Alfred Author:Richard Payne Knight Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Celestial light, which purest ether feeds, "Vhose flame no stench or smoky vapour breeds; But ever clear emits its steady ray In the fall brightness... more » of meridian day. Vast and irregular the cave appear'd, With glittering vaults on crystal columns rear'd ; And deep recesses winding from the sight, Which hid their dark extremities in night. Here a pure limpid fountain bubbling flows, Then sinks into the rock from which it rose; There bright stalactites from the roofs descend, And varied crystals soft refractions blend. The lights reflected on each other play, In complex harmony serenely gay. In one recess appear'd a frugal board, With herbs, and fruits, and simple viands stored ; The sage conducts the monarch to his seat, And begs him to partake the rustic treat. " First," said th' astonish'd hero, " let me know, What thou may'st be, and whence these wonders flow. Have heavenly spirits chose thee for their friend, And bid great Nature's laws before thee bend ? Or hast thou dared thy guilty soul to sell To fiends accurs'd or ministers of hell ?" The sage benignant smil'd, and said, " Thy mind In error's mazes wanders still confin'd. Presumptuous man, in mockery of Heaven, His vilest vices to his God hath given; And seated on the pure etherial throne A tyrant sway'd by passions like his own: Whence rash Impiety hath dared to tell Of wars in Heaven, of angels cast to Hell; Of deadly hatred, and of mortal strife, That dar'd approach th' Eternal Source of Life; And fierce Rebellion, that, with spear and sword, Assail'd great Nature's universal Lord. " But henceforth learn, that though through boundless space Unnumber'd spirits from Heaven their lineage trace Though endless emanations ever flow, Yet all...« less