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Of these obfervant, Painting felt the fire Burn inward. Then ecftatic fhe diffus'd The canvass, feiz'd the pallet, with quick hand The colours brew'd, and on the void expanfe Her gay creation pour'd, her mimic world. Poor was the manner of her eldest race, Barren, and dry, juft ftruggling from the tafte, That had for ages scar'd in cloisters dim The fuperftitious herd; yet glorious then Were deem'd their works, where undevelop'd lay The future wonders that enrich'd mankind, And a new light and grace o'er Europe cast. Arts gradual gather ftreams. Enlarging this To each his portion of her various gifts The goddefs dealt, to none indulging all ; No, not to Raphael. At kind distance still Perfection ftands, like Happiness, to tempt Th' eternal chafe. In elegant defign Improving Nature, in ideas fair,

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Or great, extracted from the fine antique;

In attitude, expreffion, airs divine,

235

Her fons of Rome and Florence bore the prize.

To thofe of Venice the the magic art

Of colours melting into colours gave.

Theirs, too, it was by one embracing mass

Of light and fhade, that fettles round the whole, 240 Or varies tremulous from part to part,

O'er all a binding harmony to throw,

Volume II.

H

To raise the picture and repose the fight.

245

The Lombard fchool * fucceeding mingled both.
Mean time dread fanes and palaces around
Rear'd the magnific front. Mufic again
Her univerfal language of the heart

Renew'd; and, rifing from the plaintive vale,
To the full concert spread, and folemn quire.
Even bigots fmil'd, to their protection took 250
Arts not their own, and from them borrow'd pomp:
For in a tyrant's garden these a while

May bloom, tho' Freedom be their parent foil.

256

And now confeft, with gently-growing gleam The morning fhone, and westward stream'd its light. The Muse awoke. Not fooner on the wing Is the gay bird of dawn: artless her voice, Untaught, and wild, yet warbling thro' the woods Romantic lays but as her northern course She, with her tutor Science, in My train Ardent purfu'd, her strains more noble grew ; While Reafon drew the plan, the Heart inform'd The moral page, and Fancy lent it grace.

Rome and her circling deferts caft behind,

I pass'd not idle to my great fojourn.

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On Arno's fertile plain t, where the rich vein Luxuriant o'er Etrurian mountains roves, Safe in the lap repos'd of private blifs,

The school of the Caracci.

+ The river Arno Fùng through Florence.

I small republics rais'd *. Thrice happy they!
Had focial Freedom bound their peace, and Arts,
Inftead of ruling Power, ne'er meant for them, 271
Employ'd their little cares, and fav'd their fate.
Beyond the rugged Apennines, that roll
Far thro' Italian bounds their wavy tops,

My path, too, I with public bleffings ftrow'd; 275
Free states and cities, where the Lombard plain,
In spite of culture negligent and grofs,
From her deep bofom pours unbidden joys,
And green o'er all the land à garden spreads.
The barren rocks themselves, beneath my foot,
Relenting bloom'd on the Ligurian fhore. 281
Thick-swarming people there + like emmets seiz'd,
Amid surrounding cliffs, the scatter'd spots,
Which Nature left in her destroying rage ‡,
Made their own fields, nor figh'd for other lands.285
There, in white profpect, from the rocky hill
Gradual descending to the sheltered shore,
By Me proud Genoa's marble turrets rofe,
And while My genuine fpirit warm'd her fons,
Beneath her Dorias, not unworthy, she

290

*The republics of Florence, Pifa, Lucca, and Sienna. They formerly have had very cruel wars together, but are now all peaceably fubject to the Great Duke of Tufcany, except it be Lucca, which ftill maintains the form of a republic.

+ The Genoese territory is reckoned very populous; but the towns and villages, for the most part, lie hid among the Apen. nine rocks and mountains.

According to Dr. Burnet's fyftem of the deluge.

Vy'd for the trident of the narrow feas,

Ere Britain yet had open'd all the main.

295

Nor be the then triumphant state* forgot, Where, pufh'd from plunder'd earthf, a remnant ftill, Infpir'd by Me, thro' the dark ages kept Of My old Roman flame some sparks alive: The feeming god-built city! which My hand Deep in the bofom fix'd of wondering feas. Aftonish'd mortals fail'd, with pleasing awe, Around the fea-girt walls, by Neptune fenc'd, 300 And down the briny street, where on each hand, Amazing feen amid unstable waves,

305

The fplendid palace shines, and rising tides,
The green steps marking, murmur at the door.
To this fair Queen of Adria's ftormy gulf,
The mart of nations! long obedient feas
Roll'd all the treasure of the radiant Eaft;
But now no more. Than one great tyrant worse
(Whose fhar'd oppreffion lightens as diffus'd),
Each fubject tearing, many tyrants rofe;
The least the proudeft. Join'd in dark cabal,
They, jealous, watchful, filent, and severe,
Caft o'er the whole indiffoluble chains:

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Venice was the moft flourishing city in Europe, with regard to trade, before the paffage to the Eaft-Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, and America, were discovered.

+ Those who fled to fome marfhes in the Adriatic gulf, from the defolation fpread over Italy by an irruption of the Huns, first founded there this famous city, about the beginning of the fifth century.

The fofter fhackles of luxurious eafe

They likewife added, to fecure their fway.

315

Thus Venice fainter fhines, and Commerce thus,
Of toil impatient, flags the drooping fail:
Burfting, befides, his ancient bounds, he took
A larger circle*, found another feat +,

Opening a thoufand ports, and, charm'd with toil,
Whom nothing can dismay, far other fons. 321
The mountains, then, clad with eternal fnow,
Confeffed My power. Deep as the rampant rocks,
By Nature thrown infuperable round,

325

I planted there a League of friendly states ‡,
And bade plain Freedom their ambition be.
There in the vale, where rural Plenty fills,
From lakes, and meads, and furrow'd fields, her horn,
Chief where the Leman || pure emits the Rhone,
Rare to be seen! unguilty cities rife,

Cities of brothers form'd; while equal life,
Accorded gracious with revolving power,
Maintains them free, and in their happy ftreets
Nor cruel deed nor mifery is known:
For valour, faith, and innocence of life,
Renown'd, a rough laborious people, there,
Not only give the dreadful Alps to fmile,
And prefs their culture on retiring fnows,
But, to firm order train'd and patient war,

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The main ocean. + Great-Britain. The Swifs Cantons. Geneva, fituated on the Lacus Lemanus, a fmall ftate, but noble example of the bleflings of civil and religious liberty.