Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/87

And lifts with self-applause each lordly brow.
In number boundless as the blooms of spring,
Behold their glaring idols, empty shapes
By fancy gilded o'er, and then set up95
For adoration. Some in learning's garb,
With formal band, and sable-cinctur'd gown,
And rags of mouldy volumes. Some elate
With martial splendour, steely pikes, and swords
Of costly frame, and gay Phœnician robes100
Inwrought with flow'ring gold, assume the port
Of stately valour: list'ning by his side
There stands a female form; to her, with looks
Of earnest import, pregnant with amaze,
He talks of deadly deeds, of breaches, storms,105
And sulph'rous mines, and ambush: then at once
Breaks off, and smiles to see her look so pale,
And asks some wond'ring question of her fears.
Others of graver mien; behold, adorn'd
With holy ensigns, how sublime they move,110
And bending oft their sanctimonious eyes,
Take homage of the simple-minded throng;
Ambassadors of heav'n! Nor much unlike
Is he whose visage, in the lazy mist
That mantles every feature, hides a brood115
Of politic conceits; of whispers, nods,
And hints deep-omen'd with unweildy schemes,
And dark portents of state. Ten thousand more,
Prodigious habits and tumultuous tongues,