And fure, thy plan was well defign'd,
To cure this madness of the mind;
First, beyond time our thoughts to raise;
Then lash our love of tranfient praise.
In both, we own thy doctrine just ;
And fame's a breath, and men are duft.

1736.

J. BANCKS.

THE

THE

LAST DAY.

BOOK I.

Ipfe pater, media nimborum in nocte, corusca
Fulmina molitur dextra. Quo maxima motu
Terra tremit: fugére feræ ; & mortalia corda
Per gentes humilis firavit pavor.

VIRG.

W

HILE others fing the fortune of the Great;
Empire and Arms, and all the pomp of State

With Britain's Hero* fet their fouls on fire,
And grow immortal as his deeds infpire;
I draw a deeper fcene: a fcene that yields
A louder trumpet, and more dreadful fields;

The Duke of MARLBOROUGH.

B 5

The

The world alarm'd, both earth and heav'n o'erthrown,
And gafping nature's laft tremendous groan;
Death's antient fceptre broke, the teeming tomb,
The righteous Judge, and man's eternal doom,
'Twixt joy and pain I view the bold defign,
And ask my anxious heart, if it be mine.
Whatever great or dreadful has been done
Within the fight of conscious ftars or fun,
Is far beneath my daring: I look down
On all the fplendors of the British crown.
This globe is for my verfe a narrow bound;
Attend me, all ye glorious worlds around!
O! all ye angels, howfoe'er disjoin'd,
Of every various order, place, and kind,
Hear, and affift, a feeble mortal's lays;
"Tis your Eternal King I ftrive to praife.

But chiefly Thou, great Ruler! Lord of all!
Before whofe throne archangels proftrate fall;
If at thy nod, from difcord, and from night,
Sprang beauty, and yon sparkling worlds of light,
Exalt e'en me; all inward tumults quell;
The clouds and darkness of my mind dispel;
To my great fubject Thou my breast inspire,
And raise my lab'ring foul with equal fire.

Man, bear thy brow aloft, view every grace
In God's great offspring, beauteous nature's face:
See fpring's gay bloom; fee golden autumn's ftore;
See how earth fmiles, and hear old ocean roar.
Leviathans but heave their cumb'rous mail,
It makes a tide, and wind-bound navies fail.

Here,

Here, forefts rife, the mountain's awful pride;
Here, rivers measure climes, and worlds divide;
There, vallies fraught with gold's refplendent feeds,
Hold kings, and kingdoms fortunes, in their beds:
There, to the skies, aspiring hills afcend,

And into distant lands their shades extend.

View cities, armies, fleets; of fleets the pride,

See Europe's law, in Albion's channel ride.

View the whole earth's vaft landskip unconfin'd,
Or view in Britain all her glories join'd.

Then let the firmament thy wonder raise;
"Twill raise thy wonder, but tranfcend thy praise.
How far from eaft to weft? The lab'ring eye
Can fcarce the distant azure bounds defcry:
Wide theatre! where tempefts play at large,
And God's right hand can all its wrath discharge.
Mark how thofe radiant lamps inflame the pole,
Call forth the seasons, and the year controul:
They shine thro' time, with an unalter'd ray :
See This grand period rife, and That decay:
So vaft, this world's a grain; yet myriads grace,
With golden pomp, the throng'd ethereal space;
So bright, with fuch a wealth of glory stor❜d,
'Twere fin in heathens not to have ador'd.

How great, how firm, how facred, all appears!
How worthy an immortal round of years!
Yet all muft drop, as autumn's fick liest grain,
And earth and firmament be fought in vain:

The tract forgot where conftellations shone,

Or where the STUARTS fill'd an awful throne:

B 6

Time

Time fhall be flain, all nature be destroy'd,
Nor leave an atom in the mighty void.

Sooner, or later, in fome future date,
(A dreadful fecret in the book of fate!)
This hour, for aught all human wisdom knows,
Or when ten thousand harvests more have rofe;
When scenes are chang'd on this revolving earth,
Old empires fall, and give new empires birth;
While other Bourbons rule in other lands,
And (if man's fin forbids not) other ANNES:
While the ftill busy world is treading o'er
The paths they trod five thousand years before,
Thoughtless as those who now life's mazes run,
Of earth diffolv'd, or an extinguish'd fun;
(Ye fublunary worlds, awake, awake!
Ye rulers of the nations, hear, and shake!)
Thick clouds of darkness fhall arife on day;
In fudden night all earth's dominions lay;
Impetuous winds the scatter'd forests rend;
Eternal mountains, like their cedars, bend;
The valleys yawn, the troubled ocean roar,
And break the bondage of his wonted shore;
A fanguine ftain the filver moon o'erfpread;
Darkness the circle of the fun invade;
From inmoft heav'n inceffant thunders roll,
And the ftrong echo bound from pole to pole.
When, lo! a mighty trump, one half conceal'd
In clouds, one half to mortal eye reveal'd,
Shall pour a dreadful note: the piercing call
Shall rattle in the centre of the ball;