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Amaz'd, aghaft the trembling throng retire,

Eye the bright gleam, and mark the speeding fire;
Hung on the steepy cliff, all wild with dread,
Heav'n's awful thunder rattles o'er their head!
The skies above with doubling roars rebound,
Below ftrong earthquakes rend the tott'ring ground.
'Tis noife around, 'tis chaos all beneath;
One scene of horror, tumult, rage and death,
Burfts on their fight! the fatal word is past,
And panting nature groans, and breathes her laft.
So, when tempeftuous at th' Eternal's word
The teeming skies a watʼry deluge pour'd;
The vast abyfs its mighty deep difplay'd,
And the flood rofe o'er Atlas' tow'ring head;
Some nation fell, in each augmented wave
Diffolv'd, and earth was one prodigious grave.
Mark where yon mines their radiant stores unfold,
Peru's rich duft, or Chili's beds of gold!
Infidious bane! that makes destruction fmooth,
Thou foe to virtue, liberty, and truth!
Whofe arts the fate of monarchies decide,
Who gild'st deceit, the darling child of pride!
How oft, allur'd by thy perfuafive charms,
Have earth's contending powers appear'd in arms!
What nations brib'd have own'd thy pow'rful reign!
For thee what millions plow'd the stormy main !
Travel'd from pole to pole with ceaseless toil,
And felt their blood, alternate, freeze and boil.

But

But now the mantling flames in concourse join,
And deep defcending feize the burning mine;
Its richest treasures aid the mounting blaze,
"Twas all confusion, tumult, and amaze.
When lo! a cloud juft opening on the view
Illum'd with dazzling light th' ethereal blue!
On its broad breast a mighty angel came,
His eyes were lightning, and his robes of flame:
O'er all his form the circling glories run,
And his face lighten'd as the blazing fun ;
His limbs with heav'n's aerial vesture glow,
And o'er his head was hung the sweepy bow.
As fhines the brightning fteel's refulgent gleam,
When the smooth blade reflects the spangling beam,
Its light with quicken'd glance the eye furveys,
Green, gold, and vermeil, trembling as it plays;
So flam'd his wings along th' ethereal road,
And earth's long shores refounded as he trod.
Sublime he towr'd! keen terror arm'd his eyes,
And grafp'd the redning bolt that rends the skies;
One foot stood firmly on th' extended plain
Secure, and one repell'd the bounding main;
He shook his arm;-the lightning burst away,
Thro' heav'n's dark concave gleam'd the paly ray,
Roar'd the loud bolt tremendous thro' the gloom,
And peals on peals prepare th' impending doom.
Then to his lips a mighty trump apply'd,

(The flames were ceas'd, the mutt'ring thunders dy'd)

While all th' involving firmaments rebound

He rais'd his voice, and labour'd in the found:
Thefe dreadful words he fpoke-,

"Be dark, thou fun, in one eternal night!
"And cease, thou moon, to rule with paler light!
"Ye planets, drop from these dissolving skies!
"Rend, all ye tombs; and, all ye dead, arife!
"Ye winds, be ftill; ye tempefts, rave no more!
"And roll, thou deep, thy millions to the fhore!
“Earth, be diffolv'd, with all these worlds on high!
"And time, be loft in vaft eternity!

"Now, by Creation's dread tremendous fire, "Who sweeps these stars as atoms, in his ire;

By heav'n's omnipotent, unconquer'd king; "By him who rides the rapid whirlwind's wing; "Who reigns fupreme in his august abode, "Forms, or confounds with one commanding nod; "Who wraps in blackning clouds his awful brow, "Whofe glance like lightning looks all nature thro': "By him I fwear !" (he paus'd, and bow'd his head, Then rais'd aloft his flaming hand, and faid) "Attend ye faints, who in feraphic lays "Exalt his name, but tremble while you praise: "Ye hofts, that bow to your almighty Lord, "Hear, all his works, th' irrevocable word! "Thy reign, O man, and earth, thy days are o'er! “I swear by him, that time shall be no more.' He spoke (all nature groan'd a loud reply ;) Then fhook the fun, and tore him from the sky.

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O!

O! would fome angel's awful voice controul
Each drooping thought, and swell my rifing foul;
Would fome descending feraph tune the lyre,
And warm my breaft with more than mortal fire ;
The scene I draw fublimer strains would claim,
Ev'n those might labour on so vast a theme!
But why for aid invok'd the immortal throng?
Why call'd angelic fire to tune my tongue?
I fee each look diftracted, terrify'd,
The harp untouch'd hangs idly by their fide.
I fee, I fee omnipotence in arms,

Each bofom trembling at the fhrill alarms!
I fee the fun fall thro' th' ethereal plains;
The moon's pale disk a bloody tincture ftains:
The dreadful call each mightier orbit hears,

And worlds unhing'd come tumbling from their spheres.
What pomp, what terror, tumult, and amaze!

What crowds to view! what wrecks to fwell the blaze!
What loud volcanoes roar! (ev'n fiends recoil)
What rocks to melt! what oceans yet to boil!
Shouldft thou behold, in dreadful league combin'd,
At once great Etna and Vefuvius join'd,
Two mighty rivals for their center rock,

Surround the deep, and hide the clouds in smoke :
Their burning bowels rent, and (dire to name !)
Ev'n funs extinguish'd in the spreading flame!
Say, what is all, let fire, wind, waves prevail,
Compar'd to this?—a feather, and a gale!

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Rous'd from their sleep unnumber'd myriads come, All wak'd at once, and burft the yielding tomb : O'er the broad deep the loosen'd members swim ; Each fweeping whirlwind bore the flying limb; The living atoms, with peculiar care,

Drawn from their cells, came speeding thro' the air:
Whether they lurk'd, thro' ages undecay'd,

Deep in the rock, or cloth'd fome smiling mead;
Or in the lily's snowy bofom grew ;

Or ting'd the faphire with its lovely blue;
Or in fome purling stream refresh'd the plains;
Or form'd the mountain's adamantine veins ;
Or, gaily sporting in the breathing spring,
Perfum'd the whisp'ring zephyr's balmy wing:
All heard; and now, in fairer profpect shown,
Limb clung to limb, and bone rejoin’d its bone :
Here ftood, improv'd in strength, the graceful frame,
There flow'd the circling blood, a purer

ftream:

The beaming eye its dazzling light resumes;
Soft on the lip the tinctur'd ruby blooms;

The beating pulse a keener ardor warms,
And beauty triumphs in immortal charms.
So when by Raphael's happy pencil wrought
Some graceful figure rofe, inform'd with thought,
Each part by turns the working hand pourtray'd,
Here caft the light, and there diffus'd the shade ;
A richer bloom each flying touch bestow'd;
Now on the cheek a brighter vermeil glow'd:

Art

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