The various modes of things diftinctly shows,
A pure respect, a nice relation knows, [flows;
And fees whence each respect and each relation
By her abstracting power in pieces takes [makes;
The mix'd and compound whole, which Nature
On objects of the fenfes fhe refines,
Beings by Nature feparated joins,

And fevers qualities, which that combines.
The mind, from things repugnant, fome refpects
In which their natures are alike felects,
And can fome difference and unlikeness fee
In things which feem entirely to agree:
She does diftinguish here, and there unite;
The mark of judgment that, and this of wit.
As fhe can reckon, separate, and compare,
Conceive what order, rude, proportion, are,
So from one thought the ftill can more infer;
Maxim from maxim can by force exprefs,
And make difcover'd truths affociate truths confefs:
On plain foundations, which our reafon lays,
She can ftupendous frames of science raife;
Notion on notion built will towering rife,
Till th' intellectual fabrics reach the fkies;
The mathematic axioms, which appear
By fcientific demonftration clear,
The master-builders on two pillars rear :
From two plain problems by laborious thought
Is all the wondrous fuperftructure wrought.

The foul, as mention'd, can herself inspect,
By acts reflex can view her acts direct;

A talk too hard for fenfe; for though the eye
Its own reflected image can defery,
Yet it ne'er faw the fight by which it fees,
Vision can show no colour'd images.

The mind's tribunal can reports reject
Made by the fenfes, and their faults correct;
The magnitude of distant stars it knows,
Which erring fenfe, as twinkling tapers, fhows:
Crooked the shape our cheated eye believes,
Which through a double medium it receives;
Superior mind does a right judgment make,
Declares its ftraight, and mends the eye's mistake.
Where dwells this fovereign arbitrary soul,
Which does the human arimal control,
Inform each part, and agitate the whole?
O'er ministerial fenfes does prefide,
To all their various provinces divide,
Each member move, and every motion guide?
Which, by her fecret uncontested nod,
Her meffengers the fpirits fends abroad,
Through every nervous pafs, and every vital road,
To fetch from every diftant part a train
Of outward objects, to enrich the brain?
Where fits this bright intelligence enthron'd,
With numberlefs ideas pour'd around?
Where sciences and arts in order wait,
And truths divine compofe her godlike state?
Can the diffecting steel the brain display,
And the auguft apartment open lay,
Where this great queen ftill chooses to refide
In intelle&ual pomp, and bright ideal pride ?
Or can the eye, affilted by the glafs,
Difcern the strait, but hofpitable place,
In which ten thoufand images remain,
Without confufion, and their rank maintain?

How does this wondrous principle of thought
Perceive the object by the fenfes brought?
What philofophic builder will effay
By rules mechanic to unfold the way
How a machine must be difpos'd to think, '
Ideas how to frame, and how to link?
Tell us, Lucretius, Epicurus, tell,
And you in wit unrival'd fhall excel;
How through the outward fenfe the object flies,
How in the foul her images arise ;

What thinking, what perception is, explain;
What all the airy creatures of the brain;
How to the mind a thought reflected goes,
And how the confciuus engine knows it knows.
The mind a thousand skilful works can frame,
Can form deep projects to procure her aim.
Merchants for eastern pearl and golden cre
To cross the main, and reach the Indian fhore,
Prepare the floating fhip, and spread the fail,
To catch the impulfe of the breathing gale.
Warriors in framing fchemes their wisdom show,
To disappoint or circumvent the foe.
Th' ambitious statesman labours dark designs,
Now open force employs, now undermines
By paths dire his end he now pursues,
By fide approaches now, and flanting views.
See, how refiftless orators perfuade,
Draw out their forces, and the heart invade;
Touch every spring and movement of the foul,
This appetite excite, and that controul;
Their powerful voice can flying troops arreft,
Confirm the weak, and melt th' obdurate breast;
Chafe from the fad their melancholy air,
Sooth difcontent, and folace anxious care.
When threatening tides of rage and anger rife,
Ufurp the throne, and reason's sway defpife,
When in the feats of life this tempeft reigns,
Beats through the heart, and drives along the veins;
See, eloquence with force perfuafive binds
The restless waves, and charms the warring winds,
Refiftless bids tumultuous uproar ceafe,
Recalls the calm, and gives the bofom peace.
Did not the mind, on heavenly joy intent,
The various kinds of harmony invent?
She the theorbo, the the viol found,
And all the moving melody of found;
She gave to breathing tubes a power unknown,
To speak inspir'd with accents not their own;
Taught tuneful fons of mufic how to fing,
How, by vibrations of th' extended string,
And manag'd impulse on the fuffering air,
Textort the rapture, and delight the ear.

See, how celeftial reafon does command
The ready pencil in the painter's hand;
Whofe ftrokes affect with Nature's self to vie,
And with falfe life amufe the doubtful eye:
Behold the strong emotions of the mind
Exerted in the eyes, and in the face defign'd.
Such is the artist's wondrous power, that we
Ev'n pictur'd fouls and colour'd paffions fee,
Where without words (peculiar eloquence)
The bufy figures speak their various fenfe.
What living face does more diftrefs or woe,
More finith'd fhame, confufion, horror, know,
Thạn what the mafters of the pencil show?

Woe.

There Niobe leans weeping on her arm:

How her fad looks and beauteous forrow charm! See, here a Venus foft in Parian tone; A Pallas there to ancient fables known; That from the rock arofe, not from the main, This not from Jove's, but from the sculptor's brain. Admire the carver's fertile energy, With ravish'd eyes his happy offspring fee. What beauteous figures by th' unrival'd art Of British Gibbons from the cedar ftart! He makes that tree unnative charms affume, Ulurp gay honours, and another's bloom ; The various fruits, which different climates bear, And all the pride the fields and gardens wear; While from unjuicy limbs without a root New buds devis'd, and leafy branches, fhoot. As human kind can by an act direct, Perceive and know, then reafon and reflect: So the felf-moving fpring has power to choose, Thefe methods to reject, and those to use; She can defign and profecute an end, Excrt her vigour, or her act fufpend; Free from the infults of all foreign power, She does her godlike liberty fecure; Her right and high prerogative maintains, Impatient of the yoke, and fcorns coercive chains; She can her airy train of forms disband, And makes new levees at her own command; O'er her ideas fovereign the prefides, At pleasure these unites, and thofe divides.

The ready phantoms at her nod advance,
And form the bufy intellectual dance;
While her fair fcenes to vary, or fupply,
She fingles out fit images, that lie

In memory's records, which faithful hold
Obje&s immenfe in fecret marks inroll'd;
The fleeping forms at her command awake,
And now return, and now their cells forfake,
On active fancy's crowded theatre,
As the directs, they rife or difappear.

[way,

Objects, which through the fenfes make their And just impreffions to the foul convey,' Give her occafion firft herself to move, And to exert her hatred, or her love; Ideas, which to fome impulfive feem, Act not upon the mind, but that on them. When the to foreign objects audience gives, Their strokes and motions in the brain perceives; As thefe perceptions, we ideas name,

From her own power and active nature came,

So when discern'd by intellectual light,
Herself her various pallions does excite,
To ill her hate, to good her appetite;
To fhun the first, the latter to procure,
She chooses means by free elective power;
She can their various habitudes furvey,
Debate their fitnefs, and their merit weigh,
And, while the means fuggefted the compares,
She to the rivals this or that prefers.

By her fuperior power the reasoning foul
Can each reluctant appetite controul;
Can every paffion rule, and every sense,
Change Nature's courfe,and with her laws difpenfe;
Our breathing to prevent, fhe can arrest
Th' extenfion, or contraction, of the breaft;
When pain'd with hunger, we can food refuse,
And wholesome abstinence, or famine choose.
Can the wild beaft his inftinct disobey,
And from his jaws release the captive prey?
Or hungry herds on verdant paftures lie,
Mindless to eat, and refolute to die?
With heat expiring, can the panting hart
Patient of thirst from the cool ftream depart?
Can brutes at will imprifon'd breath detain?
Torment prefer to cafe, and life difdain?

From all restraint, from all compulfion free,
Unforc'd, and unneceffitated, we

Ourselves determine, and our freedom prove,
When this we fly, and to that object move.
Had not the mind a power to will and choose,
One obje&t to embrace, and one refuse;
Could the not act, or not her act fufpend,
As it obftructed, or advanc'd her end;
Virtue and vice were names without a caufe,
This would not hate deferve, nor that applause;
Juftice in vain has high tribunals rear'd,
Whom can her fentence punish, whom reward?
If impious children fhould their father kill,
Can they be wicked, when they cannot will;
When only caufes foreign and unfeen
Strike with refiftlefs force the springs within,
Whence in the engine man all motion muft
begin ?-

Are vapours guilty which the vintage blast?
Are ftorms profcrib'd, which lay the forelt waste ?
Why lies the wretch then tortur'd on the wheel,
If forc'd to treafon, or compell'd to feal?
Why does the warrior, by auspicious fate
With laurels crown'd, and clad in robes of state,
In triumph ride amidst the gazing throng,
Deaf with applaufes, and the poet's fong;
If the victorious, but the brute machine
Did only wreaths inevitable win,
And no wife choice or vigilance has shown,
Mov'd by a fatal impulfe, not his own?

Should trains of atoms human fenfe impel,
Though not fo fierce, so strong, fo visible
As foldiers arm'd, and do not men arreft
With clubs upheld, and daggers at their breast ?
Yet means compulfive are not plainer fhown,
When rufhans drive, or conquerors drag us on;
As much we're forc'd, when by an atom's fway
Control'd, as when a tyrant we obey;
And, by whatever caule contraiu'd to act,
We merit no reward, no guilt contract.

Our mind of rulers feels a conscious awe,
Reveres their juice, and regards their law:
She rectitude and deviation knows,

That vice from one, from one that virtue flows;
Of these fhe feels unlike effects within,
From virtue pleasure, and remorse from fin;
Hopes of a juft reward by that are fed,
By this, of wrath vindi&ive, fecret dread.-
The mind, which thus can rules of duty learn,
Can right from wrong, and good from ill difcern;
Which, the fharp ftroke of justice to prevent,
Can fhame express, can grieve, reflect, repent ;
From fate or chance her rise can never draw,
Those causes know not virtue, vice, or law.

She can a life fucceeding this conceive,
Of blifs or woe an endless state believe.
Dreading the juft and universal doom,
And aw'd by fears of punishment to come,
By hopes excited of a glorious crown,
And certain pleasures in a world unknown :
She can the fond defires of sense restrain,
Renounce delight, and choose distress and pain;
Can rush on danger, can destruction face,
Joyful relinquish life, and death embrace :
She to afflicted virtue can adhere,

And chains and want to profperous guilt prefer ;
Unmov'd, these wild tempeftuous steps furvey,
And view ferene this reft lefs rolling fea.
In vain the monsters, which the coaft infeft,
Spend all their rage to interrupt her reft;
Her charming fong the fyren fings in vain,
She can the tuneful hypocrite disdain ;
Fix'd and unchang'd the faithlefs world behold,
Deaf to its threats, and to its favour cold.
Sages, remark, we labour not to fhow
The will is free, but that the man is fo;
For what enlighten'd reafoner can-declare
What human will and understanding are?
What science from those objects can we frame
Of which we little know, befides the name?
The learned, who with anatomic art
Diffect the mind, and thinking substance part,
And various powers and faculties affert,
Perhaps by fuch abftraction of the mind,
Divide the things that are in nature join'd.
What mafters of the fchools can make it clear
Thofe faculties, which two to them appear,
Are not refiding in the foul the fame,
And not diftin&t, but by a different name?

Thus has the muse purfu'd her hardy theme,
And fung the wonders of this artful frame.
Ere yet one fubterranean arch was made,
One cavern vaulted, or one girder laid;
Ere the high rocks did o'er the fhores arife,
Or fnowy mountains tower'd amidst the fkies;
Before the wat'ry troops fil'd off from land,
And lay amidst the rocks'entrench'd in fand;
Before the air its bofom did unfold,

Or burnish'd orbs in blue expanfion roll'd,
She fung how Nature then in embryo lay,
And did the fecrets of her birth display.

When after, at th' Almighty's high command,
Obedient waves divided from the land;
And fhades and lazy mifts were chas'd away,
While rofy light diffus'd the tender day;
VOL. VII.

When uproar ceas'd, and wild confufion fled,
And new-born Nature rais'd her beauteous head;
She fung the frame of this terreftrial pile,
The hills, the rocks, the rivers, and the foil:
She view'd the fandy frontiers, which restrain
The noify infults of th' imprison'd main;
Rang'd o'er the wide diffusion of the waves,
The moift cœrulean walks, and fearch'd the coral

caves.

She then furvey'd the fluid fields of air, And the crude feeds of meteors fashion'd there; Then with continued flight fh. fped her way, Mounted, and bold purfu'd the fource of day; With wonder of celestial motions fung, How the pois'd orbs are in the vacant hung; How the bright fluices of ethereal light, Now fhut, defend the empire of the night; And now, drawn up with wife alternate care, Let floods of glory out, and spread with day the

air.

Then, with a daring wing, fhe foar'd fublime, From realm to realm, from orb to orb did climb : Swift through the spacious gulf she urg'd her way, At length emerg'd in empyrean day;

Where far, oh far, beyond what mortals fee,
In the void districts of immensity;

The mind new funs, new planets, can explore,
And yet beyond can ftill imagine more.

Thus in bold numbers did th' adventurous muse
To fing the lifelefs parts of Nature choose;
And then advanc'd to wonders yet behind,
-Survey'd and fung the vegetable kind;

Did lofty woods, and humble brakes review, Along the valley fwept, and o'er the mountain flew.

Then left the mufe, the field, and waving grove,
And, unfatigu'd with grateful labour, strove
To climb th' amazing heights of fenfe, and fing
The power perceptive, and the inward fpring
Which agitates and guides each living thing.

She next effay'd the embryo's rife to trace
From an unfashion'd, rude, unchannel'd mass;
Sung how the spirits waken'd in the brain,
Exert their force, and genial toil maintain ;
Erect the beating heart, the channels frame,
Unfold entangled limbs, and kindle vital flame;
How the fmall pipes are in meanders laid,
And bounding life is to and fro convey'd;
How spirits, which for sense and motion ferve,
Unguided find the perforated nerve,
Through every dark recefs pursue their flight,
Unconscious of the road, and void of fight,
Yet certain of the way, ftill guide their motions
right.

From thence a nobler flight fhe did essay, The mind's extended empire to furvey She fung the godlike principle of thought, And how, from objects by the fenfes brought, The intellectual imagery is wrought; How the the modes of beings can difcern, A nice respect a mere relation learn; Can all the thin abstracted notions reach, Which Grecian wits, or, Britain, thine can teach Thus has the muse strove to display a part Of those unnumber'd miracles of art į

Of prudence, conduct, and a wife defign,
Which to th' attentive thought confpicuous fhine.
Still, vanquifh'd atheifts! will you keep the field,
And, hard in error, ftill refuse to yield?
See, all your broken arms lie spread around,
And ignominious rout deforms the ground;
Be wife, and, once admonifl'd by a foe,

Where lies your ftrength, and where your weaknefs know

No more at reason's folemn bar appear,
Hardy no more fcholaftic weapons bear;
Difband your feeble forces, and decline
The war; no more in tinfel armour fhine;
Nor shake your bulrufh fpears, but fwift repair
To your strong place of arms, the fcoffer's chair;
And thence, fupported with a mocking ring,
Sarcaftic darts, and keen invectives fling
Against your foes, and fcornful at your feasts
Religion vanquifh with decifive jests;
Arm'd with refiftless laughter, heaven affail,
Relinquish reason, and let mirth prevail.

[fight,
Good Heav'n that men, who vaunt difcerning
And arrogant from wifdum's distant height
Look down on volgar mortals, who revere
A Caufe Supreme,fhould their proud building rear
Without one prop the ponderous pile to bear!
How much the Judge, who does in heaven prefide,
Re-mocks the fcoffer, and contemns his pride!
Behold, the fad, unfufferable hour

Advances near, which will his error cure ;
When he compell'd fhall drink the wrathful
And ruin'd feel immortal vengeance roll [bowl,
Through all his veins, and drench his inmoft foul.
O'erwhelm'd with horror, funk in deep despair,
And loft for ever, will the wretch forbear

To curfe his madness, and blafpheme the power
Of his just Sovereign, which he mock'd before?

Hail, King Supreme! of Power immense Abyss!
Father of Light! Exhaftlefs Source of Blifs!
Thou uncreated, Self-existent Cause,
Control'd by no fupcrior being's laws,
Ere infant light effay'd to dart the ray,
Smil'd heav'nly fweet, and try'd to kindle day:
Ere the wide fields of æther were display'd,
Or filver ftars cærulean fpheres inlaid;
Ere yet the eldest child of time was born,
Or verdant pride young nature did adorn;
Thou art; and didst eternity employ
In unmolested peace, in plenitude of joy.

In its ideal frame the world, defign'd
From ages paft,'lay finish'd in thy mind.
Conform to this divine imagin'd plan,
With perfect art th' amazing work began.
Thy glance furvey'd the folitary plains,
Where shapeless fhade inert and filent reigns;
Then in the dark and undiftinguifh'd space,
Unfruitful, unenclos'd, and wild of face,
Thy compafs for the world mark'd out the de-

ftin'd place.

Then didst thou through the fields of barren night
Go forth, collected in Creating Might.
Where Thou almighty vigour didft excrt,
Which emicant did this and that way dart.
Through the black bofum of the empty space :
'The gulfe confefs th' omnipotent embrace,

And, pregnant grown with elemental feed,
Unfinish'd orbs and worlds in embryo breed.
From the crude mafs, Omnifcient Archite&,
Thou for each part materials did select,
And with a mafter-hand thy world erect..
Labour'd by Thee, the globes, vaft lucid buoys,
By Thee uplifted, float in liquid fkies:
By Thy cementing word their parts cohere,
And roll by Thy impulfive nod in air.
Thou in the vacant didst the earth fufpend,
Advance the mountains, and the vales extend:
People the plains with flocks, with beasts the wood,
And ftore with fcaly colonies the flood.

Next, man arose at Thy Creating Word,
Of Thy terrestrial realms vicegerent lord.
His foul, more artful labour, more refin'd,
And emulous of bright Seraphic Mind,
Ennobled by Thy image, fpotlefs fhone,
Prais'd Thee her author, and ador'd Thy throne;
Able to know, admire, enjoy her God,
She did her high felicity applaud.

Since Thou didst all the fpacious worlds difplay, Homage to Thee let all obedient pay.

Let glittering ftars, that dance their deftin'd ring
Sublime in fky, with vocal planets fing [King!
Confederate praise to Thee, O Great Creator
Let the thin diftricts of the waving air,
Conveyancers of found, Thy fkill declare.
Let winds, the breathing creatures of the fkics,
Call in each vigorous gale, that roving flies
By land or fea; then one loud triumph raise,
And all their blafts employ in fongs of praife.

While painted herald-birds Thy deeds proclaim,
And on their spreading wings convey Thy fame;
Let eagles, which in heaven's blue concave foar,
Scornful of earth, fuperior feats explore,
And rife with breasts erect against the fun,
Be minifters to bear Thy bright renown,
And carry ardent praifes to Thy throne.

Ye fish, aflume a voice; with praises fill The hollow rock, and loud reactive hill. Let lions with their roar their thanks exprefs, With acclamations shake the wildernefs. Let thunder clouds, that float from pole to pole, With falvos loud falute Thee as they roll. Ye monsters of the fea, ye noisy waves, Strike with applaufe the repercuffive caves. Let hail and rain, let meteors form'd of fire, And lambent flames, in this bleft work conspire. Let the high cedar and the mountain pine Lowly to thee, Great King, their heads incline. Let every spicy odoriferous tree

Prefent its incenfe and its balm to Thee.

[low,

And thou, Heaven's viccroy o'er this world beIn this bleft task fuperior ardour show : To view thyself, inflect thy reason's ray, Nature's replenish'd theatre furvey; Then all on fire the Author's skill adore, And in loud fongs extol Creating Power.

Degenerate minds, in mazy error lost, May combat Heaven, and impious triumphs boaft; But, while my veins feel animating fires, And vital air this breathing breaft infpires, Grateful to Heaven, I'll ftretch a pious wing, And fing His praife, who gave me power to fing.