The march begins in military state,

And nations on his eye fufpended wait;
Stern Famine guards the solitary coast,
And Winter barricades the realms of Froft;
He comes, nor want nor cold his courfe delay;→
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day :
The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands,
And fhews his miferies in diftant lands;
Condemn'd a needy fupplicant to wait,
While ladies interpofe, and flaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no fubverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hoftile millions prefs him to the ground?
His fall was deftin'd to a barren strand,
A petty fortrefs, and a dubious hand;

He left the name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

All times their fcenes of pompous woes afford, From Perfia's tyrant, to Bavaria's lord. In gay hoftility, and barb'rous pride, With half mankind embattled at his fide, Great Xerxes comes to feize the certain prey, And ftarves exhaufted regions in his way; Attendant Flatt'ry counts his myriads o'er, Till counted myriads footh his pride no more; Fresh praise is try'd till madness fires his mind, The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind; New pow'rs are claim'd, new pow'rs are still bestow'd, Till rude resistance lops the fpreading god;

Ver. 168-187.

The

The daring Greeks deride the martial show,
And heap their vallies with the gaudy foe;
Th' infulted fea with humbler thoughts he gains,
A fingle skiff to speed his flight remains ;

Th' incumber'd oar scarce leaves the dreaded coaft
Through purple billows and a floating hoft.

The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour,
Tries the dread fummits of Cæfarean pow'r,
With unexpected legions burfts away,

And fees defenceless realms receive his fway;
Short fway! fair Auftria spreads her mournful charms,
The queen, the beauty, fets the world in arms;
From hill to hill the beacons roufing blaze
Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praife;
The fierce Croation, and the wild Huffar,
With all the fons of ravage crowd the war;
The baffled prince in honour's flatt'ring bloom
Of hafty greatness finds the fatal doom,
His foes derifion, and his fubjects blame,
And steals to death from anguish and from shame.
Enlarge my life with multitude of days,
In health, in ficknefs, thus the fuppliant prays;
Hides from himself his ftate, and fhuns to know,
That life protracted, is protracted woe.
Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy,
And shuts up all the paffages of joy:

In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour,
The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r,
With liftless eyes the dotard views the store,

He views, and wonders that they please no more;

Now pall the tastelefs meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with fighs her flave refigns.
Approach, ye minstrels, try the foothing ftrain,
Diffuse the tuneful lenitives of pain:

No founds, alas! would touch th' impervious ear,
Though dancing mountains witnefs'd Orpheus near;
Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow'rs attend,
Nor fweeter mufick of a virtuous friend,
But everlasting dictates crowd his tongue,
Perversely grave, or pofitively wrong.
The ftill returning tale, and ling'ring jeft,
Perplex the fawning niece and pamper'd guest,
While growing hopes fcarce awe the gath'ring fneer,
And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear;

The watchful guests ftill hint the last offence,
The daughter's petulance, the fon's expence,
Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill,
And mould his paffions till they make his will,
Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade,
Lay fiege to life, and prefs the dire blockade;
But unextinguifh'd Av'rice ftill remains,
And dreaded loffes aggravate his pains;

He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with fufpicious eyes,
Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.

But grant, the virtues of a temp'rate prime
Bless with an age exempt from fcorn or crime;
An age that melts with unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modeft innocence away;
Whose peaceful day Benevolence endears,

Whofe night congratulating Confcience cheers;

The

The gen'ral fav'rite as the gen'ral friend:
Such age there is, and who fhall with its end?
. Yet ev'n on this her load Misfortune flings,
To press the weary minutes flagging wings;
New forrow rifes as the day returns,

A fister fickens, or a daughter mourns.
Now kindred Merit fills the fable bier,
Now lacerated Friendship claims a tear.
Year chases year, decay pursues decay,
Still drops fome joy from with'ring life away;
New forms arife, and diff'rent views engage,
Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage,
Till pitying Nature signs the last release,
And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

But few there are whom hours like these await,
Who fet unclouded in the gulphs of Fate.
From Lydia's monarch should the fearch defcend,
By Solon caution'd to regard his end,

In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wife?
From Marlb'rough's eyes the ftreams of dotage flow,
And Swift expires a driv'ler and a show.

*

The teeming mother, anxious for her race,
Begs for each birth the fortune of a face:

Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty fpring;
And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king.
Ye nymphs of rofy lips and radiant eyes,
Whom Pleasure keeps too busy to be wife,
Whom joys with foft varieties invite,
By day the frolick, and the dance by night,

Ver. 289-345

Who frown with vanity, who fmile with art,
And ask the latest fashion of the heart,

What care, what rules your heedlefs charms fhall fave,
Each nymph your rival, and each youth your flave?
Against your fame.with fondnefs hate combines,
The rival batters, and the lover mines.
With diftant voice neglected Virtue calls,
Lefs heard and lefs, the faint remonstrance falls;
Tir'd with contempt, fhe quits the flipp'ry reign,
And Pride and Prudence take her feat in vain.
In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,
The harmless freedom, and the private friend.
The guardians yield, by force fuperior ply'd;
To Int'reft, Prudence; and to Flatt'ry, Pride.
Here Beauty falls betray'd, defpis'd, distress'd,
And hiffing Infamy proclaims the reft.

*

Where then shall Hope and Fear their objects find?
Muft dull Suspense corrupt the stagnant mind?
Muft helpless man, in ignorance fedate,
Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
Muft no diflike alarm, no wishes rife,

No cries invoke the mercies of the fkies?
Enquirer, ceafe, petitions yet remain,

Which heav'n may hear, nor deem religion vain.
Still raife for good the fupplicating voice,

But leave to heav'n the measure and the choice.

Safe in his pow'r, whofe eyes difcern afar
The fecret ambush of a fpecious pray'r.
Implore his aid, in his decifions reft,

Secure whate'er he gives, he gives the best.

*Ver. 346-366.

Yet