Senseless to pains of death, from pangs of guilt! By guilt's last audit! By yon Moon in blood, The rocking firmament, the falling stars,
And thunder's last discharge, great Nature's knell ! By second chaos and eternal night.”.
Be wise - Nor let Philander blame my charm;
But own not ill-discharg'd my double debt,
Love to the living; duty to the dead!
For know I'm but executor; he left
This moral legacy; I make it o'er By his command; Philander hear in me;
And Heaven in both. - If deaf to these, O! hear Florello's tender voice; his weal depends
On thy resolve; it trembles at thy choice; For his sake love thyself: example strikes All human hearts; a bad example more; More still a father's; that ensures his ruin. As parent of his being, wouldst thou prove Th' unnatural parent of his miseries,
And make him curse the being which thou gavest?
Is this the blessing of so fond a father? If careless of Lorenzo! spare, Oh! spare Florello's father, and Philander's friend! Florello's father ruin'd, ruins him ;
And from Philander's friend the world expects A conduct, no dishonour to the dead.
Let passion do, what nobler motive should;
Let love, and emulation, rise in aid
To reason and persuade thee to be
This seems not a request to be denied ; Yet (such the infatuation of mankind!)
'Tis the most hopeless, man can make to man.
Shall I then rise in argument, and warmth? And urge Philander's posthumous advice, From topics yet unbroach'd?
But Oh! I faint! My spirits fail!
So long on wing, and in no middle clime! To which my great Creator's glory call'd: And calls-but, now, in vain. Sleep's dewy wand Has strok'd my drooping lips, and promises My long arrear of rest; the downy god (Wont to return with our returning peace)
Will pay, ere long, and bless me with repose.
Haste, haste, sweet stranger! from the peasant's
The ship-boy's hammock, or the soldier's straw, Whence sorrow never chas'd thee; with thee bring, Not hideous visions, as of late; but draughts Delicious of well-tasted, cordial, rest; Man's rich restorative; his balmy bath, That supples, lubricates, and keeps in play The various movements of this nice machine, Which asks such frequent periods of repair. When tir'd with vain rotations of the day, Sleep winds us up for the succeeding dawn; Fresh we spin on, till sickness clogs our wheels, Or Death quite breaks the spring, and motion ends. When will it end with me?
"THOU only know'st, Thou, whose broad eye the future, and the past, Joins to the present; making one of three To mortal thought! Thou know'st, and thou alone, All-knowing! - all-unknown! and yet wellknown!
Near, though remote ! and, though unfathom'd, felt!
And, though invisible, for ever seen!
And seen in all! the great and the minute : Each globe above, with its gigantic race,
Each flower, each leaf, with its small people swarm'd,
(Those puny vouchers of Omnipotence!)
To the first thought, that asks, From whence?'
Their common source. Thou fountain, running o'er In rivers of communicated joy!
Who gav'st us speech for far, far humbler themes! Say, by what name shall I presume to call Him I see burning in these countless suns, As Moses, in the bush? Illustrious Mind! The whole creation, less, far less, to thee, Than that to the creation's ample round. How shall I name thee? How my labouring soul Heaves underneath the thought, too big for birth! "Great system of perfections! mighty cause Of causes mighty! cause uncaus'd! sole root Of Nature, that luxuriant growth of God! First Father of effects! that progeny Of endless series; where the golden chain's Last link admits a period, who can tell? Father of all that is or heard, or hears! Father of all that is or seen, or sees!
Father of all that is, or shall arise! Father of this immeasurable mass Of matter multiform; or dense, or rare; Opaque, or lucid; rapid, or at rest; Minute, or passing bound! in each extreme
Of like amaze, and mystery, to man.
Father of these bright millions of the night! Of which the least full godhead had proclaim'd, And thrown the gazer on his knee- Or, say, Is appellation higher still, thy choice? Father of matter's temporary lord!
Father of spirits! nobler offspring! sparks Of high paternal glory; rich endow'd
With various measures, and with various modes Of instinct, reason, intuition; beams More pale, or bright from day divine, to break The darker matter organiz'd (the ware Of all created spirit); beams, that rise Each over other in superior light, Till the last ripens into lustre strong, Of next approach to godhead. Father fond (Far fonder than e'er bore that name on Earth) Of intellectual beings! beings blest
With powers to please thee; not of passive ply To laws they know not; beings lodg'd in seats Of well-adapted joys, in different domes Of this imperial palace for thy sons; Of this proud, populous, well-policy'd, Though boundless habitation, plann'd by thee: Whose several clans their several climates suit; And transposition, doubtless, would destroy. Or, Oh! indulge, immortal King, indulge A title less august indeed, but more Endearing; ah! how sweet in human ears, Sweet in our ears, and triumph in our hearts! Father of immortality to man!
A theme that lately set my soul on fire
And thou the next! yet equal! thou, by whom That blessing was convey'd; far more! was bought : Ineffable the price! by whom all worlds
Were made; and one redeem'd! illustrious light From light illustrious! Thou, whose regal power, Finite in time, but infinite in space,
On more than adamantine basis fix'd,
O'er more, far more, than diadems and thrones, Inviolably reigns; the dread of gods!
And Oh! the friend of man! beneath whose foot, And by the mandate of whose aweful nod, All regions, revolution, fortunes, fates, Of high, of low, of mind, and matter, roll Through the short channels of expiring time, Or shoreless ocean of eternity,
Calm, or tempestuous (as thy spirit breathes), In absolute subjection! And, O thou The glorious third! distinct, not separate! Beaming from both! with both incorporate; And (strange to tell!) incorporate with dust! By condescension, as thy glory, great, Enshrin'd in man! of human hearts, if pure, Divine inhabitant! the tie divine
Of Heaven with distant Earth! by whom I trust,
(If not inspir'd) uncensur'd this address
To thee, to them-to whom! - Mysterious power! Reveal'd! -yet unreveal'd! darkness in light!
Number in unity! our joy! our dread! The triple bolt that lays all wrong in ruin!
*Nights the Sixth and Seventh,
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