Page images
PDF
EPUB

330

Yet vain the textur'd eye, and object fair,
The sunny lustre, and continuous air;
Anuull'd and blank this grand illustrious scene,
All, all its grace, and lifeless glories, vain;
Till from th' Eternal sprung this effluent soul,
Bless'd to inspect, and comprehend the whole!
300 O whence, say whence this endless beauty springs,
This awful, dear, delightful depth of things?
Whence but from thee! thou Great One! thou
Divine!

True to the colour, distance, shape, and size,
That from essential things perpetual rise,
And obvious gratulate our wond'ring eyes;
Convey the bloom of Nature's smiling scene,
The vernal landscape, and the wat'ry main;
The flocks that nibble on the flow'ry lawn,
The frisking lambkin, and the wanton fawn;
The sight how grateful to the social soul,
That thus imbibes the blessings of the whole,
Joys in their joy, while each inspires his breast
With blessings multiply'd from all that's bless'd!
Nor less yon heights th' unfolding Heaven dis-
play,

Its nightly twinkle, and its streaming day;
The page impress'd conspicuous on the skies,
A preface to the book of glory lies;

We mount the steep, high borne upon delight,
While hope aspires beyond-and distances the
sight.
310
Thus Heav'n and Earth, whom varying graces deck,
In full proportions paint the visual speck;
So awful did th' Almighty's forming will,
Amazing texture, and stupendous skill,
The visionary net and tunics weave,
And the bright gem with lucid humours lave;
So gave the ball's collected ray to glow,
And round the pupil arch'd his radiant bow;
Full in a point unmeasur'd spaces lie,
And worlds inclusive dwell within our eye.
Yet useless was this textur'd wonder made,
Were Nature, beauteous object! undisplay'd;
Those, both as vain, the object, and the sight,
Wrapt from the radiance of revealing light;
As vain the bright illuminating beam,
Unwafted by the medium's airy stream:

320

Ver. 296. And obvions gratulate.] by whose second mediation the perceiving soul rejoicesVer. 297. bloom of Nature's smiling scene.] beholding the elegance and beauty of natureVer. 299. The flocks that nibble.] but chiefly those animated beings who through life are susceptible of happiness.

Ver. 301. The sight.] as every generous person increases his happiness by rejoicing in the happiness of others

Ver. 305. Nor less yon heights.] and as by means of this miraculous organ of sight, the beauties of Earth are conspicuous, so in the first page of Heaven expanded before us, to raise our hope to an assurance of further bliss.

Ver. 313. So awful did.] The wonderful texture of the eye

Ver. 315. The visionary net.] its retina (continued from the optic nerve) which is the proper organ of vision

Ver. 315. ...... tunics weave ] its coats-
Ver. 316. ...... humours lave.] humours-

Placid! and Mild! All Gracious! All Benign!
Thou Nature's Parent! and Supreme Desire!
How lov'd the offspring! and how bless'd the Sire!
How ever bless'd! as blessings from thee flow,
And spread all bounteous on thy works below:
The reptile, wreath'd in many a wanton play; 341
And insect, basking in the shine of day;
The grazing quadruped, and plumy choir
That earthly born to heavenly heights aspire;
All species, form'd beneath the solar beam,
That numberless adorn our future theme,-
Fed in thy bounty, fashion'd in thy skill,
Cloth'd in thy love, instructed in thy will,
Safe in thy conduct, their unerring guide,
All-save the child of ignorance and pride-
The paths of Beauty and of Truth pursue,
And teach proud man those lectures which ensue !

UNIVERSAL BEAUTY.

BOOK V.

350

THUS Nature's frame, and Nature's God we sing,
And trace even life to its Eternal Spring-
The Eternal Spring! whence streaming bounty
flows;

The Eternal Light! whence ev'ry radiance glows;
The Eternal Height of indetermind space!
The Eternal Depth of condescending grace!
Supreme! and Midst! and Principle! and End!
The Eternal Father! and the Eternal Friend!
The Eternal Love! who bounds in ev'ry breast; 9
The Eternal Bliss! whence ev'ry creature's bless'd-
While man, e'en man, the lavish goodness shares,
The wretch offends, and yet his Goodness spares;
Still to the wayward wight indulgent turns,
And kindly courts him to the peace he spurns;
Emits the beam of intellectual light-
Bright is the beam, and wilful is the night-
While Nature amply spreads th' illustrious scene,
And renders all pretext of errour vain:
Unfolded wide her obvious pages lie,
To win attention from the wand'ring eye;
Full to convince us, to instruct us sage,

Ver. 318. radiant bow.] and iris, or circle Strict to reform, and beauteous to engage. surrounding the pupil, within which

Ver. 319. Full in a point.] the images of things are distinctly painted.

Ver. 521. Yet useless was.] The infinitely wise adjustment of nature demonstrated; inasmuch as the eye had been useless without the object, both eye and object useless without light, the eye, the object, and the light, still useless without the medium of air for conveyance, and altogether as useless without

20

Ver. 331. Till from the Eternal.] the mind, which only can perceive.

Ver. 341. The reptile.] This paragraph was added as a hint of the following part, which chiefly treats of the arts and instincts of the inferior animal system: which subject, as it is less abstruse, so, it is probable, it will be more agreeable than any hitherto treated of.

[blocks in formation]

40

Then must all faculty, all knowledge fail,
And more than monster o'er the man prevail.
Not thus he gave our optic's vital glance,
Amid omniscient art, to search for chance,
Blind to the charms of Nature's beauteous frame;
Nor made our organ vocal, to blaspheme:
Not thus he will'd the creatures of his nod,
And made the mortal, to unmake his God;
Breath'd on the globe, and brooded o'er the wave,
And bid the wide obsequious world conceive:
Spoke into being myriads, myriads rise,
And with young transport gaze the novel skies;
Glance from the surge, beneath the surface scud,
Or cleave enormous the reluctant flood;
Or roll vermicular their wanton maze,
And the bright path with wild meanders glaze;
Frisk in the vale, or o'er the mountains bound,
Or in huge gambols shake the trembling ground;
Swarm in the beam; or spread the plumy

sail

The plume creates, and then directs the gale: 50
While active gaiety, and aspect bright,
In each expressive, sums up all delight.

But whose unmeasur'd prose, memorial long!
Or volubility of num'rous song,
Can Nature's infinite productions range,
Or with her ever-varying species change?
Not the fam'd bard, in whose surviving page
Troy still shall stand, and fierce Pelides rage;
Not this the Mantuan's rival Muse could hope;
Nor thou, sole object of my envy,-Pope!

Then let the shoals of latent nations sleep,
Safe in the medium of their native deep;
Haply, when future beauteous scenes invite,
Haply our line may draw those scenes to light.
Meanwhile, Earth's minim populace inspect,
With just propriety of beauties deck'd;
Consummate each, adapted to its state,
And highly in the lowest,sphere complete.

60

Ver. 27. Round with our eyes.] The Deity necessarily inferred from the contemplation of every object

[blocks in formation]

springs,

Great and conspicuous in minutest things!

The reptile first, how exquisitely form'd, With vital streams through ev'ry organ warm'd! External round the spiral muscle winds, And folding close th' interior texture binds; Secure of limbs or needless wing he steers, And all one locomotive act appears: His rings with one elastic membrane bound, The prior circlet moves th' obsequious round; The next, and next, its due obedience owes, And with successive undulation flows. The mediate glands, with unctuous juice replete, Their stores of lubricating guile secrete; Still opportune, with prompt emission flow, And slipping frustrate the deluded foe; When the stiff clod their little augers bore, And all the worm insinuates through the pore.

9

80

90

Slow moving next, with grave majestic pace,
Tenacious snails their silent progress trace;
Through foreign fields secure from exile roam,
And sojourn safe beneath their native home.
Their domes self-wreath'd, each architect attend,
With mansions lodge them, and with mail de-
fend:

But chief, when each his wint'ry portal forms,
And mocks secluded from incumbent storms;
Till gates, unbarring with the vernal ray,
Give all the secret hermitage to day;
Then peeps the sage from his unfolding doors, 99
And cautious Heaven's ambiguous brow explores:

Ver. 73. The reptile first.] earth-worm, and has had a peculiar regard towards it

Ver. 74. With vital streams.] in the organization of its frame

Ver. 75. External round.] its wonderful apparatus for motion, by a most especial and accurate provision

Ver. 83. The mediate glands.] With every other mean and method accommodated to its sphere of action; and conducting to the safety and perfection of its state.

Ver. 89. Slow moving next.] The same infinite Wisdom operating ever equally, though variously, is no less admirable in the different apparatus for the snail's motion, as differently adapted to its different state and occasions-

Ver. 90. Tenacious snails.] by a broad and strong

Ver. 41. Spoke into being,] But more especially visible in the animate creation, so infinitely diversi-skin on either side the belly, and the emission of a

fied in the several species and kinds of-
Ver. 43. Glance from the surge.] fish-
Ver. 45. Or roll vermicular.] reptiles-
Ver. 47. Frisk in the vale.] quadrupeds-
Ver. 49. Swarm in the beam.] insects-
Ver. 49. ...... or spread the plumy sail.] and birds;
as this diversity unites in one universal evidence of
One Sole Operator-

Ver. 67. Consummate each.] whose characteristic of infinite power and wisdom is equally conspicuous in all, since even the lowest can be derived from no less than the Highest; and, in that respect, the lowest, though apparently despicable, is most highly valuable, since the same Extensive Benignity condescends even to the

glutinous slime; by the assistance of which they adhere to any surface more firmly than they could do with claws or talons.

Ver. 95. Their domes self-wreathed.] The advantage of their shells, which they form by a froth or petrifying juice, which they secreted from their body; and at any time repair a fracture or breach in their building, which serves them both for house and armour.

Ver. 95. But chief.] And which they close up during the winter, to shut out the inclemency of the weather, and also to prevent any consumption of the fluids; by which means they want no nourishment at a time that they cannot be readily provided.

Towards the four winds four telescopes he bends,
And on his own astrology depends;
Assur'd he glides beneath the smiling calm,
Bathes in the dew, and sips the morning balm;
The peach this pamp'ring epicure devours,
And climbing on the topmost fruitage towers.

110

Such have we cull'd from nature's reptile scene,
Least accurate of all the wondrous train,
Who plung'd recluse in silent caverns sleep;
Or multipede, Earth's leafy verdure creep;
Or on the pool's new mantling surface play,
And range a drop, as whales may range the sea:
Or ply the rivulet with supple oars,
And oft, amphibious, course the neighb'ring shores;
Or shelt'ring, quit the dank inclement sky,
And condescend to lodge where princes lie;
There tread the ceiling, an inverted floor,
And from its precipice depend secure:
Or who nor creep, nor fly, nor walk, nor swim,
But claim new motion with peculiar limb,
Successive spring with quick elastic bound,
And thus transported pass the refluent ground.
Or who all native vehicles despise,
And buoy'd upon their own inventions rise;
Shoot forth the twine, their light aerial guide,
And mounting o'er the distant zenith ride.
Or who a twofold apparatus share,

120

Natives of Earth, and habitants of air;
Like warriors stride, oppress'd with shining mail,
But furl'd, beneath, their silken pennons veil: 130
Deceiv'd, our fellow reptile we admire,

His bright endorsement, and compact attire,
When lo! the latent springs of motion play,
And rising lids disclose the rich inlay;
The tissu'd wing its folded membrane frees,
And with blithe quavers fans the gath'ring breeze;

140

Elate tow'rds Heav'n the beaut'ous wonder flies,
And leaves the mortal wrapp`d in deep surprise.
So when the guide led Tobit's youthful heir,
Elect, to win the seven times widow'd fair,
Th' angelic form, conceal'd in human guise,
Deceiv'd the search of his associate's eyes;
Till swift each charm bursts forth like issuing flame,
And circling rays confess his heavenly frame;
The zodiac round his waste divinely turns,
And waving radiance o'er his plumage burns:
In awful transports rapt, the youth admires,
While light from earth the dazzling shape aspires.
O think, if superficial scenes amaze,
And e’en the still familiar wonders please, 150
These but the sketch, the garb, the veil of things,
Whence all our depth of shallow science springs;
Think, should this curta:n of Omniscience rise,
Think of the sight! and think of the surprise!
Scenes inconceivable, essential, new,
Whelm'd on our soul, and lightning on our view !—

Ver. 149. O think ] But what is there in nature that is not equally surprising? We are ashamed not to account for objects that are daily obvious to our senses; and yet every work of the Deity-

Ver. 151. These but the sketch.] in many respects, is to us as really incomprehensible as the Divine Operator; for who can give rule or measure to the works of an Infinite Artist? and if we only superficially behold, and reason from the qualities of things

Ver. 153. Think, should this curtain.] were this veil at once laid aside, how insupportably conspicuous would the fullness of Infinite Wisdom and Essential Beauty appear; pouring on our weak and unequal senses! We should then be convinced of the equal folly and impiety of presumption on one Ver. 101. Towards the four winds.] I have insert-side; or scepticism on the other: of pretending to ed this opinion of snails having eyes at the ends of their horns, rather in submission to authority, than that I am really persuaded it is so. However, they may, in a great measure, be said to see with their touch, which in this part is extremely sensible, and equally serves their purpose--.

Ver. 107. Such have we cull'd.] and since the common earth-worm and snail (which seem the most despicable of all reptiles) are so curiously adorned, and provided in all respects, how amazing must the same conduct, care, and artifice be, through the several scenes of minute animalcules! who leave no place empty of suitable inhabitants, and are doubtless of greater consequence in nature, than our partial and narrow way of thinking may imagine.

Ver. 119. Or who nor creep.] Such as grasshoppers, crickets, and frogs.

Ver. 123. Or who all native.] Spiders, &c. whose flights are owing to a thread of inconceivable fineness and levity, which they dart, on occasion, from their bodies, and which being buoyed up by the least breeze, bears off the animalcule to which it is annexed.

Ver. 127. Or who a twofold.] Of this kind are beetles and lady-cows; and nothing can be more entertaining than to see them, by a surprising machinery of little springs and hinges, erect the smooth covering of their backs, and unfolding their wings that were most neatly disposed within their cases, prepare for flight

know all things; or (because we know not all things) of inferring that nothing is to be known.

Our reason indeed is not infallible; but neither is it useless: reason, throughout its sphere of knowledge, perceives a wisdom and art that is obvious and inimitable; and hence cannot avoid to infer, that the same wisdom and art is universal; and that there must be One Sole Omnipresent and Adorable Artist. But when reason attempts a higher pitch, and forms to itself independent schemes of the courses of nature, or fitnesses of things; nothing can be more vain than such a dictating arrogance.

But

That there is, and ever will be, a fitness and propriety in things, is evident even to reason; because reason perceives sufficient wisdom and goodness, to demonstrate that wisdom and goodness now are, and ever will be, the sole directing principles. to say to what infinitely wise and good purposes such direction tends; to say how far, and in what particulars, the nature of such tendency may alter the appearance of fitness in things; so as to determine what now is, or hereafter may be fit, possible, or impossible; is generally as absurd as to attempt to grasp the universe in our hand, or circumscribe immensity with a carpenter's compass.

Hence this one great truth is evident, that though our reason apprehends a propriety and fitness in the relations of many things and actions both natural and moral, yet as we cannot comprehend the whole of Infinite Wisdom

[blocks in formation]

Ver. 162. All is phenomenon.] there is doubtless a further design, and more latent fitness and beauty in things and their relations, than we can apprehend or are aware of: and as this fitness may be relative in respect of duration, and in respect of the difference between the present and future state of things; many things may now appear unfit and improper in our way of thinking, which in reality are most perfective of future infinitely wise and directing purposes, to which our notions are by no means adequate.

What has been here offered in the way of hypothesis, is evidently rational; but when more nearly attended to, will admit of the highest demonstration: for either there is a present absolute fitness in things; or a fitness in futuro, that is, in prospect or tendency, and only relative here to what must be absolute hereafter. But if there were an absolute fitness in the present state of things, there could then be no change in any thing; since what is best can never change to better: but things do change, and must therefore have a present relative fitness, tending to, and productive of some future, absolute, and unchangeable fitness or perfection; to which this present relative fitness is by a moral, wise, and orderly necessity, precedent.

The sum of all (which has so long and copiously employed the pens of the learned) is this,-First, that there is a present fitness or beauty sufficiently obvious in things, to demonstrate an Over-ruling Wisdom.-Secondly, that this Over-ruling Wisdom, or God, now does, and ever will conduct all things for the best.-But, thirdly, since things change, they cannot be now in their state of fection. Therefore, fourthly, there must be some other or future state, to which,all things tend and are directed, for the final and unchangeable perfection of all things.

per

Ver. 166. Who that beholds.] If any thing in the preceding lines seems too much tinctured with mystery; I must beg leave to ask the enemies of mystery, were it not for repeated experience, whether every thing in nature would not appear a mystery? or, whether, when they contemplate a gnat or butterfly, &c. they can perceive, by the bare light of nature or reason, the relation its present state and form bears to the several changes, states, and forms, through which it has passed, all in appearance as distinct as difference could make

them?

[blocks in formation]

180

Sublimer powers and brighter forms assume;
From death, their future happier life derive,
And though apparently entomb'd, revive;
Chang'd, through amazing transmigration rise,
And wing the regions of unwonted skies;
So late depress'd, contemptible on Earth,
Now elevate to Heav'n by second birth?
No fictions here to willing fraud invite,
Led by the marvellous, absurd delight;
No golden ass, no tale Arabians feign;
Nor flitting forms of Naso's magic strain,
Deucalion's progeny of native stone,
Or armies from Cadmean harvests grown;
With many a wanton and fantastic dream,
The laurel, mulberry, and bashful stream;
Arachne shrunk beneath Tritonia's rage;
Tithonus chang'd and garrulous with age.
Not such mutations deck the chaster song,
Adorn'd with nature, and with truth made strong;
No debt to fable, or to fancy due,
And only wondrous facts reveal'd to view.

Though numberless these insect tribes of air, Though numberless each tribe and species fair, Who wing the noon, and brighten in the blaze, Innumerous as the sands which bend the seas;

190

199

Ver. 174. Or who with transient view.] or, whether, by contemplating an animalcule's egg, they can foresee that this will produce a maggot or caterpillar, &c. that the maggot or caterpillar will build its own sepulchre; (and having continued therein for a certain term, in an apparent state of mortality, and laid aside its former limbs and organized members) will at length break through the gates of death, and put on a state and form of higher beauty and perfection, than could enter into any heart to conceive, or could have employed the dreams of the deepest philosopher?

Ver. 186. No fictions here.] How would the refined reasoners of the present age argue against the absurdity and impossibility of such unaccountable contradictions, were not the facts too obvious to sense and perpetual experience to be disputed? facts altogether as wonderful, though not so fabulous, as the

Ver. 188. No golden ass.] marvellous metamorphoses in romance; or

Ver. 189. Nor flitting forms.] those of Ovid, in his tales of

11

[blocks in formation]

These have their organs, arts, and arms, and tools,
And functions exercised by various rules;
The saw, axe, auger, trowel, piercer, drill;
The neat alembic, and nectareous still:

210

Their peaceful hours the loom and distaff know;
But war, the force and fury of the foe,
The spear, the falchion, and the martial mail,
And artful stratagem where strength may fail.
Each tribe peculiar occupations claim,
Peculiar beauties deck each varying frame;
Attire and food peculiar are assign'd,
And means to propagate their varying kind.
Each, as reflecting on their primal state,
Or fraught with scientific craft innate,
With conscious skill their oval embryon shed,
Where native first their infancy was fed:
Or on some vegetating foliage glu'd;

220

Or o'er the flood they spread their future brood;
A slender cord the floating jelly binds,
Eludes the wave, and mocks the warring winds;
O'er this their sperm in spiral order lies,
And pearls in living ranges greet our eyes.
In firmest oak they scoop a spacious tomb,
And lay their embryo in the spurious womb:
Some flow'rs, some fruit, some gems, or blossoms
choose,

And confident their darling hopes infuse;
While some their eggs in ranker carnage lay,
And to their young adapt the future prey.

230

Meantime the Sun his fost'ring warmth be-
queaths,

Each tepid air its motive influence breathes,
Mysterious springs the wav'ring life supply,
And quick'ning births unconscious motion try;
Mature their slender fences they disown,
And break at once into a world unknown.

All by their dam's prophetic care receive
Whate'er peculiar indigence can crave:
Profuse at hand the plenteous table's spread, 240
And various appetites are aptly fed.

Nor less each organ suits each place of birth,
Finn'd in the flood, or reptile o'er the earth;
Each organ, apt to each precarious state,
As for eternity design'd complete.

Thus nurs'd, these inconsiderate wretches grow,
Take all as due, still thoughtless that they owe.
When lo! strange tidings prompt each secret
And whisper wonders not to be express'd; [breast,

Ver. 232. Meantime the Sun.] The generality of these wonderful animals having thus performed all the requisites, take no further care for their young; but (like the ostrich, who covers her eggs with the sands) they are sensible their duty is over, and leave the rest to the clemency of the seasons, and the sufficiency of nature, who, in these instances, renders all further caution needless

Ver. 240. Profuse at hand.] and alone furnishes and provides for all, with a more than parental care and tenderness

Ver. 242. Nor less each organ.] But among all the instances of a universal and benign Providence, nothing can be more signal or expressive of the extensive Goodness than the occasional and temporary parts and organs of many animals in their change

Ver. 204. These have their organs.] However merry or hyperbolical these assertions may appear, in respect of creatures, whom our ignorance, or want of inspection, have rendered despicable to us; there is nothing more certain, than that they have more trades and utensils than are here specified. The inimitable fineness, and mathematical propor-able state, still accommodated, suited, and adapttion of their works, is a double demonstration of their skill, and the accuracy of their instruments; to which the most exquisite manufacture of man may bear just such relation, as a cumbrous windmill to the neatest tool or machine in a watchmaker's shop-

Ver. 216. Each as reflecting ] No less admirable is their reason, precaution, instinct, or what you please to call their care and skill, in the disposition of their eggs or embryo; not scattered at random, but situated agreeable to the nature of every species, in such places, and among such supplies of nutriment, as will alone contribute to the perfection, and be acceptable to the several appetites of their young ones

Ver. 220. Or on some vegetating foliage.] if on the leaves of vegetables, then situated and glued in such a manner, as not to be subject to the influence of winds or rain-

Ver. 222. A slender cord.] For the mathematical order in which gnats dispose their eggs or sperm on the water, vide Derham's Phys. Theology, fig. IX. and X.

Ver. 226. In firmest oak.] And so, in like manner, the various receptacles which are suitable to the sperm of each species, are almost infinite; and yet the art and prophetic precaution, which, by a several and distinct method, is peculiar to each, carries the air of as much wisdom and importance, as if the harmony and connection of nature had depended on the regular and uniform propagation of every several sect or species-

ed with the most circumstantial and minute exactness to the immediate manner and convenience of their existence; and yet as immediately shifted and thrown aside upon the animal's commencing a new state and scene of action, and a set of limbs and garniture furnished de novo, as it were a new suit of clothes fitted and contrived agreeable to every season. This observation may have escaped many, who thought it beneath them to inquire into the economy of these minute animals; but it is obvious to all persons in the tadpole estate of frogs, who, in their minority, are provided with a fin-like tail, which seems to constitute the chief part of their bulk, but drops off as the growing limbs extend, and gives notice that its continuance is superfluous and unnecessary.

Though the state and conduct of these animals, as here described, may be looked on as allegorical, and representative of the present state of man and his future hopes; yet the case with them is already real, and their change and resurrection most evident to sense. The moment they are hatched-

Ver. 246. Thus nurs'd.] they set about pampering their little carcases, without any other apparent thought or concern

Ver. 248. When lo!] within a certain period of time, they conceive a disrelish to all past enjoyment, and by a profound revery seem, as it were, studious of some great event. During this interval, new judgments are acquired, and résolutions taken; they foresee and rejoice at their approaching mortality-

« PreviousContinue »