See lofty Lebanon His head advance,
See nodding forefts on the mountains dance:
See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise,
And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely defart chears;
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears:
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down ye mountains, and ye valleys rise,

25

30

With

I M

MITATIONS..

fom as the rofe. Ch. Íx. v. 13. The glory of Lebanon shall
come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box to-
gether, to beautify the place of the fanctuary. P.
VER. 29. Hark, a glad Voice, etc.]

VIRG. E. iv. v. 45.

Aggredere o magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores,
Cara deûm foboles, magnum Jovis incrementum
Ipfi lætitia voces ad fydera jactant
Intonfi montes, ipfæ jam carmina rupes,
Ipfa fonant arbufta, Deus, deus ille Menalca!
E. v. ver. 62.

Ob come and receive the mighty honours: the time draws nigh, O beloved offspring of the Gods, O great encrease of Jove! The uncultivated mountains fend fhouts of joy to the ftars, the very rocks fing in verse, the very shrubs cry out, A God, a God!

ISAIAH, Ch. xl. v. 3, 4. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord! make ftrait in the defart a high way for our God! Every valley fhall be exalted, and every mountain and bill fall be made low, and the crooked shall be made ftrait, and the rough places plain. Chiv v. 23. Break forth into finging, ye mountains! O foreft, and every tree therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Ifrael.- P.

* Ch. xxxv. v. 2. † Ch. xl. v. 3, 4.

!

With heads declin'd, ye cedars homage pay;
Be smooth ye rocks, ye rapid floods give way
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold :
Hear* him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films fhall purge the visual ray,
And on the fightless eye-ball pour the day:
'Tis he th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new mufic charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb fhall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.

35

40

No figh, no murmur the wide world shall hear, 45
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.

In + adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim Tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good+fhepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the pureft air,
Explores the loft, the wand'ring fheep directs,
By day o'erfees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bofom warms;
Thus fhall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd || father of the future age.
No more fhall § nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriours meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into scythes fhall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow-share end.

50

55

60

65

Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful * Son
Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd Sire begun ;
Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield,
And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field.
The fwain in barren + defarts with furprize
See lillies fpring, and sudden verdure rise;
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear,
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and shapely box adorn :

70

To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ring palms fucceed, 75 And od❜rous myrtle to the noifom weed.

The

lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead,

And boys in flow'ry bands the tyger lead;

IMITATIONS.

The

VER.67. The Swain in barren defarts] Virg. E. iv. v. 28.
Molli paulatim flavefcet campus arifta,
Incultifque rubens pendebit fentibus uva,

Et dure quercus fudabunt rofcia mella.

The fields fhall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oak fhall diftill honey like dew.

ISAIAH, Ch. Xxxv. v. 7. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: In the habitations where dragons lay, fall be grafs, and reeds, and rushes. Ch. lv. v. 13. Instead of the thorn fhall come up the fir-tree, and inflead of the briar fhall come up the myrtle tree.

P.

VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, etc.] Virg. E. iv. v. 21.
Ipia latte domum referent diflenta capellæ

Ubera,

+ Ch. xxxv. V. 1, 7, Ch. xi. v. 6, 7, 8.

* Ch. lxv. v. 21, 22.
Ch. xli. v. 19. andCh. lv. v. 13.

|

The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,

And harmless ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
*
The smiling infant in his hand fhall take
The crested bafilisk and speckled snake,
Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales furvey,

80

And with their forky tongue shall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial † Salem, rife! 85
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!

See, a long race thy fpacious courts adorn;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,

IMITATIONS.

Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones -
Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni

Occidet.

In

The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diftended with milk: nor fhall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. The ferpent fhall die, and the kerb that conceals poison fhall die.

ISAIAH, Ch. xi. v. 16, etc. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child fhall lead them.And the lion fhall eat fraw like the ox. And the fucking child shall play on the hole of the afp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice. P.

VER. 85. Rife, crown'd awith light, imperial Salem, rife!] The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compofe the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thofe general exclamations of Virgil, which make the loftieft parts of his Pollio.

Magnus ab integro fæclorum nafcitur ordo!
toto furget gens aurea mundo!
-incipient magni procedere menses!

Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo! etc. The reader needs only to turn to the paffages of Isaiah, here cited. P.

* Ch. lxv. v. 25. † Ch. lx. v. 1. ‡ Ch. Ix. v. 41

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95

In crouding ranks on ev'ry side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings
And heap'd with products of + Sabæan springs!
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
And feeds of gold in Ophyr's mountains glow.
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rifing+ Sun fhall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn;
But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded bsaze
O'erflows thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!

100

The feas fhall wafte, the skies in fmoke decay, 105
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own MESSIAH reigns!

* Ch. lx. v. 3. + Ch Ix. v. 6. Ch. Ix. v. 19, 20Ch. li. v. 6. and Ch. liv. v. 10.