[Page 2]

The Extacy.

I.
1 Mount, Mount, my Soul on high,
2 Cut thro' the spacious Sky;
3 Scale the great Mountainous heaps that be,
4 Betwixt the upper World, and thee.
5 Stop not, till thou the utmost Region know,
6 Leave all the Glittering Worlds below:
7 Then take thy Noble flight,
8 Into the sacred Magazine of Light,
9 View the bright, the Empyrean Throne
10 Of the great, the Almighty ONE.
[Page 3]
11 All the Miriades of shining Hosts survey,
12 With the seraphick blazing Throng;
13 Celebrating their Eternal Day,
14 With an Eternal Song.
15 In vain my dazled Soul would gaze around,
16 (The beatifick Glorys so confound)
17 It must be quite disrob'd, e'er tread this Holy Ground.
II.
18 Descend you daring Spirit, think 'tis fair,
19 If thou may'st traverse the inferior Air,
20 Content with humbler Curiosities,
21 View the expanded the Skies,
22 With radient Worlds, 'tis richly deck'd,
23 By the Almighty Architect.
24 Mount Charles's Wain,
25 Drive over all the Ætherial Plain,
26 And to augment thy Speed,
27 With blazing Comets lash the Restive Steeds.
28 Make them neigh aloud and Foam,
29 Till all the Sky a Milky way become;
30 What tho' they Fret and Rage,
31 To pass their wonted Stage.
[Page 4]
32 Make them Praunce o'er all the amazing Place,
33 Quite to the empty Space,
34 And as ye go, see what Inhabitants there are,
35 In every World, of every Star;
36 Their Shape, their Manners and their State,
37 Write in Journals as ye go,
38 And to the inquiring Earth relate;
39 By dropping it below.
40 When weary'd with your universal round,
41 Let the Sphears harmonious sound,
42 Refresh and Charm your Spirits, till they be
43 Fit to fly back to their first ventur'd one Immensity
44 But oh! the Harmony's too soft, too sweet,
45 The Eternal strains too ravishingly great,
46 I cannot bear such Transports yet,
47 Well then, I'll leave these mighty heights and go
48 And over-look the little Globe below.
III.
49 In this Amphibious Ball, is vast variety,
50 To entertain my Curiosity:
51 Here the great Waters of the mighty deep,
52 Their fixt amazing Bounds do keep;
[Page 5]
53 In vain they Rage and Roar,
54 But dare not touch on the restraining Shoar.
55 Here finny Herds of th' smallest sort,
56 Safely Play and Sport;
57 Wanton I'th' Flood, with no more Danger then
58 The Pastimes of Leviathan.
59 Here does in Triumph ride,
60 The stately Trophies of Britania's Pride:
61 Her Ships which to the Indies Trade,
62 Such Noble Fabricks are made;
63 And so numerous appear,
64 The frighted Natives do our Traffick fear,
65 And doubt we will invade.
66 Securely too in these,
67 They visit the Antipodes.
68 From Britain they, the courteous Race begun,
69 A piece of complaisance unknown,
70 To all but civil Drake, and the obliging Sun.
71 Neptune with pompous Pride does bear
72 Those glorious Terrors; Ships of War.
73 The floating Towr's they in Battalia draw;
74 Keep all the circling Realms in awe.
75 Yet these vast Bodies, the soft Waters bear:
76 So the great Bird of Jove, mounts in the trackless Air.
[Page 6]
77 On the smooth Floods, the swelling Billows rise,
78 As if the liquid Mountains touch'd the Skies:
79 Then quick they plunged, with an Impetuous hast,
80 And seem'd to speak Destruction as they pass'd,
81 Yet Arm'd with Avarice and Curiosities,
82 Men scorn the Dangers, of the threatning Seas.
IV.
83 Next on the solid Parts, I cast my Eye,
84 Did vast scorcht Desarts spie;
85 Which untamed Beasts, and Monsters bred,
86 By them alone inhabited,
87 I saw huge Mountains of uncommon Earth,
88 Some belcht with Terror forth;
89 A sulpherous Smoak,
90 Loud as amazing Thunder spoke,
91 From the unexhausted Bowels came,
92 Ashes and Stones, evacuated by Flame;
93 Remote from these are frigid Mountains too;
94 Thick cloth'd in fleecy Snow.
95 Some by restringent Air congeal'd as hard,
96 As if with Adamantine barr'd:
[Page 7]
97 Stupendious Rocks of hideous Stones I found,
98 Whose dangerous Heads, lean'd o're the threaten'd Ground.
99 Deep in Earths center, far from human sight,
100 I search'd with intellectual Light;
101 (Pierc'd to the gloomy Ray,
102 Where subterrenean Fires, in silence play,
103 Like the faint Glimps of an imprison'd Day.)
104 Where unmolested Streams with gentle force,
105 Press, to their Primeveal source;
106 And sometimes upward, gush thro' poreous Earth,
107 Give to the healing Baths, a useful Birth;)
108 In its more wealthy parts, the Minerals lay,
109 And ponderous Mettals, shining Nerves display:
110 In her bright Bowels, radient Gems remains,
111 Till cruel Man dissects, and rends her Saphir vains.
112 With Grief and Wonder I behold,
113 The Noble, but mischevious Gold;
114 Oh! with what Toil, and mighty Pain,
115 Men the inchanting Mettle gain.
116 This Tyrant Clay Lords it o'er human kind,
117 Tho' they themselves in dirt, at first the Monarch find;
[Page 8]
118 Lets their Stupidity, no more upbraid,
119 Who worshipp'd Gods, which their own Hands had made,
120 Since we're by Gold to greater Crimes betray'd.
121 Our Country, Faith, Friends, Honour for its sold,
122 Nay, Heaven and Love, is sacrafic'd to Gold;
123 We're worse Idolaters, than they,
124 Who only Homage gave; since we mischeviously obey.
V.
125 Then the habitable World appear'd,
126 By Art, vast Towns and pompous Temples fear'd
127 The pleasing Fields, awhile detain'd my sight
128 With a serene delight:
129 The flowry Meads, with various Colours dy'd,
130 And smiling Nature, in her verdant Pride;
131 Here ancient Woods, and blooming Groves,
132 (Fit recesses, for celestial Loves,)
133 Where purling Streams, glide with delightful hast,
134 On whose cool Banks, are spreading Willows plac'd:
135 The chearful Birds sing on the shading Bough,
136 In such glad Notes, as Nature did bestow.
[Page 9]
137 The bleating Flocks and Herds, o'erspread the Plains,
138 And recompence the joyful Peasants pains.
139 Here the unenvy'd Village stood,
140 Rais'd of native Clay, and neighbouring Wood.
141 The Inhabitants as void of Pride, or Art,
142 Blest with plain Diet, and an honest Heart;
143 These Plow'd the Ground, and Sow'd the pregnant Grain,
144 Reap'd joyfully; the plentious Crop again:
145 Innocent Slaves, to whose rude Care we owe,
146 The chief supports of Life, and utmost needs below.
147 Remoter helps are Springs to Luxury,
148 Rich Wines and Spices, and the Tyrian die,
149 Do not our Wants, but Wantonness supply.
150 Here in his humble Cott, the Rustick lies,
151 Knows not the Curse, of being Great or Wise;
152 Ambition, Treachery, and Fear,
153 Are Strangers here.
154 Secure and quiet they go plodding on,
155 Happy, because too mean to be undone.
[Page 10]
VI.
156 Then I espy'd from far,
157 Troops of shining Men, ingag'd in War,
158 Their artful Weapons, are with Rage imploy'd,
159 And Man, by Man, is Savagely destroy'd:
160 Poor mercenary Slaves they die,
161 But seldom know for why;
162 Oh! what Confusions here I cannot bear,
163 These horrid Groans that reach my distant Ear
164 From slaugher'd heaps, of dying Accents there.
165 Sometimes wast Towns in Flames appear,
166 Huge Castles mount, and shatter in the Air,
167 But ah! what pity 'tis,
168 Mankind should Glory in such Arts as these;
169 Then to the populous Cities, I repair'd,
170 Found they were little less insnar'd;
171 Tho' not Alarm'd with mighty noise of Wars,
172 Yet curs'd with grating, private Jars,
173 Envy and Strife, Self-Interest, and Deceits,
174 Extravagance and Noise, her Fate compleats.
175 Then I survey'd the splendid Court,
176 Found pageant Follies, Revelling and Sport,
[Page 11]
177 Base Falshood, Lust, Ambition, Emnity,
178 Soft wanton Intervals, and Luxury,
179 Destructive Flattery, and hateful Pride,
180 And all the City Sins beside.
181 Thinks I, what shall I do,
182 If I must live again below,
183 For I remember'd that I had been there,
184 And a return to Earth, did fear.
185 Grant ye bless'd Powers, said I,
186 If I must downwards fly;
187 I may Descend upon the blooming Plain,
188 Bless'd with the harmless Nymph, and humble Swain,
189 There let me ever undisturb'd remain.

Text

  • TEI/XML [chunk] (XML - 371K / ZIP - 39K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
  • Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 7.4K / ZIP - 3.9K)

Facsimile (Source Edition)

(Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [280 e.4058].)

Images

PDF

All Images (PDF - 15M)

About this text

Title (in Source Edition): The Extacy.
Themes: corruption; rural life
Genres: ode

Text view / Document view

Source edition

Egerton, Sarah Fyge, 1668-1723. Poems on Several Occasions, Together with a Pastoral. By Mrs. S. F. [poems only] London: printed, and are to be sold by J. Nutt, near Stationers-Hall, 1703, pp. 2-11. [20],117,[3],15,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T125148) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [280 e.4058].)

Editorial principles

Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Sarah Fyge Egerton