The rock's high fummit, in the temple's shade,
Nor heat could melt, nor beating ftorm invade.
Their names infcrib'd unnumber'd ages paft
From time's first birth, with time itself fhall laft; 50
These ever new, nor fubject to decays,
Spread, and grow brighter with the length of days.
So Zembla's rocks (the beauteous work of froft)
Rife white in air, and glitter o'er the coast!
Pale funs, unfelt, at distance roll away,
And on th' impaffive ice the light'nings play;
Eternal fnows the growing mafs fupply,
Till the bright mountains prop th' incumbent sky;
As Atlas fix'd, each hoary pile appears,

55

The gather'd winter of a thousand years.
On this foundation Fame's high temple ftands;
Stupendous pile! not rear'd by mortal hands.
Whate'er proud Rome or artful Greece beheld,
Or elder Babylon its frame excell'd.

Four faces had the dome, and ev'ry face
Of various structure, but of equal grace:

60

65

VER. 65. Four faces had the dome, etc.] The Temple is defcribed to be fquare, the four fronts with open gates facing the different quarters of the world, as an intimation that all nations of the earth may alike he received into it. The western front is of Grecian architecture: The Doric order was peculiarly facred to

Four brazen gates, on columns lifted high,

Salute the diff'rent quarters of the sky.

Here fabled Chiefs in darker ages born,

Or Worthies old, whom arms or arts adorn, 70
Who cities rais'd, or tam'd a monftrous race;
The walls in venerable order grace:
Heroes in animated marble frown,
And Legiflators feem to think in ftone.
Weftward, a fumptuous frontispiece appear'd, 75
On Doric pillars of white marble rear'd,
Crown'd with an architrave of antique mold,
And fculpture rifing on the roughen'd gold.
In fhaggy spoils here Thefeus was beheld,
And Perfeus dreadful with Minerva's fhield: 8@
There great Alcides ftooping with his toil,
Rests on his club, and holds th' Hefperian spoil.
Here Orpheus fings; trees moving to the found
Start from their roots, and form a fhade around:
Amphion there the loud creating lyre

Strikes, and beholds a fudden Thebes aspire!

NOTES.

85

Heroes and Worthies. Thofe whofe ftatues are after mentioned, were the first names of old Greece in arms and arts. P. VER. 81. There great Alcides, etc.] This figure of Hercules is drawn with an eye to the pofition of the famous ftatue of Farnefe. P.

Cythæron's, echoes anfwer to his call,

And half the mountain rolls into a wall:

There might you see the length'ning fpires afcend,
The domes fwell up, the wid'ning arches bend, 90
The growing tow'rs, like exhalations rife,
And the huge columns heave into the fkies.

The Eastern front was glorious to behold,
With di'mond flaming, and Barbaric gold.
ThereNinus fhone, who spread th' Affyrian fame,95
And the great founder of the Perfian name:
There in long robes the royal Magi ftand,
Grave Zorgafter waves the circling wand,
The fage Chaldeans rob'd in white appear'd,
And Brachmans, deep in defert woods rever'd. 100
These stop'd the moon, and call'd th'unbody'd fhades
To midnight banquets in the glimm'ring glades;
Made vifionary fabricks round them rise,
And airy spectres skim before their eyes;

NOTES.

VER. 96. And the great founder of the Perfian name :] Cyrus was the beginning of the Perfian, as Ninus was of the Affyrian Monarchy. The Magi and Chaldeans (the chief of whom was Zoroafter) employed their ftudies upon magic and astrology, which was in a manner almost all the learning of the ancient Afian people. We have fcarce any account of a moral philofophor except Confucius,the great law-giver of the Chinese, who lived about two thousand years ago. P.

105

Of Talismans and Sigils knew the pow'r,
And careful watch'd the Planetary hour.
Superior and alone, Confucius ftood,
Who taught that useful science, to be good.
But on the South, a long majeftic race
Of Ægypt's Priefts the gilded niches grace, 110
Who meafur'd earth, describ'd the starry spheres,
And trac'd the long records of lunar years.
High on his car Sefoftris ftruck my view,
Whom scepter'd slaves in golden harness drew:
His hands a bow and pointed jav'lin hold;
His giant limbs are arm'd in scales of gold,
Between the statues Obelisks were plac'd,
And the learn'd walls with Hieroglyphics grac'd.
Of Gothic ftructure was the Northern fide,
O'erwrought with ornaments of barb'rous pride.120

NOTES.

115

VER. 110. Egypt's priests, etc.] The learning of the old Ægyptian Priests confifted for the most part in geometry and aftronomy: they alfo preferved the Hiftory of their nation. Their greatest Hero upon record is Sefoftris, whofe actions and conquefts may be feen at large in Diodorus, etc. He is faid to have caused the Kings he vanquished to draw him in his Chariot. The posture of his ftatue, in these verses, is correfpondent to the description which Herodotus gives of one of them remaining in his own time. P.

VER. 119. Of Gothic ftructure was the Northern fide,] The Architecture is agreeable to that part of the world. The learn

There huge Coloffes rofe, with trophies crown'd,
And Runic characters were grav'd around.
There fate Zamolxis with erected eyes,

And Odin here in mimic trances dies.

There on rude iron columns, fmear'd with blood,
The horrid forms of Scythian heroes ftood, 126
Druids and Bards (their once loud harps unftrung)
And youths that died to be by Poets fung.
These and a thousand more of doubtful fame,
To whom old fables gave a lasting name,
In ranks adorn'd the Temple's outward face;
The wall in luftre and effect like glass,

NOTES.

130

ing of the northern nations lay more obfcure than that of the relt; Zamolxis was the disciple of Pythagoras, who taught the immortality of the foul to the Scythians. Odin, or Woden, was the great legiflator and hero of the Goths. They tell us of him, that being fubject to fits, he perfuaded his followers, that during thofe trances he received inspirations, from whence he dictated his laws: he is faid to have been the inventor of the Runic characters. P.

VER. 127. Druids and Bards, etc.] Thefe were the priests and poets of those people, so celebrated for their favage virtue. Thofe heroic barbarians accounted it a dishonour to die in their beds, and rushed on to certain death in the profpect of an afterlife, and for the glory of a song from their bards in praise of their actions. P.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 132. The wall in luftre, etc.]
It fhone lighter than a glass,
And made well more than it was,
As kind thing of Fame is.