Yet down his cheeks the gems of pity fell,
To fee the helplefs wretches that remain'd,
There left through delves and deserts dire to yell;
Amaz'd, their looks with pale difmay were stain'd,
And spreading wide their hands theymeek repentance
LXXV.
[feign'd. But, ah! their fcorned day of grace was paft; For (horrible to tell!) a defert wild
Before them ftretch'd, bare, comfortless, and vast,
With gibbets, bones, and carcafes defil'd.
There nor trim field nor lively culture fmil'd;
Nor waving fhade was feen, nor fountain fair;
But fands abrupt on fands lay loosely pil'd, [care,
Through which they floundering toil'd with painful
Whilft Phoebus fmote them fore, and fir'd the cloud-
LXXVI.
Then, varying to a joylefs land of bogs,
'The fadden'd country a grey wafte appear'd, Where nought but putrid fteams and noisome fogs For ever hung on drizzly Aufter's beard;
Or elfe the ground by piercing Caurus fear'd,
Was jagg'd with froft, or heap'd with glazed fnow;
Through thefe extremes a ceafelefs round they fteer'd,
By cruel fiends ftill hurry'd to and fro,
Gaunt Beggary, and Scorn, with many hell-hounds
The firft was with base dunghill rags yclad,
Tainting the gale, in which they flutter'd light;
Of morbid hue his features, funk, and fad;
His hollow eyne shook forth a fickly light;
And o'er his lank jaw-bone, in piteous plight,
His black rough beard was matted rank and vile;
Direful to fee! an heart-appalling fight!
Mean time foul fcurf and blotches him defile,
And dogs, where'er he went, ftill barked all the LXXVIII.
The other was a fell defpightful fiend;
Hell holds none worfe in baleful bower below;
By pride, and wit, and rage, and rancour, keen'd;
Of man alike, if good or bad, the foe:
With nose up-turn'd, he always made a show
As if he fmelt fome naufeous fcent; his eye
Was cold, and keen, like blaft from Boreal fnow,
And taunts he caften forth most bitterly.
Such were the twain that off drove this ungodly fry.
LXXIX.
Even fo through Brentford town, a town of mud, An herd of brifly fwine is prick'd along,
The filthy beafts, that never chew the cud,
Still grunt, and fqueak, and fing their troublous fong,
And oft' they plunge themselves the mire among;
But ay the ruthless driver goads them on,
And ay of barking dogs the bitter throng
Makes them renew their unmelodious moan:
Ne ever find they reft from their unrefting fone.
Sacred to the Memory of
SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
Infcribed to the Right Honourable
SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.
SHALL
HALL the great foul of Newton quit this earth
To mingle with his stars, and every Muse,
Aftonish'd into filence, fhun the weight
Of honours due to his illuftrious name?
But what can man ?-Even now the fons of Light, 5 In ftrains high warbled to feraphic lyre,
Hail his arrival on the coaft of blifs.
Yet am not I deterr'd, tho' high the theme,
And fung to harps of angels, for with you,
Ethereal Flames! ambitious, I afpire
In Nature's general fymphony to join.
And what new wonders can ye fhow your gueft! Who, while on this dim fpot, where mortals toil, Clouded in duft, from Motion's fimple laws Could trace the fecret hand of Providence, Wide-working thro' this universal frame ?
Have ye not liften'd while he bound the Suns And Planets to their spheres! th' unequal task Of human-kind till then? Oft' had they roll'd O'er erring man the year, and oft' disgrac'd
The pride of fchools, before their courfe was known.
Full in its caufes and effects to him,
All-piercing fage! who fat not down and dream'd
Romantic schemes, defended by the din
Of fpecious words and tyranny of names,
But, bidding his amazing Mind attend,
And with heroic Patience years on years
Deep-fearching, faw at laft the System dawn,
And fhine, of all his race, on him alone.
What were his raptures then! how pure! how ftrong! And what the triumphs of old Greece and Rome, 31 By his diminish'd, but the pride of boys
In fome fmall fray victorious! when, instead
Of fhatter'd parcels of this earth ufurp'd
By violence unmanly, and fore deeds
Of cruelty and blood, Nature herfelf
Stood all fubdu'd by him, and open laid
Her every latent glory to his view.
All intellectual Eye, our folar round
First gazing thro', he by the blended power
Of Gravitation and Projection faw
The whole in filent harmony revolve;
From unaffifted vifion hid, the Moons
To cheer remoter planets numerous form'd,
By him in all their mingled tracts were seen.
He also fix'd'our wandering Queen of Night,
Whether the wanes into a fcanty orb,
Or, waxing broad, with her pale fhadowy light,
In a foft deluge, overflows the sky.
Her every motion clear-difcerning, he
Adjusted to the mutual main, and taught
Why now the mighty mafs of water swells
Refiftlefs, heaving on the broken rocks,
And the full river turning, till again
The tide revertive, unattracted, leaves
A yellow wafte of idle fands behind.
Then breaking hence, he took his ardent flight Thro' the blue infinite, and every star,
Which the clear concave of a winter's night
Pours on the eye or aftronomic tube,
Far-ftretching, fnatches from the dark abyss;
Or fuch as farther in fucceffive skies
To Fancy fhine alone, at his approach
Blaz'd into funs, the living centre each
Of an harmonious fyftem; all combin'd,
And rul'd unerring by that fingle power
Which draws the stone projected to the ground.
O unprofufe Magnificence divine!
O Wisdom truly perfect! thus to call
From a few causes such a scheme of things,
Effects fo various, beautiful, and great,
An univerfe complete! and, O belov'd
Of Heaven! whofe well-purg'd penetrative eye
The myftic veil tranfpiercing, inly scann'd
The rifing, moving, wide-establish'd frame.
He, first of men, with awful wing purfu'd
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