'Twas night; oblivious of the toils of day,
People and king in well-earned slumber lay;
Nor cares, nor griefs, outward or inborn foes,
Imposed a vigil, or disturbed repose:
What wondrous scene upon the princely eyes,
Like a new Heaven and Earth, is seen to rise?
What forms of majesty and grace unveil

The opening skies? What crowds illustrious throng!
What glorious ministries the trains prolong
With bright processions! Sounds harmonious roll
In swelling cadence on his spell-bound soul,
Sweet as the strains that from the crystal sphere,
The morning stars waft on the raptured ear;
Or the high songs and solemn symphonies,
Which from the sons of God, with golden harps arise!

Where is he? In this earthly tenement Imprisoned still; or to those realms upsent, To which, with sights seraphic filled and fired, And sounds, his soul already had aspired? Hark! all is hushed; in stillness as profound, As if in death or slumber's fetters bound Creation lies; and lo! his God confessed, 'Tis thus the royal sleeper was addressed: "Because," 'twas said, "when my Almighty voice "All earthly good presented to thy choice, ("Wealth, honour, war's successes, length of days,) "Thou didst thy wish to higher good upraise;

"Called to administer a mighty state,

"Its lofty spirits, and its interests great;
"Deem'dst thyself but a child, so great a part
"To fill, and ask'dst an understanding heart

Alone, a judgment sound, a mind endued

"With skill to test the evil and the good:“Thy choice hath pleased me; its reward receive : "A wise and understanding heart I give, "Greater than any that have gone before, "Or e'er shall be hereafter; and, yet more, “That which thou askedst not, I give; "In honour, wealth, in victories, long to live, “Above all earthly kings; if thou my way "Shalt keep; my statutes and commands obey, "E'en as thy father did, with perfect heart; "Nor from my laws and judgments shalt depart."

True to his promise still was Israel's Lord,
And well and speedily performed his word.
The youthful king in every royal grace

Soon midst earth's rulers took the foremost place:
All fortune's richest gifts, all joys of sense,
Like streams collecting in full confluence;

All high endowments of the regal mind,
Raised him pre-eminent above his kind.

The neighbouring nations sought his powerful sway,
And distant nations hastened to obey.

Their tributary wealth his coffers filled;
The goodliest of their forests fell to build

The stately structures, which his burdened ground
O'erspread, and cities proud with splendors crowned:
Their mines were rifled for his chambers' pride;
Their quarries pillars for his domes supplied.
All mortal lore his mighty soul explored;
All curious arts and sciences it stored:
Nature to him her mysteries laid bare;
Secrets of earth, of ocean, fire, and air

He pierced; the forest's pride, the teeming sod,
The mightiest and minutest works of God.
The poet's art was his, to melt with lays

Of love the soul, and loftiest rhymes to raise;
And-higher fame-he wove the sacred strain,
Which woos the sons of earth immortal good t' attain ;
Strains which the fiat of Eternal Truth

Has stamped, and sealed with everlasting youth.
But 'twas his wisdom that, o'er all compeers-

The Eastern sages, the Egyptian seers,

(Sons, through all earth renowned of sires renowned,)
The bright achievements of his spirit crowned;
Wisdom which grasped lowest and loftiest things,
The wiles of childhood, and the craft of kings;

Which probed the springs of thought and action through, And left untold the half of what he knew ;

Yet chief, the wisdom that from earth could rise

And show the mightier wisdom of the skies.

4

This brought the wondering strangers to his land,
Sages and sovereigns, bearing in their hand
The choicest gifts, his favour to procure,
His state to see, his knowledge to explore :
They came, they saw; with admiration burned,
And fired with generous rivalry returned.—
Heaven's sacred purpose seemed, in him to show,
How great, how gracious, Man could be below;
To sum and seal the perfectness of earth;

And link th' inferior race of mortal birth
With those bright Hierarchies, whose stately rows
The Cherubim and Seraphim compose.

The people gloried in their Sovereign's fame, And shared the pride and triumphs of his name. Beneath their vines and fig-trees' branching shade, While the fierce beams their fervid course delayed, They played with life, as childhood with its toy, And sat and quaffed perpetual draughts of joy. Remotest lands their choicest products placed At their command, for luxury and taste: Their tables were with costliest viands piled, With choicest wines their golden goblets smiled: No griefs within,—without, no envious foes Awaked their fear, or broke their deep repose; They deemed themselves the favorites of the skies, And thought, to-morrow like to-day should rise ;— They looked no more for sorrow, change, or pain; And dreamed well-nigh an Eden come again.

Prosperity! Thou pleasing, dangerous gift;
Be it a man, or nation thou dost lift

To heights, life's calm and equal course above;
Oh say, is it in judgment, or in love?

Oh Israel, deemest thou erring nature changed?
Is it from sin and folly quite estranged?

Is changeless fortune good, for realm or man?
Has heaven foregone His wise and righteous plan?
Is retribution no more error's suit;

Does chastening yield no more its wholesome fruit ?—
Thus mused the wise and good: thus some, apart,
Whispered the bodings of the burdened heart:
All of the darkening future were afraid ;—
The thoughtful pondered, and the godly prayed.

Hark! Whence that cry that fills the startled ear With sounds of sorrow, and the heart with fear? 'Tis not the knell; no train funereal

Throngs the dark causeway, no death-wailings swell.
'Tis not the clang of the embattled field;

The sword is sheathed, and hangs on high the shield.
'Tis not the jar where crowds in conflict meet;
Hushed are the assemblies; peaceful is the street.
Yet, hark again! Louder and deeper still
Those sounds the heart and ear invade and fill.
Yes, 'tis the war-note, Heaven, with holy rage,
Raises, 'gainst sin in places high to wage :
It is the din of passion, and outbreak
Of conflict, which a people's guilt awake: