's funward flight.
Still as it fwells, through all the dark extent,
With wonder feen! ten thoufand lightnings play
In flafh'd vibrations; and from height to height
Inceffant thunders rear. No longer now
Protruded by the explofive breath below,
At once the fhadow fummit breaks away
To all fides round, in biliows broad and black,
As of a turbid ocean ftirr'd by winds,
A vapory deluge hiding earth and heaven.

Thus all day long and now the beamless fun Sets as in blood. A dreadful paufe enfues; Deceitful calm, portending fiercer ftorm. Sad-night at once, with all her deep-dy'd fhades, Falls back and boundlefs o'er the feene. Sufpenfe And terror rule the hour. Behold, from far, Imploring heaven with fupplicating hands And streaming eyes, in mute amazement fix'd, Yon peopled city ftands; each fadden'd face Turn'd toward the hill of fears: and hark! once

more

The rifing tempeft fhakes its founding vaults, Now faint in diftant murmurs, now more near Rebounding horrible, with all the roar

Of winds and feas; or engines big with death,
That, planted by the wonderous hand of war
To fhake the round of fome proud capital,
At once difploded, in one bursting peal
Their mortal thunders mix. Along the sky,
From east to fouth, a ruddy hill of fmoke
Extends its ridge, with difmal light inflam'd.
Meanwhile, the fluid lake that works below,
Bitumen, fulphur, falt, and iron-fcum,
Heaves up its boiling tide. The labouring c
Is torn with agonizing throes--at once,
Forth from its fide dilparted, blazing pours
A mighty river, burning in prone waves,
That glimmer through the night, to yonder pla
Divided there, a hundred torrent-streams,
Each ploughing up its bed, roll dreadful on,
Refiftiefs. Villages, and woods, and rocks,
Fall flat before their fweep. The region ro
Where myrtle walks and groves of golden fruit
Rofe fair, where harveft wav'd in all its pride,
And where the vineyard fpread her purple ftor,
Maturing into Nectar, now defpoil'd

Of herb, leaf, fruit, and flower, from end to and
Lies buried under fire, a glowing fea!

Thus roaming with adventurous wing
globe,

From fcene to fcene excurfive, I behold
In all her workings, beauteous, great, or new,
Fair nature, and in all with wonder trace
The fovereign Maker, firft, fupreme, and be,
Who actuates the whole at whofe command,
Obedient fire a flood tremendous rife,
His minifters of vengeance, to reprove,
And fcourge the nations. Holy are his ways,
His works unnumber'd, and to all proclaim
Unfathom'd wifdom, goodness unconfin'd.

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Of worlds dependent, all beneath the eye
And equal rule of one eternal Lord.
To thofe bright climes, awakening all her power
And spreading her unbounded wing, the mufe
Afcending foars on, through the fluid space,
The buoyant atmosphere; whofe vivid breath,
Soul of all fublunary life, pervades
The realms of nature, to her inmost depths
Diffus'd with quickening energy. Now fill,
From pole to pole th' aerial ocean fleeps,
One limpid vacancy: now rous'd to rage
By bluftering meteors, wind, hail, rain, or cloud
With thunderous fury charg'd, its billows rife,
And thake the nether orb. Still as I mount,
A path the vulture's'eye hath not obferv'd,
Nor foot of eagle trod, th' ethereal fphere
Receding flies approach; its circling arch
Alike remote, tranflucent, and ferene.
Glorious expanfion! by th' Almighty fpread,
Whofe limits who hath feen! or who with him
Hath walk'd the fun-pav'd circuit from old time;
And wifited the hoft of heaven around!

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