Do thou, juft Goddess, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinsic worth.
Not with bare justice shall your act be crown'd,
(Said Fame) but high above defert renown'd:
Let fuller notes th' applauding world amaze,
And the loud clarion labour in your praise.

This band difmifs d, behold another croud
Prefer the fame request, and lowly bow'd;
The conftant tenor of whofe well-spent days
No lefs deferv'd a just return of praife.

But straight the direful Trump of Slander founds;
Thro' the big dome the doubling thunder bounds;
Loud as the burst of cannon rends the skies,
The dire report thro' every region flies,
In every ear inceffant rumours rung,

And gathering scandals grew on every tongue.
From the black trumpet's lufty concave broke
Sulphureous flames, and clouds of rolling fmoke:
The poisonous vapour blots the purple skies,
And withers all before it as it flies.

A troop came next, who crowns and armour wore,
And proud defiance in their looks they bore:
For thee (they cry'd) amidst alarms and strife,
We fail'd in tempefts down the stream of life;
For thee whole nations fill'd with flaines and blood,
And swam to empire thro' the purple flood.
Thofe ills we dar'd, thy inspiration own;
What virtue feem'd, was done for thee alone.
Ambitious fools! (the Queen reply'd, and frown'd)
Be all your acts in dark oblivion drown'd;

There fleep forgot, with mighty tyrants gone,
Your statues moulder'd, and your names unknown!
A fudden cloud straight snatch'd them from my fight,
And each majestic phantom funk in night.

Then came the smallest tribe I yèt had seen;
Plain was their drefs, and modest was their mien.
Great idol of mankind! we neither claim
The praife of merit, nor aspire to fame!
But fafe in defarts from th' applause of men,
'Would die unheard of, as we liv'd unseen.
'Tis all we beg thee, to conceal from fight
Thofe acts of goodness, which themselves requite.
O let us still the fecret joy partake,

To follow virtue e'en for virtue's fake.

And live there men, who flight immortal fame? Who then with incenfe fhall adore our name; But, mortals! know, 'tis ftill our greatest pride To blaze thofe virtues which the good would hide. Rife! Mufes, rife! add all your tuneful breath, These must not sleep in darkness and in death. She faid in air the trembling music floats, And on the winds triumphant fwell the notes; So foft, tho' high, fo loud, and yet fo clear, Ev'n lift'ning Angels lean from heav'n to hear: To furthest shores th' Ambrofial spirit flies, Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies.

Next these a youthful train their vows express'd, With feathers crown'd, with gay embroid'ry drefs'd: Hither, they cry d, direct your eyes, and fee

The men of pleasure, drefs, and gallantry;

Ours is the place at banquets, balls and plays,
Sprightly our nights polite are all our days;
Courts we frequent, where 'tis our pleasing care
To pay due vifits, and addrefs the fair;
In fact, 'tis true, no nymph we could perfuade,
But ftill in fancy vanquish'd ev'ry maid;
Of unknown Ducheffes lewd tales we tell,
Yet, would the world believe us all were well.
The joy let others have, and we the name,
And what we want in pleasure, grant in fame.

The Queen affents, the trumpet rends the skies, And at each blast a Lady's honour dies.

Pleas'd with the ftrange fuccefs, vaft numbers preft
Around the fhrine, and made the fame requeft:
What you, (fhe cry'd) unlearn'd in arts to please,
Slaves to yourfelves, and ev'n fatigu'd with ease,
Who lofe a length of undeferving days,
Would you ufurp the lover's dear-bought praise ?
To just contempt, ye vain pretenders fall,
The people's fable, and the fcorn of all.

Straight the black clarion sends a horrid found,
Loud laughs burft out, and bitter fcoffs fly round,
Whispers are heard, with taunts reviling loud,
And fcornful hiffes run through all the croud.
Laft, thofe who boast of mighty mifchiefs done,
Enflave their country, or ufurp a throne ;
Or who their glory's dire foundation lay'd
On fov reigns ruin'd or on friends betray'd;
Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked councils and dark politics;

Of thefe a gloomy tribe furround the throne,
And beg to make the immortal treafons known.
The trumpet roars, long flaky flames expire,
With sparks, that seem'd to fet the world on fire.
At the dread found, pale mortals stood aghaft,
And ftartled Nature trembled with the blast.

This having heard and feen, fome pow'r unknown Straight chang'd the fcene, and fnatch'd me from the Before my view appear'd a structure fair, [throne.

Its fite uncertain, if in earth or air;

With rapid motion turn'd the mansion round;
With ceafelefs noife the ringing walls refound;
Not lefs in number were the fpacious doors,
Than leaves on trees, or fands upon the fhores;
Which ftill unfolded ftand, by night, by day,
Pervious to winds, and open ev'ry way.
As flames by nature to the skies afcend,
A weighty bodies to the centre tend,
As to the fea returning rivers roll,

And the touch'd needle trembles to the pole;
Hither, as to their proper place, arise

All various founds from earth, and feas, and skies
Or fpoke aloud, or whisper'd in the ear;
Nor ever filence, reft, or peace is here.
As on the fmooth expanfe of crystal lakes
The finking ftone at firft a circle makes;
The trembling circle by the motion stirr'd,
Spreads in a fecond circle, then a third;
Wide, and more wide the floating rings advance,
Fill all the watʼry plain, and to the margin dance:

Thus ev'ry voice and found, when first they break,
On neighb'ring air a soft impression make;
Another ambient circle then they move;
That, in its turn, impels the next above;
Thro' undulating air the founds are sent,
And spread o'er all the fluid element.

There various news I heard of love and strife,
Of peace and war, health, sickness, death and life,
Of lofs and gain, of famine and of store,
Of ftorms at fea, and travels on the shore,

Of prodigies, and portents feen in air,

Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,
Of turns of Fortune, changes in the state,
The falis of fav'rites, projects of the great,
Of old mifmanagements, taxations new:
All neither wholly falfe, nor wholly true.

Above, below, without, within, around,
Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found,
Who pafs, repafs, advance, and glide away;
Hofts rais'd by fear, and phantoms of a day:
Aftrologers, that future fates foreshew,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few;
And priefls, and party-zealots, num'rous bands
With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands;
Each talk'd aloud, or in fome fecret place,
And wild impatience ftar'd in ev'ry face.
The flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was fooner heard than told;
And all who told it added fomething new,
And all who heard it, made enlargements too,
In every ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.