Breaks the falfe optics ting'd with fortune's glare,
Unlocks the breaft, and lays the paffions bare:
Then turn thy eyes on that important scene,
And ask thyfelf-if all be well within.
Where is the heart-felt worth and weight of foul,
Which labour could not stop, nor fear controul?
Where the known dignity, the stamp of awe,
Which, half abafh'd, the proud and venal faw?
Where the calm triumphs of an honest cause?
Where the delightful taste of just applause?
Where the strong reafon, the commanding tongue,
On which the fenate fir'd or trembling hung?
All vanifh'd, all are fold-And in their room,
Couch'd in thy bosom's deep, distracted gloom,
See the pale form of barb'rous grandeur dwell,
Like fome grim idol in a forc'rer's cell!
To her in chains thy dignity was led ;
At her polluted shrine thy honour bled;
With blafted weeds thy awful brow the crown'd,
Thy powerful tongue with poifon'd philters bound,
That baffled reafon straight indignant flew,
And fair perfuafion from her feat withdrew:
For now no longer truth fupports thy cause;
No longer glory prompts thee to applause;
No longer virtue breathing in thy breast,
With all her confcious majesty confest,
Still bright and brighter wakes th' almighty flame,
To roufe the feeble, and the wilful tame,
And where the fees the catching glimpfes roll,
Spreads the strong blaze, and all involves the foul;
But cold restraints thy conscious fancy chill,
And formal paffions mock thy struggling will;
Or if thy Genius e'er forget his chain,
And reach impatient at a nobler strain,
Soon the fad bodings of contemptuous mirth
Shoot thro' thy breaft, and ftab the generous birth,
Till blind with fmart, from truth to frenzy toft,
And all the tenor of thy reason loft,
Perhaps thy anguish drains a real tear ;
While fome with pity, fome with laughter hear.
-Can art, alas! or genius guide the head,
Where truth and freedom from the heart are fled ?
Can leffer wheels repeat their native stroke,
When the prime function of the foul is broke?
But come, unhappy man! thy fates impend ;
Come, quit thy friends, if yet thou haft a friend;
Turn from the poor rewards of guilt like thine,
Renounce thy titles, and thy robes refign;
For fee the hand of destiny display'd
To shut thee from the joys thou hast betray'd!
See the dire fane of infamy arife!
Dark as the grave, and fpacious as the skies;
Where from the first of time, thy kindred train,
The chiefs and princes of th' unjust remain.
Eternal barriers guard the pathlefs road
To warn the wand'rer of the curst abode;
But prone as whirlwinds fcour the paffive sky,
The heights furmounted, down the steep they fly,
There, black with frowns, relentless Time awaits,
And goads their footsteps to the guilty gates;
And still he afks them of their unknown aims,
Evolves their fecrets, and their guilt proclaims;
And still his hands despoil them on the road
Of each vain wreath, by lying bards bestow'd,
Break their proud marbles, cruth their feftal cars,
And rend the lawlefs trophies of their wars.
At last the gates his potent voice obey;
Fierce to their dark abode he drives his prey,
Where, ever arm'd with adamantine chains,
The watchful dæmon o'er her vaffals reigns,
O'er mighty names and giant-powers of luft,
The Great, the Sage, the Happy, and Auguft
No gleam of hope their baleful manfion cheers,
No found of honour hails their unbleft ears;
But dire reproaches from the friend betray'd,
The childlefs fire and violated maid;
But vengeful vows for guardian laws effac'd,
From towns inflav'd and continents laid wafte;
But long Pofterity's united groan,
And the fad charge of horrors not their own,
For ever thro' the trembling space refound,
And fink each impious forehead to the ground.
d Titles which have been generally afcribed to the most pernicious of men.
Ye mighty foes of liberty and rest,
Give way, do homage to a mightier guest!
Ye daring spirits of the Roman race,
See CURIO's toils your proudest claims efface!
-Aw'd at the name, fierce Appius rifing bends,
And hardy Cinna from his throne attends:
"He comes, they cry, to whom the Fates affign'd
"With furer arts to work what we design'd,
"From year to year the stubborn herd to sway,
"Mouth all their wrongs, and all their rage obey;
"Till own'd their guide and trufted with their power,
"He mock'd their hopes in one decifive hour:
"Then tir'd and yielding, led them to the chain,
"And quench'd the spirit we provok❜d in vain.”
But thou, Supreme, by whofe eternal hands
Fair Liberty's heroic empire ftands;
Whose thunders the rebellious deep controul,
And quell the triumphs of the traitor's foul,
O turn this dreadful omen far away!
On Freedom's foes their own attempts repay;
Relume her facred fire so near supprest,
And fix her shrine in every Roman breast.
Tho' bold Corruption boast around the land,
"Let Virtue, if she can, my baits withstand!"
e Appius Claudius the Decemvir, and L. Cornelius Cinna, both attempted to establish a tyrannical dominion in Rome, and both perished by the treafon.
Tho' bolder now fhe urge th' accursed claim,
Gay with her trophies rais'd on CURIO's fhame;
Yet fome there are who fcorn her impious mirth,
Who know what conscience and a heart are worth.
-O friend and father of the human mind,
Whose art for noblest ends our frame defign'd!
If I, tho' fated to the studious shade
Which party-ftrife nor anxious power invade,
If I aspire in public virtue's cause,
To guide the Mufes by fublimer laws,
Do thou her own authority impart,
And give my numbers entrance to the heart.
Perhaps the verse might rouse her smother'd flame,
And fnatch the fainting patriot back to fame;
Perhaps, by worthy thoughts of human kind,
To worthy deeds exalt the conscious mind;
Or dash Corruption in her proud career,
And teach her flaves that Vice was born to fear.
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