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He comes, invited by a younger son In time of dearth—a son, whose worthy deeds Raise him to be the second in that realm Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his race Growing into a nation. And, now grown Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves, Inhospitably; and kills their infant males: Till by two brethren—those two brethren call Moses and Aaron-sent from God to claim His people from enthrallment, they return, With glory and spoil, back to their promised land. But first, the lawless tyrant, who denies To know their God, or message to regard, Must be compelled by signs and judgments dire. To blood unshed the rivers must be turned; Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land; His cattle must of rot and murrain die; Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss, And all his people; thunder mixed with hail, Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptian sky, And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls; What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain, A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green; Darkness must overshadow all his bounds, Palpable darkness, and blot out three days; Last, with one midnight stroke, all the first-born Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus, with ten wounds The river-dragon, tamed, at length submits To let his sojourners depart, and oft Humbles his stubborn heart, but still as ice More hardened after thaw! till, in his rage Fursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea

Swallows him with his host, but them lets pass, As on dry land, between two crystal walls; Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand Divided, till his rescued gain their shore: Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend, Though present in his Angel, who shall go Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire; By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire; To guide them in their journey, and remove Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues. All night he will pursue, but his approach Darkness defends between till morning watch;1 Then through the fiery pillar and the cloud, God, looking forth, will trouble all his host, And craze their chariot-wheels; when, by command, Moses once more his potent rod extends Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys; On their embattled ranks the waves return, And overwhelm their war. The race elect Safe towards Canaan, from the shore, advance Through the wild desert; not the readiest way, Lest, entering on the Canaanite alarmed, War terrify them, inexpert, and fear Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather Inglorious life with servitude. For life, To noble and ignoble, is more sweet Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on. This also shall they gain by their delay In the wide wilderness; there they shall found Their government, and their great senate choose Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordained; God, from the mount of Sinai, whose grey top Shall tremble, He descending, will Himself,

PARADISE LOST.

^"Till morning watch.—"And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariet wheels, so that they drave heavily," &c., &c. (Exod. xiv. 24—28.)