"Here by fall'n columns and disjoin'd arcades,
On mouldering stones, beneath deciduous shades,
Sits HUMANKIND in hieroglyphic state,
Serious, and pondering on their changeful state;
325 While with inverted torch, and swimming eyes,
Sinks the fair shade of MORTAL LIFE, and dies.
There the pale GHOST through Death's wide portal bends
His timid feet, the dusky steep descends;
With smiles assuasive LOVE DIVINE invites,
330 Guides on broad wing, with torch uplifted lights;
IMMORTAL LIFE, her hand extending, courts
The lingering form, his tottering step supports;
Leads on to Pluto's realms the dreary way,
And gives him trembling to Elysian day.
335 Beneath in sacred robes the PRIESTESS dress'd,
The coif close-hooded, and the fluttering vest,
With pointing finger guides the initiate youth,
Unweaves the many-colour'd veil of Truth,
Drives the profane from Mystery's bolted door,
340 And Silence guards the Eleusinian lore.—
[Illustration: The Portland Vase]
[Illustration: The first Compartment, London Published Dec'r 1st 1791 by J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard.]
[Transcriber's note: 2nd line with date very small and nearly illegible]
[Illustration: The second Compartment]
[Illustration: The Handles & Bottom of the Vase. London Published
Dec'r 1st 1791 by J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard.]
"Whether, O Friend of Art! your gems derive
Fine forms from Greece, and fabled Gods revive;
Or bid from modern life the Portrait breathe,
And bind round Honour's brow the laurel wreath;
345 Buoyant shall sail, with Fame's historic page,
Each fair medallion o'er the wrecks of age;
Nor Time shall mar; nor steel, nor fire, nor rust
Touch the hard polish of the immortal bust.
[Fine forms from Greece. l. 342. In real stones, or in paste or soft coloured glass, many pieces of exquisite workmanship were produced by the antients. Basso-relievos of various sizes were made in coarse brown earth of one colour; but of the improved kind of two or more colours, and of a true porcelain texture, none were made by the antients, nor attempted I believe by the moderns, before those of Mr. Wedgwood's manufactory.]
2. "HENCE sable COAL his massy couch extends,
350 And stars of gold the sparkling Pyrite blends;
Hence dull-eyed Naphtha pours his pitchy streams,
And Jet uncolour'd drinks the solar beams,
Bright Amber shines on his electric throne,
And adds ethereal lustres to his own.
355 —Led by the phosphor-light, with daring tread
Immortal FRANKLIN sought the fiery bed;
Where, nursed in night, incumbent Tempest shrouds
The seeds of Thunder in circumfluent clouds,
Besieged with iron points his airy cell,
360 And pierced the monster slumbering in the shell.
[Hence sable Coal. l. 349. See additional notes, No. XXIII. on coal.]