REFLECTIONS on a §§ CONTEMPLATIONS
FLOWER-GARDEN; $$ on the STAR
$$ HEAVENS; And,
By JAMES HERVEY, A. B.
Late of Lincoln-College, Oxford.
Printed and Sold by DANIEL FOWLE in Queen ftreet,
and by DANIEL GOOKIN in Marlborough-street. 1750.
N thefe lov'd Scenes what rapt'rous Graces fhine,
Live in each Leaf, and breathe in ev'ry Line!
What facred Beauties beam throughout the Whole,
To charm the Senfe, and fteal upon the Soul!
In claffic Elegance, and Thoughts- his own,
We see our Faults, as in a Mirrour, fhewn :
Each Truth, in glaring Characters expreft,
All own the Twin Refemblance in their Breait :
His eafy Periods, and perfuafive Page,
At once amend, and entertain the Age :
Nature's wide Fields all open to his View,
He charms the Mind with fomething ever New
On Fancy's Pinions, his advent'rous Soul
Wantons unbounded, and pervades the Whole :
From Death's dark Caverns in the Earth below,
To Spheres, where Planets roll, or Comets glow.
See Him explore, with more than human Eyes,
The dreary Sepulchre, where Granvil lies:
Converse with Stones, or monumental Brafs,
The rude Infcriptions, or the painted Glafs :
To gloomy Vaults defcend with awful Tread,
And view the filent Manfions of the Dead.
To gayer Scenes He next adapts his Lines,
Where lavish Nature in Embroid'ry fhines:
The Jeff'mine Groves, the Woodbine's fragrant Bow'rs,
With all the painted Family of Flow'rs:
There, Sacharifa! in each fleeting Grace,
Read all the tranfient Honours of thy Face.
With equal Dignity, now fee Him rife
To paint the fable Horrors of the Skies :
When all the wide Horizon lies in Shade;
And midnight Phantoms fweep along the Glade :
All Nature hufh'd- a folemn Silence reigns,
And fcarce a Breeze disturbs the fleeping Plains.
Laft, yet not lefs, in Majefty of Phrase,
He draws the full orb'd Moon's expanfive Blazë;
The waving Meteors, trembling from on high,
With all the mute Artill'ry of the Sky :
Systems on Systems, which in Order roll,
And dart their lambent Beams from Pole to Pole.
Hail, mighty Genius, whofe excurfive Soul
No Bounds confine, no Limits can controul :
Whofe Eye expatiates, and whofe Mind can rove
Through Earth, through Ether, and the Realms above
From Things inanimate can direct * the Rod,
In juft Gradation, to afcend to Gop
Taught by thy Lines, fee hoary Age grows wife,
And all the Rebel in his Bofom dies:
E'en thoughtless Youth, in Luxury of Blood,
Fly the infectious World, and dare- be Good:
Thy facred Truths fhall reach th' impervious Heart,
Difcord fhall ceafe, Disease forget to smart:
E'en Malice love, and Calumny commend,
Pride beg an Alms, and Av'rice turn a Friend.
Centred in CHRIST, who fires the Soul within,
The Flefh fhall know no Pain; the Soul, no Sin :
E'en in the Terrors of expiring Breath,
We bless the friendly Stroke, and live-in Death.
* In Allufion to the Custom, of fhewing curious Objecs, and particularizing their respective Delicacies, by the pointing of a Rod.
ELESTIAL Meditant! whofe Ardours rife
Deep From the Tombs, and kindle to the Skies ;
How fhall an earthly Bard's profaner String
Refound the Flights of thy Seraphic Wing?
When great ELIJAH, in the fiery Car,
Flam'd vifibly to Heav'n, a living Star,
A Seer remain'd to thunder what he knew,
And with his Mantle caught his Spirit too.
Wit, Fancy, Fire, and Elegance, have long
Been loft in vitious, or ignoble, Song:
Sunk from the chastely Grand, the pure Sublime,
They flatter'd Wealth and Pow'r, or murder'd Time.
'Tis thine their devious Luftre to reduce,
To prove their noblest Pow'r, their genuine Ufe;
From earth born Fumes to clear their tainted Flame,
And point their Flight to Heav'n-from whence they came.
O more than Bard in Profe! to whom belong
Harmonious Stile and Thought, in ryhmeless Song;
Oft, by thy friendly Conduct, let me tread
The foftly-whifp'ring Manfions of the Dead:
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