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His facred head a radiant Zodiac crown'd,
And various Animals his fides furround;
His piercing eyes, erect, appear to view
Superior worlds, and look all Nature through.
With equal rays immortal Tully shone,
The Roman Roftra deck'd the Conful's throne:
Gathering his flowing robe, he seem'd to stand
In act to speak, and graceful stretch'd his hand.
Behind, Rome's Genius waits with Civic crowns,
And the great Father of his country owns.
These maffy columns in a circle rise,
O'er which a pompous dome invades the skies
Scarce to the top I ftretch'd my aching fight,
So large it fpread, and fwell'd to fuch a height.
Full in the midft proud Fame's imperial feat
With jewels blaz'd, magnificently great;

:

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The vivid emeralds there revive the eye,

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The flaming rubies fhew their fanguine dye,
Bright azure rays from lively sapphires stream,
And lucid amber cafts a golden gleam.
With various-colour'd light the pavement shone,
And all on fire appear'd the glowing throne;

255

The dome's high arch reflects the mingled blaze,

And forms a rainbow of alternate rays.

When on the Goddess first I cast my sight,

Scarce feem'd her ftature of a cubit's height;

But

IMITATION.

Ver. 259. Scarce feem'd her ftature, &c.]
Methought that she was fo lite,
That the length of a cubite
Was longer than the feemed be;
But thus foone in a while fhe,

But fwell'd to larger size, the more I gaz'd,

Till to the roof her towering front she rais'd.
With her, the Temple every moment grew,
And ampler Vistas open'd to my view :
Upward the columns shoot, the roofs afcend,
And arches widen, and long aisles extend.

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Such was her form, as ancient bards have told,
Wings raise her arms, and wings her feet infold;
A thousand busy tongues the Goddess bears,
And thousand open eyes, and thousand listening ears.
Beneath, in order rang'd, the tuneful Nine
(Her virgin handmaids) ftill attend the shrine:
With eyes on Fame for ever fix'd, they fing;
For Fame they raise the voice, and tune the string;
With time's first birth began the heavenly lays,
And last, eternal, through the length of days.
Around these wonders as I cast a look,
The trumpet founded, and the temple shook,

IMITATIONS.

Her felfe tho wonderly straight,

That with her feet the the earth right,
-And with her head the touchyd heaven-
Ver. 270. Beneath in order rang'd, &c.]
Í heard about her throne y-fung
That all the palays walls rung,
So fung the mighty Mufe, fhe
That cleped is Calliope,

And her feven fifters eke

Ver. 276. Around these wonders, &c.]
Í heard a noise approachen blive,
That far'd as bees done in a hive,

275

And

And all the nations, fummon'd at the call,

From different quarters fill the crouded hall:
Of various tongues the mingled founds were heard;
In various garbs promifcuous throngs appear'd;
Thick as the bees, that with the Spring renew
Their flowery toils, and sip the fragrant dew,
When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky,
O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly,

Or, fettling, feize the fweets the bloffoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field.
Millions of fuppliant crouds the shrine attend,
And all degrees before the Goddess bend;
The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the sage,
And boasting youth, and narrative old age.
Their pleas were different, their request the same :
For good and bad alike are fond of Fame.

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Some she disgrac'd, and fome with honours crown'd; Unlike successes equal merits found.

IMITATIONS.

Againft her time of out-flying,
Right fuch a manere murmuring,
For all the world it feemed me,
Tho gan I look about and fee
That there came entering into th' hall,
A right great company withal;
And that of fundry regions,

Of all kind of conditions, &c.

Ver. 294. Some she disgrac'd, &c.]

And fome of them she granted fone,
And fome the warned well and fair,
And fomé fhe granted the contrair-
Right as her fifter dame Fortune
Is wont to ferve in commune.

295 Thus

Thus her blind fifter, fickle Fortune, reigns,
And undiscerning fcatters crowns and chains.

Firft at the fhrine the Learned world appear,
And to the Goddess thus prefer their prayer.
Long have we fought t' instruct and please mankind,
With studies pale, with midnight vigils blind;
But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none,
We here appeal to thy fuperior throne:
On wit and learning the juft prize bestow,
For Fame is all we must expect below.

305

The Goddess heard, and bade the Mufes raise

The golden Trumpet of eternal Praise:

From pole to pole the winds diffuse the sound,
That fills the circuit of the world around;
Not all at once, as thunder breaks the cloud;
The notes at first were rather fweet than loud:
By just degrees they every moment rise,
Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies.
At every breath were balmy odours shed,
Which ftill grew fweeter, as they wider spread;
Lefs fragrant fcents th' unfolding rose exhales,
Or fpices breathing in Arabian gales.

Next these the good and juft, an awful train,
Thus on their knees addrefs the facred fane.

IMITATION.

Ver. 318. The good and juft, &c.]
Tho came the third companye,
And gan up to the dees to hye,
And down on knees they fell anone,
And faiden: We been everichone
Folke that han full truely
Deferved Fame right-fully,

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Since

Since living virtue is with envy curs'd,
And the best men are treated like the worst,
Do thou, just Goddess, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinfic worth.
Not with bare justice shall your act be crown'd,
(Said Fame) but high above desert renown'd:
Let fuller notes th' applauding world amaze,
And the loud clarion labour in your praise.

This band difmifs'd, behold another croud
Prefer'd the fame request, and lowly bow'd;
The conftant tenour of whofe well-fpent days
No less deferv'd a just return of praise.

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But ftraight the direful Trump of Slander founds; Through the big dome the doubling thunder bounds; Loud

IMITATIONS.

And prayen you it might be knowe
Right as it is, and forth blowe.

I grant, quoth fhe, for now we lift
That your good works shall be wist.
And yet ye shall have better loos,
Right in despite of all your foos,
Than worthy is, and that anone.
Let now (quoth fhe) thy trump gone-
And certes all the breath that went
Out of his trump's mouth smel'd
As men a pot of baume held

Among a basket full of rofes.

Ver. 328. 338. behold another croud, &c.

From the black trumpet's rufty, &c.]

Therewithal there came anone

Another huge companye

Of good folke

What did this Eolus, but he

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