網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

And ofttheyplunge themselves themireamong: But ay the ruthless driver goads them on, And ay of barking dogs the bitter throng Makes them renew their unmelodious moan; Ne ever find they rest from their unresting sone.

§ 53. To the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton. THOMSON.

Inscribed to the Right Honorable Sir Robert Walpole. SHALL the great soul of Newion quit this earth, To mingle with his stars; and every Muse, Astonish'd into silence, shun the weight Of honors due to his illustrious name? But what can man? - Even nowthesonsoflight, In strains high warbled to seraphic lyre, Hail his arrival on the coast of bliss. Yet am I not deterr'd though high the theme, And sung to harps of angels; for with you, Ethereal flaines! ambitious I aspire

In Natures general symphony to join. [guest? And what new wonders can you show your Who, while on this dim spot, where mortals toil Clouded in dust, from Motion's simple laws Could trace the secret hand of Providence Wide-working thro' this universal frame.

Have ye not listen'd, while he bound the suns And planets to their spheres? th' unequal task Of human kind till then. Oft had they roll'd O'er erring man the year, and oft disgrac'd The pride of schools, before their course was Full in its causes and effects, to him, [known All-piercingsage! who sat not down and dream'd Romantic schemes, defended by the din Of specious words, and tyranny of names; But bidding his amazing mind attend, And, with heroic patience, years and years Deep searching saw at last the system dawn, And shine of all his race on him alone. [strong! What were his raptures then: how purs! how And whatthe triumphs of old Greece and Rome, By his diminish'd, but the pride of boys In some small fray victorious! when instead Of shatter'd parcels of this earth usurp'd By violence unmanly, and sore deeds Of cruelty and blood, Nature herself Stood all-subdued by him, and open laid Her ev'ry latent glory to his view. All intellectual eve, our solar round First gazing thro', he, by the blended pow'r Of gravitation and projection, saw The whole in silent harmony revolve. From unassisted vision hid, the moons, To cheer remoter planets numerous form'd, By him in all their mingled tracts were seen. He also fix'd our wand'ring queen of night; Whether she wanes into a scanty orb, Or, waxing broad, with her pale shadowy light, In a soft deluge overflows the sky. Her ev'ry notion clear discerning. He Adjusted to the mutual main, and taught Why now the mighty mass of water swells Resistless, heaving on the broken rocks, And the full river turning; till again

The tide revertive, unattracted leaves A yellow waste of idle sands behind.

Then breaking hence, he took his ardent Thro' the blue infinite; and every star, [flight Which the clear concave of a winter's night Pours on the eye, or astronomic tube, Far-stretching snatches from the dark abyss, Or such as farther in successive skies To fancy shine alone, at his approach Blaz'd into suns, the living centre each Of an harmonious system: all conbin'd, And ruled unerring by that single pow'r Which draws the stone projected to the ground O unprofuse magnificence divine! Owisdom truly perfect! thus to call. From a few causes such a scheme of things, Effects so various, beautiful, and great, An universe complete! and, O belov'd Of Heaven, whose well-purg'd penetrative eye, The mystic veil transpiercing, inly scann'd The rising, moving, wide-establish'd frame.

He first of men, with awfu̸l wing pursued The Coinet thro' the long elliptic curve, As round iunum'rous worlds he wound his way; Till, to the forehead of our evening sky Return'd, the blazing wonder glares anew, And o'er the trembling nations shakes dismay.

The heavens are all his own; from the wild Of whirling vortices and circling spheres, [rule To their first great simplicity restor❜d. The schools astonish'd stood; but found it vain To combat still with demonstration strong, And, unawaken'd, dream beneath the blaze Of truth. At once their pleasing visions fled, With the gay shadows of the morning mix'd, When Newton rose, our philosophic sun.

The aerial flow of sound was known to him,
From whence it first in wavy circles breaks,
Till the touch'd organ takes the message in.
Nor could the darting beam, of speed immense
Escape his swift pursuit, and measuring eye.
Even light itself, which ev'ry thing displays,
Shone undiscover'd, till his brighter mind
Untwisted all the shining robe of day;
And from the whitening undistinguish'd blaze
Collecting ev'ry ray into his kind,
To the charm'd eye educ'd the gorgeous train
Of parent-colors. First the flaming red
Sprung vivid forth; the tawny orange next;
And next delicious yellow, by whose side
Fell the kind beams of all-refreshing green;
Then the pure blue, that swells antumnal skies,
Ethereal play'd; and then, of sadder hue,
Emerg'd the deepen'd indigo, as when
The heavy-skirted evening droops with frost;
While the last gleamings of refracted light
Died in the fainted violet away.

These, when the clouds distil the rosy show'r,
Shine out distinct adown the wat'ry bow;
While o'er our heads the dewy vision bends
Delightful, melting on the fields beneath.
Myriads of mingling dyes from these result
And myriads still remain-Infinite source
Of beauty, ever-flushing, ever new!
Ee 4

Did

Did ever poet image aught so fair, [brook!
Dreaming in whispering groves by the hoarse
Or prophet, to whose rapture heaven descends!
Even now the setting sun and shifting clouds,
Seen, Greenwich, from thy lovely heights, declare
How just, how beauteous the refractive law.
The noiseless tide of time, all bearing down
To vast eternity's unbounded sea,

Where the green island of the happy shine,
He stemm'd alone: and to the source (involv'd
Deep in primæval gloom) ascending, rais'd
His lights at equal distances, to guide
Historian, wilder'd on his darksome way.

But who can number up his labors? who
His high discov ries sing? when but a few
Of the deep studying race can stretch their minds
To what he knew in fancy's lighter thought
How shall the Muse then graspthe mighty theme?
What wonder thence that his devotion swell'd
Responsive to his knowledge? for could he,
Whose piercing mental eye diffusive saw
The finish'd university of things,
In all its order, magnitude and parts,
Forbear incessant to adore that Pow'r
Who fills, sustains, and actuates the whole?
Say, ye who best can tell, ye happy few,
Who saw him in the softest lights of life,
All unwithheld, indulging to his friends
The vast unborrow'd treasures of his mind,
Oh speak the wond'rous man! how mild, how
How greatly humble, howdivinely good; [calm,
How firm establish'd on eternal truth;
Fervent in doing well, with ev'ry nerve
Still pressing on, forgetful of the past,
And panting for perfection: far above
Those little cares and visionary joys
That so perplex the fond impassion'd heart
Of ever-cheated, ever-trusting man!

That now he wanders thro' those endless worlds
He here so well descried, and wond'ring talks'
And hymns their Author with his glad compeers
O Britain's boast! whether with angels thou
Sittest in dread discourse, or fellow-blest,
Who joy to see the honor of their kind;
Or whether, mounted on cherubic wing,
Thy swift career is with the whirling orbs,
Comparing things with things, in rapture lost,
And grateful adoration, for that light
So plenteous ray'd into thy mid below,
From Light himself; O look with pity down
On human kind a frail erroneous race!
Exalt the spirit of a downward world!
O'er thy dejected country chief preside,
And be her Genius call'd! her studies raise,
Correct her manners, and inspire her youth:
For, tho'deprav'd and sunk, she broughttheeforth,
And glories in thy name; she points thee out
To all her sons, and bids them eye thy star:
While in expectance of the second life,
When time shall be no more, the sacred dust
Sleeps with her kings, and dignifies the scene.

§ 54. Hymn on Solitude. THOMSON.
HAIL, mildly-pleasing Solitude,
Companion of the wise and good:
But from whose holy piercing eye
The herd of fools and villains fly.

Oh how I love with thee to walk,
And listen to thy whisper'd talk,
Which innocence and truth imparts,
And melts the most obdurate hearts!

A thousand shapes you wear with ease,
And still in ev'ry shape you please.
Now wrapt in some mysterious dream,
A lone philosopher you seem;
Now quick from hill to vale you fly,
And now you sweep the vaulted sky.
A shepherd next you haunt the plain,
And warble forth your oaten strain;
A lover now, with all the grace
Of that sweet passion in your face
Then, calm'd to frindship, you assume
The gentle-looking Hartford's bloom,
As, with her Musidora, she
But hark! methinks I hear a warning voice, (Her Musidora fond of thee)
Solemn as when some awful change is come, Amid the long withdrawing vale
Sound thro' the world-" "Tis done! the mea-Awakes the rival'd nightingale.

And you, ye hopeless gloomy-minded tribe,
You, who, unconscious of those nobler flights
That reach impatient at immortal life,
Against the prime endearing privilege
Of being dare contend, say, can a soul
Of such extensive, deep, tremendous pow'rs,
Enlarging still, be but a finer breath
Of spirits dancing thro' their tubes awhile,
And then for ever lost in vacant air?

Thine is the balmy breath of morn,
Just as the dew-bent rose is born;
And while meridiau fervors beat
Thine is the woodland dumb retreat;
But chief, when evening scenes decay ;
And the faint landscape swims away,
boast,Thine is the doubtful soft decline,

"sure's full;
[stones,
"And I resign my charge."-Ye mould'ring
That build the tow'ring pyramid, the proud
Triumphal arch, the monument effac'd
By ruthless ruin, and whate'er supports
The worshipp'd name of hoar antiquity,
Down to the dust what grandeur can ye
While Newton lifts his column to the skies,
Beyond the waste of time? Let no weak drop
Be shed for him. The virgin in her bloom
Cut off, the joyous youth, and darling child,
These are the tombs that claim the tender tear
And elegiac song. But Newton calls
For other notes of gratulation high,

And that best hour of musing thine.

Descending angels bless thy train,
The virtues of the sage and swain;
Plain innocence, in white array'd,
Before thee lifts her fearless head:
Religion's beams around thee shine,
And cheer thy glooms with light divine:
About

About thee sports sweet Liberty;
And rapt Urania sings to thee.
Oh, let me pierce thy secret cell
And in thy deep recesses dwell.
Perhaps from Norwood's oak-clad hill,
When meditation has her fill,
I just may cast my careless eyes
Where London's spiry turrets rise;
Think of its crimes, its cares, its pain,
Then shield me in the woods again.

$55. Hymn to Darkness. YALDEN DARKNESS, thou first great parent of us fit

Thou art our great original;

Since from thy universal womb[sprintcome. Does all thou shad'st below, thy numerous offThy wond'rous birth is even to Time unknown,

Or, like eternity, thoud'st none; Whilst Light did its first being owe Unto that awful shade it dares to rival now. Say, in what distant region dost thou dwell, To Reason inaccessible?

From form and duller matter free,
Thousoar stabove the reach of man's philosophy.
Involv'd in thee, we first receive our breath,

Thou art a refuge too in death:
Great monarch of the grave and womb!
Where'er our souls shall go, totheeourbodiescome.
The silent globe is struck with awful fear,

When thy majestic shades appear :
Thou dost compose the air and sea, [thee.
And Earth a sabbath keeps, sacred to rest and
In thy serener shades our ghosts delight,

Ánd court the umbrage of the night;
In vaults and gloomy caves they stray,
But fly the morning beanis,and sicken at theday.
Though solid bodies dare exclude the light,
Nor will the brightest ray admit;
No substance can thy force repel,
Thou reign'st in depths below, dost in the centre
dwell.

The sparkling gems, and ore in mines below,

To thee their beauteous lustre owe;
Tho' form'd within the tomb of night,
Bright as their fire they shine, with native rays
of light.

When thou dost raise thy venerable head,
And art in genuine night array'd,
Thy negro beauties then delight;
Beauties, like polish'd jet, with their own
ness bright.

Calm as the bless'd above the anchorites dwell
Within their peaceful gloomy cell;
Their minds with heavenly joys are fill'd;
The pleasures Light denies, thy shades for ever
yield.

In caves of night, the oracles of old
Did all their mysteries unfold:
Darkness did first Religion grace,

Gaveterrors to the God, and reverence to the place.
When the Almighty did on Horeb stand,
Thy shades inclos'd the hallow'd land,
In clouds of night he was array'd,
And venerable darkness his pavillion made.
When he appear'darm'd in his pow'r and might,
He veil'd the beatific light;
When, terrible with majesty, [thee.
In tempests he gave laws, and clad himself in
Ere the foundation of the earth was laid,

Or brighter firmament was made;
Ere matter, time, or place was known,
Thou, Monarch Darkness, sway'dst these spa-
cious realms alone.

But now the moon, (tho' gay with borrow'd
Invades the scanty lot of Night: [light)
By rebel subjects thou'rt betray'd,
The anarchy of stars depose their monarch,Shade.
Yet fading Light its empire must resign,

And Nature's pow'r submit to thine :
An universal ruin shall erect thy throne,
And Fate confirm thy kingdom evermorethyown.

§ 56. Education. WEST.
Written in imitation of the Style and Manner
of Spencer's Fairy Queen.
Inscribed to Lady Langham, widow of Sir Jo.
Langham, Bart.

"Unum studium vere liberale est, quod liberum "facit. Hoc sapientiæ studium est, sublime, "forte, magnanimum: cætera pusilla et puerilia, "sunt.--Plus scire velle quam sit satis, intem

66

perantiæ genus est. Quid, quod ista libera-
"lium artium consectatio molestos, verbosos,
"intempestivos, sibi placentes facit, et ideo non
"dicentes necessaria, quia supervacua didice
"runt."
SEN. Ep. 88.

O GOODLY Discipline! from Heaven ysprung,
Parent of Science, queen of Arts refin'd!
To whom the Graces and the Nine belong,
Oh! bid those Graces, in fair chorus join'd
With each bright virtue that adorns the mind,
Oh! bid the Muses, thine harmonious train,
dark-Who by thy aid erst humaniz'd mankind,

Thou dost thy smiles impartially bestow,
And know'st no diff'reuce here below:
All things appear the same by thee,
Tho' Light distinction makes, thou giv'st equality.
Theu, Darkness, art the lover's kind retreat,

And dost the nuptial joys complete;
Thou dost inspire them with thy shade,
Giv'st vigor to the youth, and warm'st the
yielding maid.

Inspire, direct, and moralize the strain Egain.
That doth essay to teach thy treasure how to

And thou, whose pious and maternal care,
The substitute of heavenly Providence,
With tend'rest love my orphan life did rear,
And train me up to manly strength and sense,

With mildest awe and virtuous influence
Directing my unpractis'd wayward feet
To the smooth walks of Truth and Innocence,
Where flappiness heartfelt, Contentment sweet,
Philosophy divine, aye hold their blest retreat;

Thou,

Thou, most belov'd, most honor'd, most rever'd!
Accept this Verse, to thy large merit due!
And blame me not, if, by each tie endear'd
Of nature, gratitude, and friendship true,
The whiles this moral thesis I pursue,
And trace the plan of goodly nurture
* o'er,
1 bring thy modest virtues into view,
And proudly boast that from thy precious store,
Which erst enrich'd my heart, I drew this sacred

lore.

And thus, I ween, thus shall I best repay
The valu'd gifts thy careful love bestow'd,
If imitating thee well as I may

I labor to diffuse th' important good,
Till this great truth by all be understood-
"That all the pious duties which we owe
"Our parents, friends, our country, and our
"The seeds of ev'ry virtue here below, [God,
From discipline alone and early culture grow.'

CANTO I.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Knight, as to Pædia's + house
He his young son conveys,
Is staid by Custom, with him fights,
And his vain pride disdays. .

A GENTLE knight there was whose noble deeds
O'er Fairyland by Faine were blazon'd round;
For warlike enterprize and sage areeds
Among the chief alike was he renown'd,
Whence with the marks of highest honors
By Gloriana, in domestic peace, [crown'd
That port to which the wise are ever bound,
He anchor'd was, and chang'd the tossing seas
Of bustling busy life for calm sequester'd case.
There in domestic virtue rich and great,
As erst in public, 'mid his wide domain
Long in primeval patriarchal state,
The lord, the judge, the father of the plain
He dwelt; and with him in the golden chain
Of wedded faith ylink'd a matron sage
Aye dwelt, sweet partner of his joy and pain!
Sweet charmer of his youth, friend of his
Skill'd to improve his bliss, his sorrows to assuage!
From this fair union, not of sordid gain,
But merit similar and mutual love,
True source of lineal virtue, sprung a train-
Of youths and virgins, like the beauteous grové
Which round the temple of Olyiupic Jove
Begirt with youthful bloom the parent tree
The sacred olive, whence old Elis wove
Her verdant crowns of peaceful victory,
The guerdons of bold strength and swift activity.
So round their noble parents goodly rose
These gen'rous scions; they with watchful care,

Still as the swelling passions 'gan disclose
The buds of future virtues, did prepare
With prudent culture the young shoots to rear,
And aye in this endearing pious toil
They by a palmer¶sage instructed were, [while
Who from deep thought and studious search ere-
Had learnt to mend the heart and till the hu-
man soil.

For-by celestial Wisdom whilom led

Thro' all the apartments of th' immortal mind.
He view'd the secret stores, and mark'd the sted**
To judgement, wit, and imemory, assign'd;
And now sensation and reflection join'd
To fill the images her darksome grotte,,
Where variously disjointed or combin'd,
As reason, fancy, or opinion, wrought,[thought.
Theirvariousmasksthey play'd, and fed herpensive
Als++ thro' the fields of Science had he stray'd
With eager search, and sent his piercing eye
Thro' each learn'd school, each philosophieshade,
Where Truth and Virtue erst were deem'd to lie,
If haply the fair vagrants he mote ‡‡ spy,
Or hear the music of their charming lore;
But all unable there to satisfy

His curious soul, he turn'd him to explore
The sacred writ of Faith, to learn, believe, adore.
Thence foe profess'd of Falsehood and Deceit,
Those sly artificers of Tyranny,
Aye holding up before uncertain feet
His faithful light to knowledge, Liberty,
Mankind he led to civil policy,
And mild Religion's charitable law,
That fram'd by Mercy and Benignity
The persecuting sword forbids to draw,
And free-created souls with penal terrors awe.
Ne with the glorious gifts elate and vain
Lock'd he his wisdom up in churlish pride,
But stooping from his height would even deiga
The feeble steps of infancy to guide :
Eternal glory him therefore betide ;

Let ev'ry gen'rous youth his praise proclaim,
Whowand'ring thro' the world's rude forest wide,
age,By him hath been ytaught his course to frame
ToVirtue'ssweetabodesandheavenaspiring Fame!
For this the Fairy knight with anxious thought
And fond paternal care his counsel pray'd,
And him of gentlest courtesy besought
His guidance to vouchafe and friendly aid,
The while his tender offspring he convey'd
§,Thro' devious paths to that secure retreat
Where sage Pædia with each tuneful maid
On a wide mount had fix'd her rural seat,
Mid flow'rygardens plac'd, untrod by vulgar feet.
And now forth-pacing with his blooming heit,
And that same virtuous palmer them to guide,

Areeds, counsels,

* Nurture, education. + Pædia is a Greek word, signifying education. § Parent tree the sacred olive.] This tree grew in the Altis, or sacred grove of Olympic Jupiter, at Olympia, having, as the Eleans pretended, been originally planted there by Hercules. It was esteemed sacred; and from that were taken the Olympic crowns.

Guerdons, rewards. Palmer, pilgrim. **Sted, place, station.

The person here signifiedis Mr. Locke, characterized by his works.
tt Als,also, further.

#Mote, might.

Arm'd

Arm'd all to point, and on a courser fair
Ymounted high, in military pride,

His little train before he slow did ride,
Him cke behind a gentle 'squire ensues,
With his young lord aye marching side by side,
His counsellor and guard in goodly thews*,
Who well had been brought up and nurs'd by
· ev'ry Muse.

Was erst upthrown, if so it mote attain,
Like that poetic mountain, to be hight¶
The noble seat of Learning's goodly train;
Thereto, the more to captivate the sight
It like a garden fair most curiously was dight**,
In figur'd plots with leafy walls enclos'd,
By measure and by rule it was outlay'd,
With symmetry so regular dispos'd
That plot to plot still answer'd shade to shade;
Each correspondent twain alike array'd
With like embellishments of plants and flow'rs,
of statues, vases, spouting founts, that play'd
Thro' shells of Tritons their ascending show'ts,
And labyrinths involv'd and trelice-wovca
bow'rs.

Thus as their pleasing journey they pursu'd,
With cheerful argument beguiling pain,
Ere long descending from an hill they view'd
Beneath their eyes outstretch'd a spacious plain,
That fruitful show'd and apt for ev'ry grain,
For pastures, vines, and flow'rs, while Nature fair
Sweet smiling all around with count'nance fain†
Seem'd to demand the tiller's art and care
There likewise mote be seen on ev'ry side
Her wildness to correct, her lavish waste repair. The yew obedient to the planter's will,
Right good I ween and bounteous was the soil, And shapely box of all their branching pride
Ave wont in happy season to repay
Ungently shorne, and with prepost'rous skill
To various beasts and birds of sundry quill
With tenfold usury the peasant's toil,
Transform'd, and human shapesofmonstroussize.
But now it was ruin all and wild decay;
Untill'd the garden and the fallow lay, grown, Huge as that giant race who hill on hill [prize ++
The sheep-shorne down with barren brakes 1 o'er-High-heaping, sought with impious vain em-
The whiles the merry peasants sport and play
Despite of thund'ring Jove to scale the steepyskies.
All as the public evil were unknown,
Als other wonders of the sportive shears
Fair Nature misadorning there were found
Globes, spiral columns, pyramids, and piers,
With sprouting arns and budding statues
And horizontal dials on the ground [crown'd,
In living box by cunning artists trac'd,
And gallies trim on no long voyage bound,
But by their roots there ever anchor'd fast,[blast.
All were their bellying sails outspread to ev'ry
O'er all appear'd the mountain's forked brows
With terrasses on terrasses upthrown,
And all along arrang'd in order'd rows
And vistos broad the velvet slopes adown
The ever verdant trees of Daphne shone;
But aliens to the clime, and brought of old
From Latian plains and Grecian Helicon,
They shrunk and languish'd in a foreign mould,
By changeful summers starv'd, and pinch'd by
winter's cold.

Or ev'ry public care from ev'ry breast was flown.

Astonish'd at a scene at once so fair
And so deform'd, with wonder and delight
At man's neglect and Nature's bounty rare,
In studious thought awhile the Fairy knight
Bent on that goodly lond & his eager fight,
Then forward rush'd impatient to descry
What towns and castles therein were e pight;
For towns him seem'd and castles he did spyleye.
As to th' horizon round he stretch'd his roaming
Nor long way had they travell'd ere they came
To a wide stream that with tumultuous roar
Amongst rude rocks its winding course did frame,
Black'd was the wave and sordid, cover'd o'er
With angry foam, and stain'd with infants' gore:
Thereto, along th' unlovely margin stood
A birchen grove that waving from the shore
Aye cast upon the tide its falling bud,
And with its bitter juice empoison'd all the flood.
Right in the centre of the vale empight
Not distant far a forked mountain rose,
In outward form presenting to the sight
That fam'd Parnassian hill on whose fair brows
The Nine Aonian Sisters wont repose,
List'ning to sweet Castalia's sounding stream,
Whichthro' theplains of Cirrha murm'ring flows;
But this to that compar'd mote justly seem
Nefitting haunt forgods, neworthy man's esteem.

Amid this verdant grove with solemn state,
On gokien thrones of antic form reclin'd,
In mimic majesty Nine Virgins sat,

In features various as unlike in mind:
Als boasted they themselves of heavenly kind,
And to the sweet Parnassian Nymphs allied;
Thence round their brows the Delphic bay they
twin'd,

And matching with high names their apish pride,
O'er ev'ry learned school aye claim'd they to
preside.

For this, nor founded deep nor spredden wide,In antic garbs (for modern they disdain'd)
Nor high uprais'd above the level plain, By Greek and Roman artists whilom §§ made,
By toiling art thro' tedious years applied,
Of various woofs and variously distain'd
From various parts compil'd with studious pain, With tints of ev'ry hue were they array'd;

• Thews, manners. Empight, placed.

+ Brakes, briers.

**

§ Lond land.

Fain, earnest, eager.
Hight, called, named.
Dight, drest.
#All, used frequently by the old English poets for although.

Emprize, enterprise, attempt. $5 Whilom, formerly,

And

« 上一頁繼續 »