English

There does the Humane Seraph preaching stand,
Whose very Looks th' attentive Crowd command:
Divine Persuasion, with a Heav'nly Grace,
Sits on his Lips, and Pity in his Face.
No Preacher's Eyes did e'er before reveal
Such tender Love, mixt with such ardent Zeal.
That Orator must certain be obey'd,
Whose Mien is eloquent, whose Hands persuade:
To say he speaks, Spectators, do not fear,
For if you cannot, sure his People hear,
Else how could ev'ry Face such pious Passions wear?
With how much Eagerness the list'ning Throng

How soon the various Many change their Mind,
As Waves unstable, fickle as the Wind?
Those they condemn'd as impious just before,
As Gods in Humane Shape they now adore.
So was the Saviour us'd, one Day the Sky
Their loud Hosannahs fill, the next they cry
Seize Him, the vile Blasphemer crucify!
They call'd th' Apostles Mercury and Jove ,
Arriv'd on Earth from their blest Seats above;
To these suppos'd Celestial Strangers they
Honours Divine and Adoration pay.

See Peter at His Feet, whose mighty Word
Had the wide Net with Fish portentous stor'd.
This wond'rous Piece, with Admiration view,
Did ever Face such just Confusion shew?
Did Passions e'er in such Perfection reign,
Where each for Conquest strives, but strives in vain?
Devout Disturbance, Gratitude and Love,
A prous Medley, equal Wonder move.
From trembling Joints his Spirits upwards rise,
And to express th' Apostle's vast Surprize,
See his whole eager Soul collected in his Eyes.
In Limbs and Face so much he seems alive,

Next to th' Apostle of the Gentiles turn,
How do his Eyes with Indignation burn?
In his warm Cheeks, what angry Colours glow,
What threat'ning Clouds fit gather'd on his Brow?
Whilst the Magician with a curst Design,
Obstructs the heav'nly Light and Truth Divine,
Which Paul on noble Sergius did display,
To chase Infernal Pagan Shades away,
And o'er his Mind diffuse celestial Day.

See to chastise audacious Elymas ,
Austerely looking on the Sorcerer's Face,
He do's his Wonder-working Pow'r assume,

See Peter there, who by his fatal Breath
At once gave Sentence, and inflicted Death:
His Eyes just Zeal and Indignation wear,
Such awful Frowns his Face and such an Air,
As all to Heav'n's Commissioner allow,
While Justice sate vindictive on his Brow.

See Ananias there resigns his Breath;
How Raphael lives in that Immortal Death!
Down the Dissembler fell amid'st the Crowd,
As struck with Flashes from an opening Cloud,
Or deadly Damps, which Caves beneath prepare,

Stay, Stranger, here, in this Apartment stand,
And view the Wonders of great Raphael 's Hand;
Whose Skill do's all the Sons of Art controul,
They only paint the Body, he the Soul.
Such Admiration will thy Eyes possess,
As none but Raphael 's Pencil can express.

When the Diseases of the Mind grow rise,
And the Prophane, and dissolute of Life,
Diffuse contagious Vice in fatal Sport,
O'erspread the People, and infect the Court,
In their great Strength the Criminals confide,
And mock Tribunals with unpunish'd Pride.
Inferior Rulers they with Numbers awe,
Rulers, who oft, obnoxious to the Law,
With an ill Grace th' Offender must arraign
For Faults, which equal their own Manners stain.
Will they inflam'd with Wine Excess condemn?

On this terrestrial various Stage, behold
How troubled States are back and forward roll'd;
On what frail Props Imperial Greatness leans;
While Nature shifts so fast her transient Scenes:
Letters and Empire, whose confed'rate Pow'r,
Mutual each other's prosp'rous Fate secure,
First in the spacious Regions of the East
Rose, like the Sun, then wander'd to the West .
Assyria 's Kings did first the Scepter hold,
Which Asia 's num'rous Potentates controul'd:
Till broke and vanquish'd by the Persian Sword,

Now view the Regions, which their Fields display,
From the wild Shores of Adria 's boist'rous Sea,
And from the Alps , thrown up by Nature's Hand,
High Frontier Lines to guard Ausonia 's Land,
To Albia 's Mouth, and the rough Swevic Waves,
And from the Banks, which rapid Rhinus laves,
To the East Regions of th' Hircynian Wood,
Sarmatian Hills, and fair Odera 's Flood.
These numerous Nations, where the Sun displays
His oblique Glory, and less active Rays,
Are in proportion less acute, and more

Others have Spirits volatile and gay,
Which in the Brain, like darting Meteors, play,
Or Atomes dancing in the solar Ray.
Tho' these with Strength Divine can never rise,
Nor stretch the daring Wing in upper Skies:
Yet sportive with their Wit, that flows with Ease,
And Humour, they the Taste in Fashion please.
In Raill'ry fine, in Conversation bright,
They now with Praises sooth, and now with Satyre bite.

As lighter Airs th' ignoble Audience charm,