Thus mingled ftill with wealth and state,
Cræfus himself can never know;
His true dimensions and his weight
Are far inferior to their show.
Were I fo tall to reach the pole,
Or grafp the ocean with my span,
I must be measur'd by my foul:
'The mind's the standard of the man.

To SARISSA.

B

AN EPISTLE.

EAR up, Sariffa, through the ruffling ftorms Of a vain vexing world: Tread down the cares Those ragged thorns that lie across the road, Nor spend a tear upon them. Truft the Mufe, She fings experienc'd truth: This briny dew, This rain of eyes will make the briars grow. We travel through a defert, and our feet Have measur'd a fair space, have left behind A thousand dangers, and a thousand snares Well fcap'd. Adieu, ye horrors of the dark, Ye finish'd labours, and ye tedious toils Of days and hours: The twinge of real smart, And the false terrors of ill-boding dreams Vanish together, be alike forgot,

For ever blended in one common grave.

Fare

Farewell, ye waxing and ye waning moons,
That we have watch'd behind the flying clouds
On night's dark hill, or fetting or afcending,
Or in meridian height: Then filence reign'd
O'er half the world; then ye beheld our tears,
Ye witness'd our complaints, our kindred groans,
(Sad harmony!) while with your beamy horns
Or richer orb ye filver'd o'er the
green
Where trod our feet, and lent a feeble light

To mourners.

Now ye

have fulfill'd your round,

Those hours are fled, farewell. Months that are gone

Are gone for ever, and have borne away

Each his own load. Our woes and forrows past,
Mountainous woes, ftill leffen as they fly

Far off. So billows in a stormy fea,

Wave after wave (a long fucceffion) roll
Beyond the ken of fight: The failors safe
Look far a-stern till they have loft the storm,
And shout their boisterous joys. A gentler Muse
Sings thy dear fafety, and commands thy cares
To dark oblivion; bury'd deep in night
Lose them, Sariffa, and affift my fong.

Awake thy voice, fing how the flender line
Of fate's immortal Now divides the past
From all the future, with eternal bars
Forbidding a return. The paft temptations
No more shall vex us; every grief we feel
Shortens the deftin'd number; every pulse
Beats a fharp moment of the pain away,

E

And

Hark, my fair guardian chides my stay,
And waves his golden rod:

Angel, I come; lead on the way :"
And now by swift degrees

I fail aloft through azure feas,

Now tread the milky road :

Farewell, ye planets, in your spheres ;
And as the stars are loft, a brighter sky appears.
In hafte for paradife

I ftretch the pinions of a bolder thought;
Scarce had I will'd, but I was past
Deferts of trackless light and all the ethereal wafte,
And to the facred borders brought;
There on the wing a guard of cherubs lies,
Each waves a keen flame as he flies,
And well defends the walls from fieges and surprise.

With pleafing reverence I behold

The pearly portals wide unfold:
Enter, my foul, and view th' amazing scenes;

Sit faft upon the flying Mufe,

And let thy roving wonder loofe

O'er all th' empyreal plains.

Noon ftands eternal here: here may thy fight
Drink-in the rays of primogenial light;
Here breathe immortal air:

Joy must beat high in every vein,
Pleasure through all thy bofom reign;
The laws forbid the stranger, pain,

And banish every care.

See

See how the bubbling fprings of love
Beneath the throne arife;

The ftreams in crystal channels move,
Around the golden streets they rove,
And bless the mansions of the upper skies.
There a fair grove of knowledge grows,
Nor fin nor death infects the fruit ;
Young life hangs fresh on all the boughs,
And springs from every root;

Here may thy greedy fenfes feaft
While extafy and health attends on every taste.
With the fair prospect charm'd I ftood;
Fearless I feed on the delicious fare,

And drink profuse salvation from the filver flood,
Nor can excefs be there.

In facred order rang'd along

Saints new-releas'd by death

Join the bold feraph's warbling breath,
And aid th' immortal fong.

Each has a voice that tunes his ftrings.
To mighty founds, and mighty things,
Things of everlafting weight,
Sounds, like the fofter viol, fweet,
And, like the trumpet, ftrong,
Divine attention held my foul,

I was all ear!

Through all my powers the heavenly accents roll,
I long'd and wifh'd my Bradbury there;
"Could he but hear thefe notes, I faid,

His tuneful foul would never bear

"The dull unwinding of "fe's tedious thread, "But burft the vital chords to reach the happy dead.”

And now my tongue prepares to join
The harmony, and with a noble aim
Attempts th' unutterable name,

But faints, confounded by the notes divine:
Again my foul th' unequal honour fought,
Again her utmost force fhe brought,
And bow'd beneath the burden of th' unwieldy thought.
Thrice I effay'd, and fainted thrice;
Th' immortal labour ftrain'd my feeble frame,
Broke the bright vision, and diffolv'd the dream :
I funk at once and lost the skies :
In vain I fought the scenes of light
Rolling abroad my longing eyes,

For all around them ftood my curtains and the night.

STRICT RELIGION very RARE.

I'M borne aloft, and leave the crowd,

I fail upon a morning cloud

Skirted with dawning gold:

Mine eyes beneath the open day
Command the globe with wide furvey,
Where ants in bufy millions play,

And tug and heave the mould.

"Are thefe the things (my paffion cry'd) "That we call men? Are these ally'd

"To