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Some with vast costly tombs would purchase it,
And by the proofs of death pretend to live.

"Here lies the great"-false Marble ! where? Nothing but small and sordid dust lies there.Some build enormous mountain-palaces,

The fools and architects to please; A lasting life in well-hewn stone they rear: So he, who on th' Egyptain shore Was slain so many hundred years before, Lives still, (oh ! life most happy and most dear! Oh! life that epicures envy to hear!)

Lives in the dropping ruins of his amphitheatre.

His father-in-law an higher place does claim
In the seraphic entity of Fame;

[breath.

He, since that toy his death, Does fill all mouths, and breathes in all men's 'Tis true, the two immortal syllables remain ;

But, oh, ye learned men! explain What essence, what existence, this, What substance, whatsubsistence, what hypostasis, In six poor letters is!

In those alone does the great Cæsar live,

'Tis all the conquer'd world could give.
We poets, madder yet than all,

With a refin'd fantastic vanity,

Think we not only have, but give, eternity.
Fain would I see that prodigal,

Who his to morrow would bestow,

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For all old Homer's life, e'er since he dy'd till 'Twas gaudy all; and rich in every part

now!

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My faithful breast did cover,

Of essences, of gems; and spirit of gold
Was its substantial mould,

Drawn forth by chymic angels' art.
Here with moon-beams 'twas silver'd bright,
There double-gilt with the Sun's light;
And mystic shapes cut round in it,
Figures that did transcend a vulgar angel's wit.
The horses were of temper'd lightning made,
Of all that in Heaven's beauteous pastures feed
The noblest, sprightful'st breed;

And flaming manes their necks array'd:
They all were shod with diamond,
Not such as here are found,

But such light solid ones as shine

On the transparent rocks o' th' Heaven crystal

line.

Thus mounted the great prophet to the skies;
Astonish'd men, who oft had seen stars fall,

Or that which so they call,

Wonder'd from hence to see one rise.
The soft clouds melted him away;
The snow and frosts which in it lay

Awhile the sacred footsteps bore ;

The wheels and horses' hoofs hizz'd as they past them o'er !

He past by th' Moon and planets, and did fright All the worlds there which at this meteor gaz'd,' And their astrologers amaz'd

With th' unexampled sight.

But where he stopp'd will ne'er be known,
Till phenix Nature, aged grown,

To a better thing do aspire,

And mount herself, like him, to eternity in fire.

TO THE NEW YEAR.

GREAT Janus! (who dost,sure, my mysteries view

hen, when I was of late a wretched mortal lover. With all thine eyes, yet think'st them all too few

If thy fore-face do see

No better things prepar'd for me,

Than did thy face behind;

If still her breast must shut against me be,
(For 'tis not Peace that temple's gate does bind)
Oh, let my life, if thou so many deaths a coming
With thine old year its voyage take, [find,
Borne down that stream of Time which no return
can make !

Alas! what need I thus to pray?
Th' old avaricious Year,
Whether I would or no, will bear
At least a part of me away:

His well-hors'd troops, the Months, and Days,and
Though never any where they stay, [Hours,
Make in their passage all their prey;
The Months, Days, Hours, that march i' th' rear
Nought of value left behind.
[can find
All the good wine of life our drunken youth
devours;

Sourness and lees, which to the bottom sink,

Remain for latter years to drink;

Until, some one offended with the taste,

The vessel breaks, and out the wretched relics run at last.

If then, young Year ! thou needst must come,
(For in Time's fruitful womb

The birth beyond its time can never tarry,
Nor ever can miscarry)

Chuse thy attendants well; for 'tis not thee
We fear, but 'tis thy company:

Let neither Loss of Friends, or Fame, or Liberty,
Nor pining Sickness, nor tormenting Pain,
Nor Sadness, nor uncleanly Poverty,
Be seen among thy train:

Nor let thy livery be

Either black Sin, or gaudy Vanity:

Nay, if thou lov'st me, gentle Year!
Let not so much as Love be there;

Vain fruitless love, I mean; for, gentle Year
Although I fear,

There's of this caution little need,

Yet, gentle Year! take heed

How thou dost make

Such a mistake:

Such love I mean, alone,

As by thy cruel predecessors has been shown;

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Because we fight, and battles gain;

Some captives call, and say," the rest are slain:".
Because we heap up yellow earth, and so
Rich, valiant, wise, and virtuous, seem to grow;
Because we draw a long nobility
From hieroglyphic proofs of heraldry,
And impudently talk of a posterity,
And, like Egyptian chroniclers,

Who write of twenty thousand years,
With maravedies make th' account,
That single time might to a sum amount :
We grow at last by custom to believe,

That really we live :

Whilst all these shadows, that for things we

take,

Are but the empty dreams which in Death's sleep we make.

For, though I'ave too much cause to doubt it, But these fantastic errours of our dream

I fain would try for once if life can live with

out it.

Into the future times why do we pry,
And seek to antedate our misery?
Like jealous men, why are we longing still
To see the thing which only seeing makes an ill ?
'Tis well the face is veil'd; for 'twere a sight

That would ev'n happiest men affright;
And something still they'd spy that would destroy
The past and present joy.
In whatsoever character

The book of Fate is writ, 'Tis well we understand not it; We should grow mad with little learning there: Upon the brink of every ill we did foresee,

Undecently and foolishly

We should stand shivering, and but slowly venture The fatal flood to enter.

Since, willing or unwilling, we must do it; They feel least cold and pain who plunge at once into it.

Lead us to solid wrong;

We pray God our friends' torments to prolong,
And wish uncharitably for them

To be as long a dying as Methusalem.
The ripen'd soul longs from his prison to come;
But we would seal, and sow up, if we could, the

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Bid both the poles supp,ess their stormy noise,
And bid the roaring sea contain its voice.
Be still, thou sea; be still, thou air and earth,
Still as old Chaos, before Motion's birth:
A dreadful host of judgments is gone out,
In strength and number more

Than e'er was rais'd by God before,

To scourge the rebel world, and march it round about.

I see the sword of God brandish'd above,
And from it streams a dismal ray:

I see the scabbard cast away;
How red anon with slaughter will it prove!

How will it sweat and reek in blood!
How will the scarlet-glutton be o'ergorged with his
And devour all the mighty feast!
Nothing soon but bones will rest.

God does a solemn sacrifice prepare ;
But not of oxen, nor of rams,
Not of kids, nor of their dams,
Not of heifers, nor of lambs:

[food,

The altar all the land, and all men in 't the vic

tims are.

Since, wicked men's more guilty blood to spare,
The beasts so long have sacrificed been ;
Since men their birth-right forfeit still by sin;
'Tis fit at last beasts their revenge should have,
And sacrificed men their better brethren save.

So will they fall, so will they flee,
Such will the creatures' wild distraction be,
When, at the final doom,

Nature and Time shall both be slain,
Shall struggle with Death's pangs in vain,
And the whole world their funera! pile become.
The wide stretch'd scroll of Heaven, which
Immortal as the Deity think,
With all the beauteous characters that in it

[we

With such deep sense by God's own hand were writ (Whose eloquence, though we understand not, we admire)

Shall crackle, and the parts together shrink
Like parchment in a fire:

[lend;
Th' exhausted Sun to th' Moon no more shall
But truly then headlong into the sea descend:
The glittering host, now in such fair array,
So proud, so well-appointed, and so gay,
Like fearful troops in some strong ambush ta'en,
Shall some fly routed, and some fall slain,
Thick as ripe fruit, or yellow leaves, in autumn
fall,

With such a violent storm as blows down tree and

all.

And thou, O cursed land!

Which wilt not see the precipice where thou dost stand

(Though thou stand'st just upon the brink) Thou of this poison'd bowl the bitter dregs shalt

Thy rivers and thy lakes shall so [drink.
With human blood o'erflow, [away,
That they shall fetch the slaughter'd corpse
Which in the fields around unburied lay,
And rob the beasts and birds to give the fish their
The rotten corpse shall so infect the air, [prey:
Beget such plagues and putrid venoms there,

That by thine own dead shall be slain
All thy few living that remain.

As one who buys, surveys, a ground,
So the destroying-angel measures it around;

So careful and so strict he is,
Lest any nook or corner he should miss :

He walks about the perishing nation,
Ruin behind him stalks and empty Desolation.
Then shall the market and the pleading-place
Be choak'd with brambles and o'ergrown with
grass:

The serpents through thy streets shall roll, And in thy lower rooms the wolves shall howl, And thy gilt chambers lodge the raven and the [owl, And all the wing'd ill-omens of the air, Though no new ills can be foreboded there: The lion then shall to the leopard say, "Brother leopard, come away;

Behold a land which God has given us in prey

Behold a land from whence we see
[my !
Mankind expuls'd, his and our common ene-
The brother leopard shakes himself, and does not

stay.

The glutted vultures shall expect in vain
New armies to be slain;

Shall find at last the business done,
Leave their consumed quarters, and be gone
Th' unburied ghosts shall sadly moan,
The satyrs laugh to hear them groan,
The evil spirits, that delight

To dance and revel in the mask of night,
The Moon and stars, their sole spectators, shall
And, if of lost mankind
[affright:

Aught happen to be left behind;

If any relics but remain ;

They in their dens shall lurk, beasts in the palaces shall reign.

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To call us home,

Home to the promis'd Canaan above, [honey flow;
Which does with nourishing milk and pleasant
And even i' th' way to which we should be fed
With angels' tasteful bread:
But we, alas! the flesh-pots love,
We love the very leeks and sordid roots below.
In vain we judgments feel, and wonders see!
In vain did God to descend hither deign;
He was his own ambassador in vain,
Our Moses and our guide himself to be!
We will not let ourselves to go,

And with worse harden'd hearts do our own Pharaohs grow.

Ah! lest at last we perish so, [prince Think, stubborn man, think of th' Egyptian (Hard of belief and will, but not so hard as thou); Think with what dreadful proofs God did convince The feeble arguments that human power could show;

Think what plagues attend on thee,

The kind instructing punishment enjoy ;

Who Moses' God does now refuse, more oft than Whom the red river cannot mend, the Red-sea Moses he.

"If from some god you come," (said the proud

With half a smile and half a frown;

king

But what god can to Egypt be unknown?)

shall destroy.

The river yet gave one instruction more; And, from the rotten fish and unconcocted gore, (Which was but water just before)

A loathsome host was quickly made,

"What sign, what powers, what credence do you That scal'd the banks, and with loud noise did bring?"

"Behold his seal! behold his hand!" Cries Moses, and casts down th' all-mighty wand. Th' all-mighty wand scarce touch'd the earth, When, with an undiscerned birth, Th' all-mighty wand a serpent grew,

And his long half in painted folds behind him drew:

Upwards his threatening tail he threw;
Upwards he cast his threatening head:

He gap'd and hiss'd aloud,

With flaming eyes survey'd the trembling crowd, And, like a basilisk, almost look'd th' assembly dead;

Swift fled th' amazed king, the guards before him fled.

Jannes and Jambres stopp'd their flight, And with proud words allay'd th' affright. "The God of slaves," said they, how can he be More powerful than their master's deity?" And down they cast their rods,

And mutter'd secret sounds that charm the servile gods.

The evil spirits their charms obey,

And in a subtle cloud they snatch the rods away, And serpents in their place the airy jugglers lay. Serpents in Egypt's monstrous land

Were ready still at hand,

And all at the Old Serpent's first command.
And they too gap'd, and they too hiss'd,
And they their threatening tails did twist;
But straight on both the Hebrew-serpent flew,
Broke both their active backs, and both it slew,
And both almost at once devour'd;

So much was over-power'd,
By God's miraculous creation,
His servant's, Nature's, slightly-wrought and
feeble generation!

On the fam❜d bank the prophets stood, Touch'd with their rod, and wounded, all the flood:

Flood now no more, but a long vein of putrid
The helpless fish were found [blood.
In their strange current drown'd:
The herbs and trees wash'd by the mortal tide
About it blush'd and dy'd:

Th' amazed crocodiles made haste to ground; From their vast trunks the dropping gore they spied,

Thought it their own, and dreadfully aloud they cried.

Nor all thy priests, north no,
O king! could'st ever show

From whence thy wandering Nile begins his

course

Of this new Nile thou seest the sacred source;
And, as thy land that does o'erflow,
Take heed lest this do so!

What plague more just could on thy waters fall?
The Hebrew infants' murder stains them all:

all the country invade.

As Nilus when he quits his sacred bed (But like a friend he visits all the land

With welcome presents in his hand) So did this living tide the fields o'erspread: In vain th' alarmed country tries To kill their noisome enemies; [arise. From th' unexhausted source still new recruits Nor does the earth these greedy troops suffice, The towns and houses they possess, The temples and the palaces,

Nor Pharaoh, nor his gods, they fear; Both their importune croakings hear. Unsatiate yet, they mount up higher, Where never sun-born frog durst to aspire, And in the silken beds their slimy members place; A luxury unknown before to all the watery race! The water thus her wonders did produce;

But both were to no use;

[cuse. As yet the sorcerers' mimic power serv'd for ex"Try what the earth will do," said God, and lo! They strook the earth a fertile blow,

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And all the dust did straight to stir begin;
One would have thought some sudden wind't had
But lo! 'twas nimble life was got within! [been;
And all the little springs did move,

[find

And every dust did an arm'd vermin prove,
Of an unknown and new-created kind,
Such as the magic-gods could neither make nor
The wretched shameful foe allow'd no rest

Either to man or beast.

Not Pharaoh from th' unquiet plague could be,
With all his change of raiments, free;
The devils themselves confess'd

This was God's hand; and 'twas but just, To punish thus man's pride, to punish dust with dust.

Lo! the third element does his plagues prepare
And swarming clouds of insects fill the air;
With sullen noise they take their flight,
And march in bodies infinite;
In vain'tis day above, 'tis still beneath them night.
Of harmful flies the nations numberless
Compos'd this mighty army's spacious boast;
Of different manners, different languages;
And different habits, too, they wore,
And different arms they bore;
And some, like Scythians, liv'd on blood,
And some on green, and some on flowery food;
And Accaron, the airy prince, led on this various
Houses secure not men, the populous ill [host,

Did all the houses fill:
The country all around
Did with the cries of tortur'd cattle sound;
About the fields enrag'd they flew,
And wish'd the plague that was t' ensue.
From poisonous stars a mortal influence came
(The mingled malice of their flame);
A skilful angel did th' ingredients take,
And with just hands the sad composure make,

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And over all the land did the full vial shake.
Thirst, giddiness, faintness, and putrid heats,
And pining pains, and shivering sweats,
On all the cattle, all the beasts, did fall;
With deform'd death the country's cover'd all.
The labouring ox drops down before the plough;
The crowned victims to the altar led

Sink, and prevent the lifted blow:

The generous horse from the full manger turns his head,

Does his lov'd floods and pastures scorn,
Hates the shrill trumpet and the horn,
Nor can his lifeless nostril please

With the once-ravishing smell of all his dappled

mistresses;

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He flings the pregnant ashes through the air, And speaks a mighty prayer;

Both which the ministering winds around all
Egypt bear.

As gentle western blasts with downy wings,
Hatching the tender springs,

To th' unborn buds with vital whispers say,
"Ye living buds why do ye stay?"

[way:

The passionate buds break through the bark their So, wheresoe'er this tainted wind but blew,

Swelling pains and ulcers grew:

It from the body call'd all sleeping poisons out, And to them added new ;

A noisome spring of sores, as thick as leaves, did sprout.

Heaven itself is angry next;

(Woe to man, when Heaven is vext!)
With sullen brow it frown'd,

And murmur'd first in an imperfect sound:
Till Moses, lifting up his hand,

Waves the expected signal of his wand;
And all the full-charg'd clouds in ranged squad-

rons move,

And fill the spacious plains above;

One would have thought, their dreadful day to have seen,

The very hail, and rain itself, had kindled been.

The infant corn, which yet did scarce appear, Escap'd this general massacre

Of every thing that grew,

And the well-stor'd Egyptian year

Began to clothe her fields and trees anew.
When lo; a scorching wind from the burnt coun-
And endless legions with it drew [tries blew,
Of greedy locusts; who, where'er
With sounding wings they flew,
Left all the earth depopulate and bare,
As if Winter itself had march'd by there.
Whate'er the Sun and Nile

Gave with large bounty to the thankful soil,
The wretched pillagers bore away,
And the whole Summer was their prey;
Till Moses with a prayer

Breath'd forth a violent western wind, Which all these living clouds did headlong bear (No stragglers left behind)

Into the purple sea, and there bestow

On the luxurious fish a feast they ne'er did know. With untaught joy Pharaoh the news does hear, And little thinks their fate attends on him and his so near.

What blindness or what darkness did there e'er Like this undocile king's appear!

What, e'er, but that which now does represent And paint the crime out in the punishment? From the deep baleful caves of Hell below, Where the old mother Night does growSubstantial Night, that does disclaim Privation's empty name

Through secret conduits monstrous shapes arose, Such as the Sun's whole force could not oppose : They with a solid cloud

All Heaven's eclipsed face did shroud ; Seem'd, with large wings spread o'er the sea and earth,

To brood up a new Chaos's deformed birth.
And every lamp, and every fire,
Did at the dreadful sight wink and expire,
To th' empyrean source all streams of light
seem'd to retire.

The living men were in their standing houses bu
But the long Night no slumber knows, [ried;
But the short Death finds no repose!
Ten thousand terrours through the darkness fled,

Through which the rolling thunder first does And ghosts complain'd, and spirits murmured;

play,

And opens wide the tempest's noisy way.

And straight a stony shower

Of monstrous hail does downwards pour, Such as ne'er Winter yet brought forth, From all her stormy magazines of the north. It all the beasts and men abroad did slay, O'er the defaced corpse, like monuments, lay; The houses and strong-bodied trees it broke,

Nor ask'd aid from the thunder's stroke;
The thunder but for terrour through it flew,
The hail alone the work could do.
The dismal lightnings all around,
Some flying through the air, some running on
the ground,

Some swimming o'er the water's face,
Fill'd with bright horrour every place;

And Fancy's multiplying sight View'd all the scenes invisible of Night.

Of God's dreadful anger these Were but the first light skirmishes; The shock and bloody battle now begins, The plenteous harvest of full-ripen'd sins. It was the time when the still Moon Was mounted softly to her noon, And dewy sleep,which from Night's secret springs Gently as Nile the land o'erflows. When lo! from the high countries of refined day, The golden heaven without allay

Whose dross, in the creation purg'd away,

[arose,

Made up the Sun's adulterate rayMichael, the warlike prince, does downwards fly, Swift as the journies of the sight, Swift as the race of light,

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