TO THE AUTHOR,

ON HIS LAST DAY AND UNIVERSAL PASSION.

AND muft it be as thou haft fung,
Celestial bard, feraphic Young?
Will there no trace, no point be found
Of all this fpacious glorious round?
Yon lamps of light, muft they decay?
On nature's felf deftruction prey?
Then fame, the most immortal thing
Ev'n thou canst hope, is on the wing.
Shall Newton's fyftem be admir'd,
When time and motion are expir'd?
Shall fouls be curious to explore
Who rul'd an orb that is no more?

Or fhall they quote the pictur'd age,
From Pope's and thy corrective page,
When vice and virtue lofe their name
In deathless joy, or endless fhame?
While wears away the grand machine,
The works of genius fhall be feen :
Beyond, what laurels can there be,
For Homer, Horace, Pope, or thee?
Through life we chafe, with fond purfuit,
What mocks our hope, like Sodom's fruit:
And fure, thy plan was well defign'd,
To cure this madness of the mind;
First, beyond time our thoughts to raise;
Then lafh our love of tranfient praife.
In both, we own thy doctrine juft;
And fame's a breath, and men are duft.
1736.
J. BANGKS.

BOOK I.

"Ipfe pater, media nimborum in nocte, corufca
"Fulmina molitur dextra. Quo maxima motu
"Terra tremit : fugère feræ! et mortalia corda
"Per gentes humilis ftravit pavor." VIRG.

WHILE others fing the fortune of the great;
Empire and arms, and all the pomp of ftate;
With Britain's hero fet their fouls on fire,
And grow immortal as his deeds infpire;
I draw a deeper fcene: a fcene that yields
A louder trumpet, and more dreadful fields;
The world alarm'd, both earth and heav'n
thrown,

And gafping nature's laft tremendous groan;
Death's ancient fceptre broke, the teeming tomb,
The righteous Judge, and man's eternal doom.
'Twixt joy and pain I view the bold defign,
And ask my anxious heart, if it be mine.
Whatever great or dreadful has been done
Within the fight of conscious ftars or fun,
Is far beneath my daring: I look down
On all the splendours of the British crown.
This globe is for my verfe a narrow bound;
Attend me, all ye glorious worlds around!
O! all ye angels, howsoe'er disjoin'd,
Of every various order, place, and kind,
Hear, and affift, a feeble mortal's lays;
'Tis our Eternal King I ftrive to praise.

But chiefly Thou, great Ruler! Lord of all!
Before whole throne archangels proftrate fall;
If at thy nod, from difcord, and from night,
Sprang beauty, and yon sparkling worlds of light,
Exalt e'en me; all inward tumults quell;
The clouds and darkness of my mind difpel;
To my great fubject thou my breast infpire,
And raife my labouring foul with equal fire.

The Duke of Marlborough,

View cities, armies, fleets; of fleets the pride,
See Europe's law, in Albion's channel ride.
View the whole earth's vaft landfkip unconfin'd,
Or view in Britain all her glories join'd.

Then let the firmament thy wonder raise;
'Twill raife thy wonder, but tranfcend thy praise.
How far from eaft to weft? The labouring eye
Can fearce the diftant azure bounds defcry:
Wide theatre where tempefts play at large,
And God's right hand can all its wrath dilcharge.
Mark how thofe radiant lamps inflame the pole,
Call forth the feafons, and the year controul:
They fhine through time, with an unalter'd ray:
See this grand period rife, and that decay :
So vaft, this world's a grain; yet myriads grace,
With golden pomp, the throng'd ethereal space;
So bright, with fuch a wealth of glory stor'd,
'Twere fin in heathens not to have ador'd.

How great, how firm, how facred all appears! How worthy an immortal round of years! Yet all muft drop, as autumn's ficklieft grain, And earth and firmament be fought in vain : The tract forgot where conftellations fhone, Or where the Stuarts fill'd an awful throne; Time fhall be flain, all nature be destroy'd, Nor leave an atom in the mighty void.

Sooner, or later, in fome future date, (A dreadful fecret in the book of fate!) This hour, for aught all human wisdom knows, Or when ten thousand harvests more have rofe; When scenes are chang'd on this revolving earth, Old empires fall, and give new empires birth; While other Bourbons rule in other lands, And (if man's fins forbid not) other Annes; While the ftill bufy world is treading o'er The paths they trod five thousand years before, Thoughtlefs as thofe who now life's mazes run, Of earth diffolv'd, or an extinguish'd fun; (Ye fublunary worlds, awake, awake! Ye rulers of the nation, hear, and shake) Thick clouds of darkness fhall arife on day; In fudden night all earth's dominions lay; Impetuous winds the scatter'd forefts rend; Eternal mountains, like their cedars bend; The vallies yawn, the troubled ocean roar, And break the bondage of his wonted fhore; A fanguine ftain the filver moon o'erspread; Darknefs the circle of the fun invade; From inmoft heaven inceffant thunders roll, And the ftrong echo bound from pole to pole. When, lo, a mighty trump, one half conceal'd In clouds, one half to mortal eye reveal'd, Shall pour a dreadful note; the piercing call Shall rattle in the centre of the ball; Th' extended circuit of creation fhake, The living die with fear, the dead awake.

Oh powerful blaft! to which no equal found Did c'er the frighted ear of nature wound, Though rival clarions have been ftrain'd on high, And kindled wars immortal through the sky, Though God's whole enginery discharg'd, and all The rebel angels bellow'd in their fall.

Have angels finn'd? and fhall not man beware?
How fhall a fon of earth decline the fnare?
Not folded arms, and flacknefs of the mind,
Can promife for the fafety of mankind:
None are fupinely good: through care and pain,
And various arts, the fteep afcent we gain.
This is the fcene of combat, not of reft,
Man's is laborious happiness at beft;
On this fide death his dangers never cease,
His joys are joys of conqueft, not of peace.
If then, obfequions to the will of fate,
And bending to the terms of human state,
When guilty joys invite us to their arms,
When beauty fimiles, or grandeur fpreads her
charms,

The confcious foul would this great fcene difplay,
Call down th' immortal hos in dread array,
The trumpet found, the Chriftian banner fpread,
And raife from filent graves the trembling dead;
Such deep impreffion would the picture make,
No power on earth her firm refolve could shake;
Engag d with angels fhe would greatly stand,
And look regardlefs down on fea and land;
Not proffer'd worlds her ardour could reftrain,
And death might shake his threatening lance in vain!
Her certain conqueft would endear the fight,
And danger ferve but to exalt delight.

Inftructed thus to fhun the fatal fpring,
Whence flows the terrors of that day I fing;

More boldly we our labours may pursue,
And all the dreadful image fet to view.

The fparkling eye, the fleek and painted breast,
The burnish'd scale, curi'd train, and rising creft,
All that is lovely in the noxious fnake,
Provokes our fear, and bids us flee the brake:
The fting once drawn, his guiltless beauties rife
In pleasing luftre, and detain our eyes;
We view with joy, what once did horror move,
And frong averfion foftens into love.

Say then, my mufe, whom difmal fcenes delight, Frequent at tombs, and in the realms of night; Say, melancholy maid, if bold to dare

The last extremes of terror and despair;

Oh fay, what change on earth, what heart in man, This blackest moment fince the world began.

Ah mournful turn the blifsful earth, who late At leifure on her axle roll'd in state; While thousand golden planets knew no rest, Still onward in their circling journey prest; A grateful change of feafons fome to bring, And fweet viciilitude of fall and spring: Some through vaft oceans to conduct the keel, And fome thofe watery worlds to fink, or fwell: Around her fome their fplendours to display, And gild her globe with tributary day : This world fo great, of joy the bright abode, Heaven's darling child, and favourite of her God, Now looks an exile from her Father's care, Deliver'd o'er to darkness and defpair. No fun in radiant glory thines on high; No light, but from the terrors of the sky: Fall'n are her mountains, her fam'd rivers loft, And all into a fecond chaos toft : One univerfal ruin spreads abroad; Nothing is fafe beneath the throne of God.

Such, earth, thy fate: what then canft thou
afford

To comfort and fupport thy guilty lord?
Man, haughty lord of all beneath the moon,
How muft he bend his foul's ambition down?
Proftrate, the reptile own, and difavow
His boafted flature, and affuming brow?
Claim kindred with the clay, and curse his form,
That speaks diftinction from his fifter worm?
What dreadful pangs the trembling heart invade !
Lord, why dost thou forfake whom thou haft made?
Who can fuftain thy anger? Who can stand
Beneath the terrors of thy lifted hand?
It flies the reach of thought; oh fave me, Power
Of powers fupreme, in that tremendous hour!
Thou who beneath the frown of fate haft flood,
And in thy dreadful agony fweat blood;
Thou, who for me, through every throbbing vein,
Haft felt the keeneft edge of mortal pain;
Whom death led captive through the realms below,
And taught thofe horrid myfteries of woe;
Defend me, O my God! Oh fave me, Power
Of powers fupreme, in that tremendous hour!

From east to west they fly, from pole to line,
Imploring fhelter from the wrath divine;
Beg flames to wrap, or whelming fea to sweep,
Or rocks to yawn, compaflionately deep:
Seas caft the monfter forth to meet his doom,
And rocks but prison up for wrath to come.

So fares a traitor to an earthly crown;
While death fits threatening in his prince's frown,
His heart's difmay'd; and now his fears command,
To change his native for a distant land:
Swift orders fly, the king's severe decree
Stands in the channel, and locks up the fea;
The port he feeks, obedient to her lord,
Hurls back the rebel to his lifted fword.

But why this idle toil to paint that day?
This time elaborately thrown away?
Words all in vain pant after the distress,
The height of eloquence would make it lefs;
Heavens! how the good man trembles !

And is there a Last Day? and must there come
A fure, a fix'd, inexorable doom!
Ambition swell, and, thy proud fails to show,
Take all the winds that vanity can blow:
Wealth on a golden mountain blazing stand,
And reach an India forth in either hand;
Spread all thy purple clusters, tempting vine,
And thou, more dreaded foe, bright beauty, shine;
Shine all; in all your charms together rife,
That all, in all your charms, I may defpife,
While I mount upward on a ftrong defire,
Borne, like Elijah, in a car of fire.

in hopes of glory to be quite involv'd! To fmile at death! to long to be diffolv'd! From our decays a pleasure to receive! And kindle into tranfport at a grave! What equals this? And shall the victor now Boaft the proud laurels on his loaded brow? Religion! Oh thou cherub, heavenly bright! Oh joys unmix'd, and fathomless delight! Then, thou art all; nor find I in the whole Creation aught, but God and my own foul. For ever then my foul, thy God adore, Not let the brute creation praife him more. Shall things inanimate my conduct blame, And flush my confcious cheek with spreading fhame? They all for him purfue, or quit their end; The mounting flames their burning power fufpend; In folid heaps th' unfrozen billows ftand, To reft and filence aw'd by his command: Nay, the dire monsters that infest the flood, By nature dreadful, and athirst for blood, His will can calm, their favage tempers bind, And turn to mild protectors of mankind. Did not the prophet this great truth maintain In the deep chambers of the gloomy main; When darkness round him all her horrors spread, And the loud ocean bellow'd o'er his head ? When now the thunder roars, the lightning flies, And all the warring winds tumultuous rife; When now the foaming furges, toft on high, Difclofe the fands beneath, and touch the sky; When death draws near, the mariners aghaft Look back with terror on their actions past; Their courage fickens into deep dismay, Their hearts, through fear and anguish, melt

With gems and gold; but oh, the ftorm so high! Nor gems nor gold the hopes of life can buy.

The trembling prophet then, themselves to save, They headlong plunge into the briny wave; Down he defcends, and, booming o'er his head, The billows clofe; he's number'd with the dead. (Hear, O ye juft! attend, ye virtuous few! And the bright paths of piety pursue) Lo the great Ruler of the world, from high, Looks fmiling down with a propitious eye, Covers his fervant with his gracious hand, And bids tempeftuous nature filent stand; Commands the peaceful waters to give place, Or kindly fold him in a foft embrace : He bridles in the monfters of the deep: The bridled monsters awful diftance keep : Forget their hunger, while they view their prey; And guiltless gaze, and round the ftranger play.

But ftill arife new wonders; nature's Lord Sends forth into the deep his powerful word, And calls the great leviathan: the great Leviathan attends in all his ftate; Exults for joy, and, with a mighty bound, [found; Makes the fea fhake, and heav'n and earth reBlackens the waters with the rifing fand, And drives vaft billows to the diftant land.

As yawns an earthquake, when imprifon'd air Struggles for vent, and lays the centre bare, The whale expands his jaws enormous fize; The prophet views the cavern with surprise; Measures his monftrous teeth, afar defcry'd, And rolls his wondering eyes from fide to fide: Then takes poffeffion of the fpacious feat, And fails fecure within the dark retreat.

Now is he pleas'd the northern blast to hear, And hangs on liquid mountains, void of fear; Or falls immers'd into the depths below; Where the dead filent waters never flow; To the foundations of the hills convey'd, Dwells in the shelving mountain's dreadful fhade: Where plummet never reach'd, he draws his breath, And glides ferenely through the paths of death.

Two wondrous days and nights through coral

We hope, that the departed will rife "again from the duft; after which, like "the gods, they will be immortal."

Now man awakes, and from his filent bed, Where he has lept for ages, lifts his head;

Shakes off the flumber of ten thousand years,
And on the borders of new worlds appears.
Whate'er the bold, the rash, adventure coft,
In wide eternity I dare be loft.

The mufe is wont in narrow bounds to fing,
To teach the fwain, or celebrate the king.
I grafp the whole, no more to parts confin'd,
I lift my voice, and fing to human kind:
I fing to men and angels; angels join, [mine.
While fuch the theme, their facred fongs with
Again the trumpet's intermitted found
Rolls the wide circuit of creation round,
An univerfal concourfe to prepare

Of all that ever breath'd the vital air:

In fome wide field, which active whirlwinds fweep,
Drive cities, forefts, mountains, to the deep,
To fmooth and lengthen out th' unbounded space,
And spread an area for all human race.

Now monuments prove faithful to their trust,
And render back their long-committed duft.
Now charnels rattle; fcatter'd limbs, and all
The various bones, obfequious to the call,
Self-mov'd, advance; the neck perhaps to meet
The diftant head, the distant legs the feet.
Dreadful to view, fee through the dusky sky
Fragments of bodies in confufion fly,
To diftant regions journeying, there to claim
Deferted members, and complete the frame.
When the world bow'd to Rome's almighty
fword,

Rome bow'd to Pompey, and confess'd her lord.
Yet one day loft, this deity below
Became the fcorn and pity of his foe.
His blood a traitor's facrifice was made,
And fmok'd indignant on a ruffian's blade.
No trumpet's found, no gasping army's yell,
Bid, with due horror, his great foul farewell.
Obfcure his fall! all weltering in his gore,
His trunk was caft to perish on the shore!
While Julius frown'd the bloody monfter dead,
Who brought the world in his great rival's head.
This fever'd head and trunk fhall join once more,
Though realms now rife between, and oceans roar.
The trumpet's found each fragrant mote shall hear,
Or fix'd in earth, or if afloat in air,
Obey the fignal wafted in the wind,
And not one fleeping atom lag behind.

So fwarming bees, that on a fummer's day
In airy rings and wild meanders play, [end,
Charm'd with the brazen found, their wanderings
And, gently circling, on a bough defcend.

The body thus renew'd, the conscious foul, Which has perhaps been fluttering near the pole, Or 'midst the burning planets wondering tray'd, Or hover'd o'er where her pale corpfe was laid: Or rather coasted on her final state, And fear'd, or wifh'd for, her appointed fate; This foul, returning with a conftant flame, Now weds for ever her immortal frame. Life, which ran down before, so high is wound, The fprings maintain an everlasting round.

Thus a frail model of the work defign'd First takes a copy of the builder's mind, Before the ftructure firm with lafting oak, And marble bowels of the folid rock,

Turns the strong arch, and bids the columns rife,
And bear the lefty palace to the fkies;
The wrongs of time enabled to furpass,
With bars of adamant, and ribs of brass.

That ancient, facred, and illuftrious * dome,
Where foon or late fair Albion's heroes come,
From camps, and courts, though great, or wife, or
To feed the worm, and moulder into duft; [juft,
That folemn manfion of the royal dead,
Where paffing flaves o'er fleeping monarch's tread,
Now populous o'erflows: a numerous race
Of rifing kings fill all th' extended space:
A life well spent, not the victorious (word,
Awards the crown, and styles the greater lord,
Nor monuments alone, and burial-earth,
Labours with man to this his fecond birth;
But where gay palaces in pomp arife,
And gilded threatres invade the skies,
Nations fhall wake, whofe unrefpected bones
Support the pride of their luxurious fons.
The most magnificent and coftly dome
Is but an upper chamber to a tomb.
No spot on earth but has fupply'd a grave,
And human skulls the fpacious ocean pave.
All's full of man; and, at this dreadful turn,
The warm fhall iffue, and the hive fhall burn.
Not all at once, nor in like manner, rise :
Some lift with pain their flow unwilling eyes;
Shrink backward from the terror of the light,
And bless the grave, and call for lafting night.
Others, whofe long-attempted virtue stood
Fix'd as a rock, and broke the rushing flood,
Whose firm refolve nor beauty could melt down,
Nor raging tyrants from their posture frown;
Such, in this day of horrors, fhall be feen
To face the thunders with a godlike mien;
The planets drop, their thoughts are fix'd above;
The centre fhakes, their hearts difdain to move:
An earth diffolving, and a heaven thrown wide,
A yawning gulf, and fiends on every side,
Serene they view, impatient of delay,
And blefs the dawn of everlasting day.

Here greatness proftrate falls, there ftrength gives place,

Here lazars fmile, there beauty hides her face.
Chriftians, and Jews, and Turks, and Pagans stand
A blended throng, one undistinguish'd band.
Some who, perhaps, by mutual wounds expir'd,
With zeal for their diftinct perfuafions fir'd,
In mutual friendship their long flumber break,
And hand in hand their Saviour's love partake.

But none are flush'd with brighter joy, or warm
With jufter confidence, enjoy the storm,
Than those whofe pious bounties unconfin'd
Have made them public fathers of mankind.
In that illuftrious rank, what shining light
With fuch diftinguish'd glory fills my fight?
Bend down, my grateful muie, that homage show
Which to fuch worthies thou art proud to owe.
Wickham! Fox! Chichley! hail, illustrious * names,
Who to far diftant times dispense your beams;