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THE COURSE OF TIME.

BOOK VII.

S one who meditates at evening tide,

AS

Wandering alone by voiceless solitudes,
And flies, in fancy, far beyond the bounds
Of visible and vulgar things, and things
Discovered hitherto, pursuing tracts

As yet untravelled and unknown, through vast
Of new and sweet imaginings; if chance
Some airy harp, waked by the gentle sprites
Of twilight, or light touch of sylvan maid,
In soft succession fall upon his ear,
And fill the desert with its heavenly tones :
He listens intense, and pleased exceedingly,
And wishes it may never stop; yet when
It stops, grieves not; but to his former thoughts
With fondest haste returns: so did the Seer,
So did his audience, after worship past,
And praise in heaven, return to sing, to hear
Of man, not worthy less the sacred lyre,
Or the attentive ear; and thus the bard,
Not unbesought, again resumed his song.

M

In customed glory bright, that morn, the Sun Rose, visiting the earth with light, and heat, And joy; and seemed as full of youth, and strong To mount the steep of heaven, as when the Stars Of morning sang to his first dawn, and night Fled from his face. The spacious sky received Him blushing as a bride, when on her looked The bridegroom; and, spread out beneath his eye, Earth smiled. Up to his warm embrace, the dews, That all night long had wept his absence, flew; The herbs and flowers their fragrant stores unlocked, And gave the wanton breeze that, newly woke, Revelled in sweets, and from its wings shook health, A thousand grateful smells; the joyous woods Dried in his beams their locks, wet with the drops Of night; and all the sons of music sang Their matin song; from arboured bower, the thrush Concerting with the lark that hymned on high. On the green hill the flocks, and in the vale The herds, rejoiced; and, light of heart, the hind Eyed amorously the milkmaid as she passed, Not heedless, though she looked another way.

No sign was there of change. All nature moved In wonted harmony. Men, as they met, In morning salutation, praised the day, And talked of common things. The husbandman Prepared the soil, and silver-tongued Hope Promised another harvest. In the streets, Each wishing to make profit of his neighbour, Merchants, assembling, spoke of trying times, Of bankruptcies, and markets glutted full; Or, crowding to the beach, where to their ear The oath of foreign accent, and the noise

Uncouth of trade's rough sons, made music sweet-
Elate with certain gain, beheld the bark,
Expected long, enriched with other climes,
Into the harbour safely steer; or saw,
Parting with many a weeping farewell sad,
And blessing uttered rude, and sacred pledge,
The rich-laden carack, bound to distant shore,
And hopefully talked of her coming back,
With richer fraught; or, sitting at the desk,
In calculation deep and intricate

Of loss and profit balancing, relieved,
At intervals, the irksome task, with thought
Of future ease, retired in villa snug.

With subtle look, amid his parchments, sat
The lawyer, weaving his sophistries for court
To meet at mid-day. On his weary couch,
Fat Luxury, sick of the night's debauch,
Lay groaning, fretful at the obtrusive beam
That through his lattice peeped derisively.
The restless miser had begun again
To count his heaps. Before her toilet stood
The fair, and, as with guileful skill she decked
Her loveliness, thought of the coming ball,
New lovers, or the sweeter nuptial night.
And evil men of desperate, lawless life,
By oath of deep damnation, leagued to ill
Remorselessly, fled from the face of day,
Against the innocent their counsel held,
Plotting unpardonable deeds of blood,
And villanies of fearful magnitude.
Despots, secured behind a thousand bolts,

The workmanship of fear, forged chains for man.
Senates were meeting, statesmen loudly talked

Of national resources, war and peace,
And sagely balanced empires soon to end;
And faction's jaded minions, by the page
Paid for abuse and oft-repeated lies,

In daily prints, the thoroughfare of news,
For party schemes made interest, under cloak
Of liberty, and right, and public weal.
In holy conclave bishops spoke of tithes,
And of the awful wickedness of men.
Intoxicate with sceptres, diadems,
And universal rule, and panting hard
For fame, heroes were leading on the brave
To battle. Men in science deeply read,
And academic theory, foretold

Improvements vast; and learned sceptics proved
That earth should with eternity endure-
Concluding madly that there was no God.

No sign of change appeared; to every man That day seemed as the past. From noontide path The sun looked gloriously on earth, and all Her scenes of giddy folly smiled secure, When suddenly, alas, fair Earth! the sun

Was wrapped in darkness, and his beams returned
Up to the throne of God, and over all

The earth came night, moonless and starless night!
Nature stood still. The seas and rivers stood,
And all the winds, and every living thing.

The cataract, that, like a giant wroth,
Rushed down impetuously, as seized, at once,
By sudden frost with all his hoary locks,
Stood still; and beasts of every kind stood still.
A deep and dreadful silence reigned alone!
Hope died in every breast, and on all men

Came fear and trembling. None to his neighbour

spoke.

Husband thought not of wife, nor of her child

The mother, nor friend of friend, nor foe of foe.
In horrible suspense all mortals stood;

And, as they stood and listened, chariots were heard
Rolling in heaven. Revealed in flaming fire,

The angel of God appeared in stature vast,
Blazing, and, lifting up his hand on high,
By Him that lives for ever, swore that Time
Should be no more. Throughout, creation heard,
And sighed; all rivers, lakes, and seas, and woods,
Desponding waste, and cultivated vale,

Wild cave, and ancient hill, and every rock,
Sighed. Earth, arrested in her wonted path,
As ox struck by the lifted axe, when nought
Was feared, in all her entrails deeply groaned.
A universal crash was heard, as if

The ribs of Nature broke, and all her dark
Foundations failed; and deadly paleness sat
On every face of man, and every heart
Grew chill, and every knee his fellow smote.
None spoke, none stirred, none wept; for horror held
All motionless, and fettered every tongue.
Again, o'er all the nations silence fell;

And in the heavens, robed in excessive light
That drove the thick of darkness far aside,
And walked with penetration keen through all
The abodes of men, another angel stood,
And blew the trump of God: Awake, ye dead!
Be changed, ye living, and put on the garb
Of immortality! Awake! arise!

The God of Judgment comes!—This said the voice;
And Silence, from eternity that slept

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