"To joy in Nature's universal smile

Well suits, O man, thy pleasurable sphere; But why should Virtue doom thy years to toil? Ah, why should Virtue's law be deem'd severe?

"What meed, Beneficence, thy care repays?

What, Sympathy, thy still returning pang? And why his generous arm should Justice raise, To dare the vengeance of a tyrant's fang?

"From thankless spite no bounty can secure;
Or froward wish of discontent fulfill,

That knows not to regret thy bounded power,
But blames with keen reproach thy partial will.

"To check th' impetuous all-involving tide

Of human woes, how impotent thy strife! High o'er thy mounds devouring surges ride, Nor reck thy baffled toils, or lavish'd life.

"The bower of bliss, the smile of love be thine, Unlabour'd ease, and leisure's careless dream. Such be their joys, who bend at Venus' shrine, And own her charms beyond compare supreme."

Warm'd as she spoke, all panting with delight, Her kindling beauties breathed triumphant

bloom;

And Cupids flutter'd round in circlets bright,

And Flora pour'd from all her stores perfume.

"Thine be the prize," exclaim'd th' enraptur'd

youth,

"Queen of unrival'd charms, and matchless

joy."

O blind to fate, felicity, and truth!<

But such are they whom Pleasure's snares decoy.

The Sun was sunk; the vision was no more: Night downward rush'd tempestuous, at the frown

Of Jove's awaken'd wrath; deep thunders roar, The forests howl afar, and mountains groan,

And sanguine meteors glare athwart the plain :

With horror's scream the Ilian towers resound; Raves the hoarse storm along the bellowing main, And the strong earthquake rends the shuddering ground.

ODE TO PEACE.

I. 1.

PEACE, heaven-descended maid! whose powerful voice

From ancient darkness call'd the morn;

And hush'd of jarring elements the noise;
When Chaos, from his old dominion torn,
With all his bellowing throng,

Far, far was hurl'd the void abyss along;
And all the bright angelic choir

Striking through all their ranks th' eternal lyre,
Pour'd in loud symphony th' impetuous strain;
And every fiery orb and planet sung,

And wide, through night's dark solitary reign Rebounding long and deep the lays triumphant rung.

I. 2.

Oh whither art thou fled, Saturnian age!

Roll round again, majestic years!

To break the sceptre of tyrannic rage,

From Woe's wan cheek to wipe the bitter tears,

Ye years, again roll round!

Hark, from afar what desolating sound,

While echoes load the sighing gales,

With dire presage the throbbing heart assails! Murder deep-rous'd, with all the whirlwind's

haste

And roar of tempest, from her cavern springs, Her tangled serpents girds around her waist, Smiles ghastly-fierce, and shakes her gore-distilling wings.

I. 3.

The shouts redoubling rise

In thunder to the skies.

The Nymphs disorder'd dart along,

Sweet Powers of solitude and song,

Stunn'd with the horrors of discordant sound;

And all is listening trembling round.
Torrents far heard amid the waste of night

That oft have led the wanderer right,

Are silent at the noise.

The mighty ocean's more majestic voice Drown'd in superior din is heard no more; The surge in silence seems to sweep the foamy shore.

II. 1.

The bloody banner streaming in the air
Seen on yon sky-mix'd mountain's brow,
The mingling multitudes, the madding car,
Driven in confusion to the plain below,
War's dreadful lord proclaim.

Bursts out by frequent fits th' expansive flame.

Snatch'd in tempestuous eddies flies

The surging smoke o'er all the darken'd skies. The cheerful face of heaven no more is seen, The bloom of morning fades to deadly pale, The bat flits transient o'er the dusky green, And night's foul birds along the sullen twilight sail.

II. 2.

Involv'd in fire-streak'd gloom the car comes on.
The rushing steeds grim Terror guides.
His forehead writh'd to a relentless frown,
Aloft the angry Power of battles rides:
Grasp'd in his mighty hand.

A mace tremendous desolates the land;
The tower rolls headlong down the steep,
The mountain shrinks before its wasteful sweep:
Chill horror the dissolving limbs invades ;
Smit by the blasting lightning of his eyes,
A deeper gloom invests the howling shades,
Stript is the shatter'd grove, and every verdure dies.

II. 3.

How startled Frenzy stares,

Bristling her ragged hairs!

Revenge the gory fragment gnaws;

See, with her griping vulture claws

Imprinted deep, she rends the mangled wound!
Hate whirls her torch sulphureous round;
The shrieks of agony, and clang of arms,
Re-echo to the hoarse alarms