But with'ring at the heart fhe rues the hour
That harshly fevers her diminifh'd pow'r :
Thus as the ferpent, fleeping on the plain,
Feels the rude preffure of the loaded wain,
With apt revenge, and indignation ftung,
She rears her ereft, and darts her fiery tongue,
But impotent of rage, her trailing wound
She languishingly fweeps along the ground."
Here clos'd the Seraph his illuftrious theme, Which on his audience flash'd conviction's beam. -And now th' Enthufiaft, with her hand high-rear'd, Exprefs'd a look demanding to be heard : The circling Hierarchy, with one acclaim, Urge her to vindicate her injur'd fame; She, to their judgment fearlessly consign'd, Thus pour'd th' effufion of her glowing mind :
"Bold on a tow'ring rock, with foul elate,
I faw BRITANNIA fit in regal ftate,
Around the globe fhe threw her vaft furvey,
And mark'd the realms devoted to her fway:
Her western clime, her oriental reign,
Her glory's theatre th' unbounded main:
Hail, immortal dame,
Who high-exalted crowd'ft the feat of fame,
Sufpend the thoughts of thine imperial state,
And liften to th' event that heaves with fate:
A profp'rous mother (fo did Heav'n ordain)
Blefs'd and ennobled by a numerous train,
Beheld (a ftranger to affection's tie)
Her youngest born with a disclaiming eye,
And, breaking loose from ev'ry moral band,
Stretch'd o'er th' innocuous babe an iron hand,
And hard'ning in her wrath, the helpless child
Was from her presence and her thought exil'd:
This little outcaft lately I furvey'd,
As mid the flow'rets of the wild he play'd
Artlefs and gay, himself the wilder flow'r,
Bare to the with'ring heat and quenching show'r.
Britannia quick return'd with loud acclaim, • Opiteous infant, O inhuman dame !
Where, where does the abide, that I may darti
The fhaft of death into her wolfish heart P
'Twas then I added with indignant air
• Difmifs thy threats, thy warm refentment spare,
Thine, thine the child, and thou th' 'inhuman dame." fr
I faid-and throwing back my flowing vest,
Disclos'd the infant clinging at my breast både af uddatga A
Behold,' I cried, this flow'ret of the wild, a
This orphan nurfling, this rejected child,
Mark how around his brow of virtue's mold,
The figns of greatness dare ev'n now unfold;
How on the vigorous eye the morning ray
Preludes the fplendor of meridian day:
Marvellous infant, doom'd to act my plan,
AMERICANUS, haften into man!
O doom'd to act what Heaven's dread thought devis'd,
Thou at the font of Energy baptis'd,
Whofe rigid waves thy confcious foul encreas'd,
Myself at once the sponsor and the priest———' »
Enough,' th' abruptly-rifing Quire exclaim,
Afpire, Enthufiaft, to thy wonted fame;
Thy virtues, claims, and eminence we own,
Refume thy dignities, afcend thy throne:
Still to frail man thy daring ftrength impart,
Still flame th' incentive feraph of his heart;
And when the scenes of earth shall fade away, b10 And man shall need no more thy active ray,
Then, facred object of our praifeful theme, AT
Bright emanation of th' eternal beam,
Thou shalt regain thy native, dread abode,
And glow for ever in the breaft of God."
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