And where she sees the catching glimpses roll,
Spreads the strong blaze, and all involves the soul;
But cold restraints thy conscious fancy chill,
And formal passions mock thy struggling will;
Or if thy Genius e'er forget his chain,
And reach impatient at a nobler strain,
Soon the sad bodings of contemptuous mirth
Shoot thro' thy breast, and stab the generous birth,
Till, blind with smart, from truth to frenzy tost,
And all the tenor of thy reason lost,
Perhaps thy anguish drains a real tear;
While some with pity, some with laughter hear.
Can art, alas! or genius guide the head,
Where truth and freedom from the heart are fled?
Can lesser wheels repeat their native stroke,
When the prime function of the soul is broke?

But come, unhappy man! thy fates impend;
Come, quit thy friends, if yet thou hast a friend;
Turn from the poor rewards of guilt like thine,
Renounce thy titles, and thy robes resign;
For see the hand of Destiny display'd
To shut thee from the joys thou hast betray'd!
See the dire fane of Infamy arise,

Dark as. the grave, and spacious as the skies;
Where, from the first of time, thy kindred train,
The chiefs and princes of the unjust remain.
Eternal barriers guard the pathless road
To warn the wanderer of the curst abode;
But prone as whirlwinds scour the passive sky,
The heights surmounted, down the steep they fly.

There, black with frowns, relentless Time awaits,
And goads their footsteps to the guilty gates;
And still he asks them of their unknown aims,
Evolves their secrets, and their guilt proclaims;
And still his hands despoil them on the road
Of each vain wreath, by lying bards bestow'd;
Break their proud marbles, crush their festal cars,
And rend the lawless trophies of their wars.
At last the gates his potent voice obey;
Fierce to their dark abode he drives his prey;
Where, ever arm'd with adamantine chains,
The watchful demon o'er her vassals reigns,
O'er mighty names and giant-powers of lust,
The great, the sage, the happy, and august.*
No gleam of hope their baleful mansion cheers,
No sound of honour hails their unblest ears;
But dire reproaches from the friend betray'd,
The childless sire, and violated maid;

But vengeful vows for guardian laws effac'd,
From towns enslav'd, and continents laid waste;
But long posterity's united groan,

And the sad charge of horrors not their own,
For ever through the trembling space resound,
And sink each impious forehead to the ground.
Ye mighty foes of liberty and rest,

Give way, do homage to a mightier guest!
Ye daring spirits of the Roman race,

See Curio's toil your proudest claims efface!

*Titles which have been generally ascribed to the most pernicious of men.

- Aw'd at the name, fierce Appius* rising bends, And hardy Cinna from his throne attends: "He comes," they cry," to whom the fates assign'd With surer arts to work what we design'd, From year to year the stubborn herd to sway, Mouth all their wrongs, and all their rage obey; Till own'd their guide, and trusted with their power, He mock'd their hopes in one decisive hour; Then, tir'd and yielding, led them to the chain, And quench'd the spirit we provok'd in vain." But thou, Supreme, by whose eternal hands Fair Liberty's heroic empire stands ; Whose thunders the rebellious deep control, And quell the triumphs of the traitor's soul, O turn this dreadful omen far away! On Freedom's foes their own attempts repay: Relume her sacred fire, so near suppress'd, And fix her shrine in every Roman breast. Though bold corruption boast around the land, "Let virtue, if she can, my baits withstand;" Though bolder now she urge the accursed claim, Gay with her trophies rais'd on Curio's shame; Yet some there are who scorn her impious mirth, Who know what conscience and a heart are worth.

O Friend and Father of the human mind, Whose art for noblest ends our frame design'd, If I, though fated to the studious shade

Which party-strife nor anxious power invade;

* Appius Claudius the Decemvir, and L. Cornelius Cinna, both attempted to establish a tyrannical dominion in Rome, and both perished by the treason.

If I aspire, in public virtue's cause,
To guide the Muses by sublimer laws;
Do thou her own authority impart,

And give my numbers entrance to the heart.
Perhaps the verse might rouse her smother'd flame,
And snatch the fainting patriot back to fame;
Perhaps, by worthy thoughts of human kind,
To worthy deeds exalt the conscious mind;
Or dash Corruption in her proud career,

And teach her slaves that Vice was born to fear.

THE VIRTUOSO;19

IN IMITATION OF SPENSER'S STYLE AND STANZA.

Videmus

Nugari solitos. - PERSIUS.

WHILOM by silver Thames's gentle stream,
In London town there dwelt a subtile wight;
A wight of mickle wealth and mickle fame,
Book-learn'd and quaint; a Virtuoso hight.
Uncommon things, and rare, were his delight;
From musings deep his brain ne'er gotten ease,
Nor ceasen he from study, day or night;

Until (advancing onward by degrees)

He knew whatever breeds on eartli, or air, or

seas.

He many a creature did anatomize,

Almost unpeopling water, air, and land; Beasts, fishes, birds, snails, caterpillars, flies, Were laid full low by his relentless hand, That oft with gory crimson was distain'd:

He many a dog destroy'd, and many a cat; Of fleas his bed, of frogs the marshes drain'd, Could tellen if a mite were lean or fat,

And read a lecture o'er the entrails of a gnat.

He knew the various modes of ancient times,

Their arts and fashions of each different guise, Their weddings, funerals, punishments for crimes, Their strength, their learning eke, and rarities; Of old habiliments, each sort and size,

Male, female, high and low, to him were known; Each gladiator-dress, and stage disguise;

With learned, clerkly phrase he could have shown How the Greek tunic differ'd from the Roman [gown.

A curious medallist, I wot, he was,

And boasted many a course of ancient coin; Well as his wife's he knewen every face,

From Julius Cæsar down to Constantine: For some rare sculpture he would oft ypine, (As green-sick damosels for husbands do ;) And when obtained, with enraptur'd eyne, He'd run it o'er and o'er with greedy view, And look, and look again, as he would look it through.