With eyes on Fame for ever fix'd, they fing;
For Fame they raise the voice, and tune the string;
With Time's first birth began the heav'nly lays,
And laft, eternal, through the length of days.
Around these wonders as I caft a look,
The trumpet founded, and the temple fhook,
And all the nations fummon'd at the call,
From diff'rent quarters fill the crowded hall:

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Of various tongues the mingled founds were heard;.
In various garbs promifcuous throngs appear'd; 281
Thick as the bees, that with the fpring renew
Their flow'ry toils, and fip the fragrant dew,
When the wing'd colonies firft tempt the sky,
O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly,

Or fettling, feize the fweets the bloffoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field.
Millions of fuppliant crowds the fhrine attend,
And all degrees before the Goddefs bend;
The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the sage,
And boafting youth, and narrative old age.
Their pleas were diff'rent, their requeft the fame:
For good and bad alike are fond of Fame.

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Some the difgrac'd, and fome with honors crown'd;
Unlike fucceffes equal merits found.

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Thus her blind fifter, fickle Fortune, reigns,
And, undifcerning, fcatters crowns and chains.
First at the fhrine the learned world appear,
And to the Goddess thus prefer their pray'r.

With ftudies pale, with midnight vigils blind;
But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none,
We here appeal to thy fuperior throne:
On wit and learning the juft prize bestow,
For fame is all we muft expect below.

Long have we fought t'intruct and pleate mankind,

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The Goddess heard, and bade the Mufes raise

The golden trumpet of eternal praise :

From pole to pole the winds diffufe the found,
That fills the circuit of the world around;
Not all at once, as thunder breaks the cloud,
The notes at first were rather fweet than loud:
VOL. I.
M

2

310

By

By juft degrees they ev'ry moment rife,
Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies.
At ev'ry breath were balmy odours fhed,
Which ftill grew fweeter as they wider fpread;
Lefs fragrant fcents th' unfolding rose exhales,
Or fpices breathing in Arabian gales.

Next thefe the good and juft, an awful train,
Thus on their knees addrefs'd the facred fane.
Since living virtue is with envy curs'd,
And the best men are treated like the worst,
Do thou, juft Goddefs, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinsic worth.
Not with bare juftice fhall your act be crown'd,
(Said Fame,) but high above defert renown'd:
Let fuller notes th' applauding world amaze,
And the loud clarion labour in your praise.

This band difmifs'd, behold another crowd
Preferr'd the fame requeft, and lowly bow'd;
The conftant tenor of whofe well-spent days
No lefs deferv'd a juft return of praife.

But ftraight the direful trump of Slander founds:
Through the big dome the doubling thunder bounds;
Loud as the burst of cannon rends the skies,
The dire report through ev'ry region flies,
In ev'ry ear inceffant rumours rung,

And gath'ring fcandals grew on ev'ry tongue.
From the black trumpet's rufty concave broke
Sulphureous flames, and clouds of rolling fmoke:
The pois'nous vapour blots the purple skies,
And withers all before it as it flies.

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A troop came next, who crowns and armour wore, And proud defiance in their looks they bore: For thee (they cry'd) amidit alarms and ftrife, We fail'd in tempefts down the ftream of life; 345 For thee whole nations fill'd with flames and blood, And fwam to empire through the purple flood. Thofe ills we dar'd, thy infpiration own, What virtue feem'd, was done for thee alone. Ambitious fools! (the Queen reply'd, and frown'd,) Be all your acts in dark oblivion drown'd;

351 There

There fleep forgot, with mighty tyrants gone,
Your ftatues moulder'd, and your names unknown!
A fudden cloud ftraight fnatch'd them from my fight,
And each majestic phantom funk in night.
Then came the smallest tribe I yet had feen;

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Plain was their drefs, and modelt was their mien.
Great Idol of mankind! we neither claim

The praife of merit, nor afpire to fame!

But fafe in deferts from th' applause of men,

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Would die unheard of, as we liv'd unfeen; 'Tis all we beg thee, to conceal from fight

Thofe acts of goodnefs which then felves requite.
O let us ftill the fecret joy partake,

To follow virtue ev'n for virtue's fake.

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And live there men who flight immortal fame ?

Who then with incente fhall adore our name?
But, Mortals! know, 'tis ftill our greateft pride
To blaze thofe virtues which the good would hide.
Rife! Mules, rife! add all your tuneful breath; 370
These must not fleep in darkness and in death.
She faid in air the trembling mufic floats,
And on the winds triumphant fwell the notes;
So foft, though high, fo loud, and yet so clear,
Ev'n lift'ning angels lean'd from heav'n to hear:
To fartheft fhores th' ambrofial fpirit flies,
Sweet to the world, and grateful to the kies.

Next thefe a youthful train their vows exprefs'd,

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With feathers crown'd, with gay embroid'ry drefs'd :

Hither, they cry'd, direct your eyes, and fee
The men of pleasure, drefs, and gallantry;
Ours is the place at banquets, balls, and plays,
Sprightly our nights, polite are all our days;
Courts we frequent, were 'tis our pleafing care
Το pay
due vifits, and addrefs the fair:
In fact, 'tis true, no nymph we could persuade,
But ftill in fancy vanquish'd ev'ry maid :

Of unknown Duchelles lewd tales we tell,

Yet, would the world believe us, all were well.
The joy let others have, and we the name,
And what we want in pleasure, grant in fame.

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The

The Queen affents; the trumpet rends the skies,
And at each blaft a lady's honour dies.

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Pleas'd with the ftrange fuccefs, vast numbers preft,
Around the fhrine, and made the same request.
395
What, you, (the cry'd,) unlearn'd in arts to please;
Slaves to yourselves, and ev'n fatigu'd with ease,
Who lofe a length of undeferving days,
Would you ufurp the lover's dear-bought praise!
To juft contempt, ye vain pretenders! fall,
The peoples' fable, and the fcorn of all.
Straight the black clarion fends a horrid found,
Loud laughs burst out, and bitter icoffs fly round,
Whifpers are heard, with taunts reviling loud,
And fcornful hiffes run through all the crowd.
Laft, those who boast of mighty mischiefs done,
Enslave their country, or usurp a throne ;
Or who their glory's dire foundation laid
On fov'reigns ruin'd, or on friends betray'd;
Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked counfels and dark politics;
Of thefe a gloomy tribe furround the throne,
And beg to make the immortal treasons known.
The trumpet roars, long flaky flames expire,
With sparks that seem'd to fet the world on fire.
At the dead found pale mortals stood aghaft,
And ftartled Nature trembled with the blaft.

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This having heard and seen, some pow'r unknown Straight chang'd the fcene, and fnatch'd me from the Before my view appear'd a ftructure fair,

Its fight uncertain, if in earth or air;

With rapid motion turn'd the mansion round;
With ceafelefs noife the ringing walls refound:
Not lefs in number were the fpacious doors

[throne.

421

Than leaves on trees, or fands upon the fhores; 425
Which still unfolded ftand, by night, by day,
Pervious to winds, and open ev'ry way.

As flames by nature to the fkies afcend,
As weighty bodies to the centre tend,
As to the fea returning rivers roll,

And the touch'd needle trembles to the pole;

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Hither,

Hither, as to their proper place, arise

All various founds from earth, and feas, and skies,
Or spoke aloud, or whisper'd in the ear;
Nor ever filence, reft, or peace is here.
As on the fmooth expanfe of crystal lakes
The finking ftone at firit a circle makes,
The trembling furface by the motion ftirr'd,
Spreads in a fecond circle, then a third;

435

Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance, 449
Fill all the wat'ry plain, and to the margin dance:
Thus ev'ry voice and found, when first they break
On neighb'ring air, a foft impreffion make;
Another ambient circle then they move;
That, in its turn, impeis the next above;
Through undulating air the founds are fent,
And fpread o'er all the fluid element.

There various news I heard of love and ftrife,

445

Of peace and war, health, ficknefs, death, and life,
Of lofs and gain, of famine and of store,
Of ftorms at fea, and travels on the fhore,

Of prodigies, and portents feen in air,

Of turns of fortune, changes in the ftate,

Of fires and plagues, and ftars with blazing hair,

The falls of fav'rites, projects of the great,
Of old mitmanagements, taxations new;
All neither wholly falfe, nor wholly true.

Above, below, without, within, around,
Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found,
Who país, repafs, advance, and glide away,
Hofts rais'd by fear, and phantoms of a day:
Aftrologers, that future fates foreshew,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few;
And priests, and party-zealots, num'rous bands;
With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands,
Each talk'd aloud, or in some secret place,
And wild impatience star'd in ev'ry face.
They flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was looner heard than told;
And all who told it added fomething new,
And all who heard it, made enlargements toq;
In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.

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