Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon? 560
What now avails that noble thirst of fame,
Which stung thy fervent breast? That treasur'd store
Of knowledge, early gain'd? That eager zeal
To serve thy country, glowing in the band
Of youthful Patriots, who sustain her name? 565
What now, alas! that life-diffusing charm
Of sprightly wit? that rapture for the Muse
That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy,
Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile?
Ah! only shew'd, to check our fond pursuits, 570
And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain!
Thus in some deep retirement would I pass,
The winter-glooms, with friends of pliant soul.
Or blithe, or solemn, as the theme inspir'd:
With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame 575
Was call'd, late-rising from the void of night,
Or sprung eternal from th' eternal Mind;
Its springs, its laws, its progress, and its end.
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole
Would, gradual, open on our opening minds; 580
And each diffusive harmony unite,
In full perfection, to th' astonish'd eye.
Then would we try to scan the moral World,
Which, tho' to us it seems embroil'd; moves on
In higher order; fitted, and impell'd, 585
By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all
In general Good. The sage historic Muse
Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time:
Shew us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell,
In scatter'd states; what makes the nations smile, 590
Improves their soil, and gives them double suns;
And why they pine beneath the brightest skies,
In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd,
Our
