On this foundation Fame's high temple stands;
Stupendous pile! not rear'd by mortal hands.
Whate'er proud Rome, or artful Greece beheld,
Or elder Babylon, its frame excell'd.
Four faces had the dome *, and ev'ry face
Of various ftru&ture, but of equal grace :
Four brazen gates, on columns lifted high,
Salute the different quarters of the sky.
Here fabled chiefs in darker ages born,
Or worthies old, whom arms or arts adorn,
Who cities rais'd, or tam'd a monftrous race;
The walls in venerable order grace:
Heroes in animated marble frown,
And legiflators feem to think in ftone,
Weftward, a fumptuous frontispiece appear'd,
On Doric pillars of white marble rear'd,
Crown'd with an architrave of antique mold,
And faulpture rifing on the roughen'd gold.
In fhaggy spoils here Thefeus was beheld,
And Perfeus dreadful with Minerva's fhield
There great Alcides ftooping with his toil,
Refts on his club, and holds th' Hefperian fpoil.
Here Orpheus fings; trees moving to the found
Start from their roots, and form a fhade around:
Amphion there the loud creating lyre

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Strikes, and behold a fudden Thebes aspire!
Cytheron's echoes answer to his call,

And half the mountain rolls into a wall:

There might you see the length'ning spires afcend,
The domes fwell up, the widening arches bend,

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The growing tow'rs like exhalations rife,

And the huge columns heave into the fkies.

The Temple is defcribed to be square, the four fronts with open gates facing the different quarters of the world, as an intimation that all nations of the earth may alike be received into it. The western front is of Greecian architecture: the Doric ord r was peculiarly facred to heroes and worthies. Those whose statues are after mentioned, were the first names of old Greece in arm: and arts.

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The eastern front was glorious to behold,

With diamond flaming, and Barbaric gold.

There Ninus fhone, who spread th' Affyrian fame, 95 And the great founder of the Perfian name * :

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There in long robes the royal Magi stand,
Grave Zoroafter waves the circling wand,
The fage Chaldæans robed in white appear'd,
And Brachmans, deep in defart woods rever'd.
These stop'd the moon, and call'd th' unbody'd fhades
To midnight banquets in the glimmering glades;
Made vifionary fabricks round them, rife,
And airy spectres fkim before their eyes;
Of Talifmans and Sigils knew the pow'r,
And careful watch'd the planetary hour,
Superior, and alone, Confucius ftood,
Who taught that useful science to be good,
But on the south, a long, majestic race
Of Egypt's priests the gilded niches grace,
Who meafur'd earth, defcrib'd the ftarry spheres,
And trac'd the long records of lunar years.
High on his car Sefoftris § ftruck my view,
Whom scepter'd slaves in golden harness drew :
His hands a bow and pointed javelin hold;
His giant limbs are arm'd in fcales of gold.
Between the ftatues obelisks were plac'd,
And the learn'd walls with hieroglyphics grac❜d.
Of Gothic ftructure was the northern fide,
Q'er-wrought with ornaments of barb'rous pride.
There huge coloffes rofe, with trophies crown'd,
And Runic characters were grav'd around.

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Cyrus founded the Perfian as Ninus did the Affyrian monarchy. The Magi and Chaldeans (the chief of whom was Zoroaster) employed their ftudies upon magic and astrology, which was in a manner almost all the learning of the ancient Asian people. We have scarce any account of a moral philofopher except Confucius, the great law-giver of the Chinese, who lived about two thousand years ago.

§ The actions and conquests of this Ægyptian hero may be seen at large in Diodorus, &c.

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There fate Zamolxis* with erected eyes,

And Odin § here in mimic trances dies.

There on rude iron columns fmear'd with blood,

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The horrid forms of Scythian heroes ftood,

Druids and bards (their once loud harps unftrung)
And youths that dy'd to be by poets fung.
These and a thousand more of doubtful fame,
To whom old fables gave a lafting name,
In ranks adorn'd the temples outward face;
The wall in luftre + and effect like glafs,
Which o'er each object cafting various dyes,
Enlarges fome, and others multiplies;
Nor void of emblem was the myftic wall,
For thus romantic fame increases all,

The Temple fhakes, the founding gates unfold,
Wide vaults appear, and roofs of fretted gold:
Rais'd on a thoûfand pillars, wreath'd around
With laurel-foliage, and with eagles crown'd:
Of bright, transparent beryl were the walls,
The freezes gold, and gold the capitals;

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As heav'n with ftars, the roof with jewels glows,
And ever-living lamps depend in rows.

Full in the paffage of each spacious gate,

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The fage hiftorians in white garments wait;

Grav'd o'er their feats the form of time was found,
His fcythe revers'd, and both his pinions bound.
Within, ftood heroes who thro' loud alarms
In bloody fields purfu'd renown in arms.
High on a throne with trophies charg'd, I view'd
The youth that all things but himself subdu'd ☀;
His feet on fceptres and tiaras trod,

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And his horn'd head bely'd the Lybian god.

Zamolxis was the difciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality the foul to the Scythians.

§ Odin, or Woden, was the great legislator and hero of the Goths. †The wall in luftre, &c.

It fhone lighter than a glass,

And made well more than it was,

As kind thing of fame is.

Alexander the Great,

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There Cæfar, grac'd with both Minervas, fhone;
Cæfar, the world's great mafter, and his own;
Unmov'd, fuperior still in ev'ry ftate,

And scarce detefted in his country's fate.

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But chief were thofe, who not for empire fought,
But with their toils their people's fafety bought :
High o'er the reft Epaminondas ftood;
Timoleon, glorious in his brother's blood;
Bold Scipio, faviour of the Roman ftate,
Great in his triumphs, in retirement great;
And wife Aurelius, in whofe well-taught mind, 165
With boundless pow'r unbounded virtue join'd,
His own ftrict judge, and patron of mankind.
Much-fuff'ring heroes next their honours claim,
Those of lefs noify, and lefs guilty fame,
Fair virtue's filent train: fupreme of these
Here ever fhines the godlike Socrates:
He whom ungrateful Athens could expel,
At all times juft, but when he fign'd the fhell*:
Here his abode the martyr'd Phocian claims,
With Agis, not the laft of Spartan names:
Unconquer'd Cato fhews the wound he tore,
And Brutus his ill genius meets no more.

But in the centre of the hallow'd quire,
Six pompous columns + o'er the reft afpire;

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* Ariftides, who for his great integrity was distinguished by the appellation of the Juft. When his countrymen would have banished him by the Oftracism, where it was the custom for every man to fign the name of the perfon he voted to exile in an oyster-fhell, a peasant, who could not write, came to Aristides to do it for him, who readily figned his own name. Six pompous columns, &c.

Around the shrine itself of Fame they ftand,

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Hold the chief honours, and the fane command.

High on the firft, the mighty Homer fhone;
Eternal adamant compos'd his throne;
Father of verfe! in holy fillets dreft,

His filver beard wav'd gently o'er his breast;
Tho' blind, a boldness in his looks appears;
In years he seem'd, but not impair'd by years.
The wars of Troy were round the pillar feen:
Here fierce Tydides wounds the Cyprian queen ;
Here Hector glorious from Patroclus' fall,
Here dragg'd in triumph round the Trojan wall.
Motion and life did ev'ry part inspire,
Bold was the work, and prov'd the master's fire;
A ftrong expreffion moft he feem'd t' affect,
And here and there disclos'd a brave neglect.

A golden column next in rank appear'd, †
On which a fhrine of pureft gold was rear'd;
Finish'd the whole, and labour'd ev'ry part,
With patient touches of unweary'd art:
The Mantuan there in fober triumph fate,
Compos'd his pofture, and his look fedate;

*Full wonder hye on a pillere

Of iron, he the great Omer,
And with him Dares and Titus; &c.

+ There faw I ftand on a pillere
That was of tinned iron clere,
The Latin poet Virgyle,
That hath bore up a great while
The fame of pius Eneas;

And next him on a pillere was
Of copper, Venus clerke Ovide,'
That hath fown wondrous wide
The great God of love's fame→→→
Tho faw I on a pillere by
Of iron wrought full fternly,
The great poet Dan Lucan,
That on his fhoulders bore up then
As hye as that I might fee,
The fame of Julius and Pompee.

And next him on a pillere stode
Of fulphur, like as he were wode,
Dan Claudian, fothe for to tell,
That bare up all the fame of bell, &c.