Ἐκ γαίης ἐλπίζομεν ἐ; φάΘ ἐλθεῖν
Λεί [αν ἀποιχομένων· ἐπίσω δὲ Θεοὶ τελέθονται. ProcYLO
-We hope, that the departed will rife again "from the duft: after which, like the gods, 66 they will be immortal."
Man awakes, and from his filent bed,
Nwhere he has fept for ages, lifts his head;
Shakes off the flumber of ten thousand years,
And on the borders of new worlds appears.
Whate'er the bold, the rash, adventure coft,
In wide Eternity I dare be loft.
The Mufe is wont in narrow bounds to fing,
To teach the fwain, or celebrate the king.
I grasp the whole, no more to parts confin'd,
I lift my voice, and fing to human kind:
I fing to men and angels; angels join,
While fuch the theme, their facred fongs with mine.
Again the trumpet's intermitted found
Rolls the wide circuit of creation round,
An univerfal concourfe to prepare
Of all that ever breath'd the vital air:
In fome wide field, which active whirlwinds fweep,
Drive cities, forefts, mountains, to the deep,
To smooth and lengthen out th' unbounded ipace,
And spread an area for all human race.
Now monuments prove faithful to their trust,
And render back their long-committed dust.
Now charnels rattle; scatter'd limbs, and all
The various bones, obfequious to the call,
Self-mov'd, advance; the neck perhaps to meet
The diftant head; the diftant legs the feet.
Dreadful to view, fee through the dusky sky
Fragments of bodies in confufion fly,
To distant regions journeying, there to claim
Deserted members and compleat the frame.
When the world bow'd to Rome's almighty fword,
Rome bow'd to Pompey, and confefs'd her lord.
Yet one day loft, this deity below
Became the scorn and pity of his foe.
His blood a traitor's facrifice was made,
And smok'd indignant on a ruffian's blade.
No trumpet's found, no gasping army's yell,
Bid, with due horror, his great soul farewell.
Obfcure his fall! all weltering in his gore,
His trunk was caft to perish on the shore!
While Julius frown'd the bloody monfter dead,
Who brought the world in his great rival's head.
This fever'd head and trunk shall join once more,
Though realms now rife between, and oceans roar.
The trumpet's found each fragrant mote shall hear, 45
Or fix'd in earth, or if afloat in air,
Obey the fignal wafted in the wind,
And not one fleeping atom lag behind.
So fwarming bees, that on a fummer's day
In airy rings, and wild meanders play,
Charm'd with the brazen found, their wanderings
And, gently circling, on a bough defcend.
The body thus renew'd, the conscious foul,
Which has perhaps been fluttering near the pole,
Or midft the burning planets wondering ftray'd,
Or hover'd o'er where her pale corpfe was laid;
Or rather coasted on her final state,
And fear'd, or wish'd for, her appointed fate :
This soul, returning with a constant flame,
Now weds for ever her immortal frame.
Life, which ran down before, so high is wound,
The springs maintain an everlasting round.
Thus a frail model of the work defign'd
Firft takes a copy of the builder's mind,
Before the ftructure firm with lasting oak,
And marble bowels of the folid rock,
Turns the ftrong arch, and bids the columns rise,
And bear the lofty palace to the skies ;
The wrongs of time enabled to furpass,
With bars of adamant, and ribs of brass.
That antient, facred, and illuftrious * dome,
Where foon or late fair Albion's heroes come,
From camps, and courts, though great, or wife, or just,
To feed the worm, and moulder into duft;
That folemn manfion of the royal dead,
Where paffing slaves o'er fleeping monarchs tread,
Now populous o'erflows: a numerous race
Of rifing kings fill all th' extended space :
A life well spent, not the victorious sword,
Awards the crown, and stiles the greater lord.
Nor monuments alone, and burial-earth,
Labours with man to this his second birth;
But where gay palaces in pomp arise,
And gilded theatres invade the skies,
Nations fhall wake, whofe unrespected bones
Support the pride of their luxurious fons.
The most magnificent and coftly dome
Is but an upper chamber to a tomb.
No fpot on earth, but has fupply'd a grave,
And human skulls the fpacious ocean pave.
All 's full of man; and at this dreadful turn,
The fwarm fhall iffue, and the hive fhall burn.
Not all at once, nor in like manner, rife :-
Some lift with pain their flow unwilling eyes:
Shrink backward from the terror of the light,
And bless the grave, and call for lasting night.
Others, whofe long-attempted virtue ftood
Fix'd as a rock, and broke the ruthing flood,
Whofe firm refolve, nor beauty could melt down,
Nor raging tyrants from their pofture frown;
Such, in this day of horrors, fhall be seen
To face the thunders with a god-like mien;
The planets drop, their thoughts are fixt above;
The centre shakes, their hearts difdain to move:
An earth diffolving, and a heaven thrown wide,
A yawning gulph, and fiends on every fide,
C 3
Serene they view, impatient of delay,
And bless the dawn of everlasting day.
Here greatness proftrate falls; there, ftrength gives place;
Here, lazars smile; there, beauty hides her face. 110
Christians, and Jews, and Turks, and Pagans stand,
A blended throng, one undistinguish'd band.
Some who, perhaps, by mutual wounds expir'd,
With zeal for their diftinct perfuafions fir'd,
In mutual friendship their long slumber break,
And hand in hand their Saviour's love partake.
But none are flufh'd with brighter joy, or, warm
With juster confidence, enjoy the storm,
Than thofe, whose pious bounties, unconfin'd,
Have made them public fathers of mankind.
In that illustrious rank, what shining light
With fuch diftinguish'd glory fills my fight?
Bend down, my grateful Mufe, that homage fhow,
Which to fuch worthies thou art proud to owe.
Wickham! Fox! Chichley! hail, illustrious * names, 125
Who to far diftant times difpense your beams;
Beneath your fhades, and near your crystal springs,
I first prefum'd to touch the trembling ftrings.
All hail, thrice honour'd! 'Twas your great renown
To bless a people, and oblige a crown.
And now you rife, eternally to shine,
Eternally to drink the rays divine.
* Founders of New-College, Corpus Chrifti, and AllSouls, in Oxford; of all which the author was a Member,
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