But now, forgetful of their infant state,
They footh the wanton pleasures of the great
And from the prefs, and the licentious stage,
With luscious poifon taint the thoughtless age;
Deceitful charms attract our wondering eyes,
And fpecious ruin unfufpected lies.

So the rich foil of India's blooming fhores,
Adorn'd with lavith nature's choicest stores,
Where ferpents lurk, by flowers conceal'd from fight,
Hides fatal danger under gay delight.

These purer thoughts from grofs alloys refin'd,
With heavenly raptures elevate the mind ;
Not fram'd to raise a giddy fhort-liv'd joy,
Whofe falfe allurements, while they please, destroy;
But blifs resembling that of Saints above,
Sprung from the vifion of th' Almighty Love:
Firm, folid blifs, for ever great and new,

The more 'tis known, the more admir'd, like you;
Like you, fair nymph, in whom united meet
Endearing fweetness, unaffected wit,

And all the glories of your sparkling race,
While inward virtues heighten every grace.
By these fecur'd, you will with pleasure read
"Of future judgment, and the rifing dead;
"Of time's grand period, heaven and earth o'erthrown;
"And gafping nature's last tremendous groan."
Thefe, when the stars and fun fhall be no more,
Shall beauty to your ravag'd form restore:
Then fhall you fhine with an immortal ray,
Improv'd by death, and brighten'd by decay.

.. TO THE AUTHOR,

ON HIS LAST DAY AND UNIVERSAL PASSION.

ND must it be as thou haft sung,

ΑΝ

Celestial bard, feraphic Young?
Will there no trace, no point be found
Of all this fpacious glorious round ?
Yon lamps of light, muft they decay?
On nature's felf, destruction prey ?
Then fame, the most immortal thing
Ev'n thou canst hope, is on the wing.
Shall Newton's Syftem be admir'd,
When time and motion are expir'd?
Shall fouls be curious to explore
Who rul'd an orb that is no more?
Or fhall they quote the pictur'd age,
From Pope's and Thy corrective page,
When vice and virtue lofe their name
In deathless joy, or endless fhame ?
While wears away the grand machine,
The works of genius fhall be feen:
Beyond, what laurels can there be,
For Homer, Horace, Pope, or Thee?
"Through life we chase, with fond pursuit,
What mocks our hope, like Sodom's fruit:
And fure, thy plan was well defign'd,

To cure this madness of the mind;

Firft, beyond time our thoughts to raise
Then lash our love of transient praise.
In both, we own thy doctrine juft;
And fame's a breath, and men are duft.
1736.

J. BANCKS.

THE LAST DAY.

воок

I.

"Ipfe pater, media nimborum in nocte, corufca "Fulmina molitur dextra. Quo maxima motu "Terra tremit: fugêre feræ! et mortalia corda "Per gentes humilis ftravit pavor.”

VIRG

WHILE others fing the fortune of the Great;

Empire and Arms, and all the pomp of State;

With Britain's Hero* fet their fouls on fire,
And grow immortal as his deeds inspire;
I draw a deeper scene: a scene that yields

5

ΙΟ

A louder trumpet, and more dreadful fields;
The world alarm'd, both earth and heaven o'erthrown,
And gasping nature's last tremendous groan;
Death's antient fceptre broke, the teeming tomb,
The righteous Judge, and man's eternal doom.
'Twixt joy and pain I view the bold defign,
And ask my anxious heart, if it be mine.
Whatever great or dreadful has been done
Within the fight of confcious stars or fun,
Is far beneath my daring: I look down
On all the fplendors of the British crown.

B 4

* The Duke of Marlborough.

15

This

This globe is for my verse a narrow bound;
Attend me, all ye glorious worlds around!
O! all ye angels, howfoe'er disjoin'd,
Of every various order, place, and kind,
Hear, and assist, a feeble mortal's lays ;
'Tis our Eternal King I ftrive to praise.

20

2:5

30

But chiefly Thou, great Ruler! Lord of all! Before whose throne Arch-angels prostrate fall; If at thy nod, from difcord, and from night, Sprang beauty, and yon fparkling worlds of light, Exalt e'en me; all inward tumults quell; The clouds and darkness of my mind dispel; To my great fubject Thou my breast inspire, And raise my labouring foul with equal fire. Man, bear thy brow aloft, view every grace In God's great offspring, beauteous nature's face: See fpring's gay bloom; fee golden autumn's ftore; See how earth finiles, and hear old ocean roar. Leviathans but heave their cumberous mail, It makes a tide, and wind-bound navies fail. Here, forests rife, the mountain's awful pride; Here, rivers measure climes, and worlds divide; There, vallies fraught with gold's refplendent feeds, Hold kings, and kingdoms fortunes, in their beds: 40 There, to the skies, afpiring hills afcend, And into diftant lands their fhades extend. View cities, armies, fleets; of fleets the pride, See Europe's law, in Albion's channel ride. View the whole earth's vaft landskip unconfin'd, Or view in Britain all her glories join'd.

35

45

Then

Then let the firinament thy wonder raife;
"Twill raife thy wonder, but transcend thy praise.
How far from east to weft? The labouring eye
Can scarce the diftant azure bounds defcry:
Wide theatre! where tempefts play at large,
And God's right-hand can all its wrath discharge.
Mark how those radiant lamps inflame the pole,
Call forth the seasons, and the year controul:
They fhine through time, with an unalter'd ray:
See This grand period rife, and That decay:
So vaft, this world's a grain; yet myriads grace,
With golden pomp, the throng'd ethereal space;
So bright, with fuch a wealth of glory stor'd,
'Twere fin in heathens not to have ador'd.

How great, how firm, how facred all appears!
How worthy an immortal round of years!
Yet all must drop, as autumn's fick lieft grain,
And earth and firmament be fought in vain :
The tract forgot where conftellations fhone,
Or where the Stuarts fill'd an awful throne:
Time shall be slain, all Nature be destroy'd,
Nor leave an atom in the mighty void.
Sooner, or later, in fome future date,
A dreadful fecret in the book of fate!)
This hour, for aught all human wisdom knows,
Or when ten thousand harvests more have rofe
When scenes are chang'd on this revolving earth,
Old empires fall, and give new empires birth;
While other Bourbons rule in other lands,
And (if man's fin forbids not) other Annes;

T

59

$3

60

65

70

75