Nature, that heard such sound Beneath the hollow round Of Cynthia's seat the aery region thrilling, Now was almost won To think her part was done, And that her reign had here its last fulfilling: Could hold all Heaven and Earth in happier1 union. At last surrounds their sight A globe 2 of circular light, 3 That with long beams the shamefast night arrayed; The helmèd Cherubim And sworded Seraphim Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed, Harping in loud and solemn quire With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir. Such music (as 'tis said) Before was never made 4 But when of old the Sons of Morning sung, His constellations set, And the well-balanced world on hinges hung; And cast the dark foundations deep, And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep. Ring out, ye crystal spheres! 1 i.e. Happier than that effected by Nature's harmony. See No. 40. 3 The right spelling; 4 See Job, xxxviii. 7.` 2 Mass. like steadfast, etc. If ye have power to touch our senses so; Move in melodious time; And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow; Make up full consort 2 to the angelic symphony. For if such holy song Enwrap our fancy long, Time will run back, and fetch the Age of Gold; And speckled Vanity Will sicken soon and die, And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould;3 And Hell itself will pass away, And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. Yea, Truth and Justice then Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, Throned in celestial sheen, With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering; And Heaven, as at some festival, Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall. But wisest Fate says No; This must not yet be so : The Babe yet lies in smiling infancy That on the bitter cross 1 The "music of the spheres." See note 1, p. 114. A ninth sphere, the primum mobile, which set the rest in motion, was added later. 3 The Earth. 2 See note 1, p. 54. Must redeem our loss, So both Himself and us to glorify : Yet first, to those ychained in sleep The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep; With such a horrid clang As on Mount Sinai rang While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake: The agèd Earth agast With terror of that blast Shall from the surface to the centre shake, When, at the world's last sessión, The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread His throne. And then at last our bliss Full and perfect is, But now begins; for from this happy day In straiter limits bound, Not half so far casts his usurped sway; The oracles are dumb; 2 No voice or hideous hum Runs through the archèd roof in words deceiving : Apollo from his shrine Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving; 1 Lashes. 2 It was a common belief that oracles ceased with the birth of Christ. No nightly trance or breathèd spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.1 The lonely mountains o'er A voice of weeping heard and loud lament; Edged with poplar pale The parting Genius is with sighing sent; With flower-inwoven tresses torn The nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn. In consecrated earth And on the holy hearth The Lars and Lemures 2 moan with midnight plaint; In urns and altars round A drear and dying sound Affrights the Flamens at their service quaint; While each peculiar Power forgoes his wonted seat. Peor 3 and Baalim 4 Forsake their temples dim, With that twice-battered god 5 of Palestine ; 1 Lat. cella: the inner part of a temple, whence the oracle was given. 2 The Lares haunted the "hearth"; the Lemures, or Manes, the consecrated earth.” 3 For this and other divinities, see Class. or Bible Dict. Also Par. Lost, i. 381-489. 4 Plural of Baal. 5 Dagon. And moonèd Ashtaroth 1 Heaven's queen and mother both, Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine; In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz mourn. And sullen Moloch, fled, Hath left in shadows dread In dismal dance about the furnace blue; Nor is Osiris 3 seen In Memphian grove, or green, Trampling the unshowered 4 grass with lowings loud; Nor can he be at rest Within his sacred chest: Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud : He feels from Juda's land The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn ; 1 Here, Astoreth (Astarte), the Phoenician moon-goddess. Elsewhere the two names are distinguished. See Par. Lost, i. 422, 438. 2 Lat. Libycus, Libyan. 3 Used for Apis. 4 In allusion to the little rain in Egypt. |