The man of reason smiles at her, and Death. Oh! what a patrimony this! a being Of such inherent strength and majesty, Not worlds possess'd can raise it; worlds destroy'd Can't injure; which holds on its glorious course, When thine, O Nature! ends; too blest to mourn Creation's obsequies. What treasure, this! 540 The monarch is a beggar to the man. Immortal! Ages past, yet nothing gone! Morn without eve! a race without a goal! Unshorten'd by progression infinite! Futurity for ever future! Life Beginning still where computation ends! 'Tis the description of a deity! 'Tis the description of the meanest slave: The meanest slave dares then Lorenzo scorn? The meanest slave thy sovereign glory shares. 550 Proud youth! fastidious of the lower world! Man's lawful pride includes humility; Stoops to the lowest; is too great to find Inferiors; all immortal! brothers all! Proprietors eternal of thy love. Immortal! What can strike the sense so strong, As this the soul? It thunders to the thought; Reason amazes; gratitude o'erwhelms; 558 No more we slumber on the brink of fate; Roused at the sound, th' exulting soul ascends, And breathes her native air; an air that feeds Ambitions high, and fans ethereal fires; Quick kindles all that is divine within us; Nor leaves one loitering thought beneath the stars. Has not Lorenzo's bosom caught the flame? Immortal! Were but one immortal, how Would others envy! how would thrones adore! Because 'tis common, is the blessing lost? How this ties up the bounteous hand of Heaven! 569 Oh, vain, vain, vain, all else! Eternity! A glorious and a needful refuge, that, From vile imprisonment, in abject views. 'Tis immortality, 'tis that alone, Amid life's pains, abasements, emptiness, The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill. That only, and that amply, this performs; Lifts us above life's pains, her joys above; Their terror those, and these their lustre lose; Eternity depending covers all; Eternity depending all achieves; 580 Sets earth at distance; casts her into shades; Blends her distinctions; abrogates her powers; The low, the lofty, joyous, and severe, Fortune's dread frowns, and fascinating smiles, Make one promiscuous and neglected heap, The man beneath; if I may call him man, Whom immortality's full force inspires. Nothing terrestrial touches his high thought; Suns shine unseen, and thunders roll unheard, By minds quite conscious of their high descent, 590 Their present province, and their future prize; Divinely darting upward every wish, 592 Warm on the wing, in glorious absence lost! Doubt you this truth? Why labours your belief? If earth's whole orb by some due distanced eye