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POEMS

OF

DR. BROOME.

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Stalk'd widely on! with all the dismal band, Which Heaven in anger sends to scourge a guilty land.

With terrour cloth'd, he downward flew, And wither'd half the nations with a view; Through half the nations of th' astonish'd Earth; He scatter'd war, and plagues, and dearth! And when he spoke,

The everlasting hills from their foundations shook; The trembling mountains, by a lowly nod,

With reverence struck, confess'd the God: On Sion's holy hill he took his stand, Grasping omnipotence in his right hand; Then mighty earthquakes rock'd the ground, And the Sun darken'd as he frown'd: He dealt Affliction from his van, And wild Confusion from his rear; They through the tents of Cushan ran, The tents of Cushan quak'd with fear, And Midian trembled with despair. 1I see his sword wave naked in the air: It sheds around a baleful ray,

The rains pour down, the lightnings play, And on their wings vindictive thunders bear.

VARIATION.

I see his sword wave with redoubled ire!
Ah! has it set the very clouds on fire?
The clouds burst down in deluges of showers;
Fierce lightning flames, vindictive thunder roars.

When through the mighty flood
He led the murmuring crowd,

What ail'd the rivers that they backward fled?
Why was the mighty flood afraid?
March'd he against the rivers? or was he,

Thou mighty Flood! displeas'd at thee?
The flood beheld from far

The deity in all his equipage of war;
And lo! at once it bursts! in diverse falls
On either hand! it swells in chrystal walls!
Th' eternal rocks disclose! the tossing waves
Rush in loud thunder from a thousand caves!
Why tremble ye, O faithless! to behold

The opening deeps their gulphs unfold?
Enter the dreadful chasms! 'tis God, who guides
Your wondrous way! the God who rules the tides !
And lo! they march amid the deafening roar
Of tumbling seas! they mount the adverse shore !
Advance, ye chosen tribes!-Arabia's sands,
Lonely, uncomfortable lands!

Void of fountain, void of rain, Oppose their burning coasts in vain! See! the great prophet stand, Waving his wonder-working wand! The stubborn rock feels the Almighty blow! He strikes the stubborn rock, and lo! His stony entrails burst, and rushing torrents flow. 2 Then did the Sun his fiery coursers stay, And backward held the falling day;

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But why, ah! why, O Sion, reigns
Wide wasting Havock o'er thy plains?
Ah, me! Destruction is abroad!
Vengeance is loose, and Wrath from God!
See! hosts of spoilers seize their prey!
See! Slaughter marks in blood his way!
See! how embattled Babylon,
Like an unruly deluge, rushes on!

Lo! the field with millions swarms!

I hear their shouts! their clashing arms!
Now the conflicting hosts engage,

With more than mortal rage!-
Oh! Heaven!! faint- I die!
The yielding powers of Israel fly!-

Now banner'd hosts surround the walls
Of Sion! now she sinks, she falls!-
Ah Sion! how for thee I mourn!

What pangs for thee I feel!

Ah! how art thou become the Pagan's scorn, Lovely, unhappy Israel!

A shivering damp invades my heart, A trembling horrour shoots through every part; My nodding frame can scarce sustain Th' oppressive load I undergo: Speechless I sigh! the envious woe Forbids the very pleasure to complain: Forbids my faultering tongue to tell What pangs for thee I feel, Lovely, unhappy Israel!

Yet though the fig-tree should no burthen bear,
Though vines delude the promise of the year;
Yet though the olive should not yield her oil,
Nor the parch'd glebe reward the peasant's toil;
Though the tir'd ox beneath his labours fall,
And herds in millions perish from the stall;
Yet shall my grateful strings

For ever praise thy name,

For ever thee proclaim,

Thee everlasting God, the mighty King of Kings.

TO BELINDA,

ON HER SICKNESS AND RECOVERY.

SURE never pain such beauty wore,
Or look'd so amiable before!
You graces give to a disease,
Adorn the pain, and make it please:
Thus burning incense sheds perfumes,
Still fragrant as it still consumes.

Nor can even Sickness, which disarms All other nymphs, destroy your charms; A thousand beauties you can spare, And still be fairest of the fair.

But see! the pain begins to fly; Though Venus bled, she could not die : See the new Phenix point her eyes, And lovelier from her ashes rise: Thus roses, when the storm is o'er, Draw beauties from th' inclement shower.

Welcome, ye Hours! which thus repay
What envious Sickness stole away!
Welcome as those which kindly bring,
And usher in the joyous Spring:
That to the smiling Earth restore

The beauteous herb, and blooming flower,
And give her all the charms she lost
By wintery storms, and hoary frost!

And yet how well did she sustain,
And greatly triumph o'er her pain!
So flowers, when blasting winds invade,
Breathe sweet, and beautifully fade.

Now in her cheeks, and radiant eyes,
New blushes glow, new lightnings rise;
Behold a thousand charms succeed,
For which a thousand hearts must bleed!
Brighter from her disease she shines,
As fire the precious gold refines.

Thus when the silent grave becomes Pregnant with life, as fruitful wombs; When the wide seas, and spacious earth, Our moulder'd frame, rebuilt, assumes Resign us to our second birth; New beauty, and for ever blooms; And, crown'd with youth's immortal pride, We angels rise, who mortals dy'd.

TO BELINDA,

ON HER APRON EMBROIDERED WITH ARMS AND
FLOWERS.

THE listening trees Amphion drew

To dance from hills, where once they grew:
But you express a power more great;
The flowers you draw not, but create.

Behold your own creation rise,
And smile beneath your radiant eyes!
'Tis beauteous all! and yet receives
From you more graces than it gives.

But say, amid the softer charms
Of blooming flowers, what mean these arms?
So round the fragrance of the rose,
The pointed thorn, to guard it, grows.

But cruel you, who thus employ
Both arms and beauty to destroy!
So Venus marches to the fray
In armour, formidably gay.

VARIATION.

The lovely Flora paints the Earth, And calls the morning flowers to birth: But you display a power more great; She calls forth flowers, but you create.

It is a dreadful pleasing sight!
The flowers attract, the arms affright;
The flowers with lively beauty bloom,
The arms denounce an instant doom.

Thus, when the Britons in array
Their ensigns to the Sun display,
In the same flag are lilies shown,
And angry lions sternly frown;
On high the glittering standard flies,
And conquers all things-like your eyes.

PART OF THE XXXVIIITH AND XXXIXTH CHAPTERS OF

JOB.

A PARAPHRASE.

Now from the splendours of his bright abode
On wings of all the winds th' Almighty rode,
And the loud voice of thunder spoke the God.
Cherubs and seraphs from celestial bowers,
Ten thousand thousand! bright ethereal powers!
Ministrant round, their radiant files unfold,
Arm'd in eternal adamant, and gold!
Whirlwinds and thundrous storms his chariot drew
"Tween worlds and worlds, triumphant as it flew:
He stretch'd his dark pavilion o'er the floods,
Bade hills subside, and rein'd th' obedient clouds;
Then from his awful gloom the godhead spoke,
And at his voice affrighted Nature shook.

Vain man! who boldly with dim Reason's ray
Vies with his God, and rivals his full day!
* But tell me now, say how this beauteous frame
Of all things, from the womb of nothing came;
When Nature's Lord, with one almighty call,
From no-where rais'd the world's capacious ball?
Say if thy hand directs the various rounds
Of the vast Earth, and circumscribes the bounds?
How orbs oppos'd to orbs amid the sky,
In concert move, and dance in harmony?
What wondrous pillars their foundations bear
When hung self-balanc'd in the fluid air?
Why the vast tides sometimes with wanton play
In shining mazes gently glide away;
Anon, why swelling with impetuous stores
Tumultuous tumbling, thunder to the shores;
By thy command does fair Aurora rise,
And gild with purple beams the blushing skies;
The warbling lark salutes her chearful ray,
And welcomes with his song the rising day;
The rising day ambrosial dew distils,
Th' ambrosial dew with balmy odour fills
The flowers, the flowers rejoice, and Nature smiles.
Why Night, in sable rob'd, as day-light fades,
O'er half the nations draws her awful shades;
Now peaceful Nature lies diffus'd in ease;
A solemn stillness reigns o'er land and seas.
Sleep sheds o'er all his balm: to sleep resign'd,
Birds, beasts lie hush'd, and busy human-kind.

VARIATION.

* But tell me, mortal, when th' Almighty said,
"Be made, ye worlds!" how worlds at once were
When hosts of angels wrapt in wonder sung [made;
His praise, as order from disorder sprung?
"No more the monsters of the desert roar,
Doubling the terrours of the midnight hour.

No air of breath disturbs the drowzy woods,
No whispers murmur from the silent floods!
The Moon sheds down a silver-streaming light,
And glads the melancholic face of night:
Now clouds swift-skimming veil her sullied ray,
"Now bright she blazes with a fuller day!
The stars in order twinkle in the skies,
And fall in silence, and in silence rise:
Till, as a giant strong, a bridegroom gay,
The Sun springs dancing through the gates of day:
He shakes his dewy locks, and hurls his beams
O'er the proud hills, and down the glowing streams:
His fiery coursers bound above the main,
And whirl the car along th' etherial plain:
The fiery coursers and the car display
A stream of glory, and a flood of day.
Did e'er thy eye descend into the deep,
Or hast thou seen where infant tempests sleep?
Was e'er the grave, or regions of the night,
Yet trod by thee, or open'd to thy sight?
Has Death disclos'd to thee her gloomy state,
The ghastly forms, the various woes that wait
In terrible array before her awful gate?
Know'st thou where Darkness bears eternal sway,
Or where the source of everlasting day?
Pours from on high, and rattles on the ground?
Say, why the thriving hail with rushing sound
Why hover snows, down-wavering by degrees,
Shine from the hills, or glitter from the trees?
Say, why, in lucid drops, the balmy rain
With sparklings gems impearls the spangled plain?
Or, gathering in the vale, a current flows,
And on each flower a sudden spring bestows?
Say, why with gentle sighs the evening breeze
Salutes the flowers, or murmurs through the trees?
Or why loud winds in storms of vengeance fly,
Howl o'er the main, and thunder in the sky?
Say, to what wondrous magazines repair
The viewless beings, when serene the air?
Till, from their dungeons loos'd, they roar aloud,
Upturn whole oceans, and toss cloud on cloud,
While waves encountering waves, in mountains
driv'n

Swell to the starry vault, and dash the Heaven.
Know'st thou, why comets threaten in the air,
Heralds of woe, dertruction, and despair,
The plague, the sword, and all the forms of war?
On ruddy wings why forky lightning flies,
And rolling thunder grumbles in the skies?
Say, can thy voice, when sultry Sirius reigns,
And suns intensely glowing cleave the plains,
Th' exhausted urns of thirsty springs supply,
And mitigate the fever of the sky?

Or, when the heavens are charg'd with gloomy
And half the skies precipitate in floods, [clouds,
Chase the dark horrour of the storm away,
Restrain the deluge, and restore the day?
By thee doth Summer deck herself with charms,
Or hoary Winter lock his frozen arms?
Say, if thy hand instruct the rose to glow,
Or to the lily give unsullied snow?
Teach fruits to knit from blossoms by degrees,
Swell into orbs, and load the bending trees,

VARIATIONS.

The fowl, the fishes, to repose resign'd,
All, all lie hush'd, and busy human-kind.
The fainting murmur dies upon the floods,
And sighing breezes lull the drowzy woods.
"Now bright she blazes, and supplies the day.

Whose various kinds a various hue unfold,
With crimson blush, or burnish into gold?
Say, why the Sun arrays with shining dyes
The gaudy bow, that gilds the gloomy skies?
He from his urn pours forth his golden streams,
And humid clouds imbibe the glittering beams;
Sweetly the varying colours fade or rise,
And the vast arch embraces half the skies.
Say, didst thou give the mighty seas their bars,
Fill air with fowl, or light up Heaven with stars,
Whose thousand times ten thousand lamps display
A friendly radiance, mingling ray with ray?
Say, canst thou rule the coursers of the Sun,
Or lash the lazy sign, Boötes, on?
Dost thou instruct the eagle how to fly,

To mount the viewless winds, and tower the sky?
On sounding pinions borne, he soars, and shrouds
His proud aspiring head among the clouds;
Strong-pounc'd, and fierce, he darts upon his prey,
He sails in triumph through th' ethereal way,
Bears on the Sun, and basks in open day.
Does the dread king, and terrour of the wood,
The lion, from thy hand expect his food?
Stung with keen hunger from his den he comes,
Ranges the plains, and o'er the forest roams:
'He snuff's the track of beasts, he fiercely roars,
Doubling the horrors of the midnight hours:
With sullen majesty he stalks away,

And the rocks tremble while he seeks his prey:
Dreadful he grins, he rends the savage brood
With unsheath'd paws, and churns the spouting

blood.

Dost thou with thunder arm the generous horse,
Add nervous limbs, or swiftness for the course?
Fleet as the wind, he shoots along the plain,
And knows no check, nor hears the curbing rein;
His fiery eye-balls, formidably bright,
Dart a fierce glory, and a dreadful light:
Pleas'd with the clank of arms, and trumpets' sound,
He bounds, and, prancing, paws the trembling ground;
He snuffs the promis'd battle from afar, [war:
Neighs at the captains, shouts, and thunder of the
Rous'd with the noble din and martial sight,
He pants with tumults of severe delight:
His sprightly blood an even course disdains,
Pours from his heart, and charges in his veins ;
He braves the spear, and mocks the twanging bow,
Demands the fight, and rushes on the foe.

Come, blissful mourner, wisely sad,
In sorrow's garb, in sable clad,
Henceforth, thou, Care, my hours employ!
Sorrow, be thou henceforth my joy!
By tombs where sullen spirits stalk,
Familiar with the dead I walk;
While to my sighs and groans by turns,
From graves the midnight Echo mourns
Open thy marble jaws, O Tomb,
Though earth conceal me in thy womb!
And you, ye worms, this frame confound,
Ye brother reptiles of the ground!
O life, frail offspring of a day!
'Tis puff'd with one short gasp away!
Swift as the short-liv'd flower it flies,
It springs, it blooms, it fades, it dies.
With cries we usher in our birth;
With groans resign our transient breath:
While round, stern ministers of Fate,
Pain, and Disease, and Sorrow wait.
While childhood reigns, the sportive boy
Learns only prettily to toy;

And, while he roves from play to play,
The wanton trifles life away.
When to the noon of life we rise,
The man grows elegant in vice;
To glorious guilt in courts he climbs,
Vilely judicious in his crimes.

When youth and strength in age are lost,
Man seems already half a ghost;
Wither'd, and wan, to earth he bows,
A walking hospital of woes.

Oh! Happiness, thou empty name!
Say, art thou bought by gold or Fame?
What art thou, Gold, but shining earth?
Thou, common Fame, but common breath?
If Virtue contradict the voice
Of public Fame, applause is noise;
Ev'n victors are by conquest curst,
The bravest warrior is the worst.
Look round on all that man below
Idly calls great, and all is show!
All, to the coffin from our birth,
In this vast toy-shop of the Earth.
Come then, O friend of virtuous woe,
With solemn pace, demure, and slow:
Lo! sad and serious, I pursue
Thy steps... adieu, vain world, adieu!

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In gentle sighs the softly whispering breeze
Salutes the flowers, and waves the trembling trees;
Hark! the night-warbler, from yon vocal boughs,
Glads every valley with melodious woes!
Swift through the air her rounds the swallow takes,
Or sportive skims the level of the lakes.
The timorous deer, swift-starting as they graze,
Bound off in crowds, then turn again, and gaze.
See! how yon swans, with snowy pride elate,
Arch their high necks, and sail along in state!
Thy frisking flocks safe-wandering crop the plain,
And the glad season claims a gladsome strain.
Begin Ye echoes listen to the song,
And, with its sweetness pleas'd, each note prolong!

LYCIDAS.

Sing, Muse-and oh! may Townshend deign to view
What the Muse sings, to Townshend this is due!
Who, carrying with him all the world admires,
From all the world illustriously retires;
And, calmly wandering in his Rainham, roves
By lake, or spring, by thicket, lawn, or groves ;
Where verdant hills, or vales, where fountains stray,
Charm every thought of idle pomp away;
Unenvy'd views the splendid toils of state,
In private happy, as in public great.

Thus godlike Scipio, on whose cares reclin'd
'The burthen and repose of half mankind,
Left to the vain their pomp, and calmly stray'd,
The world forgot, beneath the laurel shade;
Nor longer would be great, but void of strife,
Clos'd in soft peace his eve of glorious life.
Feed round, my goats; ye sheep, in safety graze;
Ye winds, breathe gently while I tune my lays.
The joyous Spring draws nigh! ambrosial showers
Unbind the earth, the earth unbinds the flowers,
The flowers blow sweet, the daffodils unfold
The spreading glories of their blooming gold.

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DAPHNIS.

With a feign'd passion, she I love, beguiles, And, gayly false, the dear dissembler smiles; But let her still those blest deceits employ, Still may she feign, and cheat me into joy!

LYCIDAS.

On yonder bank the yielding nymph reclin'd,
Gods! how transported I, and she how kind!
There rise, ye flowers, and there your pride display,
There shed your odours where the fair one lay!

DAPHNIS.

Once, as my fair one in the rosy bower
In gentle slumbers pass'd the noon-tide hour,
Soft I approach'd, and, raptur'd with the bliss,
At leisure gaz'd, then stole a silent kiss:
She wak'd; when conscious smiles, but ill represt,
Spoke no disdain!-Was ever swain so blest?

LYCIDAS.

With fragrant apples from the bending bough
In sport my charmer gave her swain a blow:
Fled, till I seiz'd and kiss'd the blooming maid:
The fair offender, of my wrath afraid,
She smil'd, and vow'd if thus her crimes I pay,
She would offend a thousand times a day!

DAPHNIS.

O'er the steep mountain, and the pathless mead,
From my embrace the lovely scorner fled;
But, stumbling in the flight, by chance she fell
I saw-but what-her lover will not tell!

LYCIDAS.

From me my fair one fled, dissembling play,
And in the dark conceal'd the wanton lay;
But laugh'd, and show'd by the directing sound
She only hid, in secret to be found.

DAPHNIS.

Far hence to happier climes Belinda strays,
But in my breast her lovely image stays;
Oh! to these plains again, bright nymph, repair,
Or from my breast far hence thy image bear!

LYCIDAS.

Come, Delia, come! till Delia bless these seats,
Hide me, ye groves, within your dark retreats!
In hollow groans, ye winds, around me blow!
Ye bubbling fountains, murmur to my woe!

DAPHNIS.

Where'er Belinda roves, ye Zephyrs, play! Where'er she treads, ye flowers, adorn the way! From sultry suns, ye groves, my charmer keep! Ye bubbling fountains, murmur her to sleep!

LYCIDAS.

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