Am I a Debtor? Haft thou ever heard
Whence come the Gifts which are on me conferr'd?
My lavish Fruit a thousand Valleys fills,

And Mine the Herds, that graze a Thousand Hills:
Earth, Sea, and Air, All Nature is My own:
And Stars and Sun are Duft beneath My Throne.
And dar'ft thou with the World's great Father vye
Thou, who doft tremble at My Creature's Eye?

At full My huge Leviathan shall rife,

345

Boast all his Strength, and spread his wond'rous Size.
Who, great in Arms, e'er ftripp'd his fhining Mail, 35€
Or crown'd his Triumph with a fingle Scale?
Whose Heart fuftains him to draw near? Behold,
Destruction yawns; his fpacious Jaws unfold,
And, marshal'd round the wide Expanse, disclofe
Teeth edg'd with Death, and crowding Rows on Rows;
What hideous Fangs on either Side arife!
And what a deep Abyss between them lies!

Mete with thy Lance, and with thy Plumbet found,

The One how long, the Other how profound.
His Bulk is charg'd with fuch a furious Soul,
That Clouds of Smoke from his fpread Noftrils roll,
As from a Furnace; and when rous'd his Ire,

355

36

The rafheft dare not rouse him up, &c.] This alludes to a Custom of this Creature, which is, when fated with Fish, to come afhore, and fleep among the Reeds.

Behold,

Deftru&ton yawns, his spacious Jars unfold, &c.] The Crocodile's Mouth is exceeding wide. When he gapes, says Pliny, Fit totum Os&# Martial fays to his old Woman,

Cum comparata riĉtibus tuis cra

Niliacus babet crocodilus angufta,

So that the Expreffion here is barely just.

365

370

Fate iffues from his Jaws in Streams of Fire.
The Rage of Tempefts, and the Roar of Seas,
Thy Terror, this thy great Superior please ;
Strength on his ample Shoulder fits in State;
His well-join'd Limbs are dreadfully complete;
His Flakes of folid Flesh are flow to part;
As Steel his Nerves, as Adamant his Heart.
When, late-awak'd, He rears him from the Floods,
And, ftretching forth his Stature to the Clouds,
Writhes in the Sun aloft his fcaly Height,
And ftrikes the diftant Hills with tranfient Light,
Far round are fatal Damps of Terror spread,
The Mighty fear, nor blush to own their Dread.
Large is his Front; and, when his burnish'd Eyes
Lift their broad Lids, the Morning seems to rife.
In vain may Death in various Shapes invade,
The swift-wing'd Arrow, the defcending Blade;
His naked Breaft their Impotence defies ;
The Dart rebounds, the brittle Fauchion flies.

375

380

Shut

Fate iffues from bis Jaws in Streams of Fire.] This too is nearer Truth than at firft View may be imagined. The Crocodile, fay the Naturalifts, lying long under Water, and being then forced to hold its Breath, when it emerges, the Breath long repreft is hot, and burfts out fo violently, that it refembles Fire and Smoke. The Horfe fuppreffes not his Breath by any Means fo long, neither is he fo fierce and animated; yet the most correct of Poets ventures to ufe the fame Metaphor concerning him.

Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.

By this and the foregoing Note I would caution against a false Opinion of the Eaftern Boldness, from Paffages in them ill understood.

Large is bis Front; and, when bis burnish'd Eyes, &c.] His Eyes are like the Eyelids of the Morning. I think this gives us as great an

Image

Shut in Himfelf, the War without he hears,
Safe in the Tempeft of their rattling Spears;
The cumber'd Strand their wafted Vollies ftrow; 385
His Sport, the Rage and Labour of the Foe.

His Paftimes like a Cauldron boil the Flood,
And blacken Ocean with the rifing Mud:
The Billows feel him, as he works his Way;
His hoary Footsteps fhine along the Sea;

390

The Foam high-wrought, with White, divides the Green,

And diftant Sailors point where Death has been.
His Like, Earth bears not on her fpacious Face;
Alone in Nature ftands his dauntless Race,

For utter Ignorance of Fear renown'd.

In Wrath he rolls his baleful Eye around;

395

Image of the Thing it would exprefs, as can enter the Thought of Man. It is not improbable, that the Egyptians fole their Hiero. glyphic for the Morning, which is the Crocodile's Eye, from this Paffage, though no Commentator I have feen mentions it. It is eafy to conceive how the Egyptians fhould be both Readers and Admirers of the Writings of Mofes, whom I fuppofe the Author of this Poem.

I have obferved already, that three or four of the Creatures here defcribed are Egyptian; the two laft are notoriously fo; they are the River-horfe and the Crocodile, thofe celebrated Inhabitants of the Nile; and on those two it is that our Author chiefly dwells. It would have been expected, from an Author more remote from that River than Mofes, in a Catalogue of Creatures produced to magnify their Creator, to have dwelt on the two largest Works of his Hand, viz. the Elephant and the Whale: This is fo natural an Expectation, that fome Commentators have rendered Behemoth and Lēvi. atban, the Elephant and the Whale, though the Descriptions in our Author will not admit of it; but Mofes being (as we may well feppose) under an immediate Terror of the Hippopotamos and Crocodile - from their daily Mifchiefs and Ravages around him, it is very accountable why he should permit them to take place.

Makes ev'ry fwol'n, difdainful Heart, fubfide,
And holds Dominion o'er the Sons of Pride.

Then the Chaldean eas'd his lab'ring Breast,
With full Conviction of his Crime oppreft.

400 "Thou canst accomplish All Things, Lord of Might! "And every Thought is naked to Thy Sight. "But oh! Thy Ways are wonderful, and lie "Beyond the deepest Reach of mortal Eye. "Oft have I heard of Thine Almighty Pow'r ; "But never faw Thee till this dreadful Hour. "O'erwhelm'd with Shame, the Lord of Life I see; "Abhor myself, and give my Soul to Thee. "Nor fhall my Weakness tempt Thine Anger more; "Man was not made to Queftion, but Adore.”

405

410

FINI S.

A GLOS

A

GLOSSARY,

OR

Explanation of the most difficult Words.

As many Words in the Night Thoughts, though the fame in Substance, are used to convey different Senfes or Ideas, and thofe fometimes rather foreign to the plain Meaning of them, the fame are bere fpecified and expreft.

A

ABSORB'D, fwallowed up.

Abrogates, countermands.

Abfcond, to hide one's felf.

Abyss, a bottomless pit.

Etna, a burning mountain in Sicily.

Aceldama, a field of blood. See Acts i. 18, 19.

Adult, grown up.

Adamantine, hard-hearted.

Adamant, a diamond, remarkably hard.

Adjuration, an oath, or folemn declaration.

P 3

Agglo