Page:Grave, a poem, or, A view of life, death and immortality.pdf/9

 The myſtic cone with hieroglyphics cruſted, At once gives way. ——O! lamentable ſight: The labour of whole ages lumbers down A hideous and miſhapen length of ruins! Sepulchral columns wreſtle but in vain With all-ſubduing time; her cank'ring hand With calm deliberate malice waſteth them: Worn on the edge of days, the braſs conſumes The buſto moulders, and the deep cut marble, Unſteady to the feel, gives up its charge. Ambition, half convicted of her folly, Hangs down the head, and reddens at the tale.

Here all the mighty troublers of the earth, Who ſwam to ſou'reign rule thro' seas of blood! Th' oppreſſive ſturdy, man-deſtroying Villains, Who ravag'd kingdom, and laid empires waſtes And in a cruel wantonneſs of power, Thinn'd ſtates of half their people, and gave up To want, the reſt; now, like a form that's ſpent, Lie huſh'd, and meanly freak behind the covert. Vain thought to hide them from the general ſcorn That haunts and dogs them like an injur'd ghoſt Implacable, ——Here too the petty Tyrant Whole ſcant domains Geographer ne'er notic'd, And, well for neighbouring grounds, of arm as ſhort; who fix'd his iron talons on the poor, And grip'd them, like ſome lordly beaſt of prey; Deaf to the forceful cries of gnawing Hunger, And piteous plaintive voice of Miſery! (As if a Slave was not a ſhred of nature Of the ſame common nature with his Lord): Now tame and humble, like a child that's whipp'd Shakes hands with duſt & calls the worth his kinſman Nor pleads his rank and bit-right. Under-ground Precedency's a jeſt ——Vaſſal and Lord, Groſsly familiar, side by ide conſume.