raves, and vaulted roof,
Ailes, whose broad curves gigantic ribs sustain,
Where holy echoes chant the adoring strain; 310
The central altar, sacred to the Lord,
Admired by Sages, and by Saints ador'd,
Whose brazen canopy ascends sublime
On spiral columns unafraid of Time,
Were first by Fancy in ethereal dyes
Plann'd on the rolling tablets of his eyes;
And his true hand with imitation fine
Traced from his Retina the grand design.

[Footnote: _Thus when great Angelo_, l. 303. The origin of
this propensity to imitation has not been deduced from any
known principle; when any action presents itself to the view
of a child, as of whetting a knife, or threading a needle;
the parts of this action in respect of time, motion, figure,
are imitated by parts of the retina of his eye; to perform
this action therefore with his hands is easier to him than to
invent any new action; because it consists in repeating with
another set of fibres, viz. with the moving muscles, what he
had just performed by some parts of the retina; just as in
dancing we transfer the times of the motions from the actions
of the auditory nerves to the muscles of the limbs. Imitation
therefore consists of repetition, which is the easiest kind
of animal action; as the ideas or motions become presently
associated together; which adds to the facility of their
production; as shown in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXII. 2.

It should be added, that as our ideas, when we perceive
external objects, are believed to consist in the actions of
the immediate organs of sense in consequence of the stimulus
of those objects; so when we think of external objects, our
ideas are believed to consist in the repetitions of the
actions of the immediate organs of sense, excited by the
other sensorial powers of volition, sensation, or
association.]

"The Muse of MIMICRY in every age
With silent language charms the attentive stage; 320
The Monarch's stately step, and tragic pause,
The Hero bleeding in his country's cause,
O'er her fond child the dying Mother's tears,
The Lover's ardor, and the Virgin's fears;
The tittering Nymph, that tries her comic task,
Bounds on the scene, and peeps behind her ma