The soul with food that gives immortal life,
Call it the noble pasture of the mind,
Which there expatiates, strengthens, and exults,
And riots through the luxuries of thought.
Call it the garden of the Deity,
Blossom'd with stars, redundant in the growth
Of fruit ambrosial, moral fruit to man.
Call it the breast-plate of the true High-priest,
Ardent with gems oracular, that give
In points of highest moment, right response;
And ill neglected, if we prize our peace.
Thus have we found a true astrology;
Thus have we found a new and noble sense,
In which alone stars govern human fates.
O that the stars (as some have feign'd) let fall
Bloodshed and havoc on embattled realms,
And rescued monarchs from so black a guilt!
Bourbon! this wish how generous in a foe?
Wouldst thou be great, wouldst thou become a god,
And stick thy deathless name among the stars,
For mighty conquests on a needle's point?
Instead of forging chains for foreigners;
Bastile, thy tutor; grandeur, all thy aim?
And yet thou know'st not what it is. How great,
How glorious, then appears the mind of man,
When in it all the stars and planets roll!
And what it seems, it is. Great objects make
Great minds, enlarging as their views enfarge,
Those still more godlike as these more divine
And more divine than these, thou canst not see. Dazzled, o'erpower'd, with the delicious draught 1066 Of miscellaneous splendours, how I reel
From thought to thought, inebriate, without end!
An Eden this! a Paradise unlost!
I meet the Deity in every view,
And tremble at my nakedness before him '
O that I could but reach the tree of life'
For here it grows unguarded from our taste;
No flaming sword denies our entrance here:
Would man but gather, he might live for ever.
Lorenzo! much of moral hast thou seen:
Of curious arts art thou more fond? then mark
The mathematic glories of the skies,
In number, weight, and measure, all ordain'd.
Lorenzo's boasted builders, Chance and Fate,
Are left to finish his aerial towers;
Wisdom and Choice, their well known characters
Here deep impress, and claim it for their own.
Though splendid all, no splendour void of use.
Use rivals beauty, art contends with power;
No wanton waste amid effuse expense,
The great Economist adjusting all
To prudent pomp, magnificently wise.
How rich the prospect! and for ever new;
And newest, to the man that views it most;
Wheel within wheel, Ezekiel, like to thine'
Like thine, it seems a vision or a dream;
Though seen, we labour to believe it true!
What involution! what extent! what swarms
Of worlds, that laugh at earth! immensely great!
Immensely distant from each other's spheres! [roll?
What, then, the wondrous space through which they
At once it quite ingulfs all human thought;
"Tis Comprehension's absolute defeat.
Nor think thou seest a wild disorder here: Through this illustrious chaos to the sight, Arrangement neat and chastest order reign. The path prescribed, inviolably kept, Upbraids the lawless sallies of mankind. Worlds, ever thwarting, never interiere;
What knots are tied! how soon are they dissolved,
And set the seeming married planets free!
They rove for ever, without error rove;
Confusion unconfused! nor less admire
This tumult untumultuous; all on wing!
In motion all! yet what profound repose!
What fervid action, yet no noise! as awed
To silence by the presence of their Lord ;
Or hush'd by his command, in love to man,
And bid let fall soft beams on human rest,
Restless themselves. On yon cerulean plain,
In exultation to their God and thine,
They dance, they sing eternal jubilee,
Eternal celebration of his praise !
But since their song arrives not at our ear,
Their dance perplex'd exhibits to the sight
Fair hieroglyphic of his peerless power.
Mark how the labyrinthian turns they take,
The circles intricate, and mystic maze,
Weave the grand cipher of Omnipotence;
To gods how great! how legible to man!
Leaves so much wonder greater wonder still!
Where are the pillars that support the skies?
What more than Atlantean shoulder props
The' incumbent load? what magic, what strange art,
In fluid air these ponderous orbs sustains?
Who would not think them hung in golden chains ?——
And so they are; in the high will of Heaven,
Which fixes all; makes adamant of air,
Or air of adamant; makes all of nought,
Or nought of all, if such the dread decree.
Imagine from their deep foundations torn
The most gigantic sons of earth, the broad
And towering Alps, all toss'd into the sea;
And, light as down, or volatile as air,
Their bulks enormous dancing on the waves,
In time and measure exquisite; while all
The winds, in emulation of the spheres,
Tune their sonorous instruments aloft
The concert swell, and animate the ball.
Would this appear amazing ?-what then worlds
In a far thinner element sustain'd,
And acting the same part with greater skill,
More rapid movement, and for noblest ends?
More obvious ends to pass, are not these stars
The seats majestic, proud imperial thrones,
On which angelic delegates of Heaven,
At certain periods, as the Sovereign nods,
Discharge high trusts of vengeance or of love, 1160
To clothe in outward grandeur grand design,
And acts more solemn still more solemnize?
Ye citizens of air! what ardent thanks,
What full effusion of the grateful heart,
Is due from man, indulged in such a sight'
A sight so noble ! and a sight so kind!
Their restless roam, suggests the sister thought
Of boundless time. Thus, by kind Nature's skill,
To man unlabour'd, that important guest,
Eternity, finds entrance at the sight;
And an eternity for man ordain'd,
Or these his destined midnight counsellors,
The stars had never whisper'd it to man.
Nature informs, but ne'er insults, her sons:
Could she, then, kindle the most ardent wish
To disappoint it ?-That is blasphemy!
Thus of thy creed a second article,
Momentous as the' existence of a God,
Is found (as I conceive) where rarely sought,
And thou mayst read thy soul immortal here.
Here, then, Lorenzo! on these glor'es dwell;
Nor want the gilt, illuminated roof,
That calls the wretched gay to dark delights.
Assemblies?-this is one divinely bright;
Here, unendanger'd in health, wealth, or fame,
Range through the fairest, and the Sultan scorn.
He, wise as thou, no Crescent holds so fair
As that which on his turban awes a world,
And thinks the Moon is proud to copy him.
Look on her, and gain more than worlds can give,
A mind superior to the charms of power
Thou, muffled in delusions of this life!
Can yonder moon turn Ocean in his bed
From side to side in constant ebb and flow,
And purify from stench his watery realms?
And fails her moral influence? wants she power
To turn Lorenzo's stubborn tide of thought
From stagnating on earth's infected shore,
And purge from nuisance his corrupted heart?
Fails her attraction, when it draws to Heaven?
Nay, and to what thou valuest more, earth's joy?
Minds elevate, and panting for unseen,
And defecate from sense, alone obtain
Full relish of existence undeflower'd,
The life of life, the zest of worldly bliss;
All else on earth amounts--to what? to this:
'Bad to be suffer'd. blessings to be left :' Earth's richest inventory boasts no more.
Of higher scenes be then the call obey'd.
O let me gaze !-of gazıng there's no end.
O let me think!-thought, too, is wilder'd here;
In midway flight Imagination tires;
Yet soon reprunes her wing to soar anew,
Her point unable to forbear or gain;
So great the pleasure, so profound the plan!
A banquet this, where men and angels meet,
Eat the same manna, mingle Earth and Heaven.
How distant some of these nocturnal suns!
So distant (says the sage) 'twere not absurd
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