There spotless lilies rear their sickly heads,
And purple violets creep along the beds;
Here shows the bright jonquil its gilded face,
Join'd with the pale carnation's fairer grace;
The painted tulip and the blushing rose
A blooming wilderness of sweets compose.

In such a scene great Cupid wounded lay,
To love and Psyche's charms a glorious prey;
Here felt the pleasing pain and thrilling smart,
And prov'd too well his own resistless dart.

High in the midst appears a rising ground, With greens and ballustrades enclos'd around: Here a new wonder stops the wand'ring sight, A dome whose walls and roof transmit the light; Here foreign plants and trees exotic thrive, And in the cold unfriendly climate live; For when bleak Winter chills the rolling year, The guarded strangers find their safety here; And, fenc'd from storms and the inclement air, They sweetly flourish ever green and fair; Their lively buds they shoot, and blossoms show, And gaily bloom amidst surrounding snow.

But when the genial Spring all Nature cheers, And Earth renew'd her verdant honours wears; The golden plants their wonted station leave, And in the milder air with freedom breathe: Their tender branches feel th' enlivening ray, Unfold their leaves, and all their pomp display, Around their fragrant flowers the Zephyrs play, And waft the aromatic scents away.

Not far from hence a lofty wood appears, That, spite of age, its verdant honours wears, Here widely spread does ample shade display, Expel the Sun, and form a doubtful day. Here thoughtful Solitude finds spacious room, And reigns through all the wide-extended gloom; Beneath the friendly covert lovers toy, And spend the flying hours in amorous joy; Unmindful of approaching night they sport, While circling pleasures new attention court; Or through the maze forgetfully they stray, Lost in the pleasing sweetly winding way: Or, stretch'd at ease upon the flowery grass, In tales of love the starry night they pass; While the soft nightingale through all the groves His song repeats, and sooths his tender loves; Whose strains harmonious and the silent night Increase the joy, and give complete delight.

A curious terrace stops the wand'ring eye,
Where lovely jasmines fragrant shade supply;
Whose tender branches, in their pride array'd,
Invite the wanderer to the grateful shade:
From hence afar a various prospect lies,
Where artless Nature courts the ravish'd eyes;
The sight at once a thousand charms surveys,
And, pleas'd, o'er villages and forests strays:
Here harvests grow, and lawns appear, and woods,
And gently rising hills,-and distant floods.

Here, Arlington, thy mighty mind disdains
Inferior Earth, and breaks its servile chains,
Aloft on Comtemplation's wings you rise,
Scorn all below, and mingle with the skies;
Where, rais'd by great Philosophy, you soar,
And worlds remote in boundless space explore;
There from your height divine with pity view
The various cares that busy men pursue;
Where each by diff'rent ways aspires to gain
Uncertain happiness with certain pain:

2 The green-house.

While you, well pleas'd, th' exalted raptures know,
That do from conscious truth and virtue flow;
And, blessing all, by all around you blest,
You take the earnest of eternal rest.

You, who have left the public cares of state,
Another Scipio in retirement great,
Have chang'd your royal master's3 gentle smiles,
For solitude divine, and rural toils;

In vain the call of Glory sounds to arms;
In vain Ambition shows her painted charms;
While in the happy walk, or sacred shade,
No anxious cares thy soul serene invade;
Where all the heavenly train thy steps attend,
Soothe every thought, from every ill defend:
Such was the lot th' immortal Roman chose;
Great in his triumphs, greater in repose!

Thus blest with smiling Heaven's indulgent store,
Canst thou in wishes lavish ask for more?
Yet more they give-thy good old age to bless,
And fill the sum of mortal happiness:
Thy only daughter, Britain's boasted grace,
Join'd with a hero of the royal race 4;
And that fair fabric which our wond'ring eyes
So lately saw from humble ruins rise,
And mock the rage of the devouring flame!
A nobler structure, and a fairer frame!
Whose beauties long shall charm succeeding days,
And tell posterity the founder's praise.

When from divine Olympus' towering height, All-beauteous Venus saw the pleasing sight, In dimpled smiles and looks enchanting drest, Thus powerful Jove the charming queen addrest: "Behold the lovely seat, and let thy care Indulgent bless th' united happy pair; Here long their place their happy race assign, By Virtue still distinguish'd may they shine; In the request immortal Pallas joins, (Long has the patriot offer'd at her shrines) With love of arts his godlike bosom glows, And treads those paths by which the goddess rose." The awful father gave the gracious sign, And fix'd the fortunes of the glorious line.

TO A

YOUNG LADY ON HER RECOVERY.

AN ODE.

WHILE, fair Selinda! to our eyes From sickness beautiful you rise; Your charms put on superior power, And shine more strongly than before.

So have I seen the heavenly fire
Awhile his radiant beams retire;
Then breaking through the veil of night,
Restore the world to warmth and light.

3 The earl had been lord chamberlain to king Charles the Second, who made him a baron in 1661, and an earl in 1672. He died in 1685. N.

4 Henry Fitzroy the first duke of Grafton married lady Isabella, the earl of Arlington's only child and heir. N.

FROM Earth's low prospects and deceitful aims,
From wealth's allurements, and ambition's dreams,
The lover's raptures, and the hero's views,
All the false joys mistaken man pursues;
The schemes of science, the delights of wine,
Or the more pleasing follies of the Nine!
Recall, fond bard, thy long-enchanted sight
Deluded with the visionary light!

A nobler theme demands thy sacred song,
A theme beyond or man's or angel's tongue!
But oh, alas! unhallow'd and profane,
How shalt thou dare to raise the heav'nly strain?
Do thou, who from the altar's living fire
Isaiah's tuneful lips didst once inspire,
Come to my aid, celestial Wisdom, come;
From my dark mind dispel the doubtful gloom:
My passions still, my purer breast inflame,
To sing that God from whom existence came;
Till Heav'n and Nature in the concert join,
And own the Author of their birth divine.

ETERNITY.

WHENCE Sprung this glorious frame? or whence arose
The various forms the universe compose?
From what Almighty Cause, what mystic springs
Shall we derive the origin of things?

Sing, heav'nly Guide! whose all-efficient light
Drew dawning planets from the womb of Night!
Since reason, by the sacred dictates taught,
Adores a pow'r beyond the reach of thought.

First Canse of causes! Sire supreme of birth' Sole light of Heav'n! acknowledg'd life of Earth! Whose Word from nothing call'd this beauteous whole,

This wide expanded all from pole to pole!
Who shall prescribe the boundary to thee,
Or fix the era of eternity?

Should we, deceived by Errour's sceptic glass,
Admit the thought absurd-that nothing was!
Thence would this wild, this false conclusion flow,
That nothing rais'd this beauteous all below!
When from disclosing darkness splendour breaks,
Associate atoms move, and matter speaks,
When non-existence bursts its close disguise,
How blind are mortals-not to own the skies!
If one vast void eternal held its place,
Whence started time? or whence expanded space?
What gave the slumb'ring mass to feel a change,
Or bid consenting worlds harmonious range?
Could nothing link the universal chain?
No, 'tis impossible, absurd, and vain!
Here reason its eternal Author finds,
The whole who regulates, unites, and binds,
Enlivens matter, and produces minds!
Inactive Chaos sleeps in dull repose,
Nor knowledge thence, nor free volition flows!
A nobler source those powers ethereal show,
By which we think, design, reflect, and know;
These from a cause superior date their rise,
"Abstract in essence from material ties."
An origin immortal, as supreme,

From whose pure day, celestial rays! they came:
In whom all possible perfections shine,
Eternal, self-existent, and divine!

VOL. XIV.

From this great spring of uncreated might! This all-resplendent orb of vital light; Whence all-created beings take their rise, Profusely wide the boundless blessings flow, Which beautify the Earth, or paint the skies! Which Heav'n enrich and gladden worlds below! Which are no less, when properly defin'd, Than emanations of th' Eternal Mind! Hence triumphs truth beyond objection clear, (Let unbelief attend and shrink with fear!) That what for ever was-must surely be Beyond commencement, and from period free; Drawn from himself his native excellence, His date eternal, and his space immense ! And all of whom that man can comprehend, Is, that he ne'er began, nor e'er shall end.

In him from whom existence boundless flows, Let humble faith its sacred trust repose: Assur'd on his eternity depend,

"Eternal Father! and eternal Friend!"
Within that mystic circle safety seek,
No time can lessen, and no force can break;
And, lost in adoration, breathe his praise,
High Rock of ages, ancient Sire of days!

UNITY.

Thus recognis'd, the spring of life and thought!
Eternal, self-deriv'd, and unbegot!
Approach, celestial Muse, th' empyreal throne,
And awfully adore th' exalted One!
In nature pure, in place supremely free,
And happy in essential unity!

Bless'd in himself, had from his forming hand
No creatures sprung to hail his wide command
Bless'd, had the sacred fountain ne'er run o'er,
A boundless sea of bliss that knows no shore !

Nor sense can two prime origins conceive,
Nor reason two eternal gods believe !
Could the wild Manichæan own that guide,
The good would triumph, and the ill subside!
Again would vanquish'd Aramanius bleed,
And darkness from prevailing light recede!
In diff'rent individuals we find
An evident disparity of mind;

Hence ductile thought a thousand changes gains,
And actions vary as the will ordains;
But should two beings, equally supreme,
Divided pow'r and parted empire claim;
How soon would universal order cease!
How soon would discord harmony displace!
Eternal schemes maintain eternal fight,
Nor yield, supported by eternal might;
Where each would uncontroll'd his aim pursue,
The links dissever, or the chain renew!
Matter from motion cross impressions take,
As serv'd each pow'r his rival's pow'r to break,
While neutral Chaos, from his deep recess,
Would view the never-ending strife increase,
And bless the contest that secur'd his peace!
While new creations would opposing rise,
And elemental war deform the skies!
Around wild uproar and confusion hurl'd,
Eclipse the heav'ns, and waste the ruin'd world.
Two independant causes to admit,
Destroys religion, and debases wit;
The first by such an anarchy undone,
The last acknowledges its source but one.

As from the main the mountain rills are drawn,
That wind irriguous through the flow'ry lawn;

Nn

So, mindful of their spring, one course they keep, Exploring, till they find their native deep!

Exalted Power, invisible, supreme,
Thou sor'reign, sole unutterable name!

As round thy throne thy flaming seraphs stand,
And touch the golden lyre with trembling hand;
Too weak thy pure effulgence to behold,
With their rich plumes their dazzled eyes infold;
Transported with the ardours of thy praise,
The holy holy! holy! anthem raise!
To them responsive, let creation sing,
Thee, indivisible eternal King!

SPIRITUALITY.

O say, celestial Muse! whose purer birth
Disdains the low material ties of Earth;
By what bright images shall be defin'd
The mystic nature of th' eternal Mind!

Or how shall thought the dazzling height explore,
Where all that reason can-is to adore!

That God 's an immaterial essence pure, Whom figure can't describe, nor parts immure; Incapable of passions, impulse, fear, In good pre-eminent, in truth severe: Unmix'd his nature, and sublim'd his pow'rs From all the gross allay that tempers ours; In whose clear eye the bright angelic train Appear suffus'd with imperfection's stain ! Impervious to the man's or seraph's eye, Beyond the ken of each exalted high. Him would in vain material semblance feign, Or figur'd shrines the boundless God contain; Object of faith! he shuns the view of sense, Lost in the blaze of sightless excellence! Most perfect, most intelligent, most wise, In whom the sanctity of pureness lies; In whose adjusting mind the whole is wrought, Whose form is spirit, and whose essence thought! Are truths inscrib'd by Wisdom's brightest ray, In characters that gild the face of day!

Reason confess'd, (howe'er we may dispute) Fix'd boundary! discovers man from brute; But, dim to us, exerts its fainter ray, Depress'd in matter, and allied to clay! In forms superior kindles less confin'd, Whose dress is ether, and whose substance mind; Yet all from Him, supreme of causes, flow, To Him their pow'rs and their existence owe; From the bright cherub of the noblest birth, To the poor reasoning glow-worm plae'd on Earth; From matter then to spirit still ascend, Through spirit still refining, higher tend; Pursue, on knowledge bent, the pathless road, Pierce through infinitude in quest of God! Still from thy search, the centre still shall fly, Approaching stil!-thou never shalt come nigh! So its bright orb th' aspiring flame would join, But the vast distance mocks the fond design. If he, Almighty! whose decree is fate, Could, to display his pow'r, subvert his state; Bid from his plastic hand, a greater rise, Produce a master, and resign his skies; Impart his incommunicable flame, The mystic number of th' Eternal Name; Then might revolting reason's feeble ray Aspire to question God's all-perfect day! Vain task! the clay in the directing hand, The reason of its form might so demand,

As man presume to question his dispose
From whom the power he thus abuses flows.

Here point, fair Muse! the worship God requires,
The soul inflam'd with chaste and holy fires!
Where love celestial warms the happy breast,
And from sincerity the thought 's express'd;
Where genuine piety, and truth refin'd,
Re-consecrate the temple of the mind;
With grateful flames the living altars glow,
And God descends to visit man below!

OMNIPRESENCE.

Through th' unmeasurable tracks of space
Go, Muse divine! and present Godhead trace!
See where, by place uncircumscrib'd as time,
He reigns extended; and he shines sublime!
Shouldst thou above the Heav'n of Heav'us ascend,
Couldst thou below the depth of depths descend,
Could thy fond flight beyond the starry sphere
The radiant Morning's lucid pinions bear!
There should his brighter presence shine confest,
There his almighty arm thy course arrest!
Could'st thou the thickest veil of Night assume,
Or think to hide thee in the central gloom!
Yet there, all patent to his piercing sight,
Darkness itself would kindle into light:
Not the black mansions of the silent grave,
Nor darker Hell, from his perception save;
What pow'r, alas! thy footsteps can convey
Beyond the reach of omnipresent day?

In his wide grasp, and comprehensive eye,
Immediate worlds on worlds unnumber'd lie:
Systems enclos'd in his perception roll,
Whose all-informing mind directs the whole:
Lodg'd in his grasp, their certain ways they know;
Plac'd in that sight from whence can nothing go.
On Earth his footstool fix'd, in Heav'n his seat:
Enthron'd he dictates, and his word is fate.

Nor want his shining images below,

In streams that murmur, or in winds that blow;
His spirit broods along the boundless flood,
Smiles in the plain, and whispers in the wood;
Warms in the genial Sun's enliv'ning ray,
Breathes in the air, and beautifies the day!

Should man his great immensity deny,
Man might as well usurp the vacant sky:
For were he limited in date, or view,
Thence were his attributes imperfect too;
His knowledge, power, his goodness all confin'd,
And lost th' idea of a ruling mind!
Feeble the trust, and comfortless the sense
Of a defective partial providence!
Boldly might then his arm injustice brave,
Or innocence in vain his mercy crave;
Dejected virtue lift its hopeless eye:
And heavy sorrow vent the heartless sigh!
An absent God no abler to defend,
Protect, or punish, than an absent friend;
Distant alike our wants or griefs to know,
To ease the anguish, or prevent the blow,
If he, Supreme Director, were not near,
Vain were our hope, and empty were our fear;
Unpunish'd vice would o'er the world prevail,
And unrewarded virtue toil-to fail!
The moral world a second chaos lie,
And Nature sicken to the thoughtful eye!

Even the weak embryo, ere to life it breaks,
From his high pow'r its slender texture takes;

While in his book the various parts enroll'd,
Increasing, own eternal Wisdom's mould.

Nor views he only the material whole,
But pierces thought, and penetrates the soul!
Ere from the lips the vocal accents part,
Or the faint purpose dawns within the heart,
His steady eye the mental birth perceives,
Ere yet to us the new idea lives!

Knows what we say, ere yet the words proceed,
And ere we form th' intention, marks the deed!
But Conscience, fair vicegerent-light within,
Asserts its author, and restores the scene!
Points out the beauty of the govern'd plan,
"And vindicates the ways of God to man."

Then, sacred Muse, by the vast prospect fir'd, From Heav'n descended, as by Heav'n inspir'd; His all-enlight'ning omnipresence own, [known; Whence first thou feel'st thy dwindling presence His wide omniscience, justly, grateful, sing, Whence thy weak science pranes its callow wing! And bless th' Eternal, all-informing Soul, Whose sight pervades, whose knowledge fills the whole.

IMMUTABILITY.

As the Eternal and Omniscient Mind,
By laws not limited, nor bounds confin'd,
Is always independent, always free,
Hence shines confess'd Immutability!
Change, whether the spontaneous child of will,
Or birth of force-is imperfection still.
But he, all-perfect, in himself contains
Pow'r self-deriv'd, and from himself he reigns!
If, alter'd by constraint, we could suppose,
That God his fix'd stability should lose;
How startles reason at a thought so strange!
What pow'r can force Omnipotence to change?
If from his own divine productive thought,
Were the yet stranger alteration wrought;
Could excellence supreme new rays acquire?
Or strong perfection raise its glories higher?
Absurd!-his high meridian brightness glows,
Never decreases, never overflows!
Knows no addition, yields to no decay,
The blaze of incommunicable day!

Below through different forms does matter range,
And life subsist from elemental change;
Liquids condensing shapes terrestrial wear,
Earth mounts in fire, and fire dissolves in air;
While we, inquiring phantoms of a day,
Inconstant as the shadows we survey!

With them, along Time's rapid current pass,
And haste to mingle with the parent mass;
But thou, Eternal Lord of life divine!
In youth immortal shalt for ever shine!
No change shall darken thy exalted name;
From everlasting ages still the same!

If God, like man, his purpose could renew,
His laws could vary, or his plans undo;
Desponding faith would droop its cheerless wing,
Religion deaden to a lifeless thing!
Where could we, rational, repose our trust,
But in a Pow'r immutable as just?
How judge of revelation's force divine,
If Truth unerring gave not the design?
Where, as in Nature's fair according plan,
All smiles benevolent and good to man.

Plac'd in this narrow clouded spot below, We darkly see around and darkly know!

Religion lends the salutary beam,

That guides our reason through the dubious gleam;
Till sounds the hour, when he who rules the skies
Shall bid the curtain of Omniscience rise!
Shall dissipate the mists that veil our sight,
And show his creatures-all his ways are right!
Then, when astonish'd Nature feels its fate,
And fetter'd Time shall know his latest date;
When Earth shall in the mighty blaze expire,
Heav'n melt with heat, and worlds dissolve in fire!
The universal system shrink away,

And ceasing orbs confess th' almighty sway!
Immortal he, amidst the wreck secure,
Shall sit exalted, permanently pure!

As in the sacred bush, shall shine the same,
And from the ruin raise a fairer frame!

OMNIPOTENCE.

Far hence, ye visionary charming maids,
Ye fancied nymphs that haunt the Grecian shades!
Your birth who from conceiving fiction drew,
Yourselves producing phantoms as untrue:
But come, superior Muse! divinely bright,
Daughter of Heav'n, whose offspring still is light,
Oh condescend, celestial sacred guest!

To purge my sight, and animate my breast,
While I presume Omnipotence to trace,
And sing that Pow'r who peopled boundless space!
Thou present were, when forth th' Almighty
rode,

While Chaos trembled at the voice of God!
Thou saw'st, when o'er th' immense his line he drew,
When Nothing from his word existence knew!
His word, that wak'd to life the vast profound,
While conscious light was kindled at the sound!
Creation fair surpris'd the angelic eyes,
And sov'reign Wisdom saw that all was wise!
Him, sole Almighty, Nature's book displays,
Distinct the page, and legible the rays!
Let the wild sceptic his attention throw
To the broad horizon, or Earth below;
He finds thy soft impression touch his breast,
He feels the God, and owns him unconfest:
Should the stray pilgrim, tir'd of sands and skies,
In Libya's waste behold a palace rise,
Would he believe the charm from atoms wrought?
Go, atheist, hence, and mend thy juster thought!
What hand, Almighty Architect! but thine,
Could give the model of this vast design?
What hand but thine adjust th' amazing whole?
And bid conseuting systems beauteous roll!
What hand but thine supply the solar light!
Ever bestowing, yet for ever bright!
What hand but thine the starry train array,
Or give the Moon to shed her borrow'd ray?
What hand but thine the azure convex spread?
What hand but thine compose the ocean's bed?
To the vast main the sandy barrier throw,
And with the feeble curb restrain the foe?
What hand but thine the wint'ry flood assuage,
Or stop the tempest in its wildest rage?

Thee infinite! what finite can explore?
Imagination sinks beneath thy pow'r;
Thee could the ablest of thy creatures know,
Lost were thy unity, for he were thou!
Yet present to all sense thy pow'r remains,
Reveal'd in nature Nature's Author reigns!
In vain would errour from conviction fly,
Thou ev'ry where art present to the eyc.