And yet, so thwarted nature's kind design
By daring man, he makes her facred awe
(That guard from ill) his fhelter, his temptation
To more than common guilt, and quite inverts
Celestial art's intent. The trembling stars:
See crimes gigantic, ftalking through the gloom
With front erect, that hide their head by day,
And making night ftill darker by their deeds.
Slumbering in covert, till the shades defcend,
Rapine and Murder, link'd, now prowl for prey.
The mifer earths his treafure; and the thief,
Watching the mole, half-beggars him ere morn.
Now Plots, and foul Confpiracies, awake;
And, muffling up their horrors from the moon,
Havock and devaftation they prepare,
And kingdoms tottering in the field of blood.
Now fons of riot in mid-revel rage.
What fhall I do!--Supprefs it? or proclaim P
Why Sleeps the thunder? Now, Lorenzo! now,
His best friend's couch the rank adulterer
Afcends fecure; and laughs at gods and men,
Prepoferous madmen, void of fear or shame,
Lay their crimes bare to thefe chafte eyes of heaven; Yet fhrink, and fhudder, at a mortal's fight.
Were moon, and stars, for villains only made?
To guide, yet fcreen them, with tenebrious light? 965 No; they were made to fashion the fublime
Of human hearts, and wifer make the Wife.
Thofe ends were anfwer'd once; when mortals liv'd Of ftronger wing, of aquiline afcent
In theory fublime. O how unlike
Those vermin of the night, this moment fung,
Who crawl on Earth, and on her venom feed!
Those antient fages, Human ftars! They met
Their brothers of the Skies, at midnight hour;
Their counsel afk'd; and, what they ask'd, obey'd. 975
The Stagirite, and Plato, He who drank
The poifon'd bowl, and He of Tufculum,
With him of Corduba (immortal names !)
In these unbounded, and Elysian, walks,
An area fit for Gods, and Godlike men,
They took their nightly round, through radiant paths
By Seraphs trod; inftructed, chiefly, thus,
To tread in Their bright footsteps here below;
To walk in worth ftill brighter than the skies.
There they contracted their contempt of Earth;
Of hopes eternal kindled, There, the fire;
There, as in near approach, they glow'd, and grew
(Great vifitants !) more intimate with God,
More worth to Men, more joyous to Themfelves.
Through various Virtues, they, with ardour, ran 990
The Zodiac of their learn'd, illuftrious lives.
In Chriftian hearts, O for a Pagan zeal!
A needful, but opprobrious prayer! as much
Our Ardour Lefs, as Greater is our Light.
How monftrous This in Morals! Scarce more strange 995
Would this Phenomenon in nature ftrike,
A Sun, that froze her, or a Star, that warm'd.
What taught these heroes of the moral world?
To these thou giv ft the Praife, give Credit too.
These doctors ne'er were penfion'd to deceive thee; icoo
And Pagan tutors are thy taste.-They taught,
That, narrow views betray to misery :
That, wise it is to comprehend the whole :
That, Virtue, rose from Nature, ponder'd well,
The fingle bafe of Virtue built to heaven:
That God, and Nature, our attention claim:
That, Nature is the glafs reflecting God,
As, by the Sea, reflected is the Sun,
Too glorious to be gaz'd on in his sphere:
That, Mind immortal loves immortal aims :
That, boundless Mind affects a boundless Space:
That vast surveys, and the fublime of things,
The foul affimilate, and make her great:
That, therefore, heaven her glories, as a fund
Of infpiration, thus fpreads out to man.
Such are their doctrines; fuch the Night inspir'd.
And what more true? What truth of greater weight?
The foul of man was made to walk the skies;
Delightful outlet of her prifon Here!
There, difincumber'd from her chains, the ties
Of toys terreftrial, she can rove at large,
There, freely can refpire, dilate, extend,
In full proportion let loose all her powers;
And, undeluded, grafp at fomething great.
Nor, as a ftranger, does the wander there;
But, wonderful herfelf, through wonder ftrays;
Contemplating their grandeur, finds her own;
Dives deep in their economy divine,
Sits high in judgment on their various laws,
"And, like a mafter, judges not amifs.
Hence greatly pleas'd, and justly proud, the foul
Grows confcious of her birth celeftial; breathes
More life, more vigour, in her native air;
And feels herself at home amongst the stars;
And, feeling, emulates her country's praise.
What call we, then, the firmament, Lorenzo?--
As Earth the body, fince, the Skies sustain
The foul with food, that gives immortal life,
Call it, The noble pafture of the Mind;
Which there expatiates, ftrengthens, and exults, 1040
And riots through the luxuries of thought.
Call it, The Garden of the Deity,
Bloffom'd with ftars, redundant in the growth
Of fruit ambrofial; moral fruit to man.
Call it, The breast-plate of the true High-priest, 1045
Ardent with gems oracular, that give,
In points of highest moment, right refponfe;
And ill neglected, if we prize our peace.
Thus, have we found a true astrology ;
Thus, have we found a new, and noble fenfe,
In which alone ftars govern human fates.
O that the Stars (as fome have feign'd) let fall
Bloodshed, and havock, on embattled realms,
And rescued Monarchs from fo black a guilt!
Bourbon! this with how generous in a foe!
Wouldst thou be great, wouldst thou become a God,
And stick thy deathlefs name among the stars,
For mighty conquests on a needle's point?
Inftead of forging chains for foreigners,
Bafile thy Tutor: Grandeur all thy aim?
As yet thou know'ft not what it is: how great,
How glorious, then, appears the Mind of man,
When in it all the ftars, and planets, roll!
And what it feems, it is: Great objects make
Great minds, enlarging as their views enlarge; 1065
Thofe ftill more Godlike, as Thefe more divine.
And more divine than These, thou canst not fee.
Dazzled, o'er-power'd, with the delicious draught
Of miscellaneous fplendors, how I reel
From thought to thought, inebriate, without end! 1070
An Eden, this! a Paradife unloft!
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 haft thou feen."
Of curious arts art thou more fond? Then mark
The Mathematic glories of the fkies,
In number, weight, and measure, all ordain'd.
Lorenzo's boasted builders, Chance, and Fate,
Are left to finish his aërial towers;
Wifdom and Choice, their well-known characters
Here deep imprefs; and claim it for their own.
Though fplendid all, no fplendor void of use;
Ufe rivals Beauty; Art contends with Power;
No wanton wafte, amid effufe expence ;
The great Oeconomist adjufting all.
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