Each owns his errour in his later cares,
And for the new unthought of world prepares:
New views, new tastes, new judgments are acquir'd,
And all now loathe delights so late admir'd.
In confidence the solemn shroud they weave,
Or build the tomb, or dig the deadly grave;
Intrepid there resign their parting breath,
And give their former shape the spoils of death;
But reconceiv'd as in a second womb,
Through metamorphoses, new forms assume:
On death their true exalted life depends,
Commencing there, where seemingly it ends.
The fullness now of circling time arrives;
Each from the long, the mortal sleep revives;
The tombs pour forth their renovated dead,
And, like a dream, all former scenes are fled.
But O! what terms expressive may relate
The change, the splendour of their new-form'd
state?
Their texture nor compos'd of filmy skin,
Of cumbrous flesh without, or bone within,
But something than corporeal more refin'd,
And agile as their blithe informing mind.
In ev'ry eye ten thousand brilliants blaze,
And living pearls the vast horizon gaze;
Gemm'd o'er their heads the mines of India gleam,
And Heav'n's own wardrobe has array'd their
frame;
Each spangled back bright sprinkling specks adorn,
Each plume imbibes the rosy tinctur'd morn;
Spread on each wing the florid seasons glow,
Shaded and verg'd with the celestial bow,
Where colours blend an ever varying dye,
And wanton in their gay exchanges vie.
Not all the glitter fops and fair ones prize,
The pride of fools, and pity of the wise;
Not all the show and mockery of state,
The little, low, fine follies of the great;
Ver. 254. In confidence.] they frame and prepare the mansions of death with the same cheerful alacrity and elegance, as a bridal chamber, or wedding garment-
Ver. 257. And give their former shape.] here the texture of their former organs suffers an actual dissolution; and whatever the principle of regeneration be, a new, and, in appearance, a quite different creature, is conceived from the remains of the old
Ver. 262. The fullness now.] their consummation is at hand
Ver. 264. The tombs pour forth.] their sepulchres give way; they spring forth, and wing the air in inexpressible beauty and magnificence.
Not all the wealth which eastern pageants wore,
What still our idolizing worlds adore;
Can boast the least inimitable grace,
Which decks profusive this illustrious race.
Hence might the song luxuriant range around,
Or plunge the nether ocean's dread profound;
There mete leviathan's enormous length,
Adorn'd with terrours, and unmatch'd in strength,
The sea his pool of pastime when he bathes,
And tempests issue while his nostril breathes,
See where behemoth's pillar'd fabric stands!
His shade extensive cools the distant lands;
Encamp'd, an army on his shoulder lies,
And o'er his back proud citadels arise.
But vain those gifts, those graces to relate, 300
Which all perceive, and envy deems complete.
"O Nature!" cries the wretch of human birth,
"O, why a step-dame to this lord of Earth?
To brutes indulgent bends thy partial care,
While just complainings fill our natal air.
Helpless, uncloth'd, the pride of Nature lies,
And Heaven relentless hears his viceroy's cries.
O, wherefore not with native bounties bless'd,
Nor thus in humble poor dependance dress'd?
Give me the self-born garb, the bark of trees, 310
The downy feather, and the wintry fleece;
The crocodile's invulnerable scale,
Or the firm tortoise's impervious mail;
The strength of elephants, the rein deer's speed,
Fleet and elastic as the bounding steed;
The peacock's state of gorgeous plumage add,
Gay as the dove in golden verdure clad;
Give me the scent of each sagacious hound;
The lynx's eye, and linnet's warbling sound;
The soaring wing and steerage of the crane,
And spare the toil and dangers of the main :
O, why of these thy bounteous goods bereft,
And only to interior reason left?
There, there alone, I bless thy kind decree;
Nor cause of grief, or emulation see."
Thus needless prayers for needless gifts are sent, And man is, only in his wants, content; Indocile where he needs instruction most, His only errour is his only boast.
Ye self-sufficient sons of reasoning pride, Too wise to take Omniscience for your guide, Those rules from insects, birds, and brutes discern, Which from the Maker you disdain to learn!— The social friendship, and the firm ally, The filial sanctitude, and nuptial tie, Patience in want, and faith to persevere, The endearing sentiment, and tender care,
Ver. 300. But vain those gifts.] Cujus causa viVer. 268. Their texture.] Insecta non videntur detur cuncta alia genuisse natura, magna et sæva nervos habere, nec ossa, nec spinas, nec cartilagi-mercede contra tanta sua munera; ut non sit nem, nec pinguia, nec carnes, nec crustam quidem fragilem, ut quædam marina, nec quæ jure dicatur cutis sed mediæ cujusdam inter omnia hæc naturæ corpus. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xi. cap. 4.
Ver. 272. In ev'ry eye.] These creatures, though, in appearance, they have but two eyes, are really multocular. Every lens (of which there are an innumerable number) is a distinct eye, which has a branch of the optic nerve ministring to it: by which provision no object escapes them; they at once view almost all round them; and as their eyes are immovable, this multiplicity amply supplies the absence of the motory nerves.
satis æstimare, parens melior homini, an tristior noverca fuerit――
Ver. 304. To brutes indulgent.] Ante omnia unum animantium cunctorum, alienis velat opibus: cæteris variè tegumenta tribuit; testas, cortices, coria, spinas, villos, setas, pilos, plumam, pennas, squamas, vellera. Truncos etiam arboresque cor tice, interdum gemino, a frigoribus et calore tutata est. Hominem tantum nudum, et in nuda humo, natali die abjicit ad vagitus statim et ploratum, nullumque tot animalium aliud ad lacrymas, et has protinus vitæ principio. Plin. Nat. Hist. L VII. Prom.
Courage o'er private int'rest to prevail,
And die all Decii for the public weal.
Waft me to Tempe, and her flow'ry dale, Borne on the wings of ev'ry tuneful gale; 340 Amid the wild profusions let me stray,
Nor less for geometric schemes renown'd,
And skill'd in arts and sciences profound,
Their textur'd webs with matchless craft surprise,
Their buildings in amazing structures rise:
To them each clime and longitude is known,
Each finds a chart and compass of his own;
They judge the influence of ev'ry star,
And calculate the seasons from afar;
Through devious air pursue the certain way,
Nor ever from the conscious dictate stray.
"YE human offsprings of distinguish'd birth,
So justly substituted lords of Earth;
Who boast the seal of highest Heav'n impress'd,
Thence with supremacy of reason bless'd,
Attend the song, and vindicate your claim !
Recall your ancestry of antique fame,
Prime artizans of each sagacious craft,
The curious model, or designing draft,
All talents technical for each device,
The skilful fabric, and the texture nice!
"Or, if ye pride in science more refin'd,
Judicial product of the studious mind,
The scheme politic, or the moral plan,
To form the conduct, or the heart of man;
Attend the depth of maxims which ensue,
More than e'er Solon, or great Cecil knew ;
The moral, with diviner precepts fraught,
Than stories, or than eastern magi taught."
First let the botanist his art forego,
And o'er the mountain trace the Cretan doe:
Behold the critic stand with curious mien,
And cull the virtues of the various green,
Secrete her foliage from the noxious weed,
And conscious of her skill securely feed!
And share with bees the virtues of the day.
Soon as the matin glory gilds the skies,
Behold the little virtuosi rise!
Blithe for the task, they preen their early wing,
And forth to each appointed labour spring.
Now Nature boon exhales the morning steam,
Aud glows and opens to the welcome beam;
The vivid tribes amid the fragrance fly,
And ev'ry art and ev'ry business ply.
Each chymist now his subtle trunk unsheaths,
Where, from the flow'r, the treasur'd odour breathes;
Here sip the liquid, here select the gum,
And o'er the bloom with quiv'ring membrane hum.
The long lost labours of the latent stone; 10 Though the five principles so oft transpire, Fin'd, and refin'd, amid the tort'ring fire. Like issue should the daring chymist see, Vain imitator of the curious bee, Nor arts improv'd through ages once produce A single drachm of this delicious juice. Your's then, industrious traders! is the toil, And man's proud science is alore to spoil. "Sweet 's the repast where pains have spread the board,
Where did this sylvan leech her lore acquire,
From Esculapius, or his radiant sire?
When to her panting flank the weapon flies,
And deep within the feather'd mischief lies,
She seeks the well-known med'cine of the plain,
Nor yet despairs where human art were vain; 30
Mild through her frame the sov'reign balsams glide,
And the keen shaft falls guiltless from her side.
20 And deep the fund incessant labours hoard;
A friendly arm makes ev'ry burden light;
And weakness, knit by union, turns to might." 90
Hail, happy tribes! illustrious people hail!
Whose forms minute such sacred maxims veil;
In whose just conduct, fram'd by wondrous plan,
We read revers'd each polity of man.
Who first in council form'd your embryon state?
Who rose a patriot in the deep debate?
Greatly propos'd to reconcile extremes,
And weave in unity opposing schemes?
From fears inferr'd just reason of defence,
And from self-int'rest rais'd a public sense;
Then pois'd his project with transposing scale,
And from the public, show'd the private weal?
Whence aptly summ'd, these politicians draw
The trust of power, and sanctitude of law;
Power in dispensing benefits employ'd,
And healing laws, not suffer'd, but enjoy'd.
The members, hence unanimous, combine
To prop that throne on which the laws recline;
The law 's protected e'en for private ends,
Whereon each individual's right depends;
Each individual's right by union grows,
And one full tide for ev'ry member flows;
Each member, as the whole communion great,
Back'd by the pow'rs of a defending state;
The state by mutual benefits secure,
And in the might of ev'ry member sure!
Ye wanderers of the faithless main! relate,
Whose science then averts impending fate,
When haply on the distant climate thrown,
Ye view strange objects, and a world unknown;
Each tree uncouth, with foreign fruitage crown'd,
And unacquainted plenty blooming round:
But who shall dare, with rash advent'rous hand,
To pluck the bane of a suspected land?
Half famish'd, they devour with wistful eyes;
But fear dissuades to tempt the dangerous prize :
Yet should they spy, amid the fruitful brake,
The skilful trace of some luxurious beak,
With birds their elegant repast they share,
And bless the learn'd inhabitants of air.
Bear, bear my song, ye raptures of the mind!
Convey your bard through Nature unconfin'd,
Licentious in the search of wisdom range,
Plunge in the depth, and wanton in the change; 50
The public thus each private end pursues; Each in the public drowns all private views:
By social commerce and exchange they live,
Assist supported, and receiving give.
High on her throne, the bright imperial queen
Gives the prime movement to the state machine:
She, in the subject, sees the duteous child;
She, the true parent, as the regent mild,
With princely grace invested sits elate,
Informs their conduct, and directs the state.
Around, the drones, who form her courtly train,
Bask in the rays of her auspicious reign;
Beneath, the sage consulting peers repair,
Nor like to man's, the aerial structures rise;
But point to earth, their base amid the skies. 190
Swift for the task the ready builders part,
Each band assign'd to each peculiar art;
A troop of chymists scour the neighb'ring field,
While servile tribes the cull'd materials wield,
With tempering feet the labour'd cement tread,
And ductile now its waxen foliage spread.
The geometricians judge the deep design,
Direct the compass, and extend the line;
They sum their numbers, provident of space,
And breathe the virtues of their prince's care; 130 And suit each edifice with answering grace.
Debating, cultivate the public cause,
And wide dispense the benefit of laws.
So have I seen, when breathing organs blow,
One board sonorous fill the various row;
The pipes divide the unity of sound,
And spread the charms of symphony around.
The clust'ring populace obsequious wait,
Or speed the different orders of the state;
Here greet the labourer on the toilsome way,
And to the load their friendly shoulder lay;
Or frequent at the busy gate arrive,
And fill with amber sweets their fragrant hive;
Or seek repairs to close the fractur'd cell;
Or shut the waxen wombs where embryos dwell;
The caterers prompt, a frugal portion deal,
And give to diligence a hasty meal;
In each appointed province all proceed,
And neatest order weds the swiftest speed;
Dispatch flies various on ten thousand wings,
And joy throughout the gladsome region rings. 150
Distinctly canton'd is their spacious dome:
Here infants throb within the quickening comb;
Here vacant seats invite to sweet repose,
And here the tide of balmy nectar flows;
While here their frugal reservoirs remain,
And not one act of this republic 's vain.
As oft the North, or Gallia's fruitful coast,
Pour'd forth their sons, a wide superfluous host!
To distant climes the banded legions stray'd,
And many a plan of future empire laid;
Like powers these wise prolific people send,
And o'er the globe their colonies extend.
When swarms tumult'ous claim an ampler space,
And through the straitening citadel increase,
An edict issu'd in this grand extreme,
Proclaims the mandate of the power supreme.
Then exil'd crowds abjure their native home,
And sad, in search of foreign mansions roam;
A youthful empress guides their airy clan,
And wheels and shoots illustrious from the van. 170
Fatigu'd at length, they wish some calm retreat,
The rural settlement, and peaceful state;
When man presents his hospitable snare,
And wins their confidence with traitorous care.
Suspicion ever flies a gen'rous breast-
Betray'd, each enters an unwary guest;
Here every form of ancient maxim trace,
And emulate the glories of their race.
As when from Tyre imperial Dido fled,
And o'er the main her future nation led;
Then staid her host on Afric's meted land,
And in strait bounds a mighty empire plann'd:
So works this rival of the Tyrian queen ;
So founds and models with assiduous mien ;
Instructs with little to be truly great,
And in small limits forms a mighty state.
Intent, she wills her artists to attend,
And from the zenith bids her towers descend:
Now first appears the rough proportion'd frame,
Rough in the draught, but perfect in the scheme;
When lo! each little Archimedes nigh,
Meets ev'ry angle with judicious eye;
Adjusts the centring cones with skill profound,
And forms the curious hexagon around.
The cells indors'd with doubled range adhere,
Knit on the sides, and guarded on the rear;
Nought of itself, with circling chambers bound,
Each cell is form'd, to form the cells around; 210
While each still gives what each alike demands,
And but supported by supporting stands;
Jointly tran ferring and transferr'd exists;
And, as by magic union, all subsists.
Amazing elegance! transcendent art!
Contriv'd at once to borrow and impart ;
In action notable, as council great,
Their fabrics rise, just emblems of their state.
Nor be the wasp exclusive of our lays;
Though in a foe, still merit claims its praise,
Claims the revealing song, and claims the light,
Though long conceal'd in all-obscuring night.
For deep these subterranean tribes retire,
Nor work like man, that mortals may admire ;
In Earth's dark womb their pompous structures
rise,
Worthy the sight of Heaven's all-seeing eyes;
While they recluse, o'er nether kingdoms reign,
And wrapt as in a little world remain.
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Around this world a waxen vault extends,
And wide like yon enfolding concave bends; 230
Magnific cupola! on either hand,
Unfolded, two mysterious portals stand,
Emblems of human life, precarious state,
At entrance born, and dying in retreat.
Thousands within retiring taste repose;
Or through the streets the busy concourse flows:
Yet not as ours their costly pavements spread,
But high on terrasses and towers they tread,
With which not Roman aqueducts may vie,
Not the fam'd gardens pendent from the sky: 240
Here cities pil'd o'er cities may be seen,
And sumptuous intervals display'd between,
Where columns each proud architrave support,
And form the pomp of many an ample court;
The weight through ten successive stories bear,
And to the top th' incumbent fabrics rear.
So have I seen in all the pride of show,
Some splendid theatre divide below,
180 With charms of gay machinery surprise,
Scenes over scenes, and stage on stage arise, 250
Lost in the glory of descending skies.
Not so the multipede aurelias dwell,
But form, sole architects, the pensive cell;
Like seers of old, they seek soine lonely seat,
And from the vain the busy world retreat;
Here fondly form a structure of their own,
And bind the vault of solitary stone;
Or clay, or timber, oft attemp'ring, mould,
And round their form the ductile mansion fold;
Or in peculiar occupations skill'd,
Intent they furnish the prophetic hoard, And pile the treasures of their homely board, With friendship's charm beguile the sullen year, And barter luxury for social cheer. For them Astrea holds th' impartial scale, Her frugal hands unenvy'd portions deal; Health quaffs satiety from Nature's bowl; Peace gives the constant banquet of the soul; High in the midst chaste Temperance is crown'd, And Time leads on the smiling Hours around. Thou awful Depth of Wisdom unexplor❜d ! Thou Height, where never human fancy soar'd! 270 Supreme Irradiance! speed the distant ray, Far speed the dawn of thy internal day; And O! if such, inform the fav'rite line, And be the praise as inspiration thine!
A wondrous dome of silken fabric build:
No debt to foreign implements they owe,
But from themselves the mantling tissues flow;
Themselves the gorgeous canopy they spread,
Themselves the loom, the distaff, and the thread-
The thread as fam'd Arachne's texture fine,
When thwart the morn she darts her floating line,
Or spins the scheme of implicated wiles,
And o'er her great Newtonian rival smiles;
Reveals the deep enigma of his trade,
And squares the circle in the vernal glade ;
The sportive plans of matchless art displays,
While round, and round, the dext'rous wanton plays.
How might the song with endless rapture pry,
Secluded deep where latent nations lie,
And scar'd from man, a mighty hunter, fly?
He follows panting with a savage joy,
Rapt in his favourite transport to destroy:
To man, even man becomes a mutual prey;
No gain can satiate, and no limits stay;
Down the dread depths his boundless lucre dives;
Warr'd on himself, with passion passion strives.
Fly him, ye rangers of the rolling flood!
Fly him, ye songsters of the warbling wood!
Ye dwellers subterrene, the tyrant fly!
And safe in your remote asylums lie;
Where mice, innoxious cottagers, remain,
Meek in the covert of the flow'ry plain;
Recluse their cautious hermitage explore,
And treasure provident the wintry store.
With kindred crafts, deep mining burrows work,
And sunk amid Dedalean lab'rinths lurk;
Their various habitation nightly change,
And through a length of maz'd apartments range.
The beaver too, great architect! immur'd,
With his associate train, retires secur'd;
Their wary mansion elegantly stands,
Where the smooth stream or smiling lake expands,
Whose gentle wave in friendly visit glides,
And swells the tenement with grateful tides.
Two posterns gape with deep deceit below,
And o'er the pass fair mantling waters flow;
Evasive whence, they scape the dang'rous train,
Or wide expatiate on the yielding plain;
Through trading currents sail to distant shores,
Or homeward laden with returning stores.
Laborious here, they hew the sounding wood,
And lift the prize triumphant o'er the flood;
Here, lightly some vimineous burdens bear,
Or jointly here the pond'rous rafter share:
Spread o'er their tails, they waft the temper'd
clay,
And deep, and broad, their firm foundations lay;
Assign each chamber its commodious size,
Till rooms o'er rooms and trodden ceilings rise;
Their tail the trowel, as adorning train,
Their teeth the saw, the chissel, and the plane.
While ardent Sirius shoots a thirsty ray,
And autumn yet withholds retreating day,
They range at large, and gambol through the stream,
Frisk on the beach, or batten in the beam;
Or Nature's bounteous vegetation taste,
And opportune indulge the insient feast.
But when pale Phosphor pts the morning gale,
Curls on the wave and chills along the vale,
Domestic cares their conscious breast employ;
The frolic hours and luscious banquets cloy;
Say! when the nest thy little halcyons form, Brood on the wave, and mock the threat'ning storm; Who quells the rage of thy reluctant main, Or o'er thy winter throws a lordly rein? Lulls the rock'd mansion on the slumb'ring tide, And bids the care of guardian depths subside? Till, volatile, the new-fledg'd infants rise; The surge mounts free, and breaks upon the skies. Eternal! thine is ev'ry round of time, 351 The circling season, and the varying clime; Thine! ev'ry dictate of the conscious breast; Thine! ev'ry texture of the genial nest, The oval embryon, and the fost'ring ray; And thine the life that struggles into day!
To thee thy callow importuners cry, Gracious thy ear, and bounteous thy supply; Till the flown choirs the revel consort raise, And hymn to Heav'n the rhapsody of praise! 560 Dispers'd through ev'ry copse, or marshy plain, Where haunts the woodcock, or the annual crane, Where else encamp'd the feather'd legions spread, Or bathe incumbent on their oozy bed, The brimming lake thy smiling presence fills, And waves the banners of a thousand hills. Thou speed'st the summons of thy warning voice; Wing'd at thy word, the distant troops rejoice, From ev'ry quarter scour the fields of air, And to the general rendezvous repair: Each from the mingled rout disparting turns, And with the love of kindred plumage burns: Thy potent will instinctive bosoms feel, And here arranging, semilunar, wheel; Or marshal'd here the painted rhomb display, Or point the wedge that cleaves the aerial way: Uplifted on thy wafting breath they rise; Thou pavest the regions of the pathless skies, [host, Through boundless tracts support'st the journey'd And point'st the voyage to the certain coast; Thou the sure compass, and the sea they sail, The chart, the port, the steerage, and the gale! Thus through the maze of thy eternal round, Through yon steep Heav'n, and nether gulfs proThe dusky planet, and the lucid sphere, [found, Earth's pond'rous ball, and soft enfolding air, The fish who glance or tempest through the main, The beasts who trip or thunder o'er the plain, The reptile wreathing in the wanton ring, The bird high wafted on the tow'ring wing, All, all from thee, Sole Cause Essential! tend, Thence flow effusive, thither cent'ring end; The bliss of providential vision share, And the least atom claims peculiar care! Yet ere material entity begun, Or from the vast this universe was won ;
While finitude erewhile was unconfin'd,
Nor space grew relative, to form assign'd;
Thou didst thy own eternal now sustain,
And space was swallow'd in thy boundless main;
Thyself the filler of thy own abyss,
Thyself the great eternity of bliss!
All when, and where, in thee imbosom'd lay,
The blaze of majesty, and self-born day;
No void was found, where Endless Beauty beam'd;
No darkness, where Essential Glory flam'd;
No want, no solitude, where thou wer't bless'd,
And in thyself th' unbounded whole possess'd.
Of reason thou the co-eternal cause,
Thyself all reason, and thy will all laws;
All-reasoning will with pow'rful wisdom fraught!
Thy wisdom, one unchanging endless thought,
Where all potential natures were survey'd,
And even in pre-existence lay display'd-
All, all-things past-now present-yet to be,
Great Intellect! were present all to thee;
While thou sole infinite essential reign'd,
And of finites the infinite contain'd,
Ideal entities in One Supreme,
Distinguish'd endless, yet with thee the same,
Thy pow'r their essence, and thy will their claim.
Whence at thy word, worlds caught the potent
And into being leap'd this wondrous round. [sound,
Pois'd on thy will the universal hung;
Attraction to its central magnet clung;
Thy spacious grasp the mighty convex clos'd;
Soft on thy care incumbent worlds repos'd:
Within, throughout, no second cause presides,
And One Sole Hand the maz'd volution guides !
Hence endless good, hence endless order springs;
Hence that importance in minutest things;
And endless hence dependence must endure,
Bless'd in his will, and in his pow'r secure!
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF TORQUATO TASSO.
Of arms, devote to Heav'n's Eternal King,
Of sainted hosts the sacred Chief I sing,
Who freed that tomb, to infidels a prey,
Where once the Lord for all the living lay:
Alike his might and conduct claim applause;
And much he suffer'd in the glorious cause:
In vain infernal fury rais'd alarms,
And half the world oppos'd contending arms;
Sedition, rul'd, beneath his sceptre lay,
Foes learn'd to fear, and rebels to obey :
So Heaven would crown its hero with success,
And virtue triumph'd in the power to bless.
O Muse! whom mortal trophy would profane,
And thy chaste brow with fading laurel stain;
While circling glories round thy temples play,
And circling angels hymn th' eternal lay,
O! breathe celestial ardours to my breast,
Inspire the song to Albion's prince address'd;
And pardon fiction mix'd with truths divine,
Or arts to please which, goddess, are not thine!
Well dost thou know the purport of my song, Though dress'd to charm, with secret virtue strong; While veil'd, beneath the verse the moral lies, And captivates the soul with kind disguise.
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His bitter thus the friendly leech conceals,
And with the fraud of latent med'cine heals;
To the sick taste he promises delight,
And obvious sweets the infant lip invite ;
Health, ambush'd, in the potion is imbib'd,
For man must e'en to happiness be brib'd.
Six suns had now their annual journey run,
And seen the war that with the first begun ;
Still in his cause Messiah's hosts engage,
And eastward bid the kindling combat rage.
Antioch, and Nice, were now the victor's prize,
Or won by storm, or captive by surprise:
In vain all Asia rises to repel,
Beneath their force unnumber'd Persians fell;
And last Tortosa vanquish'd, they retire,
Till war shall with returning spring respire.
Scarce winter, warm'd before the golden ray,
Restor'd the battle with the length'ning day,
When God, self rais'd from his eternal throne,
Sublime o'er Heav'n's high empyrean shone.
Aw'd from his seat, though patent to his view,
The rolling universe holds distance due:
He looks; unnumber'd worlds before him lie,
And Nature lives collected in his eye.
To Syria, on the Christian peers intent,
All-piercing the Divine Perception bent;
Where Godfrey stood, conspicuous in his sight,
Above the princes eminently bright:
Nor wealth allures him, nor ambition charms,
But faith refines, and heavenly ardour arms;
While zeal alone his placid bosom fires,
And with the warrior all the saint conspires.
Not such the thoughts that Heav'n in Baldwin
From virtue alien, though by blood ally'd; [spy'd,
Ambitious phantasms haunt his idle brain,
And pride still prompts him to be greatly vain.
With silent anguish Tancred stood oppress'd, While love, fond passion, languish'd in his breast. But Boemond's cares on Antioch's glory wait, And model in his mind her new-form'd state; While the great chief, late terrible in arms, With arts of peace and social conduct charms, At once of Earth and Heaven asserts the cause, Instructs with piety, and forms with laws.
Rinaldo then, to war and nature new,
Gave all his brave, his open soul to view;
Untam'd that restless bosom wish'd the fight,
And circling perils gave his eyes delight:
Wisdom and fame, but fame the most refin'd,
By turns prevail'd, and fir'd or form'd his mind;
While he on Guelpho, sage instructor, hung,
And caught the maxims falling from his tongue.
This saw the Deity-through ev'ry breast,
Each latent inclination lay confess'd;
Then call'd, and from the bright angelic round,
Forth issu'd Gabriel to the sacred sound;
He, of the prime celestial splendours came,
Obsequious to the will of Heaven's Supreme:
Gracious to man the social spirit stands,
To saints the messenger of bless'd commands;
Thence, breathes the cordial incense to his King,
And wafts their vows on his returning wing.
(Expressive then th' inutterable Name)
"To Godfrey his Creator's will proclaim-
Ask, wherefore are my Sion's bonds unty'd?
The hero's sword why dormant at his side?
To council bid him cite each Christian peer,
Reprove the tardy, and the valiant cheer:
Him I elect, superior in his sway;
And let his rivals and the world obey."
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