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AIL, queen of thought fublime! popitious pow't,"
Who o'er th' unbounded waste art joy'd to roam,

Led by the moon, when at the midnight hour
Her pale rays tremble thro' the dusky gloom,

Obear me, goddefs, to thy peaceful feat!

Whether to Hecla's cloud-wrapt brow convey'd,
Or lodg'd where mountains fcreen thy deep retreat,
Or wand'ring wild thro' Chili's boundless fhade.

Say, rove thy fteps o'er Lybia's naked wafte ?
Or feek fome diftant folitary fhore?
Or, on the Andes' topmoft mountain plac'd,
Dofl fit, and hear the folemn thunder roar?

Fix'd on fome hanging rock's projected brow,

Hear'ft thou low murmurs from the diftant dome ?

Or ftray thy feet where pale dejected Woe
Pours her long wail from fome lamented tomb ?

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Hark! yon deep echo Arikes the trembling ear sbi na
See night's dun curtain wraps the darkfome pole
O'er heaven's blue arch yon rolling worlds appear,
And roufe to folemn thought th' afpiring foul.

O lead my fteps beneath the moon's dim ray,
Where Tadmor ftands all defert and alone!
While from her time-hook tow'rs the bird of prey.
Sounds thro' the night her long refounding moan

Or bear me far to yon dark difmal plain,
Where fell-eyed tygers all athirft for blood,
Howltonhe defart; while the horrid train
Roams o'er the wild where once great Babel flood;

That queen of nations! whofe fuperior call

Rous'd the broad Eaft, and bid her arms deftroy! When warm'd to mirth, let judgment mark her fall, And deep reflection dafh the lip of joy.

Short is Ambition's gay deceitful dream 3

Though wreaths of blooming laurel bind her brow;
Calm thought difpels the vifionary scheme,
And Time's cold breath diffolves the withering bough,

Slow as fome miner faps th' afpiring tow'r,
When working fecret with destructive aim,
Unfeen, unheard, thus moves the ftealing hour,
But works the fall of empire, pomp, and name.
Vol. VI. 24

D

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Full in the draught be keen-eyed Hope portray'd: Let flutt'ring Cupids crowd the growing plan:

Then give one touch, and dafh it deep with Thade.

Beneath the plume that flames with glancing rays
Be Care's deep engines on the foul imprefs'd's
Beneath the helmet's keen refulgent blaze od does T
Let Grief Gt pining in the canker'd Breaft.

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Let Love's gay fons, a fmiling train, appear,
With Beauty pierc'd-y et heedless of the dart;
While, clofely couch'd, pale fick'ning Envy near
Whets her fell sting, and points it at the heart.

Perch'd like a raven on fome blafted

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Let Guilt revolve the thought-diftrating fin;
Scar'd-while her eyes furvey th' ethereal blue,
Left heaven's strong lightning burft the dark within.

Then paint impending o'er the maddening deep
That rock where heart-ftruck Sappho, xainly brave,
Stood firm of foul--then from the dizzy feep
Impetuous fprung, and dafh'd the boiling wave,

Here wrapt in ftudious thought let Fancy rove,

Still prompt to mark Sufpicion's fecret fnare; To fee where Anguifh nips the bloom of Love, Or trace proud Grandeur to the domes of Care.

3

Should

Should e'er Ambition's tow'ring hopes inflame,
Let judging Reafon draw the veil afide

Or, fir'd with envy at fome mighty name,
Read o'er the monument that tells He died.

What are the enfigns of imperial fway

What all that Fortune's lib'ral hand has brought P Teach they the voice to pour a

a fweeter lay ? Or roufe the foul to more exalted thought?

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When bleeds the heart as Genius blooms unknown,
When melts the eye o'er Virtue's mournful bier;
Not wealth, but pity, fwells the burfting groan:
Not pow'r, but whifp'ring Nature, prompts the tear.
Say, gentle mourner, in yon mouldy vault,

Where the worm fattens on fome fcepter'd brow,
Beneath that roof with fculptur'd marble fraught,
Why fleeps unmov'd the breathlefs duft below?

!

Sleeps it more fweetly than the fimple swain,

Beneath fome moffy turf that refts his head;
Where the lone widow tells the night her pain,"
And eve with dewy tears embalms the dead ?

The lily, fcreen'd from ev'ry ruder gale,
Courts not the cultur'd fpot where rofes fpring:
But blows neglected in the peaceful vale.
And fcents the zephyr's balmy breathing wing.

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The bufts of grandeur and the pomp of pow'r,
Can these bid Sorrow's gushing tears fubfide?
Can these avail in that tremendous hour,

When Death's cold hand congeals the purple tide?

Ah no! the mighty names are heard no more :

Pride's thought fublime, and Beauty's kindling bloom, Serve but to fport one flying moment o'er,

And fwell with pompous verfe th' efcutcheon'd tomb

For me may Paffion ne'er my foul invade,

Nor be the whims of tow'ring Phrenzy giv'n;
Let Wealth ne'er court me from the peaceful fhade,
Where Contemplation wings the foul to Heaven!

Oh guard me fafe from Joy's enticing fnare !
With each extreme that Pleasure tries to hide,
The poifon'd breath of flow-confuming Care,..
The noife of Folly, and the dreams of Pride.
But oft, when midnight's fadly folemn knell
Sounds long and diftant from the fky-topt tow'r,
Calm let me fit in Profper's lonely cell*,

Or walk with Milton thro' the dark obfcure.

Thus, when the tranfient dream of life is fled,
May fome fad friend recal the former years;
Then, ftretch'd in filence o'er my dufty bed,
Pour the warm gufh of fympathetic tears!

*See
See Shakespeare's Tempeft,;

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