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Be fmooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way!,
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold:
Hear him, ye deaf, and, all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films fhall purge the vifual ray,
And on the fightless eye-ball pour the day:
'Tis he th' obftructed paths of found fhall clear,
And bid new inufic charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb fhall fing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.

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No figh, no murmur the wide world fhall hear, 45 From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.

h

In adamantine chains fhall Death be bound,
And Hell's grim tyrant feel. th' eternal wound.
As the good fhepherds tends his fleecy care,
Secks frefheft pafture and the pureft air,
Explores the loft, the wand'ring fheep directs,
By day o'erfees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he raifes in his arms,

Feeds from his hand, and in his bofom warms;

Thus fhall mankind his guardian care engage,

The promis'd father of the future age.
No more fhall nation against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into fcythes fhall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow-fhare end.
Then palaces fhall rife; the joyful Son
Shall finish what his fhort-liv'd Sire begun;
Their vines a fhadow to their race fhall yield,

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g Ch. xlii. v 18. Ch. xxxv. V 5, 6. i Ch. xl. V II. k Ch, ix. v 6.

V 21, 22.

Ch. ii. v. 4.

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h Ch. xxv. 8.

Ch. Ixv.

And the fame hand that fow'd, fhall reap the field.
The swain in barren deferts with furprize
See lilies fpring, and fudden verdure rife;
And ftarts amidft the thirfty wilds to hear
New falls of water murm'ring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrufh nods.

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Waste fandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn,
The fpiry fir and shapely box adorn:

To leaflefs fhrubs the flow'ry palms fucceed,
And od❜rous myrtle to the noisom weed.

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The lambs with wolves fhall graze the verdant mead,

IMITATIONS.

VER. 67. The Swain in barren deferts) Virg. E. iv, v 28.
Molli paulatim flavefcer campus arifta,

Incultisque rubens pendebit fentibus uva,

Et duræ quercus fudabunt rofcida mella.

,,The. fields fhall grow yellow with ripen'd ears, and the red grape fhall hang upon the wild brambles, and the hard oaks fhall diftill honey like dew.

ISAIAH, Ch. xxxv. v 7. The parched ground fhall beco,,me a pool, and the thirsty land fprings of water: In the habi,,tations where dragons lay, fhall be grafs, and reeds and rufhes." Ch. Iv. v 13. Instead of the thorn fhall come up the fir-tree, ,,and instead of the briar fhall come up the myrtle - tree. VER. 77. The lambs with wolves, etc.) Virg. E. iv. v 21. Ipfe late domum referent diftenta capellæ

Ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones
Occidet et ferpens, et fallax herba veneni
Occidet. -

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,,The goats fhall bear to the fold their udders diftended with milk: nor fhall the herds be afraid of the greatest lions. ferpent fhall die, and the herb that conceals poifon fhall die.

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And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead!
The fteer and lion at one crib fhall meet,
And harmless ferpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The finiling infant in his hand shall take
The crafted bafilifk and fpeckled fnake,
Pleas'd the green luftre of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongue fhall innocently play.
Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife! 85
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!

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See, a long race thy fpacious courts adorn;
See future fons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crouding ranks on ev'ry fide arife,
Demanding life, impatient for the fkies!
See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
Sec thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan fprings!

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IMITATIONS.

90

ISAIAH, Ch. xi. v16, etc. ,,The wolf fhall dwell with the ,,lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid, and the calf, ,,and the young lion and the fatiing together: and a little child fhall ,,lead them And the lion fhall eat ftraw like the ox. And ,,the fucking child fhall play on the hole of the afp, and the ,,weaned child fhall put his hand on the den of the cockatrice.

VER. 85. Rife, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rife!) The thoughts of Ifaiah, which compofe the latter part of the poem, are wonderfully elevated, and much above thofe general exclamations of Virgil, which macke the loftieft part of his Pollio. Magnus ab integro feclorum nafcitur ordo!

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toto furget gens aurea mundo!

incipient magni procedere menses!

- Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo!. etc.

The reader needs only to turn to the paffages of Ifaiah, here

cited.

q Ch. Ixv. v 25. Ch. Ix. v 3.

r Ch. lx. v I.

Ch. ix. v 6.

Ch. ix. v. 4.

For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,

And feeds of gold in Orphir's mountains glow.
See heav'n its fparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day.
No more the rifing Sun fhall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her filver horn;
But loft diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,

One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze

O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!

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100

The feas fhall wafte, the fkies in fmoke decay, 105
Rocks fall to duft, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lafts, thy own MESSIAH reigns!
x Ch. li. v 6. and Ch, liv. V IO.

w Ch. lx. v 19, 20.

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