BOOK III.
Thus Beauty mimicked in our humbler strains,
Illustrious, thro' the world's great poem reigns!
The O NE grows sundry by creative power;
T HE E TERNAL'S found in each revolving hour;
The I MMENSE appears in every point of space;
The U NCHANGEABLE in nature's varying face;
The I NVISIBLE conspicuous to our mind;
And D EITY in every atom shrined:
From whence exults the animated clod,
And smiling features speak the P ARENT G OD ;
W HO here, and there, and every where abounds:
Air uttering, tells H IS H ARMONY in sounds;
The light reveals the F OUNTAIN of its rays,
And like the Seraph kindles in H IS praise;
The floods ambitious to H IS glory rise,
And seek their S OURCE throughout H IS ambient skies;
Thence, in united congregations fall,
And tune their anthems o'er the warbled ball;
The ball enlivening at H IS order springs,
And rounding to its central M AKER clings:
The M AKER ! ample in his bounty, spread
The various strata of earth's genial bed;
Tempered the subject mass with pregnant juice,
And subtile stores, of deep and sacred use;
Salts, oils, and bitumen, and unctuous pitch,
With precious tho' mysterious influence rich;
Mercurial, nitrous, and sulphureous spume,
Fermenting virtual the terrestrial womb.
Hence, where the solar heat and searching air,
Transgressive, pierce our actuated sphere,
The arch-chymists work as in a secret mine,
And nature's crude originals refine;
Here blending mix, here separate, here select,
And purging here the incongruous parts reject;
Perennial bind the slint's impervious rock,
And strict its adamantine texture lock;
The future monumental marble stain,
And wanton thro' its variegated vein;
Salubrious here the mineral medicine mix;
Here the once potable utensil fix;
Here modify with ever varying change;
And here the similar effluvia range;
Compact the lustre of metallick ore,
The steely, argent, or Corinthian store;
Or severing, cast in nature's purest mould
The dense elixir of refulgent gold.
Thro' sparkling gems the plastick artists play,
And petrify the light's embodied ray;
Now kindle the carbuncle's ruddy flame;
Now gild the chrysolite's transparent beam;
Infuse the saphire's subterraneous sky,
And tinge the topaz with a saffron dye;
With virgin blush within the ruby glow,
And o'er the jasper paint the showery bow.
Endless the task, and arduous, to unfold
What secrets earth's prolific entrails hold;
In nature's womb what embryon treasures sleep,
The wondrous natives of the hoary deep:
Whence happy oft', oft' hapless they aspire;
Supply what want can wish, or pride require —
Blest are the blameless means, the curse is the desire.
Hence comfort kindles in the chearful blaze,
Tho' fire upon the expiring martyr preys;
The peasant hence manures the exhausted soil,
Tho' lordlings share the product of his toil,
Hence artists in the princely dome survive,
Tho' drones may occupy its ample hive;
Hence medicines yield the salutiferous pill,
But gently qualified can learn to kill:
Hence medals may reveal the patriot's face,
Altho' a tyrant gild the nether space;
Once more return great Socrates to light,
Or with an Alexander blast the sight —
(Who here approves the infamy of fame,
Shares Alexander's guilt, and Alexander's shame)
Nor less the plough-share needs the Lydian blade,
Tho' steel and pride the neighbouring realm invade;
The tools to life subservient we alledge,
Tho' deadly cruelty can whet their edge:
Such we approve the trade supporting ore,
Tho' avarice purloin the shining store;
In Maro's hand the precious treasure view,
It spreads all bounteous as the heavenly dew.
Shall Nature check the purple colouring globe,
Lest magistrates should trail the splendid robe?
Nor beauteous her adorning brilliants wear,
Lest gems should deck the follies of the fair?
" Ah Nature! thou hadst scaped thy only blot,
" Could man but cease to be — or hitherto were not:
" Ay, there's the task, the labour of our song —
" To prove that All is right, tho' man be wrong. "
Emergent from the deep view Nature's face,
And o'er the surface deepest wisdom trace;
The verdurous beauties charm our cherished eyes —
But who'll unfold the R OOT from whence they rise?
Infinity within the sprouting bower!
Next to aenigma in Almighty P OWER ;
W HO only could infinitude confine,
And dwell I MMENSE within the minim shrine;
The eternal species in an instant mould,
Thus Beauty mimicked in our humbler strains,
Illustrious, thro' the world's great poem reigns!
The O NE grows sundry by creative power;
T HE E TERNAL'S found in each revolving hour;
The I MMENSE appears in every point of space;
The U NCHANGEABLE in nature's varying face;
The I NVISIBLE conspicuous to our mind;
And D EITY in every atom shrined:
From whence exults the animated clod,
And smiling features speak the P ARENT G OD ;
W HO here, and there, and every where abounds:
Air uttering, tells H IS H ARMONY in sounds;
The light reveals the F OUNTAIN of its rays,
And like the Seraph kindles in H IS praise;
The floods ambitious to H IS glory rise,
And seek their S OURCE throughout H IS ambient skies;
Thence, in united congregations fall,
And tune their anthems o'er the warbled ball;
The ball enlivening at H IS order springs,
And rounding to its central M AKER clings:
The M AKER ! ample in his bounty, spread
The various strata of earth's genial bed;
Tempered the subject mass with pregnant juice,
And subtile stores, of deep and sacred use;
Salts, oils, and bitumen, and unctuous pitch,
With precious tho' mysterious influence rich;
Mercurial, nitrous, and sulphureous spume,
Fermenting virtual the terrestrial womb.
Hence, where the solar heat and searching air,
Transgressive, pierce our actuated sphere,
The arch-chymists work as in a secret mine,
And nature's crude originals refine;
Here blending mix, here separate, here select,
And purging here the incongruous parts reject;
Perennial bind the slint's impervious rock,
And strict its adamantine texture lock;
The future monumental marble stain,
And wanton thro' its variegated vein;
Salubrious here the mineral medicine mix;
Here the once potable utensil fix;
Here modify with ever varying change;
And here the similar effluvia range;
Compact the lustre of metallick ore,
The steely, argent, or Corinthian store;
Or severing, cast in nature's purest mould
The dense elixir of refulgent gold.
Thro' sparkling gems the plastick artists play,
And petrify the light's embodied ray;
Now kindle the carbuncle's ruddy flame;
Now gild the chrysolite's transparent beam;
Infuse the saphire's subterraneous sky,
And tinge the topaz with a saffron dye;
With virgin blush within the ruby glow,
And o'er the jasper paint the showery bow.
Endless the task, and arduous, to unfold
What secrets earth's prolific entrails hold;
In nature's womb what embryon treasures sleep,
The wondrous natives of the hoary deep:
Whence happy oft', oft' hapless they aspire;
Supply what want can wish, or pride require —
Blest are the blameless means, the curse is the desire.
Hence comfort kindles in the chearful blaze,
Tho' fire upon the expiring martyr preys;
The peasant hence manures the exhausted soil,
Tho' lordlings share the product of his toil,
Hence artists in the princely dome survive,
Tho' drones may occupy its ample hive;
Hence medicines yield the salutiferous pill,
But gently qualified can learn to kill:
Hence medals may reveal the patriot's face,
Altho' a tyrant gild the nether space;
Once more return great Socrates to light,
Or with an Alexander blast the sight —
(Who here approves the infamy of fame,
Shares Alexander's guilt, and Alexander's shame)
Nor less the plough-share needs the Lydian blade,
Tho' steel and pride the neighbouring realm invade;
The tools to life subservient we alledge,
Tho' deadly cruelty can whet their edge:
Such we approve the trade supporting ore,
Tho' avarice purloin the shining store;
In Maro's hand the precious treasure view,
It spreads all bounteous as the heavenly dew.
Shall Nature check the purple colouring globe,
Lest magistrates should trail the splendid robe?
Nor beauteous her adorning brilliants wear,
Lest gems should deck the follies of the fair?
" Ah Nature! thou hadst scaped thy only blot,
" Could man but cease to be — or hitherto were not:
" Ay, there's the task, the labour of our song —
" To prove that All is right, tho' man be wrong. "
Emergent from the deep view Nature's face,
And o'er the surface deepest wisdom trace;
The verdurous beauties charm our cherished eyes —
But who'll unfold the R OOT from whence they rise?
Infinity within the sprouting bower!
Next to aenigma in Almighty P OWER ;
W HO only could infinitude confine,
And dwell I MMENSE within the minim shrine;
The eternal species in an instant mould,