In that he breathes the melancholy moan,
And wakes the heart to forrows not its own;
From pity's eye extracts the votive tear,
While tales of anguish strike the lift'ning ear:
Thus o'er the paffions bears resistless sway,
And keeps the tenderest sympathies in play.
Yet when fome hero, on the doubtful field,
Too weak to conquer, yet too bold to yield,
With steady zeal the tyrant's rage defies,
And fights for freedom, or for freedom dies;
E'en then the bard, exulting, hears the tale
In broken accents float on ev'ry gale;
E'en then his muse, ambitious to recite
What call'd him forth, or urg'd him on to fight,
Conveys his fame in ftrains at once fublime,
To after ages, on the tide of time:
That other heroes, of illuftrious birth,
May nobly strive to emulate his worth;

And, rous'd to arms by freedom's facred fire,
Live as he liv'd, or as he died expire.

Thus oft the bard enlists in virtue's cause,
Here deals out cenfure, and there gives applaufe;
And tho' tis his, in living lays to tell

How heroes conquer'd, and how tyrants fell;
Yet as he finds his beating bofom glow

With all the warmth which friendship can bestow,
He fhows that victories, earn'd in human blood,
Conduce but little to the public good;

That paffive virtue is the nobleft prize,
And truth a pole-ftar to the good and wife.
When genius rifes from a clouded state,
And fpurning folly aims but to be great,

Let none in cenfure wantonly delight,
Left they should check it in its daring flight
And damp a portion of celestial flame,
That glows unheeded in the mental frame;
Which, timely notic'd, might have forc'd its way,
And fhone refulgent as the orb of day;
Through error's mift have shot a kindling gleam,
And lighting others, gain'd the world's esteem.

COLLS.

SECT.

CLXVII.

AN HYMN TO THE SUPREME BEING.

ARISE, my foul! on wings feraphic rife!

And praise th' almighty Sovereign of the skies;

In whom alone essential glory fhines,

Which not the heav'n of heav'ns, nor boundless space confines.

When darkness rul'd with universal fway, He spoke, and kindled up the blaze of day; First, fairest offspring of th' omnific Word! Which, like a garment, cloth'd its fov'reign Lord. On liquid air he bade the columns rife, That prop the starry concave of the skies; Diffus'd the blue expanse from pole to pole, And spread circumfluent æther round the whole. Soon as he bids impetuous tempefts fly, To wing his founding chariot thro' the sky, Impetuous tempefts the command obey, Sustain his flight, and sweep th' aërial way. Fraught with his mandates, from the realms on high, Unnumber'd hosts of radiant heralds fly

From

From orb to orb, with progrefs unconfin'd,
As lightning fwift, refiftlefs as the wind.

In ambient air this pond'rous ball he hung,
And bade its centre reft for ever strong;
Heav'n, air, and sea, with all their storms, in vain
Affault the basis of the firm machine.

At thy almighty voice old Ocean raves,
Wakes all his force, and gathers all his waves;
Nature lies mantled in a watʼry robe,

And fhoreless billows revel round the globe:
O'er highest hills the higher furges rife,

Mix with the clouds, and meet the fluid skies..
But when in thunder the rebuke was giv'n
That fhook th' eternal firmament of heav'n,
The grand rebuke th' affrighted waves obey,
And in confufion fcour their uncouth way;
And posting rapid to the place decreed,
Wind down the hills, and sweep the humble mead,
Reluctant in their bounds the waves fubfide;
The bounds, impervious to the lashing tide,
Restrain its rage; whilst with incessant roar
It shakes the caverns, and assaults the shore.

By him, from mountains cloth'd in lucid fnow
Through fertile vales the mazy rivers flow:
Here the wild horse, unconscious of the rein,
That revels boundless o'er the wide campaign,
Imbibes the filver furge, with heat oppreft,
To cool the fever of his lowing breast.

Here rifing boughs, adorn'd with fummer's pride, Project their waving umbrage o'er the tide ; While, gently perching on the leafy spray, Each feather'd warbler tunes his various lay:

And while thy praife they fymphonize around,
Creation echoes to the grateful found.

Wide o'er the heav'ns the various bow he bends;
Its tinctures brighten, and its arch extends:
At the glad fign the airy conduits flow,
Soften the hills, and cheer the meads below:
By genial fervour and prolific rain,

Swift vegetation clothes the smiling plain;
Nature, profufely good, with blifs o'erflows,
And ftill is pregnant, tho' fhe ftill bestows.

Here verdant paftures wide extended lie,
And yield the grazing herd exuberant fupply.
Luxuriant waving in the wanton air,
Here golden grain rewards the peafant's care:
Her vines mature with fresh carnation glow,
And heav'n above diffuses heav'n below.

Erect and tall here mountain cedars rife,
Wave in the ftarry vault, and emulate the skies.
Here the wing'd crowd, that skim the yielding air,
With artful toil their little domes prepare;

Here hatch their tender young, and nurse the rising

care.

Up the fteep hill afcends the nimble doe,

While timid conies fcour the plains below,
Cr in the pendant rock elude the fcenting foe.
He bade the filver majefty of night
Revolve her circles, and increase her light;
Affign'd a province to each rolling sphere,
And taught the fun to regulate the year.
At his command, wide hov'ring o'er the plain,
Primæval night refumes her gloomy reign:

་

Then

Then from their dens, impatient of delay,
The favage monfters bend their speedy way,

Howl thro' the spacious wafte, and chafe their
frighted prey.

Here ftalks the fhaggy monarch of the wood,
Taught from thy providence to ask his food!
To thee, O Father, to thy bounteous skies
He rears his mane, and rolls his glaring eyes;
He roars; the defert trembles wide around,
And repercuffive hills repeat the found.

Now orient gems the eastern skies adorn,
And joyful nature hails the op'ning morn ;
The rovers, confcious of approaching day,
Fly to their shelters, and forget their prey.
Laborious man, with mod'rate flumber bleft,
Springs cheerful to his toil from downy reft;
Till grateful evening with her argent train
Bid labour cease, and ease the weary fwain.

}

"Hail, Sov'reign Goodness! all-productive Mind ! On all thy works thyself infcrib'd we find ; How various all, how varioufly endow'd,

How great their number, and each part how good!
How perfect then must the Great Parent shine,
Who, with one act of energy divine,

Laid the vaft plan, and finifh'd the defign!

}

- Where'er the pleafing fearch my thoughts purfue,
Unbounded goodness rises to my view;
Nor does our world alone its influence share;
Exhaustlefs bounty, and unwearied care,
Extends thro' all th' infinitude of space,
And circles nature with a kind embrace.