Classic Poem

Now first appears the rough proportion'd frame,
Rough in the draught, but perfect in the scheme;
When lo! each little Archimedes nigh,
Metes every angle with judicious eye;
Adjusts the centering cones with skill profound,
And forms the curious hexagon around.

The cells indors'd with double range adhere,
Knit on the sides, and guarded on the rear;
Nought of itself, with circling chambers bound,
Each cell is form'd, to form the cells around;
While each still gives what each alike demands,
And but supported by supporting stands;
Jointly transferring, and transferr'd exists;
And, as by magick union, all subsists.

Amazing elegance! transcendent art!
Contrived at once to borrow, and impart;
In action notable, as council great,
Their fabricks rise, just emblems of their state.

Nor be the Wasp exclusive of our lays;
Tho' in a foe, still merit claims its praise,
Claims the revealing song, and claims the light,
Tho' long conceal'd in all obscuring night.
For deep these subterranean tribes retire,
Nor work like man, that mortals may admire;
In earth's dark womb their pompous structures rise,
Worthy the sight of H EAVEN'S ALL-SEEING Eyes ;
While they recluse, o'er nether kingdoms reign,
And wrapt as in a little world remain.

Around this world a waxen vault extends,
And wide like yon enfolding concave bends;
Magnifick cupola! on either hand,
Unfolded, two mysterious portals stand,
Emblems of human life, precarious state,
At entrance born, and dying in retreat.
Thousands within retiring taste repose;
Or thro' the streets the busy concourse flows:
Yet not as ours their costly pavements spread,
But high on terrasses and towers they tread,
With which not Roman aqueducts may vie,
Not the famed gardens pendant from the sky:
Here cities piled o'er cities may be seen,
And sumptuous intervals displayed between,
Where columns each proud architrave support,
And form the pomp of many an ample court;
The weight thro' ten successive stories bear,
And to the top the incumbent fabricks rear.

So have I seen in all the pride of shew,
Some splendid theatre divide below,
With charms of gay machinery surprize,
Scenes over scenes, and stage on stage arise,
Lost in the glory of descending skies.

Not so the multipede Aurelias dwell,
But form, sole architects, the pensive cell;
Like Seers of old, they seek some lonely seat,
And from the vain the busy world retreat;
Here fondly form a structure of their own,
And bind the vault of solitary stone;
Or clay, or timber, oft attempering, mould,
And round their form the ductile mansion fold;
Or in peculiar occupations skill'd,
A wondrous dome of silken fabrick build:
No debt to foreign implements they owe,
But from themselves the mantling tissues flow;
Themselves the gorgeous canopy they spread,
Themselves the loom, the distaff, and the thread —
The thread as famed Arachne's texture fine,
When thwart the morn she darts her floating line,
Or spins the scheme of implicated wiles,
And o'er her great Newtonian rival smiles;
Reveals the deep aenigma of his trade,
And squares the circle in the vernal glade;
The sportive plans of matchless art displays,
While round, and round, the dexterous wanton plays.

How might the song with endless rapture pry,
Secluded deep where latent nations lie,
And scared from man, a mighty hunter, fly?
He follows panting with a savage joy,
Rapt in his favourite transport to destroy:
To man, even man becomes a mutual prey;
No gain can satiate, and no limits stay;
Down the dread depths his boundless lucre dives;
Warr'd on himself, with passion passion strives.
Fly him, ye rangers of the rolling flood!
Fly him, ye songsters of the warbling wood!
Ye dwellers subterrene, the tyrant fly!
And safe in your remote asylums lie,
Where mice, innoxious cottagers, remain,
Meek in the covert of the flowery plain;
Recluse, their cautious hermitage explore,
And treasure provident the wintery store.
With kindred crafts, deep-mining burroughs work,
And sunk amid Daedalean labyrinths lurk;
Their various habitation nightly change,
And thro' a length of mazed apartments range.

The Beaver too, great architect! immured,
With his associate train retires secured;
Their wary mansion elegantly stands,
Where the smooth stream or smiling lake expands,
Whose gentle wave in friendly visit glides,
And swells the tenement with grateful tides.