'Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms,
Diffusing blessings, or averting harms)
The same which in a Sire the sons obey'd,.
A Prince the Father of a People made.

VI. "Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patriarch sate, King, priest, and parent of his growing state; On him, their second Providence, they hung Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue. He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food, Taught to command the fire, controul the flood, Draw forth the monsters of th' abyss profound, Or fetch th'aerial eagle to the ground: Till drooping, sick'ning, dying they began. Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man: Then, looking up from sire to sire, explor'd One great first Father, and that first ador'd.

du père aux enfants faisaient chérir la loi rouver aux sujets un père dans leur roi.

I. Jusqu'à ce jour, des mains de la nature même, t patriarche avait reçu le diadême ;

it père, pontife et monarque à-la-fois ;

r loi fut son regard, leur oracle sa voix.
is lui veillait pour eux une autre providence.
peuple, recueillant sa longue expérience,
ɔrit à maîtriser les divers éléments;
sillon étonné tira ses aliments;

ujétit le feu; des sources vagabondes,
ns d'utiles canaux, emprisonna les ondes;
prit dans ses filets les habitants des mers,
vit l'aigle à ses pieds tomber du haut des airs.
is tandis que des arts il fait l'apprentissage,
lui qui le premier en inventa l'usage,

. 7

Or plain tradition, that this All begun,

Convey'd unbroken faith from sire to son;

The Worker from the work distinct was known,
And simple Reason never sought but one.

Ere Wit oblique had broke that steady light,
Man, like his Maker, saw that all was right;
To Virtue, in the paths of Pleasure trod,
And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
LOVE all the faith, and all th' allegiance then;
For Nature knew no right divine in Men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A sov'reign being, but a sov'reign good.
True faith, true policy, united ran,

That was but love of God, and this of Man.

Who first taught souls enslav'd, and realms undone,

Th' enormous faith of many made for one;

simple raison altérât la lumière;

nt, comme son dieu, de la nature entière, nme disait aussi : Tout est bien; ses desirs elaient au bonheur par la voix des plaisirs. lui, connaître un Dieu, c'était connaître un père; r était sa foi, sa loi la plus sévère ;

se créait point deux fléaux différents,

yrans dans ses dieux, des dieux dans ses tyrans ; coeur, sans préjugés, reconnaissait sans peine, l'être souverain, la bonté souveraine. on gouvernement, la véritable foi,

chaient d'un pas égal; et leur sublime emploi d'apprendre aux mortels, enfants du même père, e à chérir son Dieu, l'autre à chérir son frère. ui le premier apprit aux états consternés, royaumes détruits, aux peuples enchaînés,

That proud exception to all Nature's laws,

T'invert the world, and counterwork its Cause?

Force first made Conquest, and that Conquest Law; "Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe,

Then shar'd the tyranny, then lent it aid,

And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made:
She' midst the light-ning's blaze, and thunder's sound,
When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the groun
She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray,
To Pow'r unseen, and mightier far than they :
She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies,
Saw Gods descend, and fiends infernal rise:
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes;
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;
Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust,
Whose attributes werge Rae, Revenge, or Lust
Such as the souls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe.
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide;
And Hell was built on spite, and Heav'n on pride.
Then sacred seem'd th' etherial vault no more;
Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore :