In air felf-balanc'd hung the globe below,
Where mountains rise, and circling oceans flow;
Here naked rocks, and empty wastes were seen,
There tow'ry cities, and the forefts green :
Here failing ships delight the wand'ring eyes;
There trees and intermingled temples rife ;
Now a clear fun the shining scene displays,
The tranfient landscape now in clouds decays.
O'er the wide Profpect as I gaz'd around,
Sudden I heard a wild promifcuous found,
Like broken thunders that at distance roar,
Or billows murm'ring on the hollow shore:
Then gazing up, a glorious pile beheld,
Whose tow'ring fummit ambient clouds conceal'd.
High on a rock of Ice the structure lay,
Steep its afcent, and flipp'ry was the way;
The wond'rous rock like Parian marble shone,
And feem'd, to diftant fight, of solid stone.
Inscriptions here of various Names I view'd,
The greater part by hoftile time fubdu'd;
IMITATION S.
Now valeis, and now foreftes,
And now unneth great bestes,
Now rivers, now citees,
Now towns, now great trees,
Now fhippes fayling in the fees.
VIR. 27. High on a rock of ice, etc.] Chaucer's third book of
It flood upon fo high a rock,
Higher ftandeth none in Spayne.
What manner ftone this rock was,
For it was like a lymed glass,
But that it fhone full more clere;
But of what congeled matere
It was, I nifte redily;
But at the last espied I,
And found that it was every dele,
A rock of ife, and not of ftele.
VAR. 31. Infcriptions here, etc.]
Tho' faw I all the hill y-grave
Yet wide was fpread their fame in ages past,
And Poets once had promis'd they should laft.
Some fresh engrav'd appear'd of Wits renown'd;
I look'd again, nor could their trace be found.
Critics I faw, that other names deface,
And fix their own, with labour, in their place:
Their own, like others, foon their place refign'd,
Or disappear'd, and left the first behind.
Nor was the work impair'd by ftorms alone,
But felt th' approaches of too warm a fun ;
For Fame, impatient of extremes, decays
Not more by Envy than excefs of Praise.
Yet part no injuries of heav'n could feel,
Like crystal faithful to the graving steel:
IMITATIONS.
With famous folkes names fele,
That had been in much wele
And her fames wide y-blow;
But well unneth might I know,
Any letters for to rede
Their names by, for out of drede
They weren almeft off-thawen fo,
That of the letters one or two
Were molte away of every name,
So unfamous was woxe her fame;
But men faid, what may ever last ?
VER. 41. Nor was the work impair'd, etc.]
Tho gan I in myne harte cast,
That they were molte away for heate,
And not away with ftormes beate.
VER. 45. Yet part no injuries, etc.]
For on that other fide I fey
Of that hill which northward ley,
How it was written full of names
Of folke, that had afore great fames,
Of old time, and yet they were
As fresh as men had written hem there
The felf day, or that houre
That I on hem gan to poure:
The rock's high fummit, in the temple's fhade,
Nor heat could melt, nor beating ftorm invade.
Their names infcrib'd unnumber'd ages past
From time's first birth, with time itfelf.shall last ; 50
Thefe ever new, nor fubject to decays,
Spread, and grow brighter with the length of days.-
So Zembla's rocks (the beauteous work of frost)
Rife white in air, and glitter o'èr the coast;
Pale funs, unfelt, at distance roll away,
And on th' impaffive ice the lightnings play;
Eternal fnows the growing mafs fupply,
Till the bright mountains prop th^incumbent sky;
As Atlas fix'd, each hoary pile appears,
The gather d winter of a thousand years:
On this foundation Fame's high temple ftands;
Stupendous pile ! not rear'd by mortal hands.
Whate'er proud Rome or artful Greece beheld,
Or elder Babylon, its frame excell'd.
Four faces had the dome, and ev'ry face
Of various ftructure, but of equal grace:
Four brazen gates, on columns lifted high,,
Salute the diff'rent quarters of the sky..
IMITATIONS.
But well I wite what it made;
It was conferved with the fhade...
(All the writing that I fye)
Of the castle that stoode on high,
And flood eke in fo cold a place,
That heat might it not deface..
VER. 65 Four faces bad the dome, etc.] The Temple is defcribedTM to be fquare, the four fronts with open gates facing the different quarters of the world, as an intimation that all nations of the earth may alike be received into it. The western front is of Grecian architecture: The Doric order was peculiarly facred to Heroes and Worthies. Those whofe ftatues are aforementioned, were the the first names of old Greece in arms and arts,
Here fabled Chiefs in darker ages born,
Or Worthies old, whom arms or arts adorn,
Who cities rais'd, or tam'd a monstrous race;
The walls in venerable order grace:
Heroes in animated marble frown,
And Legiflators feem to think in ftone.
Weftward, a fumptuous frontispiece appear'd, 75 On Doric pillars of white marble rear'd, Crown'd with an architrave of antique mold, And sculpture rifing on the roughen'd gold. In fhaggy spoils here Thefeus was beheld, And Perfeus dreadful with Minerva's fhield; There great Alcides stooping with his toil, Refts on his club, and holds th' Hefperian fpoil: Here Orpheus fings; trees moving to the found Start from their roots, and form a shade around: Amphion there the loud creating lyre Strikes, and beholds a fudden Thebes afpire! Cytheron's echoes answer to his call,
And half the mountain rolls into a wall:
There might you fee the length'ning spires afcend,
The domes swell up, the wid'ning arches bend,
The growing tow'rs, like exhalations rife,
And the huge columns heave into the skies.
The Eastern front was glorious to behold,
With di'mond flaming, and Barbaric gold.
There Ninus fhone, who fpread th' Affyrian fame, 95
And the great founder of the Persian name :
VIR. 81. There great Alcides, etc.] This figure of Hercules is drawn with an eye to the pofition of the famous ftatue of Farnese. VER. 96. And the great founder of the Perfian name :] Cyrus was the beginning of the Perfian, as Ninus was of the Affyrian Monarchy. The Magi and Chaldæans (the chief of whom was Zoroafter) employed their ftudies upon magic and aftrology, which was in a manner almost all the learning of the ancient Afian people. Wa
There in long robes the royal Magi ftand,
Grave Zoroafter waves the circling wand:
The fage Chaldæans rob'd in white appear'd,
And Brachmans, deep in defert woods rever'd.
Thefe ftop'd the moon, and call'd th' unbody'd fhades
To midnight banquets in the glimm'ring glades;
Made vifionary fabrics round them rife,
And airy fpectres fkim before their eyes;
Of Talismans and Sigils knew the pow'r,
And careful watch'd the Planetary hour.
Superior, and alone, Confucius ftood,
Who taught that ufeful fcience, to be good.
But on the South, a long majestic race
Of Egypt's Priefts the gilded niches grace,
Who meafur'd earth, defcrib'd the starry spheres,
And trac'd the long records of lunar years.
High on his car Sefoftris ftruck my view,
Whom fcepter'd flaves in golden harnefs drew:
His hands a bow and pointed jav'lin hold;
His giant limbs are arm'd in scales of gold.
Between the ftatues Obelisks were plac'd,
And the learn'd walls with Hieroglyphics grac❜d.
Of Gothic structure was the Northern fide, O'erwrought with ornaments of barb'rous pride. 120
have scarce any account of a moral philofopher except Confucius, the great law-giver of the Chinese, who lived about two thousand
VER. 110. Egypt's Priefts, etc.] The learning of the old Egyptian priests confifted for the most part in geometry and aftronomy; they also preserved the hiftory of their nation. Their greateft Hero upon record is Sefoftris, whofe actions and conquefts may be feen at large in Diodorus, etc. He is faid to have caufed the Kings he vanquished to draw him in his Chariot. The pofture of his ftatue, in these verses, is correfpondent to the defcription which Herodotus gives of one of them remaining in his own time.
VER. 119. Of Gothic ftructure was the Northern fide,] The
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