When thou would'ft build; no quarry fent its stores
T'enrich thy walls: but thou didft hew the floods,
And make thy marble of the glaffy wave,
In fuch a palace Ariftæus found
Cyrene, when he bore the plaintive tale
Of his loft bees to her maternal ear :
In fuch a palace poetry might place
of winter; where his troops,
The gloomy clouds, find weapons, arrowy fleet,
Skin-piercing volley, bloffom-bruifing hail,
And fnow that often blinds the trav'ller's course,
And wraps him in an unexpected tomb.
Silently as a dream the fabric rofe;
No found of hammer or of faw was there.
Ice upon ice, the well-adjusted parts
Were foon conjoin'd, nor other cement ask'd
Than water interfus'd to make them one.
Lamps gracefully difpos'd, and of all hues,
Illumin'd ev'ry fide; a watʼry light
Gleam'd through the clear tranfparency, that seem'd
Another moon new rifen, or meteor fall'n
From heav'n to earth, of lambent flame ferene.
So stood the brittle prodigy; though smooth
And flipp'ry the materials; yet froft-bound
Firm as a rock. Nor wanted aught within,
That royal refidence might well befit,
For grandeur or for ufe. Long wavy wreaths
Of flow'rs, that fear'd no enemy but warmth,
Blush'd on the pannels. Mirrour needed none
Where all was vitreous; but in order due
Convivial table and commodious feat
(What feem'd at least commodious feat) were there, Sofa, and couch, and high-built throne auguft.
The fame lubricity was found in all,
And all was moift to the warm touch; a scene
Of evanefcent glory, once a stream,
And foon to flide into a stream again.
Alas! 'twas but a mortifying ftroke
Of undefign'd feverity, that glanc'd,
(Made by a monarch) on her own estate,
On human grandeur and the courts of kings.
'Twas tranfient in its nature, as in fhow
"Twas durable; as worthless, as it seem'd
Intrinsically precious; to the foot
Treach'rous and false; it fmil'd, and it was cold.
Great princes have great playthings. Some have play'd
At hewing mountains into men, and fome
At building human wonders mountain-high.
Some have amus'd the dull, fad years of life,
Life spent in indolence, and therefore fad,
With schemes of monumental fame; and fought
By pyramids and maufolæan pomp,
Short-liv'd themfelves, t' immortalize their bones.
Some feek diversion in the tented field,
And make the forrows of mankind their sport.
But war's a game, which, were their subjects wife,
Kings would not play at. Nations would do well
T'extort their truncheons from the puny hands
Of heroes, whofe infirm and baby minds
Are gratified with mischief; and who spoil,
Because men fuffer it, their toy the world.
When Babel was confounded, and the great
Confed'racy of projectors wild and vain
Was split into diversity of tongues,
Then, as a shepherd separates his flock,
These to the upland, to the valley thofe,
God drave afunder, and affign'd their lot
To all the nations. Ample was the boon
He gave them, in its diftribution fair
And equal, and he bade them dwell in peace.
Peace was awhile their care: they plough'd and fow'd,
And reap'd their plenty without grudge or strife.
But violence can never longer fleep
Than human paffions pleafe. In ev'ry heart
Are fown the sparks that kindle fiery war;
Occafion needs but fan them, and they blaze.
Cain had already fhed a brother's blood:
The deluge wash'd it out; but left unquench'd
The feeds of murder in the breast of man.
Soon, by a righteous judgment, in the line
Of his descending progeny was found
The first artificer of death; the fhrewd
Contriver who first sweated at the forge,
And forc'd the blunt and yet unbloodied steel
To a keen edge, and made it bright for war.
Him, Tubal nam'd, the Vulcan of old times,
The sword and faulchion their inventor claim,
And the firft fmith was the firft murd'rer's fon.
His art furviv'd the waters; and ere long,
When man was multiplied and spread abroad
In tribes and clans, and had begun to call
These meadows and that range of hills his own,
The tasted sweets of property begat
Defire of more; and industry in fome
T'improve and cultivate their juft demefne,
Made others covet what they faw so fair.
Thus war began on earth: these fought for spoil,
And thofe in felf-defence. Savage at first,
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