Whofe thousand times ten thousand lamps difplay
A friendly radiance, mingling ray with ray?
Say, can't thou rule the courfers of the fun,
Or lafh the lazy fign, Boötes, on ?
Doft thou inftru&t the eagle how to fly,
To mount the viewless winds, and tower the sky?
On founding pinions borne, he foars, and shrouds
His proud afpiring head among the clouds;
Strong-pounc'd, and fierce, he darts upon his prey,
He fails in triumph through the ethereal way,
Bears on the fun, and basks in open day.
Does the dread King, and terror of the wood,
The lion, from thy hand expect his food?
Stung with keen hunger from his den he comes,
Ranges the plains, and o'er the forest roams;
*He fnuffs the track of beafts, he fiercely roars,
Doubling the horrors of the midnight hours;
With fullen majesty he stalks away,
And the rocks tremble while he feeks his prey:
Dreadful he grins, he rends the favage brood
With unfheath'd paws, and churns the fpouting blood.
Doft thou with thunder arm the generous horfe,
Add nervous limbs, or fwiftnefs for the course ?
Fleet as the wind, he fhoots along the plain,
And knows no check, nor hears the curbing rein;
* He mocks the beating ftorms and wintery showers, Making night hideous, as he sternly roars.
His fiery eye-balls formidably bright,
Dart a fierce glory, and a dreadful light,
Pleas'd with the clank of arms, and trumpets found,
He bounds, and prancing paws the trembling ground;
He fnuffs the promis'd battle from afar,
Neighs at the captains, fhouts, and thunder of the war
Rouz'd with the noble din and martial fight,
He pants with tumults of fevere delight:
His fprightly blood an even course disdains,
Pours from his heart, and charges in his veins;
He braves the fpear, and mocks the twanging bow,
Demands the fight, and ruffies on the foc.
Occafioned by the Death of a beloved Daughter, 1723
DIEU vain mirth, and noisy joys!
Ye gay defires, deluding toys!
Thou, thoughtful Melancholy, deign
To hide me in thy penfive train!
If by the fall of murmuring floods,
Where awful fhades embrown the woods,
Or if where winds in caverns groan,
Thou wandereft filent and alone;
Come, blissful mourner, wifely fad,
In forrow's garb, in fable clad,
Henceforth, thou Care, my hours employ !
Sorrow, be thou henceforth my joy!
By tombs where fullen fpirits stalk,
Familiar with the dead I walk ;
While to my fighs and groans by turns,
From graves the midnight echo mourns.
Open thy marble jaws, O tomb,
Though earth conceal me in thy womb!
And you, ye worms, this frame confound,
Ye brother reptiles of the ground.
O life, frail offspring of a day!
'Tis puff'd with one short gasp away!
Swift as the short-liv'd flower it flies,
It fprings, it blooms, it fades, it dies.
With cries we usher in our birth,
With groans refign our tranfient breath:
While round, ftern minifters of fate,
Pain, and disease, and forrow wait.
While childhood reigns, the fportive boy
Learns only prettily to toy;
And while he roves from play to play,
The wanton trifles life away.
When to the noon of life we rife,
The man grows elegant in vice;
To glorious guilt in courts he climbs,
Vilely judicious in his crimes.
When youth and strength in age are lost,
Man feems already half a ghost;
Wither'd, and wan, to earth he bows,
A walking hospital of woes,
O! happiness, thou empty name!
Say, art thou bought by gold or fame?
What art thou, gold, but shining earth?
Thou common, fame, but common breath?
If virtue contradict the voice
Of public fame, applaufe is noife;
Ev'n victors are by conqueft curft,
The bravest warrior is the worst.
Look round on all that man below
Idly calls great, and all is fhew!
All, to the coffin from our birth,
In this vaft toy-shop of the earth.
Come then, O friend of virtuous woe,
With folemn pace, demure, and flow:
Lo! fad and ferious, I pursue
Thy fteps---adieu, vain world, adieu!
To the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount TOWNSHEN D, of Rainham in Norfolk.
OW calm the evening! fee the falling day Gilds every mountain with a ruddy ray! In gentle fighs the foftly whispering breeze Salutes the flowers, and waves the trembling trees; Hark! the night-warbler, from yon vocal boughs, Glads every valley with melodious woes!
Swift through the air her rounds the fwallow takes,
Or fportive fkims the level of the lakes.
The timorous deer, fwift-starting as they graze,
Bound off in crouds, then turn again, and gaze.
See how yon fwans, with fnowy pride elate,
Arch their high necks, and fail along in state !
Thy frifking flocks fafe-wandering crop
the plain,
And the glad feason claims a gladsome strain.
Begin Ye echoes liften to the song,
And, with its sweetness pleas'd, each note prolong!
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