EJfay on Majfinger, 141 



By that ftill-burning lamp for ever banifti'd. 

 But when, guided by that, my eyes had made 

 Difcovery of the caflcets, and they open'd. 

 Each fparkling diamond from itjelf Jhot up 

 A pyramid of flames, and in the roof 

 Fix'd it a glorious far, and made the place 

 Hea'v^n^s abftrad or epitome, rubies, fapphiies. 

 And ropes of orient pearl; thefe feen, I could not 

 But look on gold with contempt. And yet I found 

 (What weak credulity could have no faith in) 

 A treafure far exceeding thefe. Here lay 

 A manor bound faft in a (kin of parchment, 

 The wax continuing hard, the acres melting. 

 Here a fure deed of gift for a market town. 

 If not redeem'd this day, which is not in , 

 The unthrift's power. There being fcarce one ihire 

 In Wales or E^ngland, where my monies are not 

 ♦ Lent out at ufury, the certain hook 



To draw in more, I am fublim'd ! grofs earth 

 Supports me not. I walk on air! Who's there? 



\ feeing flr angers'] 

 Thieves ! raife the ftreet ! Thieves ! 



It was a great effort by which fuch a train of 

 violent ennotionSj and beautiful images v/as 

 drawn, with the llridleft propriety, from the in- 

 dulgence ofapaffion to which other poets can 

 only give intereft in its anxieties and difappoint- 

 ments. Every fentlment in this fine foliloquy 

 is touched with the hand of a mafter ; the 

 fpeaker, overcome by the fplendour of his ac- 

 quifitions, can fcarcely perfuade himfelf t|iac 

 the event is real ; " it is no fantafy, but a truth; 

 a real truth, no dream; he does notflumber;" 



the 



