The kies above present an azure show,
And lovely verdure paints an earth below.
I'll wind myself. in this delightful sphere,
And live a thousand years of pleasure there ;.
Roll'd up in bliffes, which around me close,
And now regal'd with these, and now with those..
Falfe hope, but falfer words of joy, farewell,
You 've rent the lodging where I meant to dwell,
My bubbles burft, my profpects difappear,
And leave behind a moral and a tear..
If at the type our dreaming fouls, awake,
And Hannah's ftrains their juft impreffion make,
The boundless power of Providence we know,
And fix our trust on nothing here below.
Then he,.grown pleas'd that men his greatnefs own,
Looks down ferenely from his ftarry throne,
And bids the bleffed days our prayers have won
Put on their glories, and prepare to run..
For which our thanks be justly fent above,
Enlarg'd by gladness, and infpir'd with love :
For which his praises be for ever fung,
O fweet employment of the grateful tongue!
Burt forth, my temper, in a godly flame,
For all his bleffings laud his holy name:
That, ere mine eyes faluted chearful day,
A gift devoted in the womb I lay,
Like Samuel vow'd, before my breath I drew,
O could I prove in life like Samuel too!
That all my frame is exquifitely wrought,
The world enjoy'd by fenfe, and God by thought;
That living streams through living channels glide,
To make this frame by Nature's course abide ;
That, for its good, by Providence's care,
Fire joins with water, earth concurs with air;
That Mercy's ever-inexhaufted store
Is pleas'd to proffer, and to promise more;
And all the proffers ftream with grace divine,
And all the promises with glory fhine.
O praise the Lord, my foul, in one accord,
Let all that is within me praise the Lord;
O praise the Lord, my foul, and ever ftrive
To keep the fweet remembrances alive.
Still raife the kind affections of thine heart,
Raife every grateful word to bear a part,
With every word the ftrains of love devife,
Awake thine harp, and thou thyfelf arise;
Then, if his Mercy be not half express'd,
Let wondering Silence magnify the rest.
MY thought, on views of admiration hung, Intently ravish'd, and depriv'd of tongue,
Now darts a while on earth, a while in air,
Here mov'd with praise, and mov'd with glory there;
The joys entrancing, and the mute furprize,
Half fix the blood, and dim the moistening eyes;
Pleasure and praise on one another break,
An exclamation longs at heart to speak ;
When thus my Genius on the work defign'd,
Awaiting clofely, guides the wandering mind.
If, while thy thanks would in thy lays be wrought, A bright aftonishment involve the thought, If yet thy temper would attempt to fing, Another's quill fhall imp thy feebler wing; Behold the name of royal David near, Behold his musick, and his measures hear, Whofe harp Devotion in a rapture ftrung, And left no state of pious fouls unfung.
Him to the wondering world but newly shewn,
Celeftial Poetry pronounc'd her own;
A thousand hopes, on clouds adorn'd with rays,
Bent down their little beauteous forms to gaze;
Fair-blooming Innocence, with tender years,
And native Sweetnefs for the ravifh'd ears,
Prepar'd to fmile within his early fong,
And brought their rivers, groves, and plains along:
Majestic Honour, at the palace bred,
Enrob'd in white, embroider'd o'er with red,
Reach'd forth the fceptre of her royal fate,
His forehead touch'd, and bid his lays be great ;
Undaunted Courage, deck'd with manly charms,
With waving azure plumes, and gilded arms,
Difplay'd the glories and the toils of fight,
Demanded Fame, and call'd him forth to write.
To perfect thefe, the facred Spirit came,
By mild infusion of celestial flame,
And mov'd with dove-like candour in his breast,
And breath'd his graces over all the rest.
Ah! where the daring flights of men afpire,.
To match his numbers with an equal fire;
In vain they strive to make proud Babel rife,
And with an earth-born labour touch the skies ..
While I the glittering page refolve to view,
That will the subject of my lines renew ;
The laurel wreath, my fame's imagin'd flade,
Around my beating temples fears to fade;
My fainting fancy trembles on the brink,
And David's God muft help, or else I sink. -
As rolling rivers in their channels flow,
Swift from aloft, but on the level flow :
Or rage in rocks, or glide along the plains,
So just, fo copious, move the Pfalmift's strains ;
So fweetly vary'd with proportion'd heat,
So gently clear, or fo fublimely great;
While Nature 's feen in all her forms to fhine,
And mix with beauties drawn from Truth divine;
Sweet beauties (fweet affection's endless rill)
That in the foul like honey-drops diftil.
Hail, Holy Spirit, hail Supremely Kind,
Whofe infpirations thus enlarg'd the mind;
Who taught him what the gentle fhepherd fings,
What rich expreffions fuit the port of kings:
What daring words defcribe the foldier's heat,
And what the Prophet's extafies relate;
Nor let his worst condition be forgot,
In all this fplendour of exalted thought..
On one thy different forts of graces fall,
Still made for cach, of equal force in ally,
And while from heavenly courts he feels a flame,
He fings the place from whence the bleffing came;
And makes his inspirations sweetly prove
The tuneful fubject of the mind they move.
Immortal Spirit, Light of Life inftill'd,
Who thus the bofom of a mortal fill'd,
Though weak my voice, and though my light be dim,
Yet fain I'd praife thy wondrous gifts in him;
Then, fince thine aid's attracted by defire,
And they that speak thee right muft feel thy fire,
Vouchsafe a portion of thy Grace Divine,
And raise my voice, and in my numbers shine:
I fing of David, David fings of thee,
Affift the Pfalmift, and his work in me.
But now, my verfe, arifing on the wing,
What part of all thy fübject wilt thou fing?
How fire thy first attempt ? in what refort
Of Paleftina's plain's, or Salem's court;
Where, as his hands the folemn measure play'd,
Curs'd fiends with torment and confufion fled;
Where, at the rofy fpring of cheafful light,
(If pious Fame record tradition right)
A foft efflation of celeftial fire
Came like a rushing breeze, and shook the lyre;
Still fweetly giving every trembling ftring
So much of found, as made him wake to fing?
Within my view the country first appears,
The country firft enjoy'd his youthful years;
Then frame thy fhady landscapes in my strain,
Some confcious mountain, or accuftom'd-plain;
|