Or Rome's affrighted streets, inglorious flow.
But almost just the meanly-patient death,
That waits a tyrant's unprevented stroke.
Titus indeed gave one short evening gleam;
More cordial felt, as in the midst it spread
Of storm, and horrour. The delight of men ;
He who the day, when his o'erflowing hand
Had made no happy heart, concluded lost;
Trajan and he, with the mild sire and son*,
His son of virtue ! eas'd awhile mankind;
And arts reviv'd beneath their gentle beam.
Then was their last effort: what sculpture rais'd
To Trajan's glory, following triumphs stole;
And mix'd with Gothic forms (the chissel's shame),
On that triumphal arch†, the forms of Greece.
"Meantime o'er rocky Thrace, and the deep
vales

Of gelid Hemus, I pursued my flight;
And, piercing farthest Scythia, westward swept
Sarmatia, travers'd by a thousand streams.
A sullen land of lakes, and fens immense,

"After having inhumanly slaughtered so man illustrious men, he (Nero) burned at last with a desire of cutting off virtue itself in the person of Thrasea, &c."

* Antoninus Pius, and his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, afterwards called Antoninus Philosophus. + Constantine's arch, to build which, that of Trajan was destroyed, sculpture having been then almost entirely lost.

The ancient Sarmatia contained a vast tract of country running all along the north of Europe, and Asia,

Of rocks, resounding torrents, gloomy heaths,
And cruel deserts black with sounding pine;
Where Nature frowns: though sometimes into
smiles

She softens; and immediate, at the touch

Of southern gales, throws from the sudden glebe
Luxuriant pasture, and a waste of flowers.

But, cold-comprest, when the whole loaded heaven
Descends in snow, lost in one white abrupt,
Lies undistinguish'd earth; and, seiz'd by frost,
Lakes, headlong streams, and floods, and oceans

sleep.

Yet there life glows; the furry millions there, Deep-dig their dens beneath the sheltering snows: And there a race of men prolific swarms,

To various pain, to little pleasure us'd;

On whom, keen-parching beat Riphæan winds; Hard like their soil, and like their climate fierce, The nursery of nations! These I rous'd,

Drove land on land, on people people pour'd;
Till from almost perpetual night they broke,
As if in search of day; and o'er the banks
Of yielding empire, only slave-sustain❜d,
Resistless rag'd, in vengeance urg'd by me.

"Long in the barbarous heart the bury'd seeds
Of freedom lay, for many a wintery age;
And though my spirit work'd by slow degrees,
Nought but its pride and fierceness yet appear'd.
Then was the night of time, that parted worlds.
I quitted Earth the while. As when the tribes
Aërial, warn'd of rising winter, ride

Autumnal winds, to warmer climates borne ;

So, arts and each good genius in my train,

I cut the closing gloom, and soar'd to Heaven.
"In the bright regions there of purest day,
Far other scenes, and palaces, arise,

Adorn'd profuse with other arts divine.
All beauty here below, to them compar'd,
Would, like a rose before the mid-day Sun,
Shrink up its blossom; like a bubble, break
The passing poor magnificence of kings.

For there the King of Nature, in full blaze,
Calls every splendour forth; and there his court,
Amid ethereal powers, and virtues, holds:
Angel, archangel, tutelary gods,

Of cities, nations, empires, and of worlds.
But sacred be the veil, that kindly clouds
A light too keen for mortals: wraps a view
Too softening fair, for those that here in dust
Must cheerful toil out their appointed years.
A sense of higher life would only damp

The school-boy's task, and spoil his playful hours.
Nor could the child of reason, feeble man,
With vigour through this infant being drudge;
Did brighter worlds, their unimagin'd bliss
Disclosing, dazzle and dissolve his mind."

BRITAIN:

BEING THE FOURTH PART OF

LIBERTY,

A POEM.

The Contents of Part IV.

Difference betwixt the ancients and moderns slightly touched upon. Description of the dark ages. The goddess of Liberty, who during these is supposed to have left Earth, returns, attended with Arts and Science. She first descends on Italy. Sculpture, Painting, and Architecture fix at Rome, to revive their several arts by the great models of antiquity there, which many barbarous invasions had not been able to destroy. The revival of these arts marked out. That sometimes arts may flourish for a while under despotic governments, though never the natural and genuine production of them. Learning begins to dawn. The Muse and Science attend Liberty, who in her progress towards Great Britain raises several free states and cities. These enumerated. Author's exclamation of joy, upon seeing the British seas and coasts rise in the vision, which painted whatever the goddess of Liberty said. She resumes her narration. The Genius of the Deep appears, and, addressing Liberty, associates Great Britain into his dominion. Liberty received and congratulated by Britannia, and the native Genii or Virtues of the island. These described. Animated by the presence of Liberty, they begin their operations. Their beneficent influence contrasted with the

works and delusions of opposing demons. ConIcludes with an abstract of the English history, marking the several advances of Liberty, down to her complete establishment at the Revolution.

STRUCK with the rising scene, thus I, amaz'd:
"Ah, goddess, what a change! Is earth the same?
Of the same kind the ruthless race she feeds?
And does the same fair Sun and ether spread
Round this vile spot their all-enlivening soul?
Lo! beauty fails; lost in unlovely forms
Of little pomp, magnificence no more
Exalts the mind, and bids the public smile:
While to rapacious interest glory leaves
Mankind, and every grace of life is gone."

To this the power, whose vital radiance calls From the brute mass of man an order'd world: "Wait till the morning shines, and from the depth

Of Gothic darkness springs another day.
True genius droops; the tender ancient taste
Of beauty, then fresh-blooming in her prime,
But faintly trembles through the callous soul,
And grandeur, or of morals, or of life,
Sinks into safe pursuits, and creeping cares.
Ev'n cautious Virtue seems to stoop her flight,
And aged life to deem the generous deeds
Of youth romantic. Yet in cooler thought
Well-reason'd, in researches piercing deep
Through Nature's works, in profitable arts,
And all that calm experience can disclose,
(Slow guide, but sure,) behold the world anew
Exalted rise, with other honours crown'd;