37< MEMOIRS OF 



Here ceas'd the Goddefs. O'er the filent firings 

 Applauding Zephyrs fvvept their fluttering wings ; 

 Enraptur'd Sylphs arofe in murmuring crowds, 

 To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds ; 

 Each Gnome, relu&ant fought his earthly cell, 

 And each bright floret cloth'd her velvet bell. 

 Then, on foft tiptoe, Night, approaching near, 

 Hung o'er the tunelefs lyre his fable ear $ 

 Gemm'd with bright ftars the ftill, etherial plain, 

 And bade his nightingales repeat the drain. 



Thefe laff verfes drop the curtain, with 

 ferene dignity, over a brilliant little world 

 of Genius and it's creations. The paflage 

 may not poffefs the fpirit and fublimity 

 which attach to a number of others in 

 this divifion. Probably the Poet remem- 

 bered the plainnefs with which Homer, 

 .Virgil, and Milton, clofed their Epics, and 

 chofe to diffufe over his farewell lines an 

 emulous fobriety. Perhaps the whole 

 Canto, with all it's mafs of pidurefque ele- 

 gance, has more famenefs, lefs grandeur, 

 lefs fublimity, than any of it's predeceffors 

 in either part of this magnificent Poem. 



3 & 



