45 But felt the approaches of too warm a sun; last; 50 These ever new, nor subject to decays, days. So Zembla's rocks (the beauteous work of frost) 55 Rise white in air, and glitter o'er the coast; 60 As Atlas fixed, each hoary pile appears, 1 "For on that other side I sey That I upon hem gan to poure; 65 Whate'er proud Rome or artful Greece beheld, Or worthies old, whom arms or arts adorn, 70 Heroes in animated marble frown, And legislators seem to think in stone. Westward, a sumptuous frontispiece appeared, 75 On Doric pillars of white marble reared, 85 Here Orpheus sings; trees moving to the sound, 1 The temple is described to be square, the four fronts with open gates facing the different quarters of the world, as an intimation that all nations of the earth may alike be received into it. The western front is of Grecian architecture: the Doric order was peculiarly sacred to heroes and worthies. Those whose statues are after mentioned, were the first names of old Greece in arms and arts.-P. 2 This figure of Hercules is drawn with an eye to the position of the famous statue of Farnese.-P. There might you see the lengthening spires ascend, 91 The domes swell up, the widening arches bend, 1 95 And the great founder of the Persian name: shades ΙΟΙ To midnight banquets in the glimmering glades; 105 But on the South, a long majestic race Of Egypt's priests the gilded niches grace,2 110 1 Cyrus was the beginning of the Persian, as Ninus was of the Assyrian monarchy. The Magi and Chaldeans (the chief of whom was Zoroaster) employed their studies upon magic and astrology, which was, in a manner, almost all the learning of the ancient Asian people. We have scarce any account of a moral philosopher, except Confucius, the great lawgiver of the Chinese, who lived about two thousand years ago.-P. 2 The learning of the old Egyptian priests consisted for the most part in geometry and astronomy. They also preserved the history of their nation. Their greatest hero upon record is Sesostris, whose Who measured earth, described the starry spheres, And traced the long records of lunar years. 120 There huge Colosses rose, with trophies crowned, There on rude iron columns, smeared with blood, 2 125 The horrid forms of Scythian heroes stood, Druids and bards (their once loud harps unstrung), actions and conquests may be seen at large in Diodorus, &c. He is said to have caused the kings he vanquished to draw him in his chariot. The posture of his statue, in these verses, is correspondent to the description which Herodotus gives of one of them remaining in his own time.-P.` 1 The architecture is agreeable to that part of the world. The learning of the northern nations lay more obscure than that of the rest. Zamolxis was the disciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality of the soul to the Scythians. Odin, or Woden, was the great legislator and hero of the Goths. They tell us of him, that, being subject to fits, he persuaded his followers, that during those trances he received inspirations, from whence he dictated his laws. He is said to have been the inventor of the Runic characters.-P. 2 These were the priests and poets of those people, And youths that died to be by poets sung. These, and a thousand more, of doubtful fame, To whom old fables gave a lasting name, In ranks adorned the temple's outward face; 130 135 The temple shakes, the sounding gates unfold, Wide vaults appear, and roofs of fretted gold: Raised on a thousand pillars, wreathed around With laurel-foliage, and with eagles crowned: Of bright, transparent beryl were the walls, 141 The friezes gold, and gold the capitals: As heaven with stars, the roof with jewels glows, 145 And ever-living lamps depend in rows. found, His scythe reversed, and both his pinions bound. Within stood heroes, who through loud alarms In bloody fields pursued renown in arms. 150 so celebrated for their savage virtue. Those heroic barbarians accounted it a dishonour to die in their beds, and rushed on to certain death in the prospect of an after-life, and for the glory of a song from their bards in praise of their actions.-P. 1 "It shone lighter than a glass, |