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The beafts fo long have facrificed been;
Since men their birth-right forfeit ftill by fin;
'Tis fit at laft beafts their revenge fhould have,
And facrificed men their better brethren fave.
So will they fall, fo will they flee,
Such will the creatures wild distraction be,
When at the final doom,

Nature and Time fhall both be flain,
Shall ftruggle with Death's pangs in vain,
And the whole world their funeral pile become.
The wide-ftretch'd fcroll of heaven, which we
Immortal as the Deity think,

With all the beauteous characters that in it With fuch deep fenfe by God's own hand were writ

(Whofe eloquence, though we understand not, we adauire)

Shall crackle, and the parts together shrink

Like parchment in a fire:

Th' exhaufted fun to th' moon no more fhall lend;
But truly then headlong into the fea defcend:
The glittering hoft, now in such fair array,
So proud, fo well-appointed, and fo gay,
Like fearful troops in fome ftrong ambush ta'en,
Shall fome fly routed, and fome fall flain,
Thick as ripe fruit, or yellow leaves, in autumn fall,
With fuch a violent form as blows down tree
and all.

And thou, O curfed land!

Which wilt not fee the precipice where thou doft itand

(Though thou fland'st just upon the brink) Thou of this poifon'd bowl the bitter dregs fhalt drink.

Thy rivers and thy lakes fhall fo
With human blood o'erflow,

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That they fhall fetch the flaughter'd corpfe away,
Which in the fields around unburied lay,
And rob the beasts and birds to give the fish their
prey:

The rotting corpfe fhall fo infe& the air,
Beget fuch plagues and putrid venons there,
That by thine own dead fhall be flain
All thy few living that remain.
As one who buys, furveys, a ground,
So the deftroying-angel meafures it around;
So careful and fo ftrict he is,

Left any nook or corner he fhould mifs:

He walks about the perishing nation, Ruin behind him ftalks and empty Defolation.

Then fhall the market and the pleading-place Be choak'd with brambles and o'ergrown with grafs :

The ferpents through thy freets fhall roll, And in thy lower rooms the wolves fhall howl, And thy gilt chambers lodge the raven and the owl, And all the wing'd ill-omens of the air, Though no new ills can be foreboded there: The lion then fhall to the leopard fay,

"Brother leopard, come away; “Behold a land which God has given us in prey! "Behold a land from whence we fee "Mankind expuls'd, his and our common enemy!" The brother leopard thakes himfelf, and does not

fay.

The glutted vultures fhall expect in vain

New armies to be flain:

Shall find at laft the business done, Leave their confumed quarters, and be gone: Th' unburied ghofts fhall fadly moan, The fatyrs laugh to hear them groan: The evil fpirits, that delight

To dance and revel in the mask of night, The moon, and stars, their fole fpectators, fhall affright:

And, if of loft mankind

Aught happen to be left behind;
If any relics but remain;

They in the dens fhall lurk, beafts in the palaces fhall reign.

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To call us home,

Home to the promis'd Canaan above, Which does with nourishing milk and pleasant honey flow;

And even i' th' way to which we fhould be fed With angels' tafteful bread:

But we, alas! the flesh-pots love,
We love the very leeks and fordid roots below.

In vain we judgments feel, and wonders fee!
In vain did God to defcend hither deign;
He was his own ambaffador in vain,,
Our Mofes and our guide himself to be!
We will not let ourselves to go,
And with worfe harden'd hearts do our own
Pharaohs grow.

Ah! left at laft we perifh fo,
Think, flubborn Man, think of th' Egyptian
Prince

(Hard of belief and will, but not fo hard as thou); Think with what dreadful proofs God did convince The feeble arguments that human power could fhow;

Think what plagues attend on thee, Who Mofes' God doit now refufe, more oft than Mofes he.

"If from fome god you come" (faid the proud king With half a smile and half a frown; "But what god can to Egypt be unknown?) "What fign, what powers, what credence, de you "bring?"

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"Behold his feal! behold his hand!"
Cries Mofes, and cafts down th' all-mighty wand.
Th'all-mighty wand fearce touch'd the earth,
When, with an undifcerned birth,
Th'all-mighty wand a ferpent grew,

And his long half in painted folds behind him
drew:

Upwards his threatening tail he threw;

Upwards he caft his threatening head:
He gap'd and hifs'd aloud,

With faming eyes furvey'd the trembling crowd,
And, like a bafilifk, almoft look'd th'affembly dead;
Swift fled th' amazed king, the guards before him
fled.

Jannes and Jambres ftopp'd their flight,
And with proud words allay'd th' affright.
"The God of flaves," faid they," how can he be
More powerful than their mafters' deity?"
And down they caft their rods,

And mutter'd fecret founds that charm the fervile
gods.

The evil spirits their charms obey,

And in a fubtle cloud they fnatch the rods away,
And ferpents in their place the airy jugglers lay.
Serpents in Egypt's monitrous land

Were ready ftill at hand,

And all at the Old Serpent's first command.
And they too gap'd, and they too hiss'd,
And they their threatening tails did twift;
But ftrait on both the Hebrew-ferpent few,
Breke both their active backs, and both it flew,

And both almoft at once devour'd;

So much was over-power'd,

By God's miraculous creation,

A loathfome hoft was quickly made,
That feal'd the banks, and with loud noife did all
the country' invade.

As Nilus when he quits his facred bed
(But like a friend he vifits all the land
With welcome prefents in his hand)
So did this Living Tide the fields o'erspread :
In vain th' alarmed country tries

To kill their noifome enemies;
From th' unexhaufted fource ftill new recruits
arife.

Nor does the earth thefe greedy troops fuffice,
The towns and houfes they poffefs,
The temples and the palaces,

Nor Pharaoh, nor his gods, they fear;
Both their importune croakings hear.
Unfatiate yet, they mount up higher,
Where never fun-born Frog durft to afpire,
And in the filken beds their flimy members place;
A luxury unknown before to all the watery race!
The water thus her wonders did produce;
But both were to no use;

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As yet the forcerers' mimic powerferv'd for excuse.
Try what the earth will do," said God, and lo!
They itrook the earth a fertile blow,

And all the duft did ftrait to flir begin;
One would have thought fome fudden wind't had
been;

But lo! 'twas nimble life was got within!
And all the little fprings did move,
And every duft did an arm'd vermin prove,
Of an unknown and new-created kind,

Such as the magic-gods could neither make nor
find.

His fervant's, Nature's, flightly-wrought and feeble The wretched fhameful Toe allow'd no rest

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Either to man or beast.

Not Pharaoh from th' unquiet plague could be,
With all his change of raiments, free;
The devils themfelves confefs'd

This was God's hand; and 'twas but juft,
To punifh thus man's pride, to punish duft with

duft.

Lo! the third clement does his plagues prepare,
And fwarming clouds of infects fill the air;

With fullen noife they take their flight,
And march in bodies infinite;
In vain 'tis day above, 'tis still beneath them night.
Of harmful Flies the nations numberless
Compos'd this mighty army's fpacious boast;
Of different manners, different languages;

And different habits, too, they wore,
And different arms they bore;
And fome, like Scythians, liv'd on blood,
And fome on green, and fome on flowery food;
And Accaron, the airy prince, led on this various
hoft.

Houfes fecure not men, the populous ill
Did all the houfes fill:
The country all arouud
Did with the cries of tortur'd cattle found;
About the fields enrag'd they flew,
And wifh'd the plague that was t'enfue.
From poisonous ftars a mortal influence came
(The mingled malice of their flame);

A fkilful angel did th' ingredients take,
And with just hands the fad composure make,
And over all the land did the full vial fhake.
Thirst, giddiness, faintnefs, and putrid heats,

And pining pains, and fhivering sweats,
On all the cattle, all the beafts, did fall;
With deform'd death the country's cover'd all.
The labouring ox drops down before the plow;
The crowned victims to the altar led

Sink, and prevent the lifted blow:

The generous horfe from the full manger turns his head,

Does his lov'd floods and paftures fcorn, Hates the fhrill trumpet and the horn, Nor can his lifeless noftril please With the once ravishing fmell of all his dappled

miftreffes:

The ftarving fheep refufe to feed, They bleat their innocent fouls out into air; "he faithful dogs lie gafping by them there; Th' aftonish'd thepherd weeps, and breaks his tuneful reed.

Thus did the beafts for man's rebellion die;
God did on man a gentler medicine try,
And a Difeafe, for Phyfic, did apply.
Warm afhes from the furnace Mofes tock;
The forcerers did with wonder on him look,

And finil'd at th' unaccustom'd spell,
Which no Egyptian rituals tell :
He flings the pregnant afhes through the air,
And fpeaks a mighty prayer;

Both which the miniftering winds around all Egypt

bear.

As gentle western blafts with downy wings,
Hatching the tender fprings,

To th' unborn buds with vital whispers fay,
"Ye living buds, why do ye ftay?"
The paffionate buds break through the bark their

way:

So, wherefoe'er this tainted wind but blew,

Swelling pains and ulcers grew;

It from the body call'd all fleeping poifons out,
And to them added new;

A noisome fpring of fores, as thick as leaves, did fprout.

Heaven itfelf is angry next;

(Woe to man, when Heaven is vext!)
With fullen brow it frown'd,

And murmur'd firft in an imperfe& found :
Till Mofes, lifting up his hand,

Waves the expected fignal of his wand;

The thunder but for terror through it flew,
The hail alone the work could do.
The difmal lightnings all around,
Some flying through the air, fome running on the
ground,

Some fwimming o'er the water's face,
Fill'd with bright horror every place;
One would have thought, their dreadful day to
have feen,

The very hail, and rain itfelf had kindled been. The infant corn, which yet did fcarce appear, Efcap'd this general massacre

Of every thing that grew, And the well-fter'd Egyptian year When lo! a fcorching wind from the burnt counBegan to clothe her fields and trees anew.

tries blew,

And endless legions with it drew
Of greedy Locufts; who, where'er
With founding wings they flew.
Left all the earth depopulate and bare,
As if Winter itself had march'd by there.
Whate'er the Sun and Nile

Gave with large bounty to the thankful foil,
The wretched pillagers bore away,
And the whole Summer was their prey;
Till Mofes with a prayer

Breath'd forth a violent western wind, Which all thefe living clouds did headlong bear (No ftragglers left behind)

Into the purple sea, and there bestow
On the luxurious fifh a feast they ne'er did know.
With untaught joy Pharaoh the news does hear,
And little thinks their fate attends on him and
his fo near.

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What blindness or what darkness did there e'er
Like this undocile king's appear!
What, e'er, but that which now does reprefent
And paint the crime out in the punishment?
From the deep baleful caves of hell below,

Where the old mother Night does grow-
Subftantial Night, that does disclaim
Privation's empty name-
Through fecret conduits monstrous fhapes arofe,
Such as the fun's whole force could not oppofe:
They with a folid cloud

All heaven's eclipfed face did fhroud;
Seem'd, with large wings fpread o'er the fea and
earth,

To brood up a new Chaos's deformed birth.
And every lamp and every fire,
Did at the dreadful fight wink and expire,

And all the full-charg'd clouds in ranged fqua-To th' Empyrean fource all ftreams of light

drons move,

And fill the fpacious plains above; Through which the rolling thunder firft does play, And opens wide the tempeft's noify way.

And strait a ftony shower

Of monstrous Hail docs downwards pour, Such as ne'er winter yet brought forth, From all her ftormy magazines of the north. It all the beafts and men abroad did flay, O'er the defaced corpfe, like monuments, lay; The houfes and ftrong-Lody'd trecs it broke,

Ner afk'd aid frem the thunder's ftroke:

feem'd to retire.

The living men were in their standing houf s

buried;

But the long Night no flumber knows,

But the fhort Death finds no repofe!
Ten thousand terrors through the darknefs fled,
And ghofts complain'd, and fpirits murmured;
And Fancy's multiplying fight
View'd all the fcenes invifible of Night.

Of God's dreadful anger thefe
Were but the first light skirmishes;

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The fock and bloody battle now begins,
The ple: teous harveft of full-ripen'd fius.
It was the time when the till moon
Was mounted foftly to her noon,
And dewy Sleep, which from Night's fecret fprings
arof,

Gently as Nile the land o'erflows.
When lo! from the high countries of refined day,
The golden heaven without allay-
Whoft drois, in the creation purg'd away,

Made up the fun's adulterate ray—
Michael, the warlike prince, does downwards fly,
Swift as the journies of the fight,
Switt as the race of light,

And with his winged will cuts through the yield-
ing fky.

He pad through many a far, and, as he past,
Shone (like a flar in them) more brightly there
Than they did in their fphere.

On a tall pyramid's pointed head he flopp'd at left,
And a mild look of facred pity cal
Down on the finful land where he was fent,

T'inflict the tardy punishment.

"Ah! yet," faid he, "yet, ftubborn king! repent, Whilft thus unarm'd i stand,

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Ere the keen fword of God fill my commanded hand;

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Safer but yet thyfelf, and thine to live:

Who would, alas! believe
"That it for man," faid he,
"So hard to be forgiven fhould be,
And yet for God fo cafy to forgive!"

He froke, and downwards flew,
And o'er his fhining form a well-cut cloud he threw,
Made of the blacket fleece of Night,
And dufe-wrought to keep in the powerful light,
Yet wrought fo fine it hinder'd not his flight;
Eat thro' the key-holes and the chinks of doors,
And thro' the narrow't walks of crooked pores,
He paft more fwift and free,

Than in wide air the wanton fwallows Jee.
He took a pointed Peftilence in his hand;
The Lirits of thoufand mortal peifons made
The Arongly-temper'd blade,

The harpelt Tword that e'er was laid
Up in the magazines of God to fcourge a wicked
Jand.

Thro' Egypt's wicked land his march he took,
And as he march'd the facred firt-born frook
Of every womb; none did he ipare,
None, from the meancit beaft to Cenchre's purple

heir.

The fwift approach of endless night
Leal-ope the wounded fleepers' rolling cyes;
Thy awake the reft with dying cries,

And darkness doubles the affright;
The mixed founds of featter'd deaths they hear,
And lofe their parted fouls 'twixt grief and fear.
Lender than all the fricking women's voice
Fares this chaos of cenfufed neife;

As brighter lightning cuts a way
Clear and diftinguifh'd through the day.
With lefs complaints the Zoan temples found,
When the adored heifer's drown'd,
And no true-mark'd fucceffor to be found.
VOL. II.

Whilft health and frength, and gladnels, does poffers
The feftal Hebrew cottages;

The bleft Deftroyer comes not there,
To interrupt the facred cheer

That new begins their well-reformed year:
Upon their doors he read and underflood
God's protection, writ in blood;
Well was he fkill'd i' th' character Divine;
And, though he pafs'd by it in hafte,
He bow'd and worship'd, as he paft,
The mighty myflery thucugh its humble fign.
The fword ftrikes now too deep and near,
Longer with its edge to play;

No diligence or coft they are

To hate the Hebrews now away,
Pharaoh himfelf chides their delay;
So kind and bountiful is Fear!
Eut, ch! the bounty which to fear we owe,
Is but like fire truck out of none;
So hardly got, ad quickly gone,
That it fearce out-lives the blow.
Sorrow and fear loen quit the tyrant's breaft;
Rage and revenge their place poffefs'd;
With a vaft heit of chariots and of horfe,
And all his powerful kingdom's ready force,
The travelling nation he purfucs;
Ten times o'ercome, he fill th'unequal war renews.
Fill'd with proud hopes," At least, said he,
"Th' Egyptian Gods, from Syrian magic free,

Will now revenge themfelves and me;
"Behold what palefs rocks on either hand,
"Like prifon-walls, about them stand,
"Whilf the fea bounds their flight before!
"And in our injur'd juftice they must find
"A far worfe itep than rocks and feas behind;
"Which fhall with crimfon gore
"New paint the water's name, and double dye
the fhore."

He fpoke; and all his hoft

Approv'd with fhouts th' unhappy boaft;
A bidden wind bore his vain words away,

And drown'd them in the neighbouring fea.
No means t' efcape the faithlefs travellers fpy,
And, with degenerous fear to die,
Curfe their new-gotten liberty.
But the great Guide well knew he led them right,
And faw a path hid yet from human fight:
He trikes the raging waves, the waves on either
fice

Unloce their clofe embraces, and divide;
And backwards prefs, as in fome folemn how
The crowding people do

(Though just before no fpace was feen)
To let the admired triumph país between.
The wondering army faw on either hand
The go lefs-wondering waves like rocks of cryftal
ftand:

They march'd betwixt, and boldly trod

The fecret paths of God.

And here and there all fcatter'd in their way
The fea's old fpoils, and gaping fishes, lay
Deforted on the fandy plain :

The fun did with atonifhment behold
The inmolt chambers of the open'd main;
For, whatfoc'er of old

Ο

By his own priests the poets has been faid,
He never funk till then into the ocean's bed.

Led cheerfully by a bright captain, Flame,
To th' other fhore at morning-dawn they came,
And faw behind th' unguided foe
March diforderly and flow.

The prophet straight from th' Idumean ftrand
Shakes his imperious wand :

The upper waves, that higheft crowded lie,
The beckoning wand efpy;
Strait their first right-hand files begin to move,
And, with a murmuring wind,

Give the word " March" to all behind.
The left-hand fquadrons no lefs ready prove,
But, with a joyful, louder noife,
Answer their diftant fellows' voice,
And hafte to meet them make,
As feveral troops do all at once a common fignal
take.

What tongue th' amazement and th'affright can tell
Which on the Chamian army fell,

When on both fides they faw the roaring main
Broke loofe from his invifible chain !
They faw the monftrous death and watery war
Come rolling down loud ruin from afar!
In vain fome backward and fome forwards fly

With helpless hafte; in vain they cry
To their cæleftial Beafts for aid;
In vain their guilty king they' upbraid;
In vain on Mofes he, and Mofes' God, does call,
With a repentance true too late;
They're compafs'd round with a devouring fate,
That draws, like a ftrong net, the mighty fca upon

them all.

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The entrance into

The Propofition. The Invocation.
the biftory from a new agreement betwixt Saul and
David. A defeription of bell. The Devil's Speech.
Envy's reply to him. Her appearing to Saul in the
fbape of Benjamin. Her fpeech, and Saul's to bimfelf
after he was vanifbed. A defcription of heaven.
God's fpeech: be fends an Angel to David: the Angel's
meffage to bim. David fent for, to play before Saul.
A digreffion concerning mufic. David's pfalm. Saul
attempts to kill him. His efcape to his own houfe,
from rubence being pursued by the king's guard, by the
artifice of his wife Michal he escapes and flies to

I

Naioth, the Prophets' college at Ramak Speech, and rage at his efcape. A long digr feribing the Prophets' college, and their life there, and the ordinary fubjects of their Saul's guards purfue David thither, and p Saul among the prophets. He is compared to B whofe fong concludes the book.

SING the man who Judah's fceptre bor

In that right-hand which held the crook
Who from beft poet, beft of kings did grow
The two chief gifts Heaven could on man b
Much danger firft, much toil, did he fuftai
Whilft Saul and Hell crofs'd his strong fate it
Nor did his crown lefs painful work afford,
Lefs exercife his patience, or his sword;
So long her conqueror, Fortune's fpite purfi
Till with unwearied virtue he fubdued
All home-bred malice, and all foreign boafts
Their ftrength was Armies, his the Lord of I

Thou, who didft David's royal ftem adorn
And gav'ft him birth from whom thyself waf
Who didst in triumph at Death's court appe
And flew'ft him with thy nails, thy cross, and
Whilft Hell's black tyrant trembled to beha
The glorious light he forfeited of old;
Who, heaven's glad burden now, and justest
Sitt'ft high enthron'd next thy great Father
(Where hallow'd flames help to adorn that he
Which once the blufhing thorns environed,
Till crimson drops of precious blood hung di
Like rubies to enrich thine humble crown)
Ev'n thou my breast with such blest rage in
As mov'd the tuneful ftrings of David's lyre
Guide my bold steps with thine own trave
flame,

In thefe untrodden paths to facred fame!
Lo, with pure hands thy heavenly fire to taki
My well-chang'd Mufe I a chafte Veftal make
From Earth's vain joys, and Love's foft witche
free,

I confecrate my Magdalene to thee!
Lo, this great work, a temple to thy praife,
On polifh'd pillars of ftrong verfe I raise!
A temple, where, if thou vouchfafe to dwell,
It Solcmon's and Herod's fhall excel.
Too long the Mufes' land hath heathen been;
Their gods too long were Devils, and virtues Si
But thou, Eternal Word! haft call'd forth me,
Th' apoffle to convert that world to thee;
T" unbind the charms that in flight fables lie,
And teach, that Truth is trueft poesy.

The malice now of jealous Saul grew lefs,
O'ercome by conftant virtue and fuccefs;
He grew at laft more weary to command
New dangers, than young David to withstand
Or conquer them; he fear'd his mastering fate,
And envy'd him a king's unpowerful hate.
Well did he know how palms by' oppreffion freec
Victorious, and the victor's facred meed!
The burden lifts them higher. Well did he know
How a tame stream does wild and dangerous grow
By unjuft force; he now with wanton play
Kiffes the fmiling banks, and glides away;
But, his known channel stopp'd, begins to roar, 55
And fwell with rage, and buffet the dull fhore;

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