To purchase thee with blood, the valiant fly ;

And, to furvive in fame, the great and glorious die.
Lavish of life, they squander this estate,
And for a poor reverfion wait :

Bankrupts and mifers to themselves they grow,
Embitter wretched life with toils and woe,

To hoard up endless fame, they know not where or how.

V.

Ah, think, my friends, how fwift the minutes haste ! The prefent day entirely is our own, Then feize the bleffing ere 'tis gone : To-morrow, fatal found! fince this may be our last. Why do we boast of years, and fum up days! 'Tis all imaginary space : To-day, to-day, is our inheritance,

'Tis all penurious Fate will give,

Pofterity 'll to-morrow live,

Our fons crowd on behind, our children drive us hence.
With garlands then your temples crown,

And lie on beds of rofes down:
Beds of rofes we'll prepare,

Rofes that our emblems are;

A while they flourish on the bough,
And drink large draughts of heavenly dew:
Like us they finile, are young and gay,

And, like us too, are tenants for a day,

Since with Night's blafting breath they vanish swift away.

VI.

Bring chearful wine, and coftly sweets prepare:

'Tis more than frenzy now to spare :

Let

Let cares and business wait a while;

*Old age

affords a thinking interval :

Or, if they must a longer hearing have,
*Bid them attend below, adjourn into the grave.
Then gay and sprightly wine produce,
Wines that wit and mirth infuse:

That feed, like oil, th' expiring flame, Revive our drooping fouls, and prop this tottering frame. That, when the grave our bodies has engross'd, When virtues fhall forgotten lie,

With all their boasted piety,

Honours and titles, like ourselves, be loft;
Then our recorded vice fhall flourish on,
And our immortal riots be for ever known.
This, this, is what we ought to do,
The great defign, the grand affair below!
Since bounteous Nature's plac'd our Steward here,
Then man his grandeur fhould maintain,
And in excess of pleasure reign,

Keep up his character, and lord of all appear.

AGAINST ENJOYMENT.

WE

E love and hate, as restless monarchs fight, Who boldly dare invade another's right: Yet, when through all the dangerous toils they 've run, Ignobly quit the conquefts they have won ;

Those charming hopes, that made them valiant grow, Pall'd with Enjoyment, make them cowards now.

I

Our

Our paffions only form our happiness,
Hopes ftill enlarge, as fears contract it lefs:
Hope with a gaudy profpect feeds the

eye,
Sooths every sense, does with each with comply;
But falfe Enjoyment the kind guide destroys,
We lofe the paffion in the treacherous joys.
Like the gay filk-worm, when it pleases most,
In that ungrateful web it fpun, 'tis lost.
Fruition only cloys the appetite;

More does the conqueft, than the prize delight:
One victory gain'd, another fills the mind,

Our reftlefs wishes cannot be confin'd.

Like boisterous waves, no fettled bounds they know,
Fix at no point, but always ebb or flow.

Who most expects, enjoys the pleasure most,
'Tis rais'd by wishes, by fruition loft:
We're charm'd with distant views of happiness,
But near approaches make the prospect less.
Wishes, like painted landfcapes, beft delight,
Whilst distance recommends them to the fight:
Plac'd afar off, they beautiful appear;

But show their course and naufeous colours, near.
Thus the fam'd Midas, when he found his store
Increasing ftill, and would admit of more,
With eager arms his fwelling bags he prefs'd;
And expectation only made him blefs'd:
But, when a boundless treasure he enjoy'd,
And every wish was with fruition cloy'd:
Then, damn'd to heaps, and furfeited with ore,
He curs'd that gold he doated on before.

THE

THE CURSE OF BABYLON.

ISAIAH, Chap. xiii. paraphrased.

A PINDARI C

I.

Now let the fatal banner be display'd!

Upon fome lofty mountain's top

Go fet the dreadful standard up!

O D E.

And all around the hills the bloody fignals fpread.
For, lo, the numerous hofts of heaven appear !
Th' embattled legions of the sky,

With all their dread artillery,

Draw forth in bright array, and mufter in the air.
Why do the mountains tremble with the noife,
And valleys echo back their voice?
The hills tumultuous grow and loud,
The hills that groan beneath the gathering multitude.
Wide as the poles of heaven's extent,

So far 's the dreadful fummons fent:
Kingdoms and nations at his call appear,
For ev'n the Lord of Hofts commands in perfon there.

II.

Start from thy lethargy, thou drowsy land,
Awake, and hear his dread command!

Thy black tempeftuous day comes lowering on,
O fatal light! O inaufpicious hour!

Was ever fuch a day before!

So ftain'd with blood, by marks of vengeance known.

Nature

Nature fhall from her steady course remove,
The well-fix'd earth be from its bafis rent,
Convulfions shake the firmament;

Horror feize all below, confufion reign above.
The stars of heaven fhall ficken at the fight,
Nor fhall the planets yield their light:
But from the wretched object fly,

And, like extinguish'd tapers, quit the darken'd sky..
The rifing fun, as he was confcious too,
As he the fatal bufinefs knew,

A deep, a bloody red shall stain

And at his early dawn fhall fet in night again..

III.

To the deftroying fword I've faid, Go forth,
Go, fully execute my wrath!

Command my hofts, my willing armies lead;
For this rebellious land and all therein fhall bleed.
They fhall not grieve me more, no more tranfgrefs;
I will confume the ftubborn race:

Yet brutes and favages I juftly fpare;

Ufelefs is all my vengeance there;

Ungrateful man's the greater monster far.
On guiltless beafts I will the land bestow,
To them th' inheritance fhall go ;

Those elder brothers now fhall lord it here below:
And, if fome poor remains escape behind,
Some relicks left of loft mankind;

Th' aftonifh'd herds fhall in their cities cry,
When they behold a man, Lo, there's a prodigy !

IV. The