V

How dreadful the dominion of the impure! Why should the Song be tardy to proclaim That less than power unbounded could not tame That soul of Evil--which, from hell let loose, Had filled the astonished world with such abuse As boundless patience only could endure? --Wide-wasted regions--cities wrapt in flame-- Who sees, may lift a streaming eye To Heaven;--who never saw, may heave a sigh; But the foundation of our nature shakes, And with an infinite pain the spirit aches, When desolated countries, towns on fire, Are but the avowed attire Of warfare waged with desperate mind Against the life of virtue in mankind;[AU] Assaulting without ruth The citadels of truth; While the fair gardens of civility, By ignorance defaced, By violence laid waste, Perish without reprieve for flower or tree!