Those ills we dared, thy inspiration own; What virtue seem'd, was done for thee alone.' 'Ambitious fools!' the queen replied, and frown'd; 'Be all your acts in dark oblivion drown'd; 351 There sleep forgot, with mighty tyrants gone, Your statues moulder'd, and your names unknown!' A sudden cloud straight snatch'd them from my sight,

And each majestic phantom sunk in night.

355

Then came the smallest tribe I yet had seen; Plain was their dress, and modest was their mien. 'Great idol of mankind! we neither claim

The praise of merit, nor aspire to fame:

But safe in deserts from the applause of men, 360 Would die unheard of, as we lived unseen.

"Tis all we beg thee, to conceal from sight Those acts of goodness which themselves requite. O, let us still the secret joy partake,

To follow virtue ev'n for virtue's sake.'

365

And live there men who slight immortal

fame?

Who then with incense shall adore our name?
But, mortals! know, 'tis still our greatest pride
To blaze those virtues, which the good would

hide.

Rise, Muses, rise! add all your tuneful breath; 370
These must not sleep in darkness and in death.'
She said in air the trembling music floats,
And on the winds triumphant swell the notes:
So soft, though high; so loud, and yet so clear,
Ev'n listening angels lean'd from heaven to hear:
To farthest shores the ambrosial spirit flies,
Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies.

376

Next these, a youthful train their vows express'd, With feathers crown'd, with gay embroidery

dress'd: :

381

385

Hither,' they cried, 'direct your eyes, and see The men of pleasure, dress, and gallantry : Ours is the place at banquets, balls, and plays; Sprightly our nights, polite are all our days; Courts we frequent, where 'tis our pleasing care To pay due visits, and address the fair: In fact, 'tis true, no nymph we could persuade, But still in fancy vanquish'd every maid; Of unknown duchesses lewd tales we tell; Yet, would the world believe us, all were well. The joy let others have, and we the name; And what we want in pleasure, grant in fame.' The queen assents, the trumpet rends the skies, And at each blast a lady's honor dies.

390

Pleased with the strange success, vast numbers press'd

Around the shrine, and made the same request: 395 'What! you,' she cried, unlearn'd in arts to

please,

6

400

Slaves to yourselves, and ev'n fatigued with ease;
Who lose a length of undeserving days,-
Would you usurp the lover's dear-bought praise?
To just contempt, ye vain pretenders, fall,
The people's fable, and the scorn of all.'
Straight the black clarion sends a horrid sound,
Loud laughs burst out, and bitter scoffs fly round;
Whispers are heard, with taunts reviling loud;
And scornful hisses run through all the crowd. 405

Last, those who boast of mighty mischiefs done, Enslave their country, or usurp a throne;

Or who their glory's dire foundation laid
On sovereigns ruin'd or on friends betray'd;
Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked counsels and dark politics;

411

Of these a gloomy tribe surround the throne,
And beg to make the immortal treasons known.
The trumpet roars; long flaky flames expire,
With sparks, that seem'd to set the world on fire.
At the dread sound pale mortals stood aghast, 416
And startled nature trembled with the blast.

This having heard and seen, some power unknown

Straight changed the scene, and snatch'd me from the throne.

420

Before my
view appear'd a structure fair,
Its site uncertain, if in earth or air;
With rapid motion turn'd the mansion round;
With ceaseless noise the ringing walls resound:
Not less in number were the spacious doors,
Than leaves on trees, or sands upon the shores;
Which still unfolded stand, by night, by day, 426
Pervious to winds, and open every way.

As flames by nature to the skies ascend,

As weighty bodies to the centre tend,

As to the sea returning rivers roll,

430

And the touch'd needle trembles to the pole;
Hither, as to their proper place, arise

All various sounds from earth, and seas,

and

skies,

Or spoke aloud, or whisper'd in the ear;
Nor ever silence, rest, or peace is here.
As on the smooth expanse of crystal lakes
The sinking stone at first a circle makes;

435

439

The trembling surface, by the motion stirr'd,
Spreads in a second circle, then a third;
Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance,
Fill all the watery plain, and to the margin dance:
Thus every voice and sound, when first they break,
On neighboring air a soft impression make;
Another ambient circle then they move;
That, in its turn, impels the next above;
Through undulating air the sounds are sent,
And spread o'er all the fluid element.

445

There various news I heard of love and strife, Of peace and war, health, sickness, death, and

life,

450

Of loss and gain, of famine and of store,
Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore,
Of prodigies and portents seen in air,
Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair;
Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,
The falls of favorites, projects of the great,
Of old mismanagements, taxations new:
All neither wholly false nor wholly true.

455

Above, below, without, within, around, Confused, unnumber'd multitudes are found, Who pass, repass, advance, and glide away; 460 Hosts raised by fear, and phantoms of a day; Astrologers, that future fates foreshow, Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few; And priests, and party-zealots, numerous bands With home-born lies, or tales from foreign lands: Each talk'd aloud, or in some secret place, And wild impatience stared in every face. They flying rumors gather'd as they roll'd; Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;

466

470

And all who told it added something new;
And all who heard it made enlargements too;
In every ear it spread, on every tongue it grew.
Thus flying east and west, and north and south,
News travell'd with increase from mouth to mouth.
So from a spark, that kindled first by chance, 475
With gathering force the quickening flames ad-

vance;

Till to the clouds their curling heads aspire,
And towers and temples sink in floods of fire.

When thus ripe lies are to perfection sprung, Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue, 480 Through thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow. And rush in millions on the world below.

485

Fame sits aloft, and points them out their course,
Their date determines, and prescribes their force:
Some to remain, and some to perish soon;
Or wane and wax, alternate, like the moon.
Around, a thousand winged wonders fly,

Borne by the trumpet's blast, and scatter'd through

the sky.

+

(༣་༡

490

There, at one passage, oft you might survey A lie and truth contending for the way;,... And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent, Which first should issue through the narrow vent: At last agreed, together out they fly,.

Inseparable now, the truth and lie:

495

The strict companions are for ever join'd,
And this or that unmix'd no mortal e'er shall find.
While thus I stood, intent to see and hear,
One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear:
'What could thus high thy rash ambition raise?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise?' 500