God, and of these Gates of Heaven, and fhall here only add, that Homer gives us the fame Idea of the latter as opening of themselves, tho' he afterwards takes off from it, by telling us, that the Hours first of all removed those prodigious heaps of Clouds which lay as a Barrier before them.

I do not know any thing in the whole Poem more Sublime than the Description which follows, where the Meffiah is reprefented at the head of his Angels, as looking down into the Chaos, calming its Confufion, riding into the midst of it, and drawing the first Outline of the Creation.

On Heav'nly ground they flood, and from the fhore
They view'd the vaft immeafurable Abyfs
Outragious as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds
And furging waves, as Mountains to affault
Heav'n's height, and with the Center mix the Pole.
Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou Deep, Peace,
Said then th' Omnific word, your Difcord end:
Nor flaid, but on the wings of Cherubim
Up-lifted, in Paternal Glory rode

Far into Chaos, and the world unborn;
For Chaos heard his voice: him all his train
Follow'd in bright Proceffion to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.
Then flaid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden Compaffes, prepared
In Gods eternal Store, to circumfcribe
This Univerfe, and all created things:
One foot he Center'd, and the other turn'd,
Round through the vaft profundity obfcure,
And faid, thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
This be thy juft Circumference, O World.

The Thought of the Golden Compaffes is conceiv'd altogether in Homer's Spirit, and is a very noble Incident in this wonderful Description. Homer, when he speaks of the Gods, afcribes to them several Arms and

Inftruments with the fame greatness of Imagination. Let the Reader only perufe the Defcription of Minerva's Ægis, or Buckler, in the Fifth Book, with her Spear, which could [would] overturn whole Squadrons, and her Helmet, that was fufficient to cover an Army, drawn out of an hundred Cities: The Golden Compasses, in the above-mentioned Paffage appear a very natural Inftrument in the Hand of him, whom Plato fomewhere calls the Divine Geometrician. As Poetry delights in cloathing abstracted Ideas in Allegories and fenfible Images, we find a magnificent Description of the Creation form'd after the fame manner in one of the Prophets, wherein he describes the Almighty Architect as measuring the Waters in the hollow of his Hand, meting out the Heavens with his Span, comprehending the Duft of the Earth in a Measure, weighing the Mountains in Scales, and the Hills in a Ballance. Another of them defcribing the Supreme Being in this great Work of Creation, reprefents him as laying the Foundations of the Earth, and stretching a Line upon it. And in another place as garnishing the Heavens, ftretching out the North over the empty place, and hanging the Earth upon nothing. This laft noble Thought Milton has exprefs'd in the following Verfe:

And Earth felf-balanc'd on her Center hung.

The Beauties of Description in this Book lie so very thick, that it is impoffible to enumerate them in this Paper. The Poet has employed on them the whole Energy of our Tongue. The several great Scenes of the Creation rife up to view one after another, in such a manner that the Reader seems prefent at this wonderful Work, and to affift among the Quires [Choirs] of Angels, who are the Spectators of it. How glorious is the Conclufion of the first Day.

-Thus was the first day Ev'n and Morn.

Nor paft uncelebrated, nor unfung

By the Celestial Quires, when Orient light

Exhaling firft from Darkness they beheld;
Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and fhout
The hollow univerfal Orb they fill'd.

We have the fame elevation of Thought in the third Day; when the Mountains were brought forth, and the Deep was made.

Immediately the mountains huge appear
Emergent, and their broad bare backs up heave
Into the Clouds, their tops afcend the Sky.
So high as heav'd the tumid hills, fo low
Down funk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
Capacious bed of Waters

We have alfo the rifing of the whole vegetable World defcribed in this Day's Work, which is filled with all the Graces that other Poets have lavished on their Descriptions of the Spring, and leads the Reader's Imagination into a Theatre equally furprizing and beautiful.

The feveral Glories of the Heav'ns make their appearance or the Fourth Day.

Firft in his Eaft the glorious lamp was feen
Regent of day, and all th' Horizon round
Invefted with bright rays, jocond to run

His Longitude through Heav'ns high rode: the Gray
Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danced
Shedding fweet influence: lefs bright the moon,
But oppofite in levell'd Weft was fet,

His Mirror, with full face borrowing her light
From him, for other light fhe needed none
In that afpect, and fill that diflance keeps
Till night; then in the Eaft her turn fhe fhines
Revolv'd on Heav'ns great Axle, and her reign
With thoufand leffer lights dividual holds,
With thoufand thousand flars, that then appear'd
Spangling the Hemifphere-

One would wonder how the Poet could be fo con cife in his Description of the Six Days Works, as to

comprehend them within the bounds of an Episode, and at the fame time fo particular, as to give us a lively Idea of them. This is still more remarkable in his Account of the Fifth and Sixth Day[s], in which he has drawn out to our view the whole Animal Creation, from the Reptil to the Behemoth. As the Lion and the Leviathan are two of the nobleft Productions in this World of living Creatures, the Reader will find a moft exquifite Spirit of Poetry, in the Account which our Author gives us of them. The Sixth Day concludes with the Formation of Man, upon which the Angel takes occafion, as he did after the Battel in Heaven, to remind Adam of his Obedience, which was the principal Design of this his Visit.

The Poet afterwards represents the Meffiah returning into Heaven, and taking a Survey of his great Work. There is fomething inexpreffibly Sublime in this Part of the Poem, where the Author describes that great Period of Time, fill'd with fo many Glori ous Circumstances; when the Heavens and the Earth were finished; when the Meffiah ascended up in Triumph through the Everlasting Gates; when he look'd down with pleasure upon his new Creation; when every Part of Nature feemed to rejoice in its Existence; when the Morning Stars fang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy.

So Ev'n and Morn accomplish'd the Sixth day:
Yet not till the Creator from his Work
Defifting, tho' unwearied, up return'd,
Up to the Heav'n of Heav'ns his high abode,
Thence to behold this new created world
Th' addition of his empire; how it fhew'd
In profpect from his throne, how good, how fair
Anfwering his great Idea. Up he rode
Follow'd with acclamation and the Sound
Symphonious of ten thousand harps that tun'd
Angelic Harmonies: the earth, the air
Refounded, (thou remember'ft, for thou heard)

The Heavens and all the Conftellations rung,
The Planets in their Station lift'ning flood,
While the bright pomp afcended jubilant.
Open, ye everlasting gates, they fung,
Open, ye Heav'ns, your living doors, let in
The great Creator from his work return'd
Magnificent, his fix days work, a World.

I cannot conclude this Book upon the Creation, without mentioning a Poem which has lately appeared under that Title. The Work was undertaken with fo good an Intention, and is executed with fo great a Maftery, that it deferves to be looked upon as one of the most useful and noble Productions in our English Verfe. The Reader cannot but be pleased to find the Depths of Philofophy enlivened with all the Charms of Poetry, and to fee fo great a Strength of Reason, amidst fo beautiful a Redundancy of [the] Ima gination. The Author has fhewn us that Defign in all the Works of Nature, which neceffarily leads us to the Knowledge of its firft Caufe. In fhort, he has illustrated, by numberless and incontestable Instances, that Divine Wisdom, which the Son of Sirach has fo nobly afcribed to the Supreme Being in his Formation of the World, when he tells us, that He created her, and faw her, and numbered her, and poured her out upon all his Works.t

In the advertisements immediately under this paragraph in the Original issue is the following:

Lately Publish'd,

Creation. A Philosophical Poem. Demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God. In Seven Books. By Sir Richard Blackmore, Knt., M.D., and Fellow of the College of Physicians in London, &c. &c.