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Falfe eloquence, big empty found,
Like fhowers, that rufh upon the ground,
Little beneath the furface goes,

All streams along, and muddy flows.
This finks, and fwells the buried grain,
And fructifies like fouthern rain.

His art, well hid in mild discourse,
Exerts perfuafion's winning force,
And nervates fo the good defign,
That king Agrippa's cafe is mine.

Well natur'd, happy fhade, forgive!

Like you I think, but cannot live,

Thy scheme requires the world's contempt,
That, from dependance life exempt,

And conftitution fram'd so strong,

This world's worst climate cannot wrong.
Not fuch my lot, not Fortune's brat,
I live by pulling off the hat,
Compell'd by ftation every hour
To bow to images of power,
And, in life's bufy scenes immers'd,
See better things, and do the worst.

Eloquent Want, whose reasons sway,
And make ten thousand truths give way,
While I
your fcheme with pleasure trace,
Draws near, and stares me in the face.
Confider well your ftate, fhe cries,
Like others kneel, that you may rise;

Hold

Hold doctrines, by no fcruples vex'd,
To which preferment is annex'd,

Nor madly prove, where all depends,
Idolatry upon your friends.

See, how you like my rueful face,
Such you muft wear, if out of place.

Crack'd is your brain to turn reclufe
Without one farthing out at use.

They, who have lands, and fafe bank-stock,

With faith fo founded on a rock,

May give a rich invention ease,
And conftrue fcripture, how they please.
The honour'd prophet, that of old
Us'd heav'n's high counfels to unfold,
Did, more than courier angels, greet

The crows, that brought him bread and meat.

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PRE-EXISTENCE:

A POE M,

In Imitation of MILTON.

Has quoniam cæli nondum dignamur honore,
Quas dedimus certè terras habitare finamus.

WOW had th' archangel trumpet, rais'd fublime

Now
Ν

Above the walls of heav'n, begun to found;
All æther took the blaft, and hell beneath
Shook with celeftial noife; th' almighty hoft
Hot with pursuit, and reeking with the blood
Of guilty cherubs smear'd in fulphurous dust,
Paufe at the known command of founding gold.
And first they close the wide Tartarian gates,
Th' impenetrable folds on brazen hinge
Roll creaking horrible; the din beneath
O'ercomes the roar of flames, and deafens hell.
Then through the folid gloom with nimble wing
They cut their fhining traces up to light;

Return'd

Return'd upon the edge of heavenly day,
Where thinnest beams play round the vast obfcure,
And with eternal gleam drive back the night,
They find the troops lefs ftubborn, lefs involv'd
In crime and ruin, barr'd the realms of peace,
Yet uncondemn'd to baleful feats of woe,

Doubtful and fuppliant; all the plumes of light
Moult from their fhuddering wings, and fickly fear
Shades every face with horror; conscious guilt
Rolls in the livid eye-ball, and each breaft
Shakes with the dread of future doom unknown.

'Tis here the wide circumference of heaven Opens in two vaft gates, that inward turn Voluminous, on jafper columns hung

By geometry divine, they ever glow
With living sculptures, that arife by turns
T'imboss the shining leaves, by turns they fet
To give fucceeding argument their place;
In holy hieroglyphicks on they move,
The gaze of journeying angels, as they pafs
Oft looking back, and held in deep furprize.
Here stood the troops diftinct; the cherub guard
Unbarr'd the splendid gates, and in they roll
Harmonious; for a vocal spirit fits

Within each hinge, and, as they onward drive,
In juft divifions breaks the num'rous jarr
With fymphony melodious, such as spheres
Involv'd in tenfold wreaths are faid to found.
L 3

Out

Out flows a blaze of glory; for on high
Tow'ring advanc'd the moving throne of God,
Vaft and majeftick; on each radiant fide
The pointed rays flope glittering, at the foot
Glides a full tide of day, that onward pours
In liquid torrents through the black abyfs,
Sparkling among reluctant shapes which thence
Retire confus'd; as when Vefuvio shakes
With inward torments, and difgorges flames,
O'er the vast mountain's ridge the burning waves
Drive their refulgent curls, and on they roll
Sweeping the glowing plains down to the sea ;
Th' affrighted fea leaps back with hideous roar
To give the fire its courfe; thus Chaos wild
Hiffing recoils to let in floods of light.

Above the throne, th' ideas heavenly bright
Of past, of present, and of coming time
Fix'd their immov'd abode, and there prefent
An endless landscape of created things
To fight celeftial, where angelick eyes
Are loft in profpect; for the fhiny range,
Boundless and various, in its bofom bears
Millions of full-proportion'd worlds, beheld
With ftedfaft eyes, till more arise to view,
And farther inward fcenes flart up unknown.

Myriads of feraphs in long feries wait
About the throne, and as it moves, proceed
In numerous order, to celeftial fong.

Above,

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