His fiery eyes fhoot forth a glittering ray,
And round his head ten thousand glories play;
High on his creft, a ftar celeftial bright
Divides the darkness with its piercing light;
His legs are ftain'd with purple's lively dye,
His azure wings the fleeting winds out-fly;
Soft plumes of chearful blue his limbs infold,
Enrich'd with fpangles, and bedropt with gold.
Begot.by none himself, begetting none,
Sire of himself he is, and of himself the fon;
His life in fruitful death renews its date,
And kind deftruction but prolongs his fate:
Ev'n in the grave new ftrength his limbs receive,
And on the funeral pile begin to live.
For when a thousand times the fummer fun
His bending race has on the zodiac run,
And when as oft the vernal figns have roll'd,
As oft the wintery brought the numbing cold;
Then drops the bird, worn out with aged cares,
And bends beneath the mighty load of years.
So falls the stately pine, that proudly grew,
The shade, and glory of the mountain's brow.
When pierc'd by blasts, and spouting clouds o'er-
It, flowly finking, nods its tottering head, [fpread,
Part dies by winds, and part by fickly rains,
And wafting age deftroys the poor remains.
Then, as the filver empress of the night
O'er-clouded, glimmers in a fainter light,
So, froze with age, and fhut from light's fupplies,
In lazy rounds scarce roll his feeble eyes,
And those fleet wings, for ftrength andspeed renown'd,
Scarce rear th' unactive lumber from the ground.
Myfterious arts a fecond time create
The bird, prophetic of approaching fate.
Pil'd on an heap Sabæan herbs he lays,
Parch'd by his fire the fun's intenfest rays;
The pile, defign'd to form his funeral scene,
He in covers of a fragrant green,
And bids the spicy heap at once become
A grave destructive, and a teeming womb.
On the rich bed the dying wonder lies,
Imploring Phœbus, with persuasive cries,
To dart him in collected rays,
And new-create him in a deadly blaze.
The god beholds the fuppliant from afar,
And ftops the progrefs of his heavenly car.
"O thou, fays he, whom harmless fires shall burn,
Thy age the flame to fecond youth fhall turn,
"An infant's cradle is thy funeral urn.
"Thou, on whom heav'n has fix'd th' ambiguous "To live by ruin, and by death to bloom,
"Thy life, thy ftrength, thy lovely form renew, "And with fresh beauties doubly charm the view. Thus fpeaking, midft the aromatic bed, A golden beam he toffes from his head;
Swift as defire, the shining ruin flies,
And strait devours the willing facrifice;
Who haftes to perish in the fertile fire,
Sink into strength, and into life expire.
In flames the circling odours mount on high,
Perfume the air, and glitter in the sky,
The moon and stars, amaz'd, retard their flight,
And nature ftartles at the doubtful fight;
For whilft the pregnant urn with fury glows,
The goddess labours with a mother's throes,
Yet joys to cherish, in the friendly flames,
The nobleft product of the skill she claims.
Th' enlivening duft its head begins to rear,
And on the ashes sprouting plumes appear;
In the dead bird reviving vigour reigns,
And life, returning, revels in his veins :
A new-born Phoenix ftarting from the flame,
Obtains at once a fon's and father's name:
And the great change of double life displays,
In the fhort moment of one tranfient blaze.
On his new pinions to the Nile he bends,
And to the gods his parent urn commends,
To Egypt bearing, with majeffic pride,
The balmy neft, where first he liv'd and dy'd.
Birds of all kinds admire th' unufual fight,
And grace the triumph of his infant flight;
In crowds unnumber'd round their chief they fly,
Oppress the air, and cloud the fpacious sky;
Nor dares the fierceft of the winged race
Obftruct his journey thro' th' etherial space;
The hawk and eagle useless wars forbear,
Forego their courage, and confent to fear;
The feather'd nations humble homage bring,
And bless the gaudy flight of their ambrofial king.
Lefs glittering pomp does Parthia's monarch yield,
Commanding legions to the dufty field;
Tho' fparkling jewels on his helm abound,
And royal gold his awful head furround;
Tho' rich embroidery paint his purple veft,
And his. fteed bound in coftly trappings drest,
Pleas'd in the battle's dreadful van to ride,
In graceful grandeur, and imperial pride.
Fam'd for the worship of the fun, there ftands
A facred fane in Egypt's fruitful lands,
Hewn from the Theban mountain's rocky womb,
An hundred columns rear the marble dome;
Hither, 'tis faid, he brings the precious load,
A grateful offering to the beamy god;
Upon whofe altar's confecrated blaze
The feeds and reliques of himself he lays,
Whence flaming incense makes the temple shine,
And the glad altars breathe perfunies divine.
The wafted smell to far Pelufium flies,
To chear old Ocean, and enrich the skies,
With nectar's fweets to make the nations fmile,
And scent the feven-fold channels of the Nile.
Thrice happy Phoenix! heaven's peculiar care
Has made thy felf, thy felf's furviving heir;
By death thy deathlefs vigour is fupply'd,
Which finks to ruin all the world befide;
Thy age, not thee, affifting Phoebus burns,
And vital flames light up thy funeral urns.
Whate'er events have been, thy eyes furvey,
And thou art fixt, while ages roll away;
Thou faw'ft when raging Ocean burst his bed,
O'ertop'd the mountains, and the earth o'erspread;
When the rash youth inflam'd the high abodes,
Scorch'd up the skies, and scar'd the deathless gods.
When nature ceases, thou fhalt ftill remain,
Nor fecond chaos bound thy endless reign;
Fate's tyrant laws thy happier lot shall brave,
Baffle deftruction, and elude the
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