Full in the midst proud Fame's imperial seat
With jewels blaz'd, magnificently great;
The vivid em'ralds there revive the eye,
The flaming rubies shew their sanguine die,
Bright azure rays from lively sapphires stream,
And lucid amber casts a golden gleam.
With various-colour'd light the pavement shone,
And all on fire appear'd the glowing throne,
The dome's high arch reflects the mingled blaze,
And forms a rainbow of alternate rays.
When on the Goddess first I cast my sight,
Scarce seem'd her stature of a cubit's height;
But swell'd to larger size, the more I gaz'd,
Till to the roof her tow'ring front she rais'd.
With her, the Temple ev'ry moment grew,
And ampler Vistas open'd to my view:
Upward the columns shoot, the roofs ascend,
And arches widen, and long aisles extend.
Ver. 264. the roofs ascend,] Extension is certainly a cause of the sublime. The reader feels a pleasure in having his eye carried through a vast length of building, almost to an immensity. Of this kind is a very noble image in one of Milton's Latin poems little attended to: where, with a great reach of fancy, he says, that the original Archetype of Man may be a huge giant, stalk
Ver. 259. Scarce seem'd her stature, &c.]
Methought that she was so lite,
That the length of a cubite
Was longer than she seemed be;
But thus soon in a while she,
Herself tho wonderfully straight,
That with her feet she the earth reight,
And with her head she touchyd heaven."
Such was her form as ancient bards have told,
Wings raise her arms, and wings her feet infold;
A thousand busy tongues the Goddess bears,
And thousand open eyes, and thousand list'ning ears.
Beneath, in order rang'd, the tuneful Nine
(Her virgin handmaids) still attend the shrine :
With eyes on Fame for ever fix'd, they sing;
For Fame they raise the voice, and tune the string;
With time's first birth began the heav'nly lays,
And last, eternal, through the length of days. 275
Around these wonders as I cast a look,
The trumpet sounded, and the temple shook,
ing in some remote unknown region of the earth, and lifting his head so high as to be dreaded by the gods:
"Sive in remota forte terraram plaga
Incedit ingens Hominis Archetypus gigas,
Et diis tremendus erigit celsum caput."
Sylvarum, 1. i. p. 517. Poems of Milton.
Ver. 270. Beneath, in order rang'd, &c.]
"I heard about her throne y-sung
That all the palays walls rung
So sung the mighty Muse, she
That cleped is Calliope,
And her seven sisters eke."
Ver. 276. Around these wonders, &c.]
"I heard a noise approachen blive,
That far'd as bees done in a hive,
Against her time of out flying;
Right such a manere murmuring,
For all the world it seemed me.
Tho gan I look about and see
That there came entring into th' háll,
A right great company withal;
And that of sundry regions,
Of all kind of conditions," etc.
And all the nations, summon'd at the call,
From diff'rent quarters fill the crowded hall:
Of various tongues the mingled sounds were heard;
In various garbs promiscuous throngs appear'd; 281
Thick as the bees, that with the spring renew
Their flow'ry toils, and sip the fragrant dew,
When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky,
O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly,
Or settling, seize the sweets the blossoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field,
Millions of suppliant crowds the shrine attend,
And all degrees before the Goddess bend ;
The
poor,
the rich, the valiant, and the sage,
And boasting youth, and narrative old age.
Their pleas were diff'rent, their request the same :
For good and bad alike bad are fond of Fame.
Some she disgrac'd, and some with honours crown'd;
Unlike successes equal merits found.
Thus her blind sister, fickle Fortune, reigns,
And, undiscerning, scatters crowns and chains.
First at the shrine the Learned world appear,
And to the Goddess thus prefer their pray'r.
Long have we sought t' instruct and please mankind,
With studies pale, with midnight vigils blind;
But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none,
We here appeal to thy superior throne:
Ver. 294. Some she disgrac'd, &c.]
"And some of them she granted sone,
And some she warned well and fair,
And some she granted the contrair
Right as her sister dame Fortune
Is wont to serve in commune."
On wit and learning the just prize bestow,
For Fame is all we must expect below.
The Goddess heard, and bade the Muses raise
The golden Trumpet of eternal Praise :
From pole to pole the winds diffuse the sound,
That fills the circuit of the world around;
Not all at once, as thunder breaks the cloud;
The notes at first were rather sweet than loud:
By just degrees they ev'ry moment rise,
Fill the wide earth, and gain upon the skies.
At ev'ry breath were balmy odours shed,
Which still grew sweeter as they wider spread; 315
Less fragrant scents th' unfolding rose exhales,
Or spices breathing in Arabian gales,
Next these the good and just, an awful train,
Thus on their knees address the sacred fane.
Ver. 318. The good and just, &c.]
"Tho came the third companye,
And gan up to the dees to hye,
And down on knees they fell anone,
And saiden: We been everichone
Folke that han full truely
Deserved Fame right-fully,
And prayen you it might be knowe
Right as it is, and forth blowe.
I grant, quoth she, for now we list
That
your good works shall be wist.
And yet ye shall have better loos,
Right in despite of all your foos,
Than worthy is, and that anone.
Let now (quoth she) thy trump gone-
And certes all the breath that went
Out of his trump's mouth smel'd
As men a pot of baume held
Among a basket full of roses
Since living virtue is with envy curs'd,
And the best men are treated like the worst,
Do thou, just Goddess, call our merits forth,
And give each deed th' exact intrinsic worth.
Not with bare justice shall your act be crown'd
(Said Fame), but high above desert renown'd: 325
Let fuller notes th' applauding world amaze,
And the loud clarion labour in your praise.
This band dismiss'd, behold another crowd
Preferr'd the same request, and lowly bow'd;
The constant tenor of whose well-spent days
No less deserv'd a just return of praise.
But straight the direful Trump of slander sounds;
Through the big dome the doubling thunder bounds;
Loud as the burst of cannon rends the skies,
The dire report through ev'ry region flies,
In ev'ry ear incessant rumours rung,
And gath'ring scandals grew on ev'ry tongue.
Ver. 328. 338. Behold another crowd, &c.-From the black
"Therewithal there came anone
Another huge companye,
What did this Eolus, but he
Tooke out his trump of brass,
That fouler than the devil was:
And
gan this trump for to blowe,
As all the world should overthrowe.
Throughout every regione
Went this foul trumpet's soune.
Swift as a pellet out of a gunne,
When fire is in the powder runne.
And such a smoke gan out wende,
Out of the foul trumpet's ende"-etc.
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