Now the brow

The fate alone of matter.
We gain enraptur'd; beauteously distinct *)
The num'rous porticos and domes upfwell,
With obelifes and columns interpos'd,

Dyer.

And pine, and fir, and oak: so fair a scene
Sees not the Dervile from the spiral tomb
Of ancient Chammos, while his eye beholds
Proud Memphis 'reliques o'er th' Aegyptian plain:
Nor hoary hermit from Hymettus brow,
Though graceful Athens, in the vale beneath,
Along the windings of the Mufe's stream,
Lucid Iliffus, weeps her filent schools,
And groves, unvifited by bard or fage.
Amid the tow'ry ruins, huge, fupreme,
Th' enormous amphitheatre behold,
Mountainous pile! o'er whofe capacious womb
Pours the broad firmament its varied light;
While from the central floor the feats afcend
Round above round, flow-wid'ning to the verge,
A circuit vaft and high; nor less had held
Imperial Rome, and her attendant realms,

When drunk with rule fhe will'd the fierce delight
And op'd the gloomy caverns, whence out-rufh'd
Before th' innumerable fhouting croud
The fiery, madded, tyrants of the wilds,
Lions and tigers, wolves and elephants,
And defp'rate men, more fell. Abhorr'd intent!
By frequent converfe with familiar death,
To kindle brutal daring apt for war;

To lock the breaft, and fteel th' obdurate heart
Amid the piercing cries of fore diftrefs
Impenetrable. But away thine eye;
Behold yon fteepy cliff; the modern pile

Perchance may now delight, while that, rever'd **)
In ancient days, the page alone declares,

From the Palatine hill one fees most of the remarkable

antiquities.

**) The Capitol.

Dyer. Or narrow coin through dim caerulean rust.
The fane was Jove's, its ipacious golden roof,
O'er thick-íurrounding temples beaming wide,
Appear`d, as when above the morning hills
Half the round fun afcends; and tow r'd aloft,
Sustain'd by columns huge, innumerous
As cedars proud on Canaan's verdant heights
Dark'ning their idols, when Aftarte lur'd
Too proip rous Ifrael from his living strength.

And next regard yon venerable dome,
Which virtuous Latium, with erroneous aim,
Rais'd to her various deities, and nam'd
Pantheon; plain and round, of this our world
Majestick emblem; with peculiar grace,
Before its ample orb, projected stands
The many pillar'd portal; nobleft work
Of human fkill: here, curious architect,
If thou assay'st, ambitious, to surpass
Palladius, Angelus, or British Jones;
On thefe fair walls extend the certain feale,
And turn th' instructive compass: careful mark
How far in hidden art, the noble plain

Extends, and where the lovely forms commence
Of flowing sculpture; nor neglect to note
How range the taper columns, and what weight
Their leafy brows fuftain: fair Corinth first
Boafted their order which Callimachus
(Reclining studious on Afopus' banks
Beneath an urn of fome lamented nymph)
Haply compos'd; the urn with foliage curl'd
Thinly conceal'd, the chapiter inforın'd.

See the tall obelifes from Memphis old,
One ftone enormous each, or Thebes convey❜d;
Like Albion's fpires they rufh into the fkies.
And there the temple, where the fummon'd state)

In

*) The Temple of Concord, where the fenate met on Catiline's confpiracy.

In deep of night conven'd: ev'n yet methinks
The veh'ment orator in rent attire

Perfuafion pours, ambition finks her creft;
And lo the villain, like a troubled fea,
That tofles up her mire! Ever disguis'd,

Dyer.

Shall treafon walk? fhall proud oppreffion yoke
The neck of virtue? Lo the wretch, abafh'd,
Self-betray'd Catiline! O Liberty!
Parent of happiness, celeftial born;
When the first man became a living foul,
His facred genius thou; be Britain's care;
With her fecure, prolong thy lov'd retreat;
Thence blefs mankind; while yet among her fons,
Ev'n yet there are, to fhield thine equal laws,
Whofe bofoms kindle at the facred names
Of Cecil, Raleigh, Walfingham and Drake.
May others more delight in tuneful airs;
In masque and dance excel; to fculptur'd ftone
Give with fuperior fkill the living look;
More pompous piles erect, or pencil foft
With warmer touch the vifionary board:
But thou, thy nobler Britons teach to rule;
To check the ravage of tyrannick fway;
To quell the proud; to spread the joys of peace
And various bleffings of ingenious trade;
Be these our arts; and ever may we guard,
Ever defend thee with undaunted heart,
Ineftimable good! who giv'ft us Truth,
Array'd in ev'ry charm: whofe hand benign
Teaches unwearied toil to cloath the fields,
And on his various fruits infcribes the name
Of Property! O nobly hail'd of old

By thy majestick daughters, Judah fair,

1 And Tyrus and Sidonia, lovely nymphs,
And Libya bright, and all enchanting Greece,
Whofe num'rous towns and isles and peopled feas,
Rejoic'd around her lyre; th' heroic note
(Smit with fublime delight) Aufonia caught,
And plan'd imperial Rome. Thy hand benign
Rear'd up her tow'ry battlements in ftrength;

Dyer.

Bent her wide bridges o'er the fwelling ftream
Of Tufcan Tiber; thine thofe folemn domes
Devoted to the voice of humbler pray'r;

And thine thofe piles undeck'd, capacious, vast, *)
In days of dearth where tender Charity
Difpens'd her timely fuccours to the poor.
Thine too those musically-falling founts
To stake the clammy lip; adown they fall,
Mufical ever; while from yon blue hills
Dim in the clouds, the radiant aqueducts
Turn their innumerable arches o'er

The fpacious defert, bright'ning in the fun,
Proud and more proud, in their august approach:
High o'er irriguous vales' and woods and towns,
'Glide the foft whispering water in the winds,
And here united pour their filver ftreams
Among the figur'd rocks, in murm'ring falls,
Musical ever. Thefe by beauteous works:
And what befide felicity could tell

Of human benefit: more late the reft;
At various times their turrets chanc'd to rife
When impious tyranny vouchfaf'd to fmile,

*) The publick granaries.

Thom

Thomson.

Den ersten und ruhmvollsten Rang unter allen beschreibenden Gedichten behaupten The Seasons, oder, die Jahrs: zeiten, von James Thomson, geb. 1700, geft. 1748. Sciz men dichterischen Charakter schildert Dr. Warton, einer der vorzüglichsten achten Kenner des Schönen, in folgenden treffenden Zügen: „Thomson besaß das Glück einer starken und ergiebigen Phantasie; er hat die Dichtkunst mit einer Menge neuer und originaler Bilder bereichert, die er nach der Natur selbst, und nach eignen Wahrnehmungen, schils derte. Seine Beschreibungen haben daher eine Wahrheit und Bestimmtheit, welche den Beschreibungen derer Dichter gänzlich fehlt, die bloß einander nachgebildet, und nie einen cignen Blick auf die Gegenstände um sich geworfen haben. Thomson pflegte ganze Tage und Wochen lang aufs Land zu gehen, aufmerksam auf jeden ländlichen Anblick, jeden ländlichen Laut; indeß mancher Dichter, der mehrere Jahre hindurch nicht aus der Stadt gekommen ist, Felder und Flüsse zu beschreiben versucht hat, welches ihm denn auch darnach gelungen ist. Daher jene ekelhafte Wiederholung der nämlichen Umstånde; daher jene widerliche Unschicklichkeit, mit welcher man gleichsam eine ererbte Reihe von Bil dern anbringt, ohne auf das Zeitalter, auf den Himmels strich, oder die Veranlaffung, bei der fie vormals angebracht wurden, die geringste Rücksicht zu nehmen. Wenn gleich die Schreibart der Jahrszeiten zuweilen etwas hart und uns harmonisch, und hie und da etwas schwülstig und dunkel ist; und wenn gleich das Sylbenmaaß in einigen Stellen nicht genug durch Ruhepunkte abwechselt; so ist doch dieß Ges dicht, im Ganzen genommen, wegen der unzähligen Naturzüge, die darin vorkommen, eins der anziehendßten und reis zendsten in unsrer Sprache; und da die Schönheiten dessels ben nicht vorübergehend, nicht von einzelnen Gebräuchen und Sitten abhängig sind, so wird man es immer mit Ver gnügen lesen. Thomson's Scenen sind oft eben so wild und romantisch, als die von Salvator Rosa, mannichfaltig durch Abgründe und reiffende Ströme, und „schloßgleiche Klippen,“ und tiefe Thåler, mit schroffen, hohen Bergen und den finstersten Höhlen. Unzählig find die kleinen Umstände in seinen Beschreibungen, die allen seinen Vorgängern Durchs

Thomson.