Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/22

8 Say, why was man so eminently rais'd Amid the vast creation; why ordain'd Thro' life and death to dart his piercing eye, With thoughts beyond the limit of his frame; But that th' Omnipotent might send him forth In sight of mortal and immortal pow'rs, As on a boundless theatre, to run The great career of justice; to exalt His gen'rous aim to all diviner deeds; To chase each partial purpose from his breast; And thro' the mists of passion and of sense, And