OFT, as I wondering stand, a fecret doubt Puzzles my reason, and difturbs my thought,* Whether this lower world by chance does move, Or guided by the guardian hand of Jove.

When I furvey the world's harmonious frame,
How Nature lives immutably the fame;
How ftated bounds and ambient fhores restrain
The rolling furges of the briny main;
How conftant time revolves the circling year;
How day and night alternately appear;
Then am I well convinc'd fome fecret foul,
Some first informing power directs the whole;
Some great intelligence, who turns the spheres,
Who rules the fteady motions of the ftars,
Who decks with borrow'd light the waning moon,
And fills with native light th' unchanging fun,
Who hangs the earth amidst surrounding fkies,
And bids her various fruits in various feafons rife.
But, foon as I reflect on human ftate,
How blind, how unproportion'd, is our fate;
How ill men, crown'd with bleffings, fmoothly
A golden circle of delightful days;
[pafs
How good men bear the rugged paths of life,
Condemn'd to endless cares, to endless ftrife;
Then I am loft again; religion fails;
Then Epicurus' bolder scheme prevails, [dance,
Which through the void makes wandering atoms
And calls the medley world the work of chance,
Which God's eternal Providence denies,
And feigns him nodding in the distant skies.

At length Rufinus' fate my doubt removes,
And God's exiftence and his juftice proves.
Nor do I longer undeceiv'd complain,
The wicked flourish and triumphant reign;
Since they to fortune's heights are rais'd alone,
To rush with greater ruin headlong down.

The day, to which this Poem was originally annexed, was written in 1711, as a harth fatire on the Duke of Marlborough. It is printed in Dr. King's Works, vol. ii. p. 430.

But here inftru& thy bard, Pierian dame, Whence, and of whom, the dire contagion L Alecto's breaft with rage and envy glows, To fee the world poffefs'd of fweet repole. Down to the dreary realms below the bends, There fummons a cabal of sister fiends; Thither unnumber'd plagues direct their flight, The curfed progeny of hell and night. Firft difcord rears her head, the nurfe of war; Next famine fiercely ftalks with haughty air; Then age fcarce drags her limbs, fcarce draws her breath,

But, tottering on, approaches neighbouring death; Here grows disease, with inbred tortures worn; There envy fnarls, and others' good does

mourn;

There forrow fighs, her robe to tatters torn;
Fear skulks behind, and trembling hides her face,
But rafhness headlong thrufts her front of brass;
Then luxury, wealth's bane, profufely fhines,
Whilft want, attending in a cloud, repines.
A train of fleeplefs felf-tormenting cares,
Daughters of meagre avarice, appears;
Who, as round her wither'd neck they cling,
Confefs the parent hag from whence they fpring.
Here ills of each malignant kind refort,
A thousand monfters guard the dreadful court.
Amidit th' infernal crowd, Alecto stands,
And a deep filence awfully commands;
Then, in tumultuous terms like these, exprefs'd
A paffion long had swell'd within her breaft:

Shall we fupine permit these peaceful days, "So fmooth, fo gay, fo undisturb'd, to país? "Shall pity melt, fhall clemency control, "A fury's fierce and unrelenting foul? "What do our iron whips, our brands, avail; "What all the horrid implements of hell; "Since mighty Jove debars us of his flies, "Since Theodofius too his earth denies?

"Such were the days, and fo their tenor ran, "When the first happy golden age began: "Virtue and concord, with their heavenly train, "With piety and faith, fecurely reign; "Nay, juftice, in imperial pomp array'd, "Boldly explores this everlafting fhade; "Me fhe, infulting, menaces and awes; "Reforms the world, and vindicates her laws. "And fhall we then, neglected and forlorn, "From every region banifh'd, idly mourn? "Affert yourselves; know what, and whence 64 you are:

[care;

"Attempt fome glorious mifchief worth your
"Involve the univerfe in endless war.
"Oh that I could in Stygian vapour rife,
"Darken the fun, pollute the balmy skies;
"Let loose the rivers, deluge every plain,
"Break down the barriers of the roaring main,
And flatter nature into chaos once again

So rag`d the fiend, and tofs'd her vipers round,
Which hifling pour'd their poifon on the ground.
A murmur through the jarring audience rung,
Different refolves from different reafons fprung.
So when the fury of the storm is past,
When the rough winds in fofter murmurs wake;
So founds fo flu&uates, the troubled fea,
As the expiring tempeft plows it way.

Megara, rifing then, addrefs'd the throng, To whom fedition, tumult, rage belong : Whofe food is entrails of the guiltless dead, Whofe drink is children's blood by parents fhed. She fcorch'd Alcides with a frantic flame, She broke the bow, the favage world did tame; She nerv'd the arm, the flung tl.e deadly dart, When Athamas transfix'd Learchus' heart: She prompted Agamemnon's monstrous wife To take her injur'd lord's devoted life: She breath'd revenge and rage into the fon, So did the mother's blood the fire's atone : She blinded Oedipus with kindred charms, Forc'd him inceftuous to a mother's arms: She flrung Thyeftes, and his fury fed: She taught him to pollute a daughter's bed. Such was her dreadful speech :

“Your schemes not practical nor lawful are, "With Heaven and Jove to wage unequal war: "But, if the peace of man you would invade, "If o'er the ravag'd earth deftruction spread; "Then fhall Rufinus, fram'd for every ill, "With your own vengeance execute your will; "A prodigy from favage parents sprung,

Impetuous as a tigrefs new with young; "Fierce as the hydra, fickle as the flood, "And keen as meagre harpies for their food. "Soon as the infant drew the vital air, I first receiv'd him to my nurfing care; "And often he when tender yet and young, "Cried for the tear, and on my bofom hung: "Whilft my horn'd ferpents round his vifageplay'd, "His features form'd, and there their venom fhed; "Whilft I, infufing, breath'd into his heart "Deceit and craft, and every hurtful art; "Taught him t' involve his foul in fecret clouds, With falfe diffembling fmiles to veil his frauds. "Not dying patriots' tortures can affuage His inborn cruelty, his native rage:

"Not Tagus' yellow torrent can fuffice "His boundlefs and unfated avarice: "Nor all the metal of Pactolus' ftreams, "Nor Hermius glittering as the folar beams. "If you the ftratagem propos'd approve, "Let us to court this bane of crowns remove. "There fhall be foou, with his intriguing art, "Guide uncontroul'd the willing prince's heart. "Not Numa's wifdom fhall that heart defend, "When the falfe favourite acts the faithful "friend."

Soon as as the ended, the furrounding crowd With peals of joy the black design applaud.

Now with an adamant her hair the bound,
With a blue ferpent girt her vest around;
Then haftes to to Phiegethon's impetuous ftream,
Whofe pitchy waves are flakes of rolling flame;
There lights a torch, and ftraight, with wings
difplay'd,

Shoots fwiftly through the dun Tartarian glade.
A place on Gallia's utmost verge there lies,
Extended to the fea and fouthern fkies;
Where once Ulyffes, as Id fables tell,
Invok'd and rais'd th' inhabitants of hell;
Where oft, with flaring eyes. the trembling hind
Sees airy phantoms fkim before the wind:
Hence fprings the fury into upper skies,
Infecting all the region as the flies:

She roars, and fhakes the atmof, here around,
And earth and fea rebellow to the found,
Then ftraight transform'd her fnakes to filver
And like an old decrepid fage appears; [hairs,
Slowly fhe creeps along with trembling gait,
Scarce can her languid limbs fuftain her weight.
At length, ar.iving at Rufinus' cell,
Which, from his monitrous birth, fhe knew fo well,
She mildly thus hell's darling hope addrefs'd,
Sooth'd his ambition, and inflam'd his breaft:

Can floth diffolve Rufinus; canft thou pafs "Thy sprightly youth in foft inglorious eafe? "Know that thy better fate, thy kinder ftar, "Des more exalted paths for thee prepare. "If thou an old man's counfel canft obey, "The fubject world fhall own thy lovereign "fway:

"For my enlighten'd foul, my conscious breast, "Of magic's fecret fcience is poffets'd. "Oft have I forc'd, with myitic midnight fpells, "Pale fpectres from their fubterranean cells: "Old Hecaté attends my powerful fong,

Powerful to haften fate, or to prolong; "Powerful the rooted stubborn oak to move, "To stop the thunder bu fting from above,

To make the rapid flood's delcending fiream "Flow backward to the fountain whence it came. "Nor doubt my truth-behold, with juft furprise, "An effort of iny art-a palace rife."

She faid; and lo, a palace towering feems,
With Parian pillars and metallic beams.
Rufinus, ravifh'd with the vast delight,
Gorges his avarice, and gluts his fight.
Such was his tranfport, fuch his fudden pride,
When Midas firft his golden with enjoy'd:
But, as his ftifiening food to metal turn'd,
He found his rafhucfs, and his ruin mourn'd,
Y y j

"Be thou or man or god," Rufinus faid, "I follow wherefoc'er thy dictates lead.” Then from his hut he flies, affumes the state Propounded by the fiend, prepar'd by fate. Ambition foon began to lift her head, Soaring, fhe mounts with reftiefs pinions spread; But juftice, conscious, fhuns the poifon'd air, Where only prostituted tools repair; Where Stilico and Virtue not avail; Where royal favours ftand expos'd to fale; Where now Rufinus, fcandalously great, Loads labouring nations with oppreflive weight; Keeps the obfequious world depending ftill On the proud dictates of his lawlefs will; Advances thofe, whofe fierce and factious zeal Prompts ever to refift, and to rebel; But thofe impeaches, who their prince commend, Who, dauntless, dare his facred rights defend; Expounds fmall riots into highest crimes, Brands loyalty as treafon to the times. An haughty minion, mad with empire grown, Enflaves the fubjects, and infults the throne.

A thousand difemboguing rivers pay Their everlasting homage to the fea;

fgains; floods of

The Nile, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Thames,
Pour conftant down their tributary ftreams:
But yet the fea confeffes no increase,
For all is fwallow'd in the deep abyfs.
In craving, ftill Rufinus' foul remains.
Though fed with fhowers of gold, and
For he defpoils and ravages the land,
No ftate is free from his rapacious hand;
'Treasures immenfe he hoards; erects a tower,
To lodge the plunder'd world's collected ftore
Unmeafur'd is his wealth, unbounded is his
power.

Oh! whether would'st thou rove, mistaken man?
Vain are thy hopes, thy acquifitions vain :
For now, fuppofe thy avarice poflefs'd
Of all the fplendour of the glittering eaft,
Of Crocfus' mafs of wealth, of Cyrus' crown,
Suppofe the ocean's treasure all thy own;
Still would thy foul repine, ftill ask for more,
Unbleft with plenty, with abundance poor.

Fabricius, in himfelf, in virtue great,
Difdain'd a monarch's bribe, defpis'd his ftate.
Serranus, as he grac'd the conful's chair,
So could be guide the plough's laborious fhare.
The fam'd, the warlike, Curii deign'd to dwell
In a poor lonely cot and humble ccil.
Such a retreat to me's more glorious far,
Than all thy pomp, than all thy triumphs are:
Give me my folitary native home,
Take thou thy rifing tower, thy lofty dome;
Though there thy furniture of radiant dye
Abftra&ts and ravishes the curious eye;
Though each apartment, every spacious room,
Shines with the gories of the Tyri-n leom;
Yet here I view a more delightful fene,
Where nature's freiheft bloom ard beauties reign;
Where the warn Zephyr's genial baimy wing,
Playing, difludes an eternal firing:

Though there thy lewd lacivious limbs are laid
On a rich downy couch, or gelden bed;
Yet here, extended on the fewery grafs,
More nee from cart, my guiltlu's hours I pafs

Though there thy fycophants, a fervile race, Cringe at thy levees, and refound thy praile; Yet here a murmuring ftream, or warbling bird, To me does weeter harmony afford.

Nature on all the power of bifs beftows,
Which from her bounteous fource perpetual flows,
But he alone with happiness is bleft,
Who knows to ufe it rightly when possest:
A doctrine, if well pois'd in Reafon's fcale,
Nor luxury nor want would thus prevail;
Nor would our fleets fo frequent plow the main,
Nor our embattled armies itrew the plain.
But, oh Rufinus is to reafon blind!

A ftrange hydropic thirft inflames his mind.
No bribes his growing appetite can fate;
For new poffeffions new defires create.
No feufe of fhame, no modelly, reftrains,
Where avarice or where ambition reigns.
When with strict oaths his proffer'd faith he binds,
Falfe are his vows, and treacherous his defigus,

Now, fhould a patriot rife, his power oppok,
Should he affert a únking nation's caufe,
He ftirs a vengeance nothing can control,
Such is the rancour of his haughty foul,
Fell as a lionefs in Libya's plain,

When tortur'd with the javelin's pointed pain;
Or a fpurn'd ferpent, as the fhoots along, [ietque.
With lightning in her eyes, and poison in her
Nor will thofe families eraz'd fuffice;
But provinces and cities he destroys:
Urg'd on with blind revenge and fettled hate,
He labours the confufion of the flate;
Subverts the nation's old-eftablish'd frame,
Explodes her laws, and tramples on her fame.

If e'er in mercy he pretends to fave

A man, purfu'd by faction, from the grave;
Then he invents new punishments, new pains,
Condemns to filence, and from truth reftrains";
Then racks and pillories, and bonds and bars,
Then ruin and impeachments he prepares.
O dreadful mercy! more than death fevere!
That doubly tortures whom it seems to (pare!

All feem en lav'd, all bow to him alone;
Nor date their hate their juit refentments own;
But inward grieve, their fighs and pangs confia
Which with convulfive forrow tear the mind.
Envy is mute-'tis treason to disclofe
The baneful fource of their eternal woes.

But Stilico's fuperior foul appears
Unfhock'd, unmov'd, by base ignoble fears.
He is the polar flar, dire&is the fiate,
When parties rage, and public tempests beat;
He is the fafe retreat, the fweet repole,
Can footh and calm aflicted virtue's woes;
He is the folid, firm, unfhaken force,
That only knows to flem th' invader's courie.

So when a river, fwell'd with winter's rains,
The limits of its wonted fhore difdains;
Bridges, and fioncs, and trees, in vain oppofe;
With un refified rage the torrent flows;
But as it, rolling, meets a mighty rock,
Whole fix'd foundations can repel the shock,
Flided furges roar in eddies round,
The rock, unmov'd, reverberates the found.

Alluding to the fentence then recently paliet on D.. Sageoverl

The lady care herself did take,
And made a neft for Robin's fake:
But he perkt up into her chair,
In which he plenteously did fare,
Affuming quite another air.

The neighbours thought, when this they spy'd,
The world well mended on his fide.

With well-tun'd throat he whistled long,

And every body lik'd his fong.

"At laft, faid they, this little thing
Will kill itself, fo long to fing;
We'll closet him among the reft
Of those my lady loves the best."
They little thought, that faw him come,
That Robins were fo quarrelfome:
The door they open'd, in he pops,
And to the highest perch he hops;
The party-colour'd birds he chofe,
The gold-finches, and fuch as thofe ;
With them he'd peck, and bill, and feed,
And very well (at times) agreed:
Canary-birds were his delight,
With them he'd tête-à-tête all night;
But the brown linnets went to pot,
He kill'd them all upon the spot.

The fervants were employ'd each day,
Inftead of work, to part fome fray.
And wifh'd the aukward fellow curft
That brought him to my lady first.
At laft they all refolv'd upon't,
Some way to tell my lady on't.

Meanwhile he'd had a noble swing,
And rul'd just like the Gallic king;
Having kill'd or wounded all,
Unless the eagle in the hall;
With whom he durft but only jar,
He being the very foul of war,
But hated him for his defert,
And bore him malice at his heart.

This eagle was my lady's pride,
The guardian fafety of her fide:
He often brought home foreign prey,
Which humbly at her feet he lay.
For colour, pinions, and stature,
The fairest workmanship of nature;
'Twould do one good to fee him move,
So full of grandeur, grace, and love:
He was indeed a bird for Jove.
He fcar'd aloft in Brucum's field,
A thousand kites and vultures kill'd;
Which made him dear to all that flew,
Unlefs to Robin and his crew.

One day poor Bob, puff'd up with pride,
Thinking the combat to abide,
A goofe-quill on for weapon ty'd,
Knowing by ufe, that, now and then,
A fword lefs hurt does than a pen.

As for example-What at home
You've well contriv'd to do at Rome,
A pen blows up-before you come.
You are fuppos'd to undermine
The foe-in fome immenfe defign.
A pen can bite you with a line;
There's forty ways to give a fign.
Well-all on fire away he ftalk'd,
Till come to-where the eagle walk'd.

Bob did not fhill-I fhall-I ge,
Nor faid one word of friend or foe;
But flirting at him made a blow,
As game cocks with their gauntlets do.
At which the eagle gracefully
Caft a difdaining, sparkling eye;
As who fhould fay-What's this, a flie?
But no revenge at all did take,
He fpar'd him for their lady's fake,
Who ponder'd these things in her mind,
And took the conduct of the eagle kind.
Upon reflection now-to fhew
What harm the leaft of things may do,
Mad Rebin, with his curfed flirt,
One of the eagle's eyes had hurt;
Inflam'd it, made it red and fore:
But the affront inflam'd it more.
Oh, how the family did tear

To fire the houfe, could fcarce forbear:
With fearn, not pain, the eagle fir'd,
Murmur'd difdain, and fo retir'd.

Robin, to offer ome relief,

In words like thefe would heal their grief: "Should th' eagle die (which heaven forbid`) We ought fome other to provide.

I do not fay that any now

Are fit, but in a year or two:
And fhould this mighty warrior fall,
They fhould not want a general."

As men have long obferv'd, that one
Misfortune feldom comes alone;
Juft in the moment this was done,
Ten thousand foes in fight were come:
Vultures and kites, and birds of prey,
In flocks fo thick-they darken'd day.
A long concerted force and strong,
Vermin of all kinds made the throng;
Foxes were in the faction join'd,
Who waited their approach to ground.

By every hand, from common fame,
The frightful face of danger came.
One cries, "What help now-who can can te!
I'm glad the eagle's here, and well!"
Another out of breath with fear,
Says, "Thousands more near fea appear;
They'll fwop our chicken from the door;
We never were fo fet before:
We're glad the eagle will forget,
And the invaders kill or beat."

Referv'd and great, his noble mind,
Above all petty things inclin'd,
Abhorr'd the thoughts of any thing,
But what his lady's peace could bring:
Who blefs'd him first, and bade him də
As he was wont, and beat the foe.

Burning and reftiefs as the fun,
Until this willing work was done;
He whets his talons, ftretch'd his wings,
His lightning darts, and terror flings;
Towers with a flight into the fky,
Thefe million monflers to defcry,
Prepar'd to conquer, or to die.

The party, that fo far was come,
Thought not the cagle was at home:

* Oplaxues amongst the Gircks, fignifies "Home" "tender as the eye."