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Ne'er did Barbaric kings behold, With all their shining gems, their burnish'd gold,

A fane so perfect, bright, and fair: For God himself was wont t' inhabit there. Between the cherubim his glory stood, While the high-priest alone the dazzling splendour view'd.

How fondly did the Tyrian artist strive

His name to latest time should live! Such wealth the stranger wonder'd to behold:

Gold were the tablets, and the vases gold,

Of cedar such an ample store, Exhausted Lebanon could yield no more. Bending before the Ruler of the sky,

Well might the royal founder cry, Fill'd with an holy dread, a rev'rend fear, Will God in very deed inhabit here?

The heaven of heavens beneath his feet, Is for the bright inhabitant unmeet:

Archangels prostrate wait his high commands,

And will he deign to dwell in temples made
with hands?

Dan. Yes, Thou art ever present, Pow'r
Supreme,

Not circumscrib'd by time, nor fix'd to

space,

Confin'd to altars, nor to temples bound.
In wealth, in want, in freedoom, or in chains,
In dungeons or on thrones, the faithful find

thee!

E'en in the burning caldron thou wast near
To Shadrach and the holy brotherhood:
The unhurt martyr's bless'd Thee in the
flames;

They sought, and found Thee; call'd, and
Thou wast there.

First Jew. How chang'd our state!
dah, thy glory's fall'n!

set

By Korah's sons, or heav'n-taught Asaph
[hearts
To loftiest measures; then our bursting
Feel all their woes afresh; the galling chain
Of bondage crushes then the free-born soul
With wringing anguish; from the trembling
lip

Th' unfinish'd cadence falls; and the big
tear,
[soul.
While it relieves betrays the wo-fraught
For who can view Euphrates' pleasant
stream,

Its drooping willows, and its verdant banks,
And not to wounded memory recall
The piny groves of fertile Palestine,
The vales of Solyma, and Jordan's stream!
Dan. Firm faith and deep submission to
high heaven

Will teach us to endure without a murmur,
What seems so hard. Think what the holy
host
[sustain'd,
Of patriarchs, saints, and prophets have
In the blest cause of truth! And shall not
we,

O men of Judah! dare what these have dar'd
And boldly pass through the refining fire
Of fierce affliction? Yes, be witness, Hea-
ven !

Old as I am, I will not shrink at death,
Come in what shape it may, if God so will,
By peril to confirm and prove my faith.
Oh! I would dare yon den of hungry lions,
Rather than pause to fill the task assign'd
By wisdom Infinite. Nor think I boast,
Not in myself, but in thy strength I trust,
Spirit of God !

First Jew. Prophet, thy words support,
And raise our sinking souls,
Dan.
Behold yon palace;
Ju-There proud Belshazzar keeps his wanton

Thy joys for hard captivity exchang'd :
And thy sad sons breathe the polluted air
Of Babylon, where deities obscene
Insult the living God; and to his servants,
The priests of wretched idols made with
hands,

Show contumelious scorn.

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court !

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If I not fondly cherish thy lov'd image,
E'en in the giddy hour of thoughtless mirth;
If I not rather view thy prostrate walls
Than haughty Babylon's imperial tow'rs-In
Then may my tongue refuse to frame the
strains

Of sweetest harmony, my rude right hand |
Forget, with sounds symphonious, to accord
The harp of Jesse's son to Sion's song.

First Jew. Oft on Euphrates' ever verdant

banks

Where drooping willows form a mournful
shade
[give,
With all the pride which prosp'rous fortunes
And all th' unfeeling mirth of happy men,
Th' insulting Babylonian's ask a song;
Such songs as erst in better days, were sung

tuary.

Second Jew. May HE, to whose blest use they were devoted,

more,

Preserve them from pollution; and once [ple! his own gracious time, restore the temDan. I, with some favour'd youths of Jewish race

Was lodg'd in the king's palace, and in-
structed

In all the various learning of the East;
But HE, on whose great name our fathers
call'd,

Preserv'd us from the perils of a court,
Warn'd us to guard our youthful appetites,
And still with holy fortitude reject
The pamp'ring viands Luxury presented;

• Nebuchadnezzar.

Fell Luxury; more perilous to youth Than storms or quicksands, poverty or /chains

Second Jew. He who can guard 'gainst the low baits of sense,

Will find Temptation's arrows hurtless strike

Against the brazen shield of Temperance.
For 'tis th' inferior appetites enthral
The man, and quench th' immortal light
within him;

The senses take the soul an easy prey,
And sink th' imprison'd spirit into brute.
Dan. Twice, by the Spirit of God, did
I expound

The visions of the king; his soul was touch'd,
And twice did he repent, and prostrate fall
"Before the God of Daniel: yet again,
Pow'r, flattery, and prosperity, undid him.
When from the lofty ramparts of his palace
He view'd the splendors of the royal city,
That magazine of wealth, which proud Lu-
phrates

Wafts from each distant corner of the earth; When he beheld the adamantine tow'rs, The brazen gates, the bulwarks of his strength,

The pendant gardens, Art's stupendous work,

The wonder of the world! the proud Chaldean,

Mad with th' intoxicating fumes which rise When uncontroll'd ambition grasps at once Dominion absolute, and boundless wealth, Forgot he was a man, forgot his God! This mighty Babylon is mine,' he cry'd; 'My wond'rous pow'r, my godlike arm achiev'd it.

I scorn submission; own no Deity Above my own.-While the blasphemer spoke,

The wrath of Heav'n inflicted instant vengeance:

Stripp'd him of that bright reason he abus'd; And drove him from the cheerful haunts of men,

A naked, wretched. helpless, senseless thing;

Companion of the brutes, his equals now. First Jew. Nor does his impious grandson, proud Belshazzar,

Fall short of his offences; nay, he wants
The valiant spirit and the active soul
Of his progenitor; for Pleasure's slave,
Though bound in silken chains, and only
tied

In flowery fetters, seeming light and loose,
Is more subdu'd than the rash casual victim
Of anger or ambition; these indeed
Barn with a fiercer but a short-lived fire;
While Pleasure with a constant flame con-

sumes.

War slays her thousands, but destructive Pleasure,

More fell, more fatal, her ten thousands slays:

Daniel, chap. ii. and iv.

The young luxurious king she fondly woos In ev'ry shape of am'rous blandishment; With adulation smooth ensnares his soul; With love betrays him, and with wine inflames.

She strews her magic poppies o'er his couch And with delicious opiates charms him down,

In fatal slumbers bound. Though Babylon
Is now invested by the warlike troops
Of royal Cyrus, Persia's valiant prince;
Who, in conjunction with the Median king;
Darius, fam'd for conquest, now prepares
To storm the city: not the impending hor-
Which ever wait a siege have pow'r to wake
To thought or sense th' intoxicated king.

rors

Dan. E'en in this night of universal dread, A mighty army threat'ning at the gates ; This very night, as if in scorn of danger, The dissolute Belshazzar holds a feast Magnificently impious, meant to honour Belus, the fav'rite Babylonish idol. Lewd parasites compose his wanton court, Whose impious flatt'ries sooth his monstrous crimes:

They justify his vices, and extol

His boastful phrase, as if he were some god: Whate'er he says, they say; what he commands,

Implicitly they do; they echo back
His blasphemies with shouts of loud acclaim;
And when he wounds the tortur'd ear of
Virtue,

They cryAll hail! Belshazzar live for ever!

To-night a thousand nobles fill his hall, Princes, and all the dames who grace the court;

All but his virtuous mother, sage Nitocris :
Ah! how unlike the impious king her son!
She never mingles in the midnight fray,
Nor crowns the guilty banquet with her
presence.

The royal fair is rich in ev'ry virtue
Which can adorn the queen or grace the

woman.

But for the wisdom of her prudent counsels This wretched empire had been long undone.

Not fam'd Semiramis, Assyria's pride,
Could boast a brighter mind or firmer soul;
Beneath the gentle reign of Merodach,*
Her royal lord, our nation tasted peace.
Our captive monarch, sad Jehoiachin,
Grown gray in a close prison's horrid gloom,
He freed from bondage; brought the hoary
king

To taste once more the long-forgotten

sweets

Of liberty and light, sustain'd his age, Pour'd in his wounds the lenient balm of kindness,

And blest his setting hour of life with peace. [Sound of trumpets is heard at a distance. First Jew. That sound proclaims the banquet is begun.

2 Kings, chap. xxiv.

1

Second Jew. Hark! the licentious uproar | Then, pointing to the mischiefs she has grows more loud,

made,

The vaulted roof resounds with shouts of Exulting cries, This once was Babylon! mirth,

And the firm palace shakes! Retire my

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The desolating angel stalks abroad,
And brandishes aloft the two-edg'd sword
Of retribution keen; he soon will strike,
And Babylon shall weep as Sion wept.
Pass but a little while, and you shall see
This queen of cities prostrate on the earth.
This haughty mistress of the kneeling world,
How shall she sit dishonour'd in the dust,
In tarnish'd pomp and solitary wo!
How shail she shroud her glories in the dark,
And in opprobrious silence hide her head!
Lament, O virgin daughter of Chaldea!
For thou shalt fall! imperial queen, shalt
fall!

No more Sidonian robes shall grace thy limbs.

Topurple garments sackcloth shall succeed;
And sordid dust and ashes shall supply
The od❜rous nard and cassia. Thou, who
said'st

I AM, and there is none beside me thou,
E'en thou, imperial Babylon, shalt fall!
Thy glory quite eclips'd! The pleasant
sound

Of viol and of harp shall charm no more;
Nor song of Syrian damsels shall be heard,
Responsive to the lute's luxurious note:
But the loud bittern's cry, the raven's
croak,

The bat's fell scream, the lonely owl's dull plaint,

And ev'ry hideous bird, with ominous shriek, Shall scare affrighted Silence from thy

walls:

While Desolation, snatching from the hand
Of Time the scythe of ruin, sits aloft,
Or stalks in dreadful majesty abroad.
I see th' exterminating fiend advance,
F'en now I see her glare with horrid joy,
See towers imperial mould'ring at her touch;
She glances on the broken battlement,
She eyes the crumbling column, and enjoys
The work of ages prostrate in the dust-

See the prophecies of Isaiah, chap. xlvii. and

others.

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Let the deluded Jews, who fondly hope
Some fancied heaven hereafter, mortify,
And lose the actual blessings of this world
To purchase others which may never come.
Our gods may promise less, but give us more.
Ill could my ardent spirit be content
With meagre abstinence and hungry hope.
Let those misjudging Israelites, who want
The nimble spirits and the active soul,
Call their blunt feelings virtue: let them
drudge,

In regular progression, through the round
Of formal duty and of daily toil;
And, when they want the genius to be happy,
Believe their harsh austerity is goodness.
If there be gods, they meant we should en-
joy :

Why give us else these tastes and appetites? And why the means to crown them with indulgence?

To burst the feeble bonds which hold the vulgar,

Is noble daring.

1st, cour.

And is therefore worthy The high imperial spirit of Belshazzar. 2d. cour. Behold a banquet which the

gods might share !

Bel. To-night, my friends, your monarch shall be blest

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But the rich means to gratify desire?

I will not have a wish, a hope, a thought, That shall not know fruition. What is empire?

The privilege to punish and enjoy :
To feel our pow'r in making others fear it;
To taste of Pleasure's cup till we grow gid-
dy,
[pire!
And think ourselves immortal! This is em-
My ancestors scarce tasted of its joys:
Shut from the sprightly world, and all its
charms,

In cumbrous majesty, in sullen state
And dull unsocial dignity they liv'd;
Far from the sight of an admiring world,
That world, whose gaze makes half the

charms of greatness;

They nothing knew of empire but the name,
Or saw in it the looks of trembling slaves;
And all they felt of royalty was care.
But I will see, and know it of myself;
Youth, Wealth, and Greatness court me to
be blest,
[force
And Pow'r and Pleasure draw with equal
And sweet attraction: both I will embrace
In quick succession; this is Pleasures day;
Ambition will have time to reign hereafter;
It is the proper appetite of age.

The lust of pow'r shall lord it uncontroll❜d,
When all the gen'rous feelings grow obtuse,
And stern Dominion holds, with rigid hand,
His iron rein, and sits and sways alone.
But youth is Pleasure's hour!

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As may inflame my spirit to despise Th' ambitious Persian, that presumptuous boy,

Who rashly dares e'en now invest our city, And menaces th' invincible Belshazzar. [A grand concert of music, after which an ode.]

In vain shall Persian Cyrus dare
With great Belshazzar wage unequal war:
In vain Darius shall combine,
Darius leader of the Median line;
While fair Euphrates' stream our walls pro-
tects,

And great Belshazzar's self our fate directs,
War and famine threat in vain,
While this demi-god shall reign!
Let Persia's prostrate king confess his
pow'r,

And Media's monarch dread his vengeful hour.

On Dura's* ample plain behold Immortal Belus,† whom the nations own; Sublime he stands in burnish'd gold, And richest offerings his bright altars

crown.

To-night his deity we here adore, And due libations speak his mighty pow'r. Yet Belus' self not more we own Than great Belshazzar on Chaldea's throne. Great Belshazzar like a God,

Rules the nations with a nod !

To great Belshazzar be the goblet crown'd! Belshazzar's name the echoing roofs rebound!

Beish. Enough! the kindling rapture fires my brain,

And my heart dances to the flattering sounds.

I feel myself a god! Why not a god!

* Daniel, chap. lii.

+ See a very fine description of the temple of this idol.

-The tow'ring fane

Of Bel, Chaldean Jove, surpassing far
That Doric temple, which the Elean chiefs
Rais'd to their thunderer from the spoils of war,

Or that Ionie, where th' Ephesian bow'd

To Dian, queen of heaven. Eight towers arise,
Each above each, immeasurable height,
A monument at once of eastern pride,
And slavish superstition, &c.

Judah Resto cd, b. i.

What were the deities our fathers wor-Go-fetch them hither. They shall grace [der? our banquet.

ship'd? What was great Nimrod our imperial founWhat greater Belus, to whose pow'r divine We raise to-night the banquet and the song; But youthful heroes, mortal, like myself, Who by their daring earn'd divinity? They were but men: nay some were less than men, [Anubis, Though now rever'd as gods. What was Whom Egypt's sapient sons adore? A dog! And shall not I, young, valiant, and a king, Dare more? do more? exceed the boldest flights

Of my progenitors?-Fill me more wine, To cherish and exalt the young idea. (he drinks.)

Ne'er did Olympian Jupiter himself
Quaff such immortal draughts.

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What could that fancy'd Paradise bestow To match these generous juices?

Belsh,

will enjoy it :

Hold-enough!
Thou hast rous'd a thought. By Heav'n, I
[ture
A glorious thought! which will exalt to rap-
The pleasure of the banquet, and bestow
A yet untasted relish of delight.

ist court. What means the king?
Belsh. The Jews! said'st thou the Jews!
1st court. I spoke of that undone, that
outcast people,

Those tributary creatures of thy pow'r,
The captives of thy will, whose very breath
Hangs on the sovereign pleasure of the
king.

Belsh. When that abandoned race was
hither brought,

Were not the choicest treasures of their temple,

(Devoted to their God, and held most precious)

Among the spoils which grac'd Nebassar's* triumphs,

And lodg'd in Babylon?

1st court.

O king! they were. 2d court. The Jews, with superstitious awe, behold

These sacred symbols of their ancient faith: Nor has captivity abated aught

Does no one stir? Belshazzar disobey ́d ? And yet you live? Whence comes this strange reluctance?

This new-born rev'rence for the helpless Jews? [it? This fear to injure those who can't revenge Send to the sacred treasury in haste, Let all be hither brought;-who answers dies. [They go out.

The mantling wine a higher joy will yield, Pour'd from the precious flaggons which adorn'd

Their far-fam'd temple, now in ashes laid.
Oh! 'twill exalt the pleasure into transport,
To gall those whining, praying Israelites!
I laugh to think what wild dismay will seize
them
[made
When they shall learn the use that has been
Of all their holy trumpery!

[The vessels are brought in.
It comes;

2d court. A goodly show! how bright with gold and gems!

Far fitter for a youthful monarch's board Than the cold shrine of an unheeding God. Belsh, Fill me that massy goblet to the brim.

[pect Now, Abraham! let thy wretched race exThe fable of their faith to be fulfill'd; Their second temple, and their promis'd king!

Now will they see the god they vainly serve
Is impotent to help; for had he pow'r
To hear and grant their pray'r, he would
prevent

This profanation.

[As the king is going to drink, thunder is heard: he starts from the throne, spies a hand, which writes on the wall these words, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. He lets fall the goblet, and stands in an attitude of speechless horror. All start and seem terrified.]

1st court. (after a long pause) Oh, transcendant horror!

2d court. What may this mean? The king is greatly mov'd!

3d court. Nor is it strange-who unappali'd can view it?

Those sacred cups! I doubt we've gone too

far!

1st court. Observe the fear-struck king! his starting eyes

The rev'rend love they bear these holy re-Roll horribly. Thrice he essay'd to speak,

liques.

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And thrice his tongue refus’d.

Belsh. (in a low trembling voice. ) Ye mystic words!

Thou semblance of an hand! illusive forms!
Ye wild fantastic images, what are ye?
Dread shadows, speak! Explain your dark
intent!

Ye will not answer me-
-Alas! I feel
I am a mortal now-My failing limbs
Refuse to bear me up. I am no god!
Gods do not tremble thus-Support me,
hold me:

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