With cruel Scythe, inexorable Time

Mows down her youthly Bloom and Beauty's Prime.
Now wrinkly Age begins to draw his Plow

On that once-fmooth, once-finowy, spacious Brow.
Now, where her Teeth took up their Iv'ry-Seat,
Is all an empty Space, or Scene of Jet.

Her Head, which once with golden Treffes flione,
Is filver'd o'er with Hairs but thinly fown:
And now the Flame, which on my Marrow prey'd,
Begins to languifh; and the Heat's decay'd.
Phyllis no more can now her Charms employ,.
But damps Defire, and frights the Cyprian Boy:
Deform'd, the cures the Wound her Beauty gave;
And the, whofe Eyes could kill me, now can fave.
[Rowe Callip
The Four AGES of the World.

GOLDEN AGE.

The Golden Age was firft, when Man yet new,
No Rule, but uncorrupted Reafon, knew;
And with a native Bent did Good purfue.
Unforc'd by Punishment, unaw'd by Fear,
His Words were fimple, and his Soul fincere :
Needlefs was written Law, where none opprefs'd ::
The Law of Man was written in his Breast.
No fuppliant Crowds before the Judge appear'd,
No Court erected yet, nor Cause was heard ;
But all was fafe, for Confcience was their Guard.
The Mountain Trees in distant Profpect please ;
E'er yet the Pine defcended to the Seas;
É'er Sails were fpread new Oceans to explore,
And happy Mortals, unconcern'd for more,
Confin'd their Wishes to their native Shore.

No Walls were yet, nor Fence, nor Moat, nor Mound;
Nor Drum was heard, nor Trumpet's angry Sound;
Nor Swords were forg'd; but void of Care and Crime,
The foft Creation flept away their Time.

The teeming Earth, yet guiltlefs of the Plough,
And unprovok'd, did fruitful Stores allow.

Content:

Content with Food which Nature freely bred,
On Wildings and on Strawberries they fed:
Cornels and Bramble-berries gave the rest,
And falling Acrons furnish'd out a Feaft.

The Flow'rs unfown, in Fields and Meadows reign'd,
And Western Winds immortal Spring maintain'd.-
In following Years, the bearded Corn enfu'd
From Earth unask'd, nor was that Earth renew'd.
From Veins and Vallies Milk and Nectar broke,
And Honey fweated thro' the Pores of Oak.

SILVER AGE.

But when Good Saturn, banish'd from above,
Was driv'n to Hell, the World was under Fove:
Succeeding Times a filver Age behold,

Excelling Brafs, but more excell'd by Gold.
Then Summer, Autumn, Winter, did appear,
And Spring was but a Seafon of the Year.
The Sun his annual Course obliquely made,
Good Days contracted, and enlarg'd the bad.
The Air with fultry Heats began to glow,
The Wings of Winds were clogg'd with Ice and Snow
And fhiv'ring Mortals, into Houfes driven,
Sought Shelter from th' Inclemency of Heaven.
Their Houfes then were Caves, or homely Steds,
With twining Oziers fenc'd, and Mofs their Beds.
Then Ploughs for Seed the fruitful Furrows broke,-
And Oxen labour'd first beneath the Yoke.

BRAZEN AGE.

To this came next in Course the Brazen Age; A warlike Off-fpring, propt to bloody Rage, Not impious yet.

IRON AGE.
Hard Steel fucceeded then,

And ftubborn, as the Metal, were the Men.

Truth,

1

Truth, Modefty, and Shame, the World forfook,
Fraud, Avarice, and Force, their Places took":
Then Sails were spread to ev'ry Wind that blew,
Raw were the Sailors, and the Depths were new.
Trees rudely hollow'd did the Waves fuftain,
E'er Ships in Triumph plow'd the watry Main.
Then Land-marks limited to each his Right,
For all before was common as the Light:
Nor was the Ground alone requir'd to bear
Her annual Income to the crooked Share;
But greedy Mortals, rummaging her Store,
Digg'd from her Entrails firft the precious Ore;
(Which next to Hell the prudent Gods had laid)
And that alluring Ill to Sight difplay'd:
Thus curfed Steel, and more accurfed Gold,
Gave Mischief Birth, and made that Mifchief bold
And double Death did wretched Man invade,
By Steel affaulted, and by Gold betray'd.

Now, brandish'd Weapons glitt'ring in their Hands,
Mankind is broken loofe from moral Bands.
No Rights of Hospitality remain,

The Gueft, by him who harbour'd him, is flain.
The Son-in-Law perfues the Father's Life ;
The Wife her Husband murders, he the Wife :
The Step-dame Piofon for the Son prepares;
The Son enquires into his Father's Years;
Faith Alies, and Piety in Exile mourns,

i.

And Justice, here opprefs'd, to Heav'n returns JI. [Dry Ovid.

Silver Age.

E'er this no Peafant vex'd the peaceful Ground,
Which only Turfs and Greens for Altars found:
No Fences parted Fields; nor Marks, nor Bounds
Diftinguifh'd Acres of litigious Grounds:

But all was common, and the fruitful Earth
Was free to give her unexacted Birth.
Jove added Venom to the Vipers Brood,

And fwell'd with raging Storms the peaceful Flood;

Com

Commiffion'd hungry Wolves t' infeft the Fold,
And fhook from Oaken Leaves the liquid Gold:
Remov'd from human Reach the chearful Fire ; -
And from the Rivers bad the Wine retire:
That ftudious Need might useful Arts explore,
From furrow'd Fields to reap the foodful Store:
And force the Veins of clashing Flints t'expire
The lurking Seeds of their Celestial Fire.

Then firft on Seas the hollow'd Alder fwam :
Then Sailors quarter'd Heav'n, and found a Name
For ev'ry fix'd, and ev'ry wand'ring Star,
The Pleiads, Hyads, and the Northern Car.

I

Then Toils for Beafts, and Lime for Birds were found; And deep-mouth'd Dogs did Foreft-Walks furround; And Cafting-Nets were spread in hollow Brooks; Drags in the Deep, and Baits were hung on Hooks: Then Saws were tooth'd, and founding Axes made; And various Arts in Order did fucceed. Dryd. Virg.

Future Golden Age.

Unbidden Earth fhall wreathing Ivy bring,
And fragrant Herbs, the Promifes of Spring:
The Goats with ftrutting Dugs fall homeward fpeed,
And lowing Herds fecure from Lions feed.

The Serpents Brood fhall die; the facred Ground
Shall Weeds and pois'nous Plants refufe to bear,
Each common Bufh fhall Syrian Roses wear :
Unlabour'd Harvefts fall the Fields adorn,
And cluster'd Grapes shall blush on ev'ry Thorn.
The knotted Oak fall Show'rs of Honey weep;
And thro' the matted Grafs the liquid Gold shall creep.
The greedy Sailor fhall the Seas forego;

No Keel fhall cut the Waves for foreign Ware,
For ev'ry Soil fhall ev'ry Product bear.
The lab'ring Hind his Oxen fhall disjoin,

No Plough fhall hurt the Glebe, no Pruning-Hook

(the Vine,

Nor Wool fhall in dissembled Colours fhine.

But

But the luxurious Father of the Fold,
With native Purple, or unborrow'd Gold,
Beneath his pompous Fleece fhall proudly sweat,

,
And under Tyrian Robes the Lambs shall bleat. Dryd.

[Virgo
AIR.
Remark the Air's tranfparent Element,
Its curious Structure, and its vaft Extent :
Its wondrous Web proclaims the Loom Divine ;
Its Threads, the Hand that drew them out fo fine..
This thin Contexture makes its Bofom fit
Celestial Heat and Lustre to transmit;
By which, of foreign Orbs, the Riches flow
On this dependent, needy Ball below.
Observe its Parts, link'd in such artful Sort,
All are at once supported, and support.
The Column pois a fits hov'ring on our Heads,
And a soft Burthen on our Shoulders spreads.
So the Side-Arches all the Weight sustain;
We find no Pressure, and we feel no Pain:
Still are the subtile Strings in Tension found,
Like those of Lutes to just Proportion wound,
Which of the Air's Vibration is the source,
When it receives the Strokes of foreign Force.

Let curious Minds, who would the Air infpect,
On its Elastie Energy reflect;
The fecret Force thro' all the Frame diffusid,
By which its Springs are from Com pression loos’d. -
The fpungy Parts now to a straiter Seat
Are forc'd by Cold, and widen'd now by Heat:
By Taras they all extend, by Turns retire,
As Nature's various Services require.
They now expand, to fill an empty Space';
Now shrink, to let a pond'rous Body país.
If raging Winds-invade the Atmosphere,
Their Force its curious Texture cannot tear,
Make no Difruption in the Threads of Air

}

Org