BOOK II. Он THE TIME-PIECE. H for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Where rumour of oppression and deceit, Might never reach me more. My ear is pain'd, 5 My soul is sick, with every day's report Of wrong and outrage, with which earth is fill'd. There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart, It does not feel for man; the natural bond Of brotherhood is sever'd, as the flax 10 Not colour'd like his own; and, having power Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat. Then what is man? And what man, seeing this, And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him. 30 35 40 45 Of all your empire; that, where Britain's pow'r Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too. Sure there is need of social intercourse, Benevolence, and peace, and mutual aid, Between the nations, in a world that seems 50 To toll the death-bell of its own decease, And by the voice of all its elements To preach the general doom*. When were the winds Let slip with such a warrant to destroy? When did the waves so haughtily o'erleap 55 Their ancient barriers, deluging the dry? Fires from beneath, and meteorst from above, Portentous, unexampled, unexplain'd, Have kindled beacons in the skies; and the old And crazy earth has had her shaking fits 60 More frequent, and foregone her usual rest. Is it a time to wrangle, when the props * Alluding to the calamities at Jamaica. .65 Alluding to the fog that covered both Europe and Asia during the whole summer of 1783. A longer respite, unaccomplish'd yet; 70 And 'tis but seemly, that, where all deserve To what no few have felt, there should be peace, Alas for Sicily! rude fragments now 75 Lie scatter'd where the shapely column stood. Her palaces are dust. In all her streets The voice of singing and the sprightly chord Are silent. Revelry, and dance, and show 80 While God performs, upon the trembling stage Of his own works, his dreadful part, alone. How does the earth receive him?-With what signs Of gratulation and delight, her king? Pours she not all her choicest fruits abroad, 85 Her sweetest flowers, her aromatic gums, Disclosing paradise where'er he treads? She quakes at his approach. Her hollow womb, Conceiving thunders, through a thousand deeps, And fiery caverns, roars beneath his feet. 90 The hills move lightly, and the mountains smoke, For he has touch'd them. From the extremest point Of elevation, down into the abyss His wrath is busy, and his frown is felt. The rocks fall headlong, and the vallies rise, The rivers die into offensive pools, And charg'd with putrid verdure, breathe a gross 100 What solid was, by transformation strange, To an enormous and o'erbearing height, Not by a mighty wind, but by that voice Which winds and waves obey, invades the shore Upridg'd so high, and sent on such a charge, 115 120 125 From all the rigours of restraint, enjoy The terrors of the day that sets them free. Who, then, that has thee, would not hold thee fast, Freedom! whom they that lose thee so regret, 130 That even a judgment, making way for thee, Such evil sin hath wrought; and such a flame 135 Conspire against him. With his breath he draws A plague into his blood; and cannot use 140 Storms rise to o'èrwhelm him: or, if stormy winds Rise not, the waters of the deep shall rise, And, needing none assistance of the storm, Shall roll themselves ashore, and reach him there. 145 150 And we the righteous, whose fast anchor'd isle Mov'd not, while their's was rock'd, like a light skiff, 155 May punish, if he please, the less, to warn Happy the man who sees a God employ'd 160 165 Did not his eye rule all things, and intend The least of our concerns (since from the least 170 The greatest oft originate); could chance 175 180 And putrefy the breath of blooming health. He calls for famine, and the meagre fiend 185 Blows mildew from between his shriveled lips, And taints the golden ear. He springs his mines, And desolates a nation at a blast. Forth steps the spruce philosopher, and tells Of homogeneal and discordant springs 190 And principles; of causes, how they work, Of action and re-action. He has found The source of the disease that nature feels, And bids the world take heart and banish fear. 195 Thou fool! will thy discovery of the cause Suspend the effect, or heal it? Has not God Still wrought by means since first he made the world? And did he not of old employ his means To drown it? What is his creation less 200 Than a capacious reservoir of means |