The Works of Mr. James Thomson ... To which is prefixed the life of the author by Patrick Murdoch

Front matter

1 THE WORKS OF MR. JAMES THOMSON, WITH HIS LAST CORRECTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. IN THREE VOLUMES COMPLETE. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, BY PATRICK MURDOCH, D.D. F.R.S. Vol. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR R. BALDWIN; J. NICHOLS AND SON; F. AND C. RIVINCTON; W. J. AND J. RICHARDSON; J.WALKER; R. LEA ; W.LOWNDES; C. AND J. ROBINSON; T.PAYNE; C. WILKIE; OGILVY AND SON; J. SCATCHERDJ VERNOR AND HOOD; J. hunk; claw; lonoman and rees; cadell, jun. and davies; ». crosby; T. hurst; carpenter AND CO; AND BLACKS AND PARR,7. 1802. Printed by A. Strahsm, New-Street Square. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. Britannia. A Poem. ... Page i Ancient and Modern Italy compared : being the First Part of Liberty, a Poem. - - - ii Greece : being the Second Part of Liberty, a Poem. 31 Rome : being the Third Part of Liberty, a Poem. 49 Britain : being the Fourth Part of Liberty, a Poem. 69 The Prospect : being the Fifth Part of Liberty, a Poem. - - - - - 113 Sophonisba.

A Tragedy. ... 139 Edward and Eleonora. A Tragedy. - - BRITANNIAj A POEM. Et tantas audetis tollere moles ? Quos ego— sed motos pnestat componere fluctus. Post mihi non simili pœna commissa luetis. Maturate fugam, regique hæc dicite vestro : Non illi imperium pelagi, sævumque tiidentem, Sed mihi sorte datum. Virc. J\S on the sea-beat shore Britannia sat, Of her degenerate sons the faded fame, Deep in her anxious heart, revolving sad : Bare was her throbbing bosom to the gale, That hoarse, and hollow, from the bleak surge blew; Loose flow'd her tresses ; rent her azure robe. Hung o'er the deep, from her majestic brow She tore the laurel, and she tore the bay. Nor ceas'd the copious grief to bathe her cheek ; Nor ceas'd her sobs to murmur to the main. Peace discontented nigh, departing, stretch'd VOL. II.

B BRITANNIA. 2 Her dove-like wings. And War, tho' greatly rous'd, Yet mourns his fetter'd hands. While thus the queen Of nations spoke ; and what she said the muse Recorded, faithful, in unbidden verse. Even not yon sail, that, from the sky-mixt wave, Dawns on the sight, and wafts the Royal Youth*, A freight of future glory to my shore ; Even not the flattering view of golden days, And rising periods yet of bright renown, Beneath the Parents, and their endless line Thro' late revolving time, can sooth my rage ; While, unchastis'd, the insulting Spaniard dares Infest the trading flood, full of vain war Despise my navies, and my merchants seize ; As, trusting to false peace, they fearless roam The world of waters wild ; made, by the toil, And liberal blood of glorious ages, mine : Nor bursts my sleeping thunder on their head.

Part I. The

following Poem is thrown into the form of a Poetical Vision. Its Scene the ruins of ancient Rome. The Goddess of Liberty, who is supposed to speak through the whole, appears, characterized as British Liberty ; to ver. 44. Gives a view of ancient Italy, and particularly of Republican Rome, in all her magnificence and glory ; to ver. 112. This constrasted by modern Italy; its vallies, mountains, culture, cities, people : the difference appearing strongest in the Capital City Rome ; to ver. 234. The ruins ofthe great works of Liberty more magnificent than the borrowed pomp of Oppression ; and from them revived Sculpture, Painting, and Architecture ; to ver. 256. The old Romans aposirophii'd, with regard to the several melancholy changes in Italy: Horace, Tully, and Virgil, with regard to their Tibur, Tvsculum, and Naples ; to ver, 287.

That once finest and most ornamented part of Italy, all along the Coast of Baiæ, how changed; to ver. 321. This desolation of Italy applied to Britain; to ver. 344. Address to the Goddess of Liberty, that she would deduce from the first ages, her chief establishments, the description of which constitute the subject of the following parts of this Poem. She assents, and commands what she says to be sung in Britain ; whose happiness, arising from freedom, and a limited monarchy, she marks ; to ver. 391. An immediate Vision attends, and paints her words. Invocation. LIBERTY

PART I

Vj My lamented Talbot ! while with thee The Muse gay rov'd the glad Hesperian round, And drew the inspiring breath of ancient arts ; Ah ! little thought she her returning verse Should sing our darling subject to thy Shade. 5 And does the mystic veil, from mortal beam, Involve those eyes where every virtue smil'd, And all thy Father's candid spirit shone ? The light of reason, pure, without a cloud ; Full of the generous heart, the mild regard ; 1 o Honour disdaining blemish, cordial faith, And limpid truth, that looks the very soul. But to the death of mighty nations turn, My strain ; be there absorpt the private tear. Musing, I lay ; warm from the sacred walks, 1 5 Where at each step imagination burns : While scatter'd wide around, awful, and hoar, Lies, a vast monument, once-glorious Rome, The tomb of empire ! ruins ! that efface Whate'er, of sinish'd, modern pomp can boast. 2c VOL. II.

C i8 LIBERTY. Part I. Snatch'd by these wonders to that world where thought Unfetter'd ranges, Fancy's magic hand Led me anew o'er all the solemn scene, Still in the mind's pure eye more solemn drest. When straight, methought, the fair majestic Power Of Liberty appear'd. Not, as of old, 26 Extended in her hand the cap, and rod, Whose slave-enlarging touch gave double life : But her bright temples bound with British oak, And naval honours nodded on her brow. 30 Sublime of port : loose o'er her shoulder flow'd Her sea-green robe, with constellations gay. An island-goddess now ; and her high care The Queen of Isles, the mistress of the main. My heart beat filial transport at the sight ; 35 And, as she mov'd to speak, th' awakened Muse Listen'd intense. A while she look'd around, With mournful eye the well-known ruins mark'd, And then, her sighs repressing, thus began.

Mine are these wonders, all thou see'st is mine ; 40 But ah how chang'd ! the falling poor remains Of what exalted once th' Ausonian shore. Look back thro' time ; and, rising from the gloom, Mark the dread scene, that paints whate'er I say. The great Republic see ! that glow'd, sublime, 45 With the mixt freedom of a thousand states ; Rais'd on the thrones of Kings her Curule Chair, And by her Fasces aw'd the subject world. See busy millions quickning all the land, With cities throng'd, and teeming culture high : 50 For Nature then smil'd on her free-born sons, And pour'd the plenty that belongs to Men. Behold, the country chearing, villas rise, In lively prospect ; by the secret lapse Of brooks now lost and streams renown'd in song : In Umbria's closing vales, or on the brow Of her brown hills that breathe the scented gale : On Baiæ's viny coast ; where peaceful seas, Fann'd by kind zephyrs, ever kiss the shore ; And suns unclouded shine, thro' purest air : Or in the spacious neighbourhood of Rome; 55 6: Far-shining upward to the Sabine hills, To Anio's roar, and Tibur's olive shade ; To where Preneste lifts her airy brow ; Or downward spreading to the sunny shore, Where Alba breathes the freshness of the main. 65 See distant mountains leave their valleys dry, And o'er the proud Arcade the tribute pour, To lave imperial Rome.

For ages laid, Deep, massy, firm, diverging every way, With tombs of heroes sacred, see her roads: By various nations trod, and suppliant kings ; With legions flaming, or with triumph gay. 7° Full in the centre of these wondrous works, The pride of earth! Rome in her glory see! Behold her demigods, in senate met ; 75 All head to counsel, and all heart to act : The commonweal inspiring every tongue With fervent eloquence, unbrib'd, and bold ; Ere tame Corruption taught the servile herd To rank obedient to a master's voice. V Her Forum see, warm, popular, and loud, In trembling wonder hush'd, when the two Sires*, As they the private father greatly quell'd, 85 Stood up the public fathers of the state. See Justice judging there in human shape * L. J. Brutus, and Virginivs. C 2o LIBERTY. Part I. Hark! how with freedom's voice it thunders high, Or in soft murmurs sinks to Tully's tongue.

Her Tribes, her Census, see ; her generous troops, Whose pay was glory, and their best reward 90 Free for their country and for me to die ; Ere mercenary murder grew a trade. Mark, as the purple triumph waves along, The highest pomp and lowest fall of life. Her festive games, the school of heroes, see ; 95 Her Circus, ardent with contending youth ; Her streets, her temples, palaces, and baths, Full of fair forms, of Beauty's eldest born, And of a people cast in virtue's mold. While sculpture lives around, and Asian hills 1 00 Lend their best stores to heave the pillar'd dome : All that to Roman strength the softer touch Of Grecian art can join. But language fails To paint this sun, this centre of mankind ; Where every virtue, glory, treasure, art, 105 Attracted strong, in heightened lustre met.

Need I the contrast mark ? unjoyous view ! A land in all, in government, and arts , In virtue, genius, earth and heaven, revers'd. Who but these far-fam'd ruins to behold, no Proofs of a people, whose heroic aims Soar'd far above the little selfish sphere Of doubting modern life ; who but inflam'd With classic zeal, these consecrated scenes Of men and deeds to trace : unhappy land, 115 Would trust thy wilds, and cities loose of sway? Are these the vales, that, once, exulting states In their warm bosom fed ? The mountains these, On whose high-blooming sides my sons, of old, I bred to glory ? These dejected towns, 130 135 140 »45 150 WThere, mean, and sordid, life can scarce subsist, The scenes of ancient opulence, and pomp ? Come ! by whatever sacred name disguis'd, Oppression, come ! and in thy works rejoice !

See Nature's richest plains to putrid fens Turn'd by thy fury. From their chearsul bounds, See raz'd th' enlivening village, farm, and seat. First, rural toil, by thy rapacious hand Robb'd of his poor reward, resign'd the plow ; And now he dares not turn the noxious glebe. 'Tis thine entire. The lonely swain himself, Who loves at large along the grassy downs His flocks to pasture, thy drear champain flies. Far as the sickening eye can sweep around, 'Tis all one desart, desolate, and grey, Graz'd by the sullen bufalo alone ; And where the rank uncultivated growth Of rotting ages taints the passing gale. Beneath the baleful blast tlie city pines, Or sinks enfeebled, or infected burns. Beneath it mourns the solitary road, Roll'd in rude mazes o'er the abandon'd waste ; While ancient ways, ingulph'd, are seen no more.

Such thy dire plains, thou self-destroyer ! Foe To human-kind ! Thy mountains too, profuse, Where savage Nature blooms, seem their sad plaint To raise against thy desolating rod. There on the breezy brow, where thriving states, And famous cities, once, to the pleas'd sun, Far other scenes of rising culture spread, Pale shine thy ragged towns. Neglected round, Each harvest pines ; the livid, lean produce Of heartless labour : while thy hated joys, Not proper pleasure, lift the lazy hand. c Better to sink in sloth the woes of life, 1 55 Than wake their rage with unavailing toil. Hence drooping Art almost to Nature leaves The rude unguided year. Thin wave the gifts Of yellow Ceres, thin the radiant blush Of orchard reddens in the warmest ray. 160 To weedy wildness run, no rural wealth (Such as dictators fed) the garden pours.

Crude the wild olive flows, and foul the vine ; Nor juice Cœcubian, nor Falernian, more, Streams life and joy, save in the Muse's bowl. 165 Unseconded by art, the spinning race Draw the brjght thread in vain, and idly toil. In vain, forlorn in wilds, the citron blows ; And flowering plants perfume the desart gale. Thro' the vile thorn the tender myrtle twines. 170 Inglorious droops the laurel, dead to song, And long a stranger to the hero's brow. Nor half thy triumph this : cast, from brute fields, Into the haunts of men thy ruthless eye. There buxom Plenty never turns her horn ; 175 The grace and virtue of exterior life, No clean Convenience reigns ; even Sleep itself, Least delicate of powers, reluctant, there, Lays on the bed impure his heavy head. Thy horrid walk ! dead, empty, unadorned, 180 See streets whose echoes never know the voice Of chearsul hurry, commerce many-tongu'd, And art mechanic at his various task, Fervent, employ'd. Mark the desponding race, Of occupation void, as void of hope ; 185 Hope, the glad ray, glanc'd from Eternal Good, That life enlivens, and exalts its powers, With views of fortune madness all to them ! i°5 200 205 210 215 220 By thee relentless seiz'd their better joys, To the soft aid of cordial airs they fly, Breathing a kind oblivion o'er their woes, And love and music melt their souls away.

From feeble Justice see how rash Revenge, Trembling, the balance snatches ; and the sword, Fearful himself, to venal ruffians gives. See where God's altar, nursing murder, stands, With the red touch of dark assassins stain'd. But chief let Rome, the mighty city ! speak The full-exerted genius of thy reign. Behold her rise amid the lifeless waste, Expiring nature all corrupted round ; While the lone Tyber, thro' the desert plain, Winds his waste stores, and sullen sweeps along. Patch'd from my fragments, in unsolid pomp, Mark how the temple glares ; and, artful drest, Amusive, draws the superstitious train. Mark how the palace lifts a lying front, Concealing often, in magnific jail, Proud want ; a deep unanimated gloom ! And oft adjoining to the drear abode Of misery, whose melancholy walls Seem its voracious grandeur to reproach.

Within the city bounds, the desart see. See the rank vine o'er subterranean roofs, Indecent, spread ; beneath whose fretted gold It once, exulting, flow'd. The people mark, Matchless, while fir'd by me ; to public good Inexorably firm, just, generous, brave, Afraid of nothing but unworthy life, Elate with glory, an heroic soul Known to the vulgar breast : behold them now A thin despairing number, all-subdu'd, C4 The slaves of slaves, by superstition fool'd, By vice unmann'd and a licentious rule, In guile ingenious, and in murder brave. 225 Such in one land, beneath the same fair clime, ■"Thy sons, Oppression, are; and such were mine. Even with thy labour'd Pomp, for whose vain show Deluded thousands starve ; all age-begrim'd, Torn, robb'd and scatter'd in unnumber'd sacks, 230 And by the tempest of two thousand years Continual shaken, let my Ruins vie.

These roads that yet the Roman hand assert, Beyond the weak repair of modern toil ; These fractur'd arches, that the chiding stream 235 No more delighted hear ; these rich remains Of marbles now unknown, where shines imbib'd Each parent ray ; these massy columns, hew'd From Afric's farthest shore ; one granite all, These obelisks high-towering to the sky, 240 Mysterious mark'd with dark Egyptian lore ; These endless wonders that this sacred way* Illumine still, and consecrate to fame ; These fountains, vases, urns, and statues, charg'd With the fine stores of art-compleating Greece. 245 Mine is, besides, thy every later boast: Thy BuONAROTisf, thy PALLADIosf mine; And mine the fair designs, which Raphael's! sou-- O'er the live canvass, emanating, breath'd. What would you say, ye conquerors of earth! 259 Ye Romans! could you raise the laurel'd head ; Could you the country see, by seas of blood, * Via Sacra. f M. Angelo Buonaroti, Palladio, and Raphael d'Urbino the three great modern masters in sculpture, architecture, and painting.

And the dread toil of ages, won so dear ; Your pride, your triumph, your supreme delight f For whose defence oft, in the doubtful hour, 255 You rush'd with rapture down the gulph of fate, Of death ambitious ! till by awful deeds, Virtues, and courage, that amaze mankind, The queen of nations rose ; possest of all Wbiich nature, art, and glory could bestow : 260 What would you say, deep in the last abyss Of slavery, vice, and unambitious want, Thus to behold her sunk ? Your crowded plains, Void of their cities ; unadorn'd your hills ; 264 Ungrac'd your lakes ; your ports to ships unknown ; Your lawless floods, and your abandon'd streams : These could you know ? these could you love again ? Thy Tibur, Horace, could it now inspire Content, poetic ease, and rural joy, Soon bursting into song : while thro' the groves 270 Of headlong Anio, dashing to the vale, In many a tortur'd stream, you mus'd along ?

Yon wild retreat *, where superstition dreams, Could, Tully, you your Tusculum believe ? And could you deem yon naked hills, that form, 275 Fam'd in old song, the ship-forsaken bay -f, Your Formian shore ? once the delight of earth, Where art and nature, ever-smiling, join'd On the gay land to lavish all their stores. How chang'd, how vacant, Virgil, wide around, 280 Would now your Naples seem ? Disaster'd less By black Vesuvius thundering o'er the coast, * Tusculum is reckoned to have stood at a place now called Grotta Ferratn, a convent of monks. f The bay of Mola (anciently Formice) into which Homer brings. Ulysses, and his companions. Near Formict Cicero had a villa. His midnight earthquakes, and his mining fires, Than by despotic rage* : that inward gnaws, A native foe ; a foreign, tears without. 285 First from your flatter'd Cæsars this began : Till, doom'd to tyrants an eternal prey, Thin-peopled spreads, at last, the syren plains, That the dire soul of Hannibal disarm'd ; And wrapt in weeds the shore of Venus\ lies. 290 There Baite sees no more the joyous throng ; Her bank all beaming with the pride of Rome : No generous vines now bask along the hills, Where sport the breezes of the Tyrrhene main : With baths and temples mixt, no villas rise ; 295 Nor, art-sustain'd amid reluctant waves, Draw the cool murmurs of the breathing deep : No spreading ports their sacred arms extend : No mighty moles the big intrusive storm, From the calm station, roll resounding back. 300 An almost total desolation sits, A dreary stillness, saddening o'er the coast ; Where, when soft suns and tepid winters rose, Rejoicing crowds inhal'd the balm of peace ; Where city'd hill to hill reflected blaze ; 305 And where, with Ceres, Bacchus wont to hold A genial strife ||.

Her youthful form, robust, Even nature yields ; by fire, and earthquake rent : Whole stately cities in the dark abrupt Swallow'd at once, or vile in rubbish laid, 310 * Naples then under the Aicstrian government. f Campagnafelice, adjoining to Capua, { The coast of Baice, which was formerly adorned with the works men tioned in the following lines ; and where, amidst many magnificent ruins, those of a temple erected to Venus are still to be seen. || All along this coast, the ancient Romans had their winter retreats and several populous cities stood. A nest for serpents ; from the red abyss New hills, explosive, thrown ; the Lucrine lake A reedy pool ; and all to Cuma's point, The sea recovering his usurp'd domain, And pour'd triumphant o'er the bury'd dome. 315 Hence, Britain, learn; my best-establish'd, last, And more than Greece, or Rome, my steady reign ; The land where, King and People equal bound By guardian laws, my fullest blessings flow ; And where my jealous unsubmitting soul, 320 The dread of tyrants ! burns in every breast : Learn hence, if such the miserable fate Of an heroic race, the masters once Of human-kind ; what, when depriv'd of me, How grievous must be thine ?

In spite of climes, 325 WTiose sun-enliven'd æther wakes the soul To higher powers ; in spite of happy soils, That, but by labour's slightest aid impell'd, With treasures teem to thy cold clime unknown ; If there desponding fail the common arts, 330 And sustenance of life: could life itself, Far less a thoughtless tyrant's hollow pomp, Subsist with thee ? Against depressing skies, Join'd to full-spread Oppression's cloudy brow, How could thy spirits hold? where vigour find, 335 Forc'd fruits to tear from their unnative soil? Or, storing every harvest in thy ports, To plow the dreadful all-producing wave? Here paus'd the Goddess. By the pause assur'd, In trembling accents thus I mov'd my prayer. 340 " Oh first, and most benevolent of powers ! " Come from eternal splendors, here on earth, " Against despotic pride, and rage, and lust, " To shield mankind ; to raise them to assert « The native rights and honour of their race : 345 " Teach me thy lowest subject, but in zeal " Yielding to none, the progress of thy reign, " And with a strain from thee enrich the Muse.

" As thee alone she serves, her patron, thou, " And great inspirer be ! then will she joy, 350 " Thro' narrow life her lot, and private shade : " And when her venal voice she barters vile, " Or to thy open or thy secret foes, " May ne'er those sacred raptures touch her more, " By slavish hearts unfelt! and may her song 355 " Sink in oblivion with the nameless crew ! " Vermin of state ! to thy o'erflowing light " That owe their being, yet betray thy cause." Then, condescending kind, the heavenly Power Return'd. " What here, suggested by the scene, " I slight unfold, record and sing at home, 361 " In that blest isle, where (so we spirits move) " With one quick effort of my will I am. " There Truth, unlicens'd, walks; and dares accost " Even kings themselves, the monarchs of the free ! " Fix'd on my rock, there, an indulgent race 366 " O'er Britons wield the sceptre of their choice : " And there, to finish what his sires began, " A prince behold! for me who burns sincere, " Ev'n with a subject's zeal.

He my great work 37a " Will parent-like sustain ; and added give " The touch, the Graces and the Muses owe. " For Britain's glory swells his panting breast; " And ancient arts he emulous revolves: " His pride to let the smiling heart abroad; 37 j " Thro' clouds of pomp, that but conceal the man ; " To please his pleasure ; bounty his delight; " And all the soul of Titus dwells in him." Hail glorious theme ! But how, alas ! shall verse, From the crude stores of mortal language drawn, 380 How faint and tedious, sing, what piercing deep, The Goddess flash'd at once upon my soul ? For, clear precision all, the tongue of gods Is harmony itself ; to every ear Familiar known, like light to every eye. 385 Mean-time disclosing ages, as she spoke, In long succession pour'd their empires forth; Scene after scene, the human drama spread ; And still th' embodied picture rose to sight.

Oh thou! to whom the Muses owe their flame ; Who bid'st, beneath the pole, Parnassus rise, 391 And Hippocrene flow ; with thy bold ease, The striking force, the lightning of thy thought, And thy strong phrase, that rolls profound, and clear; Oh gracious Goddess ! re-inspire my song; 395 While I, to nobler than poetic fame Aspiring, thv commands to Britons bear. GREECE: BEING THE SECOND PART OF LIBERTY, A POEM. CONTENTS OF

Part II. Liberty

traced from the pastoral ages, and the first uniting of neighbouring families into civil government ; to ver. 47. The several establishments of Liberty, in Egypt, Persia, Phoenicia, Palestine, slightly touched upon, down to her great establishment in Greece; to ver. 91. Geographical description of Greece ; to ver. 113. Sparta, and Athens, the two principal states of Greece, described; to ver. 164. Influence of Liberty over all the Grecian slates; with regard to their Government, their Politeness, their Virtues, their Arts and Sciences. The vast superiority it gave them, in point of force and bravery, over the Persians, exemplified by the action of Thermopylæ, the battle of Marathon, and the retreat of the Ten Thousand. Its full exertion, and most beautiful effects in Athens; to ver. 216. Liberty the source of free philosophy.

The various schools, which took their rise from Socrates; to ver, 257. Enumeration of Fine Arts : Eloquence, Poetry, Music, Sculpture, Paint. ing, and Architecture; the effects of Liberty in Greece, and brought to their utmost perfection there; to ver. 381. Transition to the modern state of Greece ; to ver. 411. Why Liberty declined, and was at last entirely lost among the Greeks j to ver. 472. Concluding Reflection. JL HUS spoke the Goddess of the fearless eye; And at her voice, renew'd, the Vision rose. First, in the dawn of time, with eastern swains, In woods, and tents, and cottages, I liv'd ; While on from plain to plain they led their flocks, In search of clearer spring, and fresher field. These, as increasing families disclos'd 5 The tender state, I taught an equal sway. Few were offences, properties, and laws.

Beneath the rural portal, palm-o'erspread, The father-senate met. There Justice dealt, With reason then and equity the same, Free as the common air, her prompt decree ; Nor yet had stain'd her sword with subject's blood The simpler arts were all their simple wants Had urg'd to light. But instant, these supply'd, Another set of fonder wants arose, io -5 And other arts with them of finer aim ; Till, from refining want to want impell'd, The mind by thinking push'd her latent powers, And life began to glow, and arts to shine. 20 VOL. II. d IL 34 At first, on brutes alone the rustic war Launch'd the rude spear ; swift, as he glar'd along, On the grim lion, or the robber-wolf. For then young sportive life was void of toil, 25 Demanding little, and with little pleas'd : But when to manhood grown, and endless joys, Led on by equal toils, the bosom fir'd ; Lewd lazy rapine broke primæval peace, And, hid in caves and idle forests drear, 30 From the lone pilgrim and the wandering swain, Seiz'd what he durst not earn.

Then brother's blood First, horrid, smok'd on the polluted skies. Awful in justice, then the burning youth, Led by their temper'd sires, on lawless men, 35 The last worst monsters of the shaggy wood, Turn'd the keen arrow, and the sharpen'd spear. Then war grew glorious. Heroes then arose ; Who, scorning coward self, for others liv'd, Toil'd for their ease, and for their safety bled. 40 West with the living day to Greece I came : Earth smil'd beneath my beam : the Muse before Sonorous flew, that low till then in woods Had tun'd the reed, and sigh'd the shepherd's pain ; But now, to sing heroic deeds, she swell'd 45 A nobler note, and bade the banquet burn. For Greece my sons of Egypt I forsook ; A boastful race, that in the vain abyss Of fabling ages lov'd to lose their source, And with their river trac'd it from the skies. 50 While there my laws alone despotic reign'd, And king, as well as people, proud obey'd ; I taught them science, virtue, wisdom, arts ; By poets, sages, legislators sought ; The school of polish'd life, and human-kind.

But when mysterious Superstition came, And, with her Civil Sister * leagu'd, involved In study'd darkness the desponding mind ; Then Tyrant Power the righteous scourge unloos'd : For yielding reason speaks the soul a slave. 60 Instead of useful works, like Nature's, great, Enormous, cruel wonders crush'd the land ; And round a tyrant's tombs, who none deserv'd, For one vile carcass perish'd countless lives. Then the great Dragon J, couch'd amid his floods, 65 Swell'd his fierce heart, and cry'd — " This flood is mine, " 'Tis I that bid it flow." — But, undeceiv'd, His phrenzy soon the proud blasphemer felt ; Felt that, without my fertilizing power, Suns lost their force, and Nile: o'erflow'd in vain. 70 Nought could retard me : nor the frugal state Of rising Per:ia, sober in extreme, Beyond the pitch of man, and thence revers'd Into luxurious waste: nor yet the ports Of old Phoenicia; first for letters fam'd, 75 That paint the voice, and silent speak to sight, Of arts prime source, and guardian ! by fair stars, First tempted out into the lonely deep ; To whom I first disclos'd mechanic arts, The winds to conquer, to subdue the waves, 80 With all the peaceful power of ruling trade; Earnest of Britain.

Nor by these retain'd ; Nor by the neighbouring land, whose palmy shore The silver Jordan laves. Before me lay The promis'd Land of Arts, and urg'd my flight. 85 Hail Nature's utmost boast! unrival'd Greece! My fairest reign! where every power benign * Civil Tyranny. \ The Py ramids. + The Tyrantiof Egypt. D Conspir'd to blow the flower of human-kind, And lavish'd all that genius can inspire. Clear sunny climates, by the breezy main, 90 Ionian or Ægean, temper'd kind. Light, airy soils. A country rich, and gay ; Broke into hills with balmy odours crown'd, And, bright with purple harvest, joyous vales. 94 Mountains and streams, where verse spontaneous flow'd; Whence deem'd by wondering men the seat of gods, And still the mountains and the streams of song. All that boon Nature could luxuriant pour Of high materials, and My restless Arts Frame into finish'd life.