The miscellaneous works (1739)

I call not you that on Parnassus sit,
And by the flow'ry banks of Helicon,
Circle your brows with fading coronets;
While some romantic hero you adorn
With lying epithets, and airy praise:
Or some fantastic lover's fate rehearse
In notes that with a soft, enticing art,
A charming, but pernicious magic draw
The chastest minds from virtue's sacred paths.

240

Too long inspir'd by these unhappy flames,
In rural shades I sung the boasted pow'r,
And own'd the false divinity of love;
Reclaim'd, no longer I your aid implore,
But you, celestial muses, I invoke.
Ye muses, who above the lofty sky
Sit crown'd with wreaths of never-fading light,
And on your silver lutes immortal songs,
Along the blissful streams that warbling flow,
With soft inimitable skill recite;
Assist me, while with an advent'rous flight
To everlasting glories I aspire;
While He, the first almighty cause with you
In flowing numbers I attempt to sing.
From him, like you, I took the vital ray,
Him, as the spring of my existence, praise;
Tho' not with you, his happier race, allow'd
To view the bright unveil'd divinity.
By no audacious glance from mortal eyes
Those mystic glories are to be profan'd:
Yet safely we may in reflection meet
His scatter'd beams, and find in all his works
The God in shining characters imprest.

I trace him round me now with vast delight,
Among the lavish springs that proudly roll
Their silver riches o'er the painted meads:
Here spreading into broad transparent lakes,
Smooth as the face of heav'n they silent flow;
The sparkling sun the beauteous surface gilds,

241

Which double glory to the sky reflects:
Here under close impending shades they creep,
And roll along complaining to their shores.
The verdant meadows, and extended plains,
In all their pride and springing beauties drest,
The winding valleys and ascending hills,
The mossy rocks, the bow'rs and lofty groves,
The ev'ning close, and chaunt of various birds,
The sportive wind, and softly whisp'ring breeze,
Consenting all acknowledge thou art far
More lovely and surpassing fair than they.

Thy glory in her silent course the moon,
And nightly lamps in their obscure sojourn,
The morning star with its bright circlet crown'd,
And early blushes of the day reveal.

The circling sun thy glory manifests;
Whether ascending from the eastern wave,
With glancing smiles he chears the dewy fields;
Or mounted to the zenith's lofty height,
He blazes with transcendent glory crown'd;
Or down the steep of heav'n he rolls amain
And ends his flaming progress in the sea;
From east to west thy greatness he proclaims,
And thro' his radiant kingdoms spreads thy praise.

Thou rid'st upon the wild, tempestuous wind,
And flying storms obey thy pow'rful voice;
Sublime on clouds thy dark pavilion's set,
With shades and gloomy majesty involv'd.

242

Thy hands the pointed lightnings lance around,
While peals of thunder shake the firmament:
At thy approach the kindling forests smoke,
And from their base the trembling mountains start;
The rivers ebb and flow at thy command,
Observe their wonted course, or run reverse;
At thy rebuke the frighted waves divide,
And with stupendous motion backward roll
Their crystal volumes to their inmost springs.

Thou all things canst—thy mighty mandates heard,
Necessity and nature are no more;
Th' obedient elements dissolve their league,
And wonderful effects attest the God.

Thus far we trace thee by unerring lights,
But what thou art beyond is still unknown;
We launch in vain into the deep abyss,
Thro' vast infinity thou fly'st our search.

University of Virginia Library

SOLILOQUY XL.