And fated to furvive the tranfient fun!
By mortals, and immortals, feen with awe!
A ftarry crown thy raven brow adorns,
An azure zone thy waift; clouds, in heaven's loom
Wrought through varieties of fhape and shade,
In ample folds of drapery divine,
Thy flowing mantle form; and heaven throughout,
Voluminously pour thy pompous train.
Thy gloomy grandeurs (nature's most auguft,
Infpiring afpect!) claim a grateful verfe;
And, like a fable curtain ftarr'd with gold,
Drawn o'er my labours past, shall close the scene.
And what, O man! fo worthy to be fung?
What more prepares us for the fongs of heaven?
Creation, of archangels is the theme!
What, to be fung, fo needful? What fo well
Celestial joys prepare us to fuftain ?
The foul of man, His face defign'd to see
Who gave
thefe wonders to be seen by man,
Has here a previous scene of objects great,
On which to dwell; to ftretch to that expanfe
Of thought, to rife to that exalted height
Of admiration, to contract that awe,
And give her whole capacities that ftrength,
Which beft may qualify for final joy.
The more our fpirits are enlarg'd on earth,
The deeper draught fhall they receive of heaven.
Heaven's King! whose face unveil'd confummates
Redundant blifs! which fills that mighty void,
The whole creation leaves in human hearts!
Thou, who didit touch the lip of Jeffe's fon,
Rapt in sweet contemplation of these fires,
And fet his harp in concert with the spheres ;
While of thy works material the Supreme
I dare attempt, affist my daring song,
Loose me from earth's inclosure, from the fun's
Contracted circle set my heart at large;
Eliminate my spirit, give it range
Through provinces of thought yet unexplor'd;
Teach me, by this ftupendous scaffolding,.
Creation's golden steps, to climb to Thee.
Teach me with art great nature to control,
And fpread a luftre o'er the fhades of night.
Feel I thy kind affent ? and shall the fun
Be feen at midnight, rifing in my fong?
Lorenzo! come, and warm thee: thou whose heart,
Whofe little heart, is moor'd within a nook
Of this obfcure terreftrial, anchor weigh.
Another ocean calls, a nobler port;
I am thy pilot, I thy profperous gale.
Gainful thy voyage through yon azure main;
Main, without tempeft, pirate, rock, or fhore ;
And whence thou may'ft import eternal wealth; 605
And leave to beggar'd minds the pearl and gold.
Thy travels doft thou boast o'er foreign realms ?
Thou ftranger to the world! thy tour begin;
Thy tour through nature's univerfal orb.
Nature delineates her whole chart at large,
On foaring fouls, that fail among the spheres ;
And man how purblind, if unknown the whole!
Who circles fpacious earth, then travels here,
Shall own, he never was from home before!
Come, my Prometheus, from thy pointed rock 615
Of false ambition if unchain'd, we 'll mount;
We'll, innocently, steal celeftial fire,
And kindle our devotion at the ftars;
A theft, that shall not chain, but fet thee free.
Above our atmosphere's inteftine wars,
Rain's fountain-head, the magazine of hail;
Above the northern nefts of feather'd fnows,
The brew of thunders, and the flaming forge
That forms the crooked lightning; above the caves
Where infant tempefts wait their growing wings, 625.
And tune their tender voices to that roar,
Which foon, perhaps, shall shake a guilty world;
Above mifconftrued omens of the sky,
Far-travel'd comets' calculated blaze;
Elance thy thought, and think of more than man. 630
Thy foul, till now, contracted, wither'd, fhrunk,
Blighted by blafts of earth's unwholfome air,
Wili bloffom here; fpread all her faculties
To these bright ardours; every power unfold,
And rife into fublimities of thought.
Stars teach, as well as fine. At nature's birth,
Thus their commiffion ran-" Be kind to man.' "
Where art thou, poor benighted traveller!
The Stars will light thee; though the Moon fhould fail. Where are thou, more benighted! more astray! 640
In ways immortal? The Stars call thee back
And, if obey'd their counfel, fet thee right.
This prospect vaft, what is it ?-Weigh'd aright 'Tis nature's fyftem of divinity,
And every student of the Night infpires.
'Tis elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand :
Scripture authentic! uncorrupt by man.
Lorenzo! with my Radius (the rich gift
Of thought nocturnal !) I'll point out to thee
Its various leffons; fome that may furprize
An un-adept in myfteries of Night;
Little, perhaps, expected in her school,
Nor thought to grow on planet, or on star.
Bulls, lions, fcorpions, monsters here we feign; Ourselves more monftrous, not to see what here 655 Exifts indeed;-a lecture to mankind.
What read we here?-Th' existence of a God?
Yes; and of other beings, man above;
Natives of Æther! Sons of higher climes!
And, what may move Lorenzo's wonder more, 660 Eternity is written in the skies.
And whofe eternity ?-Lorenzo! Thine;
Mankind's eternity. Nor Faith alone,
Virtue grows here; here springs the fovereign cure
Of almost every vice; but chiefly Thine;
Wrath, Pride, Ambition, and impure Defire.
Lorenzo! Thou canft wake at midnight too, Though not on Morals bent: Ambition, Pleasure ! Those tyrants I for Thee fo* lately fought,
Afford their harrafs'd flaves but flender refl.
Thou to whom midnight is immoral noon,
And the fun's noon-tide blaze, prime dawn of day;
Not by thy climate, but capricious crime,
Commencing one of our Antipodes!
In thy nocturnal rove, one moment halt,
'Twixt stage and stage, of riot, and cabal;
And lift thine eye, (if bold an eye to lift,
If bold to meet the face of injur'd heaven)
To yonder ftars: For other ends they fhine,
Than to light revellers from shame to shame,
And, thus, be made accomplices in guilt.
Why from yon arch, that infinite of space,
With infinite of lucid orbs replete,
Which fet the living firmament on fire,
At the first glance, in fuch an overwhelm
Of wonderful, on man's astonish'd fight,
Rushes omnipotence?-To curb our pride;
Our reafon roufe, and lead it to that power,
Whofe love lets down these filver chains of light;
To draw up man's ambition to himself,
And bind our chafte affections to his throne.
Thus the three virtues, leaft alive on earth,
And welcom'd on heaven's coaft with most applause,
An humble, pure, and heavenly-minded heart,
Are here infpir'd:-And canft thou gaze too long? 695
Nor ftands thy wrath, depriv'd of its reproof,
Or un-upbraided by this radiant choir..
The planets of each fyftem reprefent
Kind neighbours; mutual amity prevails;
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