Gods how he springs like Whirlwinds charg'd with Fire,
He lays War waste, and Makes the World retire.
And these Verses out of Tamerlane:
The dreadful Business of the War is over,
And Slaughter, that from yester Morn till Even,
With Gyant Steps past striding o'er the Field
Besmear'd, and horrid with the Blood of Nations,
Now weary sits among the mangled Heaps,
And slumbers o'er her Prey.
I cou'd easily fill many Volumes of Quotations out of the Antients and Moderns, in all the Kinds of Thinking; but as I am doubtful of the Success of my Attempt, so the Fewer I insert, the Less I shall offend.
The French perhaps have been a little too scrupulous and exact in dividing the Noble and the Grand in the Manner of Thinking. However, as to the Noble, let us see whether this Passage borrow'd of Scripture by Milton, will not serve for an Instance:
All Night he will pursue, but his Approach,
Darkness defends between till Morning Watch,
Then thro' the fiery Pillar and the Cloud,
God looking forth will trouble all his Host,
And craze their Chariot Wheels; when, by Command,
Moses once more, his potent Rod erects
Over the Sea: The Sea his Rod obeys
On their embattled Ranks, the Waves return,
And overwhelm their War.
There would be no End of it, if one should go about to enumerate such Instances as these out of Milton. His Poem of Paradise lost is so full of them, that almost out of one Book one might collect as many such noble Passages, as out of all the Æneis; and I would add the Ilias too, if I understood Greek half so well as the Translator.
Among the many Sketches of the glorious Character of King William in that of Tamerlane, Mr. Row has this, which I take to be a very noble Image:
No Lust of Rule, the common Vice of Kings;
No furious Zeal inspir'd by hot-brain'd Priests:
Ill hid beneath Religions specious Name,
E'er drew his temp'rate Courage to the Field.
But to redress an injur'd Peoples Wrongs,
To save the weak One from the strong Oppressour
Is all his End of War; and when he draws
The Sword to punish, like relenting Heav'n,
He seems unwilling to deface Mankind.