His facred head a radiant Zodiac crown'd,
And various Animals his fides furround;
His piercing eyes, erect, appear to view
Superior worlds, and look all Nature through.
With equal rays immortal Tully fhone,
The Roman Roftra deck'd the Conful's throne:
Gathering his flowing robe, he feem'd to stand
In act to speak, and graceful stretch'd his hand.
Behind, Rome's Genius waits with Civic crowns,
And the great Father of his country owns.
Thefe maffy columns in a circle rife,
O'er which a pompous dome invades the skies:
Scarce to the top I ftretch'd my aching fight,
So large it fpread, and fwell'd to fuch a height.
Full in the midft proud Fame's imperial feat
With jewels blaz'd, magnificently great;
The vivid emeralds there revive the eye,
The flaming rubies fhew their fanguine dye,
Bright azure rays from lively fapphires ftream,
And lucid amber cafts a golden gleam.
With various-colour'd light the pavement shone,
And all on fire appear'd the glowing throne;
The dome's high arch reflects the mingled blaze,
And forms a rainbow of alternate rays.
When on the Goddess first I caft my fight,
But fwell'd to larger fize, the more I gaz'd,
Till to the roof her towering front she rais'd.
With her, the Temple every moment grew,
And ampler Viftas open'd to my view:
Upward the columns fhoot, the roofs afcend,
And arches widen, and long aifles extend.
Such was her form, as ancient bards have told,
Wings raise her arms, and wings her feet infold;
A thousand busy tongues the Goddess bears,
And thousand open eyes, and thousand liftening ears.
Beneath, in order rang'd, the tuneful Nine
(Her virgin handmaids) ftill attend the fhrine:
With eyes on Fame for ever fix'd, they fing;
For Fame they raise the voice, and tune the ftring;
With time's first birth began the heavenly lays,
And laft, eternal, through the length of days.
Around thefe wonders as I caft a look, The trumpet founded, and the temple fhook,
IMITATIONS.
Her felfe tho wonderly straight,
That with her feet fhe the earth right,
And with her head fhe touchyd heaven-
Ver. 270. Beneath, in order rang'd, &c.]
I heard about her throne y-fung
That all the palays walls rung,
So fung the mighty Mufe, the
That cleped is Calliope,
And her feven fifters eke
Ver. 276. Around thefe wonders, &c.]
I heard a noife approachen blive,
That far'd as bees done in a hive,
VOL. XLV.
R
And all the nations, fummon'd at the call,
From different quarters fill the crouded hall:
Of various tongues the mingled founds were heard;
In various garbs promifcuous throngs appear'd;
Thick as the bees, that with the Spring renew
Their flowery toils, and fip the fragrant dew,
When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky,
O'er dufky fields and fhaded waters fly,
Or, fettling, feize the fweets the bloffoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field.
Millions of fuppliant crouds the fhrine attend,
And all degrees before the Goddess bend;
The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the fage,
And boafting youth, and narrative old-age.
Their pleas were different, their requeft the fame;
For good and bad alike are fond of Fame.
Some the difgrac'd, and some with honours crown'd;
Unlike fucceffes equal merits found.
IMITATIONS.
Against her time of out-flying,
Right fuch a manere murmuring,
For all the world it feemed me,
Tho gan I look about and fee
That there came entering into th' hall,
A right great company withal;
And that of fundry regions,
Of all kind of conditions, &c.
Ver. 294. Some the difgrac'd, &c.]
And fome of them the granted fone,
And fome the warned well and fair,
And fome the granted the contrair
. Right as her fifter dame Fortune
Is wont to ferve in commune.
Thus her blind fifter, fickle Fortune, reigns,
And undiscerning fcatters crowns and chains.
First at the shrine the Learned world appear,
And to the Goddess thus prefer their prayer.
Long have we fought t' inftruct and pleafe mankind,
With ftudies pale, with midnight vigils blind;
But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none,
We here appeal to thy fuperior throne:
On wit and learning the juft prize bestow,
For Fame is all we must expect below.
The Goddess heard, and bade the Mufes raise
The golden Trumpet of eternal Praise:
From pole to pole the winds diffuse the found,
That fills the circuit of the world around;
Not all at once, as thunder breaks the cloud;
The notes at firft were rather fweet than loud:
By juft degrees they every moment rise,
Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies.
At every breath were balmy odours fhed,
Which ftill grew fweeter, as they wider spread;
Lefs fragrant fcents th' unfolding rofe exhales,
Or fpices breathing in Arabian gales.
Next these the good and juft, an awful train,
Thus on their knees addrefs the facred fane.
ΙΜΙΤΑΤΙΟΝ.
Ver. 318. The good and juft, &c.]
Tho came the third companye,
And gan up to the dees to hye,
And down on knees they fell anone,
And faiden: We been everichone
Since living virtue is with envy curs'd,
And the best men are treated like the worst,
Do thou, juft Goddefs, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinfic worth.
Not with bare juftice fhall your act be crown'd,
(Said Fame) but high above defert renown'd:
Let fuller notes th' applauding world amaze,
And the loud clarion labour in your praise.
This band dismiss'd, behold another croud
Prefer'd the fame requeft, and lowly bow'd;
IMITATIONS.
Folke that han full truely
Deferved Fame right-fully,
And prayen you it might be knowe
Right as it is, and forth blowe.
I grant, quoth fhe, for now we lift
That your good works fhall be wist.
And yet ye shall have better loos,
Right in defpite of all your foos,
Than worthy is, and that anone.
Let now (quoth fhe) thy trump gone-
And certes all the breath that went
Out of his trump's mouth fmel'd
As men a pot of baume held
Among a basket full of rofes.-
Ver. 328, 338. behold another croud, &c.—
From the black trumpet's rufty, &c.]
Therewithal there came anone
Another huge companye
Of good folke
What did this Eolus, but he
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