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 shone,
The Roman Rostra 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.
These maffy columns in a circle rife,
O'er which a pompous dome invades the skies:
Scarce to the top I stretch'd my aching fight,
So large it spread, and swell'd to such 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 shew their fanguine dye,
Bright azure rays from lively sapphires stream,
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,
Scarce seem'd her stature of a cubit's height;
Ver. 259. Scarce seem'd her stature, &c.]
Methought that she was so lite,
That the length of a cubite
Was longer than she seemed be;
But thus foone in a while the,
But fwell'd to larger size, the more I gaz'd,
Till to the roof her towering front she rais'd.
With her, the Temple every moment grew,
And ampler Vistas open'd to my view:
Upward the columns shoot, 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 bufy tongues the Goddess bears,
And thousand open eyes, and thousand listening ears.
Beneath, in order rang'd, the tuneful Nine
(Her virgin handmaids) still attend the shrine:
With eyes on Fame for ever fix'd, they fing;
For Fame they raise the voice, and tune the string;
With time's first birth began the heavenly lays,
And laft, eternal, through the length of days.
Around these wonders as I cast a look,
The trumpet founded, and the temple shook,
IMITATIONS.
Her felfe tho wonderly straight,
That with her feet she the earth right,
And with her head she 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 Muse, she
That cleped is Calliope,
And her feven sisters eke-
Ver. 276. Around these wonders, &c.]
I heard a noise approachen blive,
That far'd as bees done in a hive,
And all the nations, summon'd at the call,
From different quarters fill the crouded hall:
Of various tongues the mingled founds were heard;
In various garbs promiscuous throngs appear'd;
Thick as the bees, that with the Spring renew
Their flowery toils, and sip the fragrant dew,
When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky,
O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly,
Or, fettling, feize the sweets the blossoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field.
Millions of fuppliant crouds the shrine attend,
And all degrees before the Goddess bend;
The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the sage,
And boafting youth, and narrative old-age.
Their pleas were different, their request the fame;
For good and bad alike are fond of Fame.
Some she disgrac'd, and some with honours crown'd; Unlike fuccesses equal merits found.
Thus her blind fifter, fickle Fortune, reigns,
And undifcerning scatters crowns and chains.
First at the shrine the Learned world appear,
And to the Goddess thus prefer their prayer.
Long have we fought t' instruct and please mankind,
With studies pale, with midnight vigils blind;
But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none,
We here appeal to thy superior throne:
On wit and learning the just prize bestow,
For Fame is all we must expect below.
The Goddess heard, and bade the Muses 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 first were rather sweet than loud:
By just degrees they every moment rife,
Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies.
At every breath were balmy odours shed,
Which ftill grew sweeter, as they wider spread;
Less fragrant scents th' unfolding rose exhales,
Or fpices breathing in Arabian gales.
Next these the good and just, an awful train,
Thus on their knees address the sacred fane.
IMITATION.
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, just Goddess, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinfic worth.
Not with bare justice shall 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 same request, and lowly bow'd;
IMITATIONS.
Folke that han full truely
Deserved Fame right-fully,
And prayen you it might be knowe
Right as it is, and forth blowe.
I grant, quoth she, for now we lift
That your good works shall be wift.
And yet ye shall have better loos,
Right in defpite of all your foos,
Than worthy is, and that anone.
Let now (quoth she) thy trump gone-
And certes all the breath that went
Out of his trump's mouth smel'd
As men a pot of baume held
Among a basket full of roses.
Ver. 328, 338. behold another croud, &c.
From the black trumpet's rusty, &c.]
Therewithal there came anone
Another huge companye
Of good folke
What did this Eolus, but he
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