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Each fabled charm in matchlefs Cælia meets,
The heavenly colours, and ambrofial sweets;
Her virgin bofom chafter fires supplies,

And beams more piercing guard her kindred eyes.
O'erflowing wit th' imagin'd wonder drew,

But fertile fancy ne'er can reach the true.

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Now buds your youth,your cheeks their bloom disclose, Th' untainted lily, and unfolding rofe; Eafe in your mien, and sweetness in your face, You speak a Syren, and you move a Grace Nor time shall urge these beauties to decay, While virtue gives, what years shall steal away: The fair, whofe youth can boast the worth of In fhall with the charms of youth engage;

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In every change ftill lovely, ftill the fame,
A fairer Phoenix in a purer flame.

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A DESCRIPTION OF THE PHOENIX:

FROM CLAUDIAN.

'N utmoft ocean lies a lovely ifle,

IN

Where spring still blooms, and greens for ever fmile Which fees the fun put on his first array,

And hears his panting steeds bring on the day;
When, from the deep, they rush with rapid force,
And whirl aloft, to run their glorious courfe;
When first appear the ruddy streaks of light,
And glimmering beams difpel the parting night.
In these foft fhades, unpreft by human feet,
The happy Phoenix keeps his balmy seat,

Far

Far from the world disjoin'd; he reigns alone,
Alike the empire, and its king unknown.
A god-like bird! whose endless round of years
Out-lafts the fears, and tires the circling spheres ;
Not us'd like vulgar birds to eat his fill,

Or drink the crystal of the murmuring rill ;
But fed with warmth from Titan's purer ray,
And flak'd by streams which eastern seas convey;
Still he renews his life in thefe abodes,
Contemns the power of fate, and mates the gods.
His fiery eyes fhoot forth a glittering ray,
And round his head ten thousand glories play;
High on his creft, a star celestial bright
Divides the darkness with its piercing light;
His legs are ftain'd with purple's lively dye,
His azure wings the fleeting winds out-fly;
Soft plumes of cheerful blue his limbs infold,
Enrich'd with fpangles, and bedropt with gold.
Begot by none himfelf, begetting none,
sire of himself he is, and of himself the fon;
His life in fruitful death renews his date,
And kind destruction but prolongs his fate:
Ev'n in the grave new ftrength his limbs receive,
And on the funeral pile begin to live.
For when a thoufand times the fummer fun
His bending race has on the zodiac run,
And when as oft the vernal figns have roll'd,
As oft the wintery brought the numbing cold;
Then drops the bird, worn out with aged cares,
And bends beneath the mighty load of years.

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So falls the stately pine, that proudly grew, The fhade and glory of the mountain's brow. When pierc'd by blasts, and spouting clouds o'er-spread, It, flowly finking, nods its tottering head, Part dies by winds, and part by sickly rains, And wafting age destroys the poor remains. Then, as the filver emprefs of the night, O'er-clouded, glimmers in a fainter light, So, froz'n with age, and fhut from light's supplies, In lazy rounds scarce roll his feeble eyes,

And those fleet wings, for strength and speed renown'd,
Scarce rear th' inactive lumber from the ground.
Mysterious arts a fecond time create

The bird, prophetic of approaching fate.
Pil'd on a heap Sabæan herbs he lays,
Parch'd by his fire the fun's intensest rays;
The pile defign'd to form his funeral scene
He wraps
in covers of a fragrant green,
And bids his fpicy heap at once become
A grave destructive, and a teeming womb.

On the rich bed the dying wonder lies,
Imploring Phoebus with perfuafive cries,
To dart upon him in collected rays,
And new-create him in a deadly blaze.

The god beholds the fuppliant from afar, And ftops the progrefs of his heavenly carr. "O thou, fays he, whom harmless fires shall burn, "Thy age the flame to fecond youth fhall turn, "An infant s cradle is thy funeral urn.

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"Thou, on whom heaven has fix'd th' ambiguous doom "To live by ruin, and by death to bloom,

«Thy

Thy life, thy ftrength, thy lovely form renew, "And with fresh beauties doubly charm the view.”

Thus fpeaking, 'inidft the aromatic bed
A golden beam he toffes from his head ;
Swift as defire, the shining ruin flies,
And ftraight devours the willing facrifice,
Who haftes to perish in the fertile fire,
Sink into strength, and into life expire.
In flames the circling odours mount on high,
Perfume the air, and glitter in the sky,

The moon and ftars, amaz'd, retard their flight,
And nature startles at the doubtful fight;
For, whilft the pregnant urn with fury glows,
The goddess labours with a mother's throes,
Yet joys to cherish, in the friendly flames,
The nobleft product of the skill she claims.

Th' enlivening duft its head begins to rear,
And on the ashes fprouting plumes appear;
In the dead bird reviving vigour reigns,
And life returning revels in his veins:
A new..born Phoenix ftarting from the flame,
Obtains at once a fon's, and father's name;
And the great change of double life displays,
In the fhort moment of one tranfient blaze.

On his new pinions to the Nile he bends,
And to the gods his parent urn commends,
To Egypt bearing, with majeftic pride,
The balmy neft, where first he liv'd and dy’d.
Birds of all kinds admire th' unusual fight,
And grace the triumph of his infant flight;

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In crowds unnumber'd round their chief they fly,
Opprefs the air, and cloud the spacious sky;
Nor dares the fierceft of the winged race
Obstruct his journey through th' æthereal space ;
The hawk and eagle useless wars forbear,
Forego their courage, and confent to fear
The feather'd nations humble homage bring,
And blefs the gaudy flight of their ambrosial king.

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Lefs glittering pomp does Parthia's monarch yield, Commanding legions to the dusty field;

Though sparkling jewels on his helm abound,
And royal gold his awful head furround ;
Though rich embroidery paint his purple veft,
And his fteed bound in coftly trappings dreft,
Pleas'd in the battle's dreadful van to ride,
In graceful grandeur, and imperial pride.
Fam'd for the worship of the fun, there ftands
A facred fane in Egypt's fruitful lands,
Hewn from the Theban mountain's rocky womb
An hundred columns rear the marble dome;
Hither, 'tis faid, he brings the precious load,
A grateful offering to the beamy god;
Upon whofe altar's confecrated blaze
The feeds and relicks of himself he lays,
Whence flaming incense makes the temple shine,
And the glad altars breathe perfumes divine.
The wafted smell to far Pelufium flies,
To chear old ocean, and enrich the skies,
With nectar's fweets to make the nations fmile,
And fcent the feven-fold channels of the Nile.

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