Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/87

Rh And lifts with self-applause each lordly brow. In number boundless as the blooms of spring, Behold their glaring idols, empty shapes By fancy gilded o'er, and then set up For adoration. Some in learning's garb, With formal band, and sable-cinctur'd gown, And rags of mouldy volumes. Some elate With martial splendour, steely pikes, and swords Of costly frame, and gay Phœnician robes Inwrought with flow'ring gold, assume the port Of stately valour: list'ning by his side There stands a female form; to her, with looks Of earnest import, pregnant with amaze, He talks of deadly deeds, of breaches, storms, And sulph'rous mines, and ambush: then at once Breaks off, and smiles to see her look so pale, And asks some wond'ring question of her fears. Others of graver mien; behold, adorn'd With holy ensigns, how sublime they move, And bending oft their sanctimonious eyes, Take homage of the simple-minded throng; Ambassadors of heav'n! Nor much unlike Is he whose visage, in the lazy mist That mantles every feature, hides a brood Of politic conceits; of whispers, nods, And hints deep-omen'd with unweildy [sic] schemes, And dark portents of state. Ten thousand more, Prodigious habits and tumultuous tongues, Rh