For still some good remained, as whiles thro' sky Of thickest clouds, a wandering star appeared : New oaths of blasphemy were framed, and sworn: And men in reputation grew, as grew

The stature of their crimes: Faith was not found; Truth was not found; truth always scarce; so

scarce

That half the misery which groaned on earth,

In ordinary times, was progeny

Of disappointment daily coming forth

From broken promises, that might have ne'er
Been made, or being made, might have been kept.
Justice and mercy too were rare, obscured

In cottage garb: before the palace door,
The beggar rotted, starving in his rags :

And on the threshold of luxurious domes,

The orphan child laid down his head, and died;

Nor unamusing was his piteous cry

To women, who had now laid tenderness

Aside, best pleased with sights of cruelty ;

Flocking, when fouler lusts would give them time,
To horrid spectacles of blood; where men,

Or guiltless beasts, that seemed to look to heaven,
With eye imploring vengeance on the earth,
Were tortured for the merriment of kings.
The advocate for him who offered most
Pleaded; the scribe, according to the hire,
Worded the lie, adding for every piece,
An oath of confirmation; judges raised
One hand to intimate the sentence, death,
Imprisonment, or fine, or loss of goods,
And in the other held a lusty bribe,

Which they had taken to give the sentence wrong;

So managing the scale of justice still,

That he was wanting found who

poorest

seemed.

But laymen, most renowned for devilish deeds,

Laboured at distance still behind the priest :

He shore his sheep, and having packed the wool,

Sent them unguarded to the hill of wolves;

And to the bowl deliberately sat down,

And with his mistress mocked at sacred things.

The theatre was from the very first

The favourite haunt of sin; tho' honest men,
Some very honest, wise, and worthy men,
Maintained it might be turned to good account;
And so perhaps it might; but never was.
From first to last it was an evil place:

And now such things were acted there, as made
The devils blush: and from the neighbourhood,
Angels and holy men trembling retired.

And what with dreadful aggravation crowned This dreary time, was sin against the light: All men knew God, and knowing disobeyed; And gloried to insult him to his face.

Another feature only we shall mark—
It was withal a highly polished age,
And scrupulous in ceremonious rite.

When stranger stranger met upon the way,
First each to each bowed most respectfully,

And large profession made of humble service,
And then the stronger took the other's purse.
And he that stabbed his neighbour to the heart,
Stabbed him politely, and returned the blade
Reeking into its sheath, with graceful air.

Meantime the earth gave symptoms of her end;

And all the scenery above proclaimed,

That the great last catastrophe was near.

The sun at rising staggered and fell back;

As one too early up, after a night

Of late debauch; then rose, and shone again,

Brighter than wont; and sickened again, and

paused

In zenith altitude, as one fatigued;

And shed a feeble twilight ray at noon,

Rousing the wolf before his time to chace

The shepherd and his sheep, that sought for light,

And darkness found, astonished, terrified;

Then out of course rolled furious down the west,
As chariot reined by awkward charioteer,

And waiting at the gate, he on the earth
Gazed, as he thought he ne'er might see't again.
The bow of mercy, heretofore so fair,

Ribbed with the native hues of heavenly love,
Disastrous colours showed, unseen till now;

Changing upon the watery gulph, from pale
To fiery red, and back again to pale;

The moon,

And o'er it hovered wings of wrath.
Swaggered in midst of heaven, grew black, and

dark,

Unclouded, uneclipsed. The stars fell down; Tumbling from off their towers like drunken men; Or seemed to fall—and glimmered now; and now Sprang out in sudden blaze; and dimmed again ; As lamp of foolish virgin lacking oil.

The heavens this moment looked serene; the next Glowed like an oven with God's displeasure hot.