And by the voice of all its elements To preach the gen'ral doom*. When were the winds Let flip with fuch a warrant to destroy? When did the waves fo haughtily o'erleap Their ancient barriers, deluging the dry? Fires from beneath, and meteors + from above, Have kindled beacons in the skies; and th' old Alluding to the calamities at Jamaica. Auguft 18, 1783. Alluding to the fog that covered both Europe and Afia during the whole fum mer of 1783. Still they are frowning fignals, and bespeak Displeasure in his breast who fmites the earth And 'tis but feemly, that, where all deserve Alas for Sicily! rude fragments now The voice of finging and the sprightly chord While God performs upon the trembling stage Of his own works his dreadful part alone. How does the earth receive him?-With what figns Of gratulation and delight, her king? Pours fhe not all her choiceft fruits abroad, Her sweetest flow'rs, her aromatic gums, Difclofing paradife where'er he treads? She quakes at his approach. Her hollow womb, The hills move lightly, and the mountains smoke, For he has touch'd them. From th' extremeft point Of elevation down into th' abyfs His wrath is bufy, and his frown is felt. The rocks fall headlong, and the vallies rife, The rivers die into offenfive pools, And, charg'd with putrid verdure, breathe a grofs What folid was, by transformation strange, And fugitive in vain. The fylvan scene Alighting in far diftant fields, finds out A new poffeffor, and furvives the change. Which winds and waves obey, invades the shore Upridg'd fo high, and fent on fuch a charge, From all the rigours of restraint, enjoy The terrors of the day that fets them free. Who then, that has thee, would not hold thee faft, That ev'n a judgment, making way for thee, Such evil fin hath wrought; and fuch a flame Kindled in heaven, that it burns down to earth, And, in the furious inqueft that it makes On God's behalf, lays waste his faireft works. Storms rife t' o'erwhelm him: or, if stormy winds And, needing none affiftance of the storm, Shall roll themselves afhore, and reach him there. |