While ftruggling in the vale of tears below,
That never fail'd, nor fhall it fail me now.
Angelic gratulations rend the skies:
Bride falls unpitied, never more to rise;
Humility is crown'd; and faith receives the prize.
Tantane, tam patiens, nullo certamine tolli
WHY weeps the mufe for England? What appears
In England's cafe to move the mufe to tears?
From fide to fide of her delightful isle,
Is the not cloth'd with a perpetual smile?
Can nature add a charm, or art confer
A new-found luxury, not feen in her?
Where under heav'n is pleafure more purfued?
Or where does cold reflection lefs intrude?
Her fields a rich expanfe of wavy corn,
Pour'd out from plenty's overflowing horn;
Ambrofial gardens, in which art fupplies
The fervour and the force of Indian fkies;
Her peaceful shores, where busy commerce waits
To pour his golden tide through all her gates;
Whom fiery funs, that fcorch the ruffet spice
Of eastern groves, and oceans floor'd with ice
Forbid in vain to push his daring way
To darker climes, or climes of brighter day;
Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll,
From the world's girdle to the frozen pole;
The chariots, bounding in her wheel-worn ftreets;
Her vaults below, where ev'ry vintage meets;
Her theatres, her revels, and her sports;
The scenes to which not youth alone resorts,
But age, in spite of weakness and of pain,
Still haunts, in hope to dream of youth again;
All speak her happy: let the mufe look round
From East to Weft, no forrow can be found;
Or only what, in cottages confin'd,
Sighs unregarded to the paffing wind.
Then wherefore weep for England? What appears
In England's cafe to move the muse to tears?
The prophet wept for Ifrael; wifh'd his eyes
Were fountains fed with infinite supplies:
For Ifrael dealt in robbery and wrong;
There were the scorner's and the fland'rer's tongue;
Oaths, us'd as playthings or convenient tools,
As int'reft bias'd knaves, or fashion fools;
Adult'ry, neighing at his neighbour's door;
Oppreffion, labouring hard to grind the poor;
The partial balance, and deceitful weight;
The treach'rous smile, a mask for secret hate;
Hypocrify, formality in pray'r,
And the dull fervice of the lip, were there.
Her women, infolent and felf-carefs'd,
By vanity's unwearied finger drefs'd,
Forgot the blush that virgin fears impart
To modeft cheeks, and borrowed one from art;
Were juft fuch trifles, without worth or use,
As filly pride and idleness produce;
Curl'd, fcented, furbelow'd and flounc'd around,
With feet too delicate to touch the ground,
They ftretch'd the neck, and roll'd the wanton eye,
And figh'd for ev'ry fool that flutter'd by.
He saw his people flaves to ev'ry lust,
Lewd, avaricious, arrogant, unjuft;
He heard the wheels of an avenging God
Groan heavily along the distant road;
Saw Babylon fet wide her two-leav'd brass
To let the military deluge pass,
Jerufalem a prey, her glory foil'd,
Her princes captive, and her treasures spoil'd;
Wept till all Ifrael heard his bitter cry;
Stamp'd with his foot; and fmote upon his thigh:
But wept, and ftamp'd, and smote his thigh, in
Pleasure is deaf when told of future pain,
And founds prophetic are too rough to fuit
Ears long accuftom'd to the pleafing lute-
They scorn'd his inspiration and his theme;
Pronounced him frantic, and his fears a dream;
With felf-indulgence wing'd the fleeting hours,
Till the foe found them, and down fell the tow'rs.
Long time Affyria bound them in her chain ;
Till penitence had purg'd the public ftain,
And Cyrus, with relenting pity mov❜d,
Return'd them happy to the land they lov'd:
There, proof against profperity, awhile
They stood the test of her enfnaring smile;
And had the grace, in fcenes of peace, to fhow
The virtue they had learn'd in fcenes of woe.
But man is frail, and can but ill fustain
A long immunity from grief and pain;
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