Flames worse than Hell's fhot from her bloody Eyes,
And Fire and Sword eternally the cries.
No certain Shape, no Feature regular,
No Limbs diftinct in th'odious Fiend appear.
Her fquallid bloated Belly did arife,

Swoln with black Gore to a prodigious Size.
Diftended vaftly by a mighty Flood

Of flaughter'd Saints, and conftant Martyrs Blood.
Part ftood out prominent, but Part fell down,

And in a swagging Heap lay wall'wing on the Ground.
Horrour, till now the uglieft Shape efteem'd,
So much out-done, a harmless Figure feem'd.
Envy, and Hate, and Malice blufh'd to fee
Themselves eclips'd by fuch Deformity.
Her fev'rish Thirst drinks down a Sea of Blood,
Not of the Impious, but the Juft and Good;
"Gainft whom the burns with unextinguifh'd Rage,
Nor can th'exhaufted World her Wrath affwage.
To fubdue th'unconquerable Mind,
To make one Reafon have the fame Effect
Upon all Apprehenfions; to force this
Or this Man juft to think as thou and I do;
Impoffible! unless Souls, which differ

Like human Faces, were alike in all.

Blac.

Row.Tamerl.

PHILOSOPHER and PHILOSOPHY.

Happy the Man! alone thrice happy he,

Who can through grofs Effects their Caufes fee;

Whofe Courage from the Deeps of Knowledge fprings,

Nor vainly fears inevitable things:

But does his Walk of Virtue calmly go,

Thro' all th'Alarms of Death and Hell below.

He his Study bent

To cultivate his Mind; to learn the Laws

Of Nature, and explore their hidden Caufe..

Cowl. Virg.

Dryd, Ovid.

He, tho' from Heav'n remote, to Heav'n could move

With Strength of Mind, and tread th' Abyfs above

And penetrate with his interior Light

Those upper Depths which Nature hid from Sight.
And what he had obferv'd and learnt from thence,
Lov'd in familiar Language to dispense.
The Crowd with filent Admiration ftand

And heard him as they heard their God's Command ;
When he difcours'd of Heav'n's myfterious Laws,
The World's Original and Nature's Caufe:
And what was God; and why the fleecy Snows
In Silence fell, and rattling Winds arofe.

J

What

What shook the ftedfaft Earth, and whence begun
The Dance of Planets round the radiant Sun:
If Thunder was the Voice of angry Jove;
Or Clouds, with Nitre pregnant, burft above.

Dryd. Ovid.

Some few, whofe Lamps fhone brighter, have been led
From Caufe to Caufe to Nature's fecret Head:
And found that one firft Principle must be,
But What, or Who that universal He;
Whether fome Soul, incompaffing this Ball,
Unmade, unmov'd, yet making, moving all;
Or various Atoms interfering Dance
Leap'd into Form, the noble Work of Chance:
Or this great All was from Eternity:
Not ev'n the Stagyrite himself could fee,
And Epicurus guefs'd as well as he.

As blindly grop'd they for a future State,
As rafhly judg'd of Providence and Fate.
But leaft of all could their Endeavours find

What most concern'd the Good of human Kind;
For Happiness was never to be found,

But vanifh'd from them like enchanted Ground.
One thought Content the Good to be enjoy'd ;
This ev'ry little Accident deftroy'd:

The wifer Madmen did for Virtue toil;
A thorny, or at beft a barren Soil:

In Pleasure fome their glutton Souls would fteep,
But found their Line too fhort, the Well too deep,
And leaky Veffels, which no Blifs could keep.
Thus anxious Thoughts in endless Circles roul,
Without a Centre where to fix the Soul.

In this wild Maze their vain Endeavours end,
How can the Lefs the Greater comprehend?
Or finite Reafon reach Infinity?

For what could fathom God, were more than he.
'Tis pleasant fafely to behold from Shore

The rowling Ship, and hear the Tempeft roar:
Not that another's Pain is our Delight,
But Pains unfelt produce the pleafing Sight.
'Tis pleafant alfo to behold from far,
The moving Legions mingled in the War:
But much more fweet thy lab'ring Steps to guide
To Virtue's Heights, with Wifdom well fupply'd,
And all the Magazines of Learning fortify'd;
From thence to look below on human Kind,
Bewilder'd in the Maze of Life, and blind.
O wretched Man! in what a Mift of Life,
Inclos'd with Dangers, and with noify Strife,

}

}

(Rel. Laici:

Dryd.

He

He spends his little Span; and overfeeds
His cramm'd Defires with more than Nature needs!
For Nature wifely ftints our Appetite,

And craves no more than undisturb'd Delight;
Which Minds unmix'd with Cares and Fears obtain,
A Soulferene, a Body void of Pain.

But just as Children are furpriz'd with Dread,
And tremble in the Dark; fo riper Years,
Ev'n in broad Day-light, are poffefs'd with Fears;
And shake at Shadows, fanciful and vain
As thofe which in the Breafts of Children reign.
Thefe Bugbears of the Mind, this inward Hell,
No Rays of outward Sun-fhine can difpell;
But Nature and right Reason muft difplay

(Lutr.

Their Beams abroad, and bring the darkfom Soul to Day. Dryd. Oh! if the foolish Race of Man, who find

A Weight of Cares ftill preffing on their Mind,

Could find as well the Caufe of this Unrest,
And all this Burden lodg'd within the Breaft;

Sure they would change their Course, not live as now,
Uncertain what to with or what to vow.

Uneafy both in Country and in Town,

They fearch a Place to lay their Burthen down.
One reftlefs in his Palace walks abroad,
And vainly thinks to leave behind the Load:
But ftraight returns; for he's as restless there,
And finds there's no Relief in open Air;
Another to his Villa would retire,
And fpurs as hard as if it were on fire
No fooner enter'd at his Country Door,
But he begins to ftretch, and yawn, and fnore,
Or feeks the City which he left before.
Thus every Man o'er-works his weary Will,
To fhun himfelf, and to shake off his Ill;
The fhaking Fit returns, and hangs upon him ftill.
No Profpe&t of Repofe, nor Hope of Eafe;
The Wretch is ignorant of his Difeafe;

Which known, would all his fruitless Trouble fpare,
For he would know the World not worth his Care:
Then would he search more deeply for the Caufe,
And study Nature well, and Nature's Laws.
Natural Philofophy. See Country Life.
In all her Mazes Nature's Face they view'd,
And as the disappear'd they ftill purfu'd:
Wrapt in the Shades of Night the Goddefs lies,
Yet to the Learn'd unveils her dark Difguife,
But fhuns the grofs Access of vulgar Eyes.
A a

} }

Dryd, Lucr.

They

They find her dubious now, and then as plain;
Here fhe's too fparing, there profufely vain.
How the unfolds the faint and dawning Strife
Of infant Atoms kindling into Life;
How ductile Matter new Meanders takes,
And flender Trains of twifting Fibres makes;
And how the Viscous feeks a clofer Tone,
By juft Degrees to harden into Bone;

Whilft the more loose flow from the vital Urn,
And in full Tides of purple Streams return.
How lambent Flames from Life's bright Lamp arife;
And dart in Emanations thro' the Eyes;

How from each Sluice a gentle Torrent pours,
To flake a feav'rifh Heat with ambient Show'rs;
Whence their mechanick Pow'rs the Spirits claim;
How great their Force, how delicate their Frame;
How the fame Nerves are fashion'd to fuftain
The greatest Pleasure and the greatest Pain;
Why bileous Juice a golden Light puts on,
And Floods of Chyle in filver Currents run.
How the dim Speck of Entity began
To work its brittle Being up to Man;
To how minute an Origin we owe
Young Ammon, Cafar, and the great Nassau ;
Why paler Looks impetuous Rage proclaim,
And why chill Virgins redden into Flame;
Why Envy oft transforms with wan Difguife,
And why gay Mirth fits fmiling in the Eyes.
All Ice why Lucrece; or Sempronia Fire;
Why S rages to furvive Defire;
Whence Milo's Vigour at th'Olympicks shown;
Whence Tropes to Fch or Impudence to S-n;
Why Atticus polite, Brutus fevere;
Why Men muddy, M-gue why clear.

Hence 'tis we wait the wond'rous Caufe to find,
How Body acts upon impaffive Mind;

How Fumes of Wine the thinking Part can fire,
Paft Hopes revive, and prefent Joys infpire;
Why our Complexions oft our Souls declare,
And how the Paffions in the Features are ;
How Touch and Harmony arife between
Corporeal Subftances and things unfeen.
With mighty Truths myfterious to defcry,
Which in the Womb of diftant Caufes lie.
He fung

GAY.

The various Labours of the wand'ring Moon,
And whence proceed th'Eclipfes of the Sun;

Th

Th'Original of Man and Beafts; and whence
The Rains arife, and Fires their Warmth difpence,
And fixt and erring Stars difpofe their Influence:
What shakes the folid Earth; what Caufe delays
The fummer Nights, and fhortens winter Days.

His noble Verfe through Nature's Secrets leads.
He fung how Earth blots the Moon's gilded Wane,
While foolish Men beat founding Brafs in vain :
Why the great Waters her flight Horns obey;
Her changing Horns not conftanter than they.
He fung how griefly Comets hang in Air ;
Why Sword and Plagues attend their fatal Hair :
Why Contraries feed Thunder in the Cloud,
What Motions vex it till it roar fo loud;
How lambent Fires become fo wond'rous tame,
And bear fuch fhining Winter in their Flame:
What radiant Pencil draws the wat'ry Bow;
What ties up Hail, and picks the fleecy Snow;
What Palfy of the Earth here shakes fix'd Hills
From off her Brows, and here whole Rivers fpilis.
With Wonder he furveys the upper Air,
And the gay gilded Meteors fporting there;
And lambent Jellies, kindling in the Night,
Shoot thro' the Ether in a Trail of Light:
How rifing Steams in th'azure Fluid blend,
Or fleet in Clouds, or in foft Show'rs defcend;
Or if the ftubborn Rage of Cold prevail,
In Flakes they fly, or fall in moulded Hail.
How Honey-Dews imbalm the fragrant Morn,
And the fair Oak with luscious Sweats adorn.
How Heat and Moisture mingle in a Mafs,
Or belch in Thunder, or in Light'ning blaze.
Why nimble Corufcations ftrike the Eye,
Or bold Tornado's blufter in the Sky.
Why a prolifick Aura upward tends,
Ferments, and in a living Show'r defcends.
How Vapours, hanging on the tow'ring Hills,
In Breezes figh, or weep in warbling Rills.
Whence infant Winds their tender Pinions try,
And River Gods their thirsty Urns fupply.

Dryd. Virgs

How in the Moon fuch Change of Shapes is found,

The Moon, the changing World's eternal Bound:
What shakes the folid Earth, what ftrong Disease
Dares trouble the fair Centre's antient Eafe:
What makes the Sea retreat, and what advance;
Varieties too regular for Chance!