The studious Pilgrim, as his bare feet tread
O'er holy Carmel! with religious dread,
If, sunk in mouldering rubbish, he descries
Where some old fane, or massive altar lies,
Kneeling adores it with a stedfast gaze,
And ruminates the works of mightier days,
Feasts his rapt soul on pure devotion's fires,
And slowly from the much-lov'd spot retires.
Led by dark Legend on from clime to clime
Amid th' historic ravages of Time,
Thus the bold Muse asserts her liberal plan
To mark the genuine privilege of man,
To prove how Fiction, and how Fact agree,
That God was just, and all Mankind were free.