View the wide fields, where fainting armies bled!
See Blenheims, Creffi's, Agincourts difplay'd!
War, blood, deftruction, triumphs, conquefts rife,
And kings, and patriots blefs th' enraptur'd eyes!
Let Gallia next her num'rous hofts unfold,
The crowds she rais'd by force, or won by gold :
Think you beheld th' united armies spread,
And all the crowds Turenne, or Conde led ;
By Charles' unguided rage the throng that dy'd;
The millions murder'd for her Bourbon's pride.
Join all at once, or (if thy thoughts can foar
So vaft a height) yet add ten thousand more!
Say when thy foul its last idea brought,
Stretch'd o'er the verge of ftrong expanded thought;
When all th' unbounded genius foar'd on high,
Did e'er fuch numbers ftrike the wond'ring eye?
So vaft, they mock the foul's confounded fight:
Ev'n thought falls back in its unequal flight;
Not tempting hope the mighty depth can found,
Nor fancy's widening ken can mark the bound.
Yet, mid' the crowd that pour'd o'er all the field,
A crowd which scarce the labouring eye beheld!
Ye monarchs, hear!-this pomp of nations join'd,
Thefe ages, empires, kingdoms, ftates combin'd,
Thefe boafted thoufands, millions, myriads,-all
Shrunk to a point unmeasurably small !

Scarce

Scarce when a group of buzzing flies difplay
Their forms, that glitter with the glancing ray;
Scarce, lefs obferv'd, mid' all the numbers there,
One flitting wing that feebly fans the air!
Eternal God, whofe word fupremely wife
Can crush, or people all th' expanded fkies!
Who bid ft creation wait on thy command,
Throw'ft worlds like atoms from thy forming hand!
O! for fome nobler, more exalted lays,
Some heav'nly ftrains, to fpeak thy boundless praise !
All fancy droops on this tranfporting scene!

All rapture dull! all elegance is mean!

All thought too faint! all colours cease to glow!
All fire too languid! all fublime too low!

O thou, whofe name all nature joins to raise!
What feraph's voice can tell thy wondrous ways!
Who show'd (how god-like was th' amazing plan!)
Thy pow'r on angels, but thy love to man!
Thy pow'r, thy love, when uncontroul'd and free,
Crush'd all their hofts, O man! and ranfom'd thee.
But flay, my mufe, be filent and admire ;

This lofty theme exceeds angelic fire!

Mark what new scene thy rapid glance defcrys!

What fudden radiance flashes o'er the skies!

From heav'n's vaft heights th' immortal throng descend; The worlds below in mute fufpenfe attend:

Thro' all its tracts thy mighty theme pursue,

And paint the fcenes that burft upon thy view.
Now, touch'd with grief, the penfive guide furvey'd,
Whate'er of grand this awful pomp display'd;

Then rais'd in filent woe his mournful eyes,
And paus'd, till thus with intermingling fighs:

66

Say where, vain mortal! now the pomp of state? "The pride of kings, the triumphs of the great? "Where now the imbattled hoft, the whirling car? "Where the proud spoils of defolating war?

Hope's flatt'ring wifh, ambition's tow'ring aim? "The boaft of grandeur, and the wreaths of fame ? "Where the gay plan by fancy's hand refin'd, "That fmil'd illufive on th' enchanted mind?

"Ah! view'd no more, these beauteous traits decay, "Like ftars that fade before the rifing day! "Lefs fwift the gale that fkims the ruffling ftream, "Nor flies more quick the vifionary dream. "Hail, heav'nly piety, fupremely fair!

"Whofe fmiles can calm the horrors of defpair; "Bid in each breaft unufual transports flow,

"And wipe the tears that ftain the cheek of woe: "How bleft the man who leaves each meaner scene,

"Like thee, exalted, fmiling, and ferene!

"Whose rifing foul purfues a nobler flight;
"Whose bosom melts with more refin'd delight;

"Whose

"Whofe thoughts, elate with transports all fublime, "Can foar at once beyond the views of time: "Till loos'd from earth, as angels unconfin'd, "He flies aërial on the darting wind;

"Free as the keen ey'd eagle, bears away, "And mounts the regions of eternal day."

POEMS