MOSES,

UNDER THE DIRECITON OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE,

CONDUCTING

THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

FROM

EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND;

A PRIZE POEM,

RECITED IN THE THEATRE, OXFORD,

IN THE YEAR MDCCCVII..

MOSES

CONDUCTING

THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, &c.

OH for that spirit which on Moses' lyre
Pour'd from the fount of light celestial fire,

Or which, 'mid Sion's courts, in later day,
Rais'd to sublime the Monarch-Prophet's lay!

For high the theme these numbers would rehearse,
High as e'er blest the happier Sons of Verse!

A nation fetter'd, from a tyrant land

Snatch'd by an arm outstretch'd, and mighty hand, Through pathless wilds by signs and wonders led, While swept twice twenty summers o'er its head,

And taught at length to rear its infant throne
In distant lands and regions not its own.

And ask of days that were from elder time,
Ask of yon orb which visits every clime,

If e'er they heard, since first they roll'd along,
A theme so worthy of an Angel's song!

Great was the shout from glad Arabia's shore,
"Sunk is Nile's warrior pride to rise no more!"
Sublime the triumph swells: to him, the Lord,
The God of Battles, wakes each tuneful chord;
Their full applause the deep-mouth'd clarions raise,
And virgin timbrels join their softer praise :

From thousand altars holy perfumes rise,

And myriads bow in one vast sacrifice.

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Are these the tribes which late by * Sihor's tide Wept o'er their wrongs, and loud for vengeance

cried?

* Another name for the Nile.

For them Hope beam'd not; but a night profound,
An endless night, seem'd gath'ring fast around;
Yet did the Day-spring rise, the captive's groan
Went not unheeded to his Father's throne;
He heard the mother's shriek, in anguish wild,
Ask from the tyrant's hand her murder'd child';
He saw the toiling slave, th' inhuman lord,
And the keen tortures of the knotted cord.
Thrice-favour'd race! Jehovah's parent eye
Mark'd ev'ry tear, and number'd ev'ry sigh!
And though full many a dreary age had shed
Slav'ry's worst woes upon th' unshelter'd head,

Though dark and long the night, yet morn could

bring

Joy in its eye, and healing on its wing.

Alluding to Pharaoh's edict for the destruction of all the

male children.