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mountain. They here began to breathe a delicious kind of ether, and saw all the fields about them covered with a kind of purple light, that made them reflect with satisfaction on their past toils; and diffused a secret joy through the whole assembly, which showed itself in every look and feature. In the midst of these happy fields there stood a palace of a very glorious structure; it had four great folding-doors, that faced the four several quarters of the world. On the top of it was enthroned the goddess of the mountain, who smiled upon her votaries, and sounded the silver trumpet which had called them up, and cheered them in their passage to her palace. They had now formed themselves into several divisions; a band of historians 13 taking their stations at each door, according to the persons whom they were to introduce.

1 Sensations, feelings produced by something acting on one or more of the five senses.

2 Sirens, fascinating

nymphs or

maidens alluring or enticing their
admirers to their ruin.

3 Grovelling, lit. creeping on the
ground like a worm.

4 Delusive deities, misleading dei

ties, namely, Sloth, Ignorance, and Pleasure; called "deities" because men seem to worship them. 5 Several, &c. The different classes of persons in search of fame are here represented: the soldier with "sword drawn," the astronomer with "telescope," &c.

6 Quadrant, an instrument for taking altitudes: finding, for instance, how many degrees a certain star is above the horizon.

7 Some had laurels, these are poets. & Others buskins, these are tragedians; a "buskin" is a high shoe, worn formerly by actors of tragedy. 9 My good demon, my attendant spirit or genius; originally "de" meant a god, now it always means an evil spirit.

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10 Cover my face, &c. Authors often write under an assumed name, called a nom de plume, which serves as a mask, and by keeping the writer out of sight secures, perhaps, a more favourable reception for his writings.

11 The artisans.

The term here applies to the least gifted of the company in search of fame, or trying to become famous.

12 Two great bodies.

These are men of action and thought respectively; those who are renowned for their deeds, like Nelson, and those who are distinguished by their mental gifts, like Shakespeare. One of these two bodies or classes of men has to brave death to gain fame, and the other to toil upward in spite of all that envious tongues can do to hinder the ascent. 13 Historians.

When a man has climbed the mountain of fame it is the part of the "historian" to record his deeds, and thus keep his memory alive.

THE TEMPLE OF FAME.

PART I.

THE Temple shakes, the sounding gates unfold,
Wide vaults appear, and roofs of fretted gold,1
Raised on a thousand pillars wreathed around
With laurel-foliage and with eagles crowned;
Of bright transparent beryl 2 were the walls,
The friezes gold, and gold the capitals:
3
As heaven with stars, the roof with jewels glows
And ever-living lamps depend in rows.
Full in the passage of each spacious gate

4

The sage historians in white garments wait:
Graved o'er their seats, the form of Time was found,
His scythe reversed, and both his pinions bound.
Six massy columns in a circle rise,

O'er which a pompous dome invades the skies:
Scarce to the top I stretched my aching sight,
So large it spread, and swelled to such a height.
Full in the midst proud Fame's imperial seat
With jewels blazed magnificently great:
The vivid emeralds there revive the eye,
The flaming rubies show their sanguine dye,"
Bright azure rays from lively sapphires stream,
And lucid amber casts a golden gleam,
With various-coloured light the pavement shone,
And all on fire appeared the glowing throne;
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 seemed her statue of a cubit's height;
But swelled to larger size the more I gazed,
Till to the roof her towering front she raised;
With her the Temple every moment grew,
And ampler vistas opened to my view:
Upward the columns shoot, the roofs ascend:
The arches widen, and long isles extend:

10

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,
A thousand open eyes, a thousand listening ears.
Beneath, in order ranged, the tuneful Nine
(Her virgin handmaids) still attend the shrine :
With eyes on Fame for ever fixed, they sing;
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 sounded, and the temple shook,
And all the nations, summoned at the call,
From diffrent quarters, fill the crowded hall:
Of various tongues the mingled sounds were heard ;
In various garbs promiscuous throngs appeared;
Thick as the bees that with the spring renew
Their flow'ry toils, and sip the fragrant dew,
When the winged colonies first tempt the sky,
O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly;

Or, settling, seize the sweets the blossoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field.
Millions of suppliant crowds 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."1
Their pleas were diff'rent, their request the same:
For good and bad alike are fond of Fame.

Some she disgraced, and some with honours crowned;
Unlike successes equal merits found.

Thus her blind sister, fickle Fortune, reigns,

And undiscerning scatters crowns and chains.

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8 Ampler vistas, more extended views; a "vista" is properly a view through an avenue.

9 Wings, &c. Fame is represented with wings, because famous deeds become quickly known far and wide.

10 The tuneful Nine, the nine Muses -certain goddesses who were supposed to be the patrons of poetry, music, &c., and inspired their votaries to excel therein.

11 Narrative old age, talkative old age,

THE TEMPLE OF FAME.

PART II.

FIRST at the shrine1 the Learned world appear,
And to the Goddess thus prefer their pray'r :
"Long have we sought t' instruct and please mankind,
With studies pale, with midnight vigils blind;

But thanked by few, rewarded yet by none,

We here appeal to thy superior throne :
On wit and learning the just prize bestow,
For fame is all we must expect below."

The Goddess heard, and bade the Muses 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 sweet than loud.
By just degrees they ev'ry moment rise,
Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies.
At ev'ry breath were balmy odours shed,
Which still grew sweeter as they wider spread;
Less fragrant scents th' unfolding rose exhales,
Or spices breathing in Arabian gales.

Next these, the good and just, an awful train,
Thus, on their knees, address the sacred fane: 3
"Since living virtue is with envy cursed,

And the best men are treated like the worst,
Do thou, just Goddess, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinsic worth." 4
"Not with bare justice shall your act be crowned,"
Said Fame, "but high above desert renowned:

Let fuller notes th' applauding world amaze,
And the loud clarion labour in your praise."

This band dismissed, behold another crowd
Preferred the same request, and lowly bowed
The constant tenour of whose well-spent days
No less deserved a just return of praise.

But straight the direful trump of Slander sounds;
Through the big dome the doubling thunder bounds;
Loud as the burst of cannon rends the skies,
The dire report through ev'ry region flies;
In ev'ry ear incessant rumours rung,

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And gath'ring scandals grew on ev'ry tongue.
From the black trumpet's rusty concave broke
Sulphureous flames, and clouds of rolling smoke;
The pois'nous vapour blots the purple skies,
And withers all before it as it flies.

A troop came next, who crowns and armour wore,
And proud defiance in their looks they bore:
"For thee," they cried, "amidst alarms and strife,
We sailed in tempests down the stream of life;
For thee whole nations filled with flames and blood,
And swam to empire through the purple flood.
Those ills we dared, thy inspiration own;

What virtue seemed was done for thee alone." "Ambitious fools!" the Queen replied, and frowned; "Be all your acts in dark oblivion drowned; There sleep forgot with mighty tyrants gone,

Your statues mouldered, and your names unknown!” A sudden cloud straight snatched them from my sight, And each majestic phantom sunk in night.

Then came the smallest tribe I yet had seen; Plain was their dress, and modest was their mien. "Great idol of mankind! we neither claim

The praise of merit, nor aspire to fame!
But safe in deserts, from the applause of men,
Would die unheard-of, as we lived unseen.
"Tis all we beg thee, to conceal from sight
Those acts of goodness which themselves requite.

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