As Plants: Ambiguous between Sea and Land
The River Horse and Scaly Crocodile.
Of the Creeping Things.
AT once came forth whatever creeps the Ground,
Infect or Worm: those wav'd their limber Fans
For Wings and smallest Lineaments exact
In all the Liveries deckt of Summers Pride
With Spots of Gold and Purple, azure and green:
These as a Line their long Dimension drew,
Streaking the Ground with finuous Trace; not all
Minims of Nature; fome of Serpent kind
Wondrous in Length and corpulence involv'd
Their Snaky Folds, and added Wings. Firft crept
The Parfimonious Emmet, provident
Of future, in finall room large Heart enclos'd,
Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, joyn'd in her popular Tribes
Of Gommonalty: Swarming next appear'd
The Female Bee that feeds her Husband Drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen Cells
With Honey stor'd: the rest are numberless,
And thou their Natures know'st, and gav'it them
(Names,
Needless to be repeated; nor unknown
The Serpent fubtl'st Beast of all the Field,
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen Eyes
And hairy Main terrifick, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
Now Heav'n in all her Glory shone, and rowl'd
Her Motions, as the great first-Mover's Hand
First wheel'd their Course: Earth in her rich Attire
Confummate lovely smil'd; Air, Water, Earth,
By Fowl, Fish, Beast, was flown, was swum, was
(walk'd
Frequent; and of the sixth Day yet remain'd;
THere wanted yet the Master Work, the End
Of all yet done; a Creature who not prone
And brute as other Creatures, but endu'd
With Sanctity of Reason, might erect
His Stature, and upright with Front ferene
Govern the rest, Self-knowing, and from thence
Magnanimous to correfpond with Heav'n,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Descends, thither with Heart and Voice and Eyes
Directed in Devotion to adore
And worship God Supreme, who made him chief
Of all his Works: therefore th' Omnipotent
Eternal Father (for where is not he
Present) thus to his Son audibly spake.
Let us make now Man in our Image; Man
In our fimilitude, and let them rule
Over the Fish and Fowl of Sea and Air,
Beaft of the Field, and over all the Earth,
And every creeping. Thing that creeps the Ground.
This faid he form'd thee, Adam, thee O Man
Duft of the Ground, and in thy Noftrils breath'd
The Breath of Life; in his own Image he
Created thee, in the Image of God
Express, and thou becam'st a Living-Soul.
Male he created thee, but thy Confort
Female for Race; then blest Mankind, and said,
Be fruitful, multiply and fill the Earth,
Subdue it, and throughout Dominion hold
Over Fish of the Sea, Fowl of the Air,
And every Living Thing that moves on th' Earth
Where-ever thus created; for no Place
Is yet distinct by Name, thence, as thou know'st
He brought thee into this delicious Grove,
This Garden, planted with the Trees of God,
Delectable both to behold and tafte;
And freely all their pleasant Fruit for Food
Gave thee, all forts are here that all th'Earth yields,
Variety without End; but of the Tree
Which tasted Works Knowledge of Good and Evil,
Thou may'st not; in the Day thou eat'st, thou dy'st;
Death is the Penalty impos'd, beware
And govern well thy Appetite, left Sin
Surprize thee, and her black attendant Death.
Here finish'd He, and all that he had made
View'd, and behold all was entirely good;
So Ev'n and Morn accomplish'd the fixth Day.
Milton's Paradise Lost, Lib. 7.
To his Grace the Duke of Marlborough, upon his going into Germany.
GO, mighty Prince, and those great Nations fee, Which thy Victorious Arms before made free; View that fam'd Column, where thy Name engrav'd Shall tell their Children who their Empire sav'd : Point out that Marble, where thy Worth is shown, To ev'ry grateful Country, but thy own.
O Censure undeserv'd! Unequal Fate !
Which strove to leffen him who made her great:
Which pamper'd with Success, and rich in Fame,
Extoll'd his Conqueft, but condemn'd his Name:
But Virtue is a Crime, when plac'd on high;
Tho' all the Faults in the Beholder's Eye.
Yet he, untouch'd, as in the Heat of Wars,
Flies from no Danger but Domestick Jars,
Leaves bufie Tongues, and lying Fame behind,
And tries at least in other Climes to find
Our Rage by Mountains, and by Seas confin'd :
Yet smiling at the Dart which Envy makes,
He only fears for her whom he forsakes;
He grieves to find the Course of Virtue croft,
Blushing to fee our Blood no better loft;
Disdains in factious Parties to contend,
An proves in Absence most Britannia's Friend.
So the great Scipio of old to shun
That glorious Envy which his Armshad won,
Far from his dear, ungrateful Rome retir'd,
Prepar'd when e'er his Country's Cause requir'd
To shine in Peace or War, and be again admir'd.
Alexander's Feast; or the Power of Musick: An Ode, in Honour of St. Cecilia's Day. By Mr. Dryden.
TWAS at the Royal Feast, for Perfia won,
His valiant Peers were plac'd around; Their Brows with Roses and with Myrtles bound,
(So fhou'd Defert in Arms be crown'd:)
The lovely Thais by his fide,
Sate like a Blooming Eastern Bride
In flow'r of Youth and Beauty's Pride.
Happy, Happy, Happy Pair!
None but the Brave,
None but the Brave,
None but the Brave, deserves the fair.
Happy, Happy, Happy Pair, &c.
Timotheus plac'd on High,
Amid the Tuneful Quire,
With flying Fingers touch'd the Lyre :
The trembling Notes afcend the Sky,
And heav'nly Joys inspire
The Song began from Jove,
Who left his blissful Seats above,
(Such is the Pow'r of mighty Love.)
A Dragon's fiery Form bely'd the God:
Sublime on Radiant Spires he rode,
When he to fair Olympia press'd;
And while he fought her snowy Breaft
Then, round her flender Waft he curl'd,
And stamp'd an Image of himself, a Sov'raign of the
(World.
The lift'ning Crowd admire the lofty Sound,
A present Deity, they shout around:
A present Deity the vaulted Roofs rebound.
With ravish'd Ears
The Monarch hears,
Affumes the God,
Affects to Nod,
And seeris to shake the Spheres:
|