Poetical essays on Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

I leave my wonted Themes, the Nymphs and Swains,
The shady Woods, clear Streams, and sunny Plains,
To sing the studious Sage, whose towering Mind
To this low Spot disdain'd to be confin'd:

Who to Creation's distant Regions soar'd,
And Wonders hid from human Eyes explor'd;
Did Nature's deep Recesses open lay,
Dispel the Gloom, and spread immortal Day.

O! could my Numbers like his System move,
Nor from just Laws of Truth, excursive rove,
Be smooth, yet nervous, regular, yet great,
Harmonious, lofty, simple yet compleat,
On Reason's well-pois'd Wings his Fame should rise,
And Newton's Column reach beyond the Skies.

Fair as the Spring, or Heav'n's ethereal Blue,
See each Discovery opens to our View.
See Light from him it's various Beauty draw,
And every sleeping Atom own his Law:
While Stars erratic regularly roll,
Know their markt Orbits, and obey their Pole.
He, doubtful Schemes to Demonstration brought,
What Plato sung, and Samos' Prophet taught.

A wondrous Power he saw diffus'd o'er all,
Which unremitting governs every Ball:
He saw perpetual Gravity obtain,
And o'er the System hold coercive Reign;
Without whose central Power, each lawless World
Wou'd thro' the Void in swift Career be hurl'd,
In boundless Skies still sweeping unwith-held,
For Matter only moves, as 'tis impell'd,
And when no foreign Energy's imprest,
Is still alike inclin'd to roll, or rest.

He shew'd before the wondrous Frame begun,
E'er infant Rays shot radiant from the Sun,
E'er darksome Planets knew their future Bound,
Or ductile Air confest the flow of Sound,
How in each separate Sphere, by Skill divine,
Two different Powers compos'd the great Design;
While the Projectile, and the Central share
Balance of Empire, in celestial Air.

And lo! each stagnate Mass begins its Race,
Starts from its Sleep, and wheels in empty Space.
Attending Moons perceive th'impulsive Force,
And round their Center steer in silent Course:
Still govern'd by the same mechanic Laws,
Each Orb obeys the Universal Cause.
With Force reciprocal in Concert shine,
Associate Planets in a curved Line.
Else by two Motions hung in Balance high,
They'd form a glittering Desart in the Sky,
A stagnate, wild, inhospitable Seat,
Curst with eternal Cold, or scorch'd with Heat.

But see from distant Heav'ns, a blazing Star ,
Visits our Coast, and flames in solar Air.
Nature in Labor sickens at the sight,
And fancy'd Judgments hover in its Light.

The fiery Tail a Croud of Ills portends,
Famine and Sword the baleful Meteor sends,
The Air is poison'd with th'impending Blaze,
And jarring Nations kindle at its Rays.

But Newton views the Scene without Surprize,
Salutes the Star, and hails it to our Skies;
Its wondrous Path soon open'd to his View,
And his swift Thought the lingring Light out flew;
He mark'd its Motions each returning Night,
Nor cou'd the Day conceal it from his sight.
And now it quits our Hemisphere, and flies
Beyond the narrow ken of human Eyes;
Thus Newton quits it not; but sees it sweep,
Far sunk behind the Curtains of the Deep:
Fathoms the vast Ellipsis in his Mind,
And leaves this planetary Spot behind,
Still he was with it where it farthest shone,
And steer'd the flying Flambeau round the Sun.

Led by this Guide, he march'd from Clime to Clime,
And trac'd the mazy Labyrinth of Time;
Beheld it first in morning Robes appear,
And dawning, usher in the infant Year.
Reform'd the Æras of the Golden Fleece,
And mark'd th'Olympic Kalendars of Greece.
When Truth was wrapt in Shade, and Science young,
Thro' the dim Space, he Lamps celestial hung,
To guide the dark Historian's erring way,
And o'er dull Records scatter welcome Day.

The Nations taught by him, no more shall dread
O'er half the Heav'ns, to see the Comet spread,
But pleas'd survey the Horrors of his Tail,
Worship his Beams, and his Approaches hail.

The silver Moon that with resplendent Robe
Majestic walks each Night around our Globe,

Watchful supplies her absent Brother's room,
And Queen of sleeping Nature, gilds the Gloom,
By Newton watch'd in her nocturnal Rounds,
Was oft observ'd to wander in her Bounds;
And shewn as oft to wander with design,
Recede by Rule, and quit th'Ecliptick Line.
To him with various Elegance she moves,
Retires in State, and regularly roves,
And constantly, inconstant in her Pace,
Error itself looks lovely in her Race.
Thus when disorder'd Grace, and artless Shew
Dwells in some Cynthia's careless Dress below,
Tho' we perceive no Order in her Air,
Yet Art lies hid behind each Lock of Hair,
The scatter'd Charms are plac'd with so much ease,
We know not how, but only that they please.

The watry Orb by his attractive Laws,
High in her azure Disk, the Deluge draws:

Ten thousand Streams her Influence obey,
And ebb, or flow by her celestial Sway.
The conscious Seas the wondrous Impulse feel,
And passive Billows with Reluctance reel.
The long mysterious Tides, obscure no more,
By Laws salute, by Laws forsake the Shore;
Their various Flows on Gravity depend,
Rise by its Force, and by its Force descend.
To this th'uncertain Fluxes round the Earth,
Ægean, or Atlantic, owe their birth,
When Cynthia in her Sphere alone attracts,
Or with the feebler Sun in concert acts.
'Tis thus she agitates th'elastic Air,
Successive Tides confess her Influence there;
In springy Filaments expanded rise,
And float in wavy Circles to the Skies.

Then to the Earth the Sage descending slow,
Sees how th'eternal Law prevails below;

Thro' all her Texture propagates its Force,
And keeps inferior Nature in its Course:
Else by the Globe's Rotation, Hills wou'd start,
And Trees, and Towns, in tangent Lines depart.
'Tis thus the Air within its Confines flows,
Moves in an Orb, and its own District knows:
This Power the raging Seas, and Winds contains,
Else might a Tempest reach th'ethereal Plains,
The Waves ungovern'd sally from the Deep,
And lawless Oceans thro' the Concave sweep.

Still step by step, the Godlike Chief pursues
The glorious Purpose, and the Toil renews.
In vain coy Nature wou'd his Grasp elude,
Conceal'd in mystic Shapes, and Solitude;
He traces each Meander of her Flight,
And keeps the shifting Fugitive in sight.
Thro' the fine Texture of material Parts
His subtle Thought with equal Swiftness darts;

Attraction sees in various Form obtain,
And Regent of atomic Kingdoms reign.
To this ascending Fountains owe their Birth,
And oozing Vapors percolate the Earth,
Weep thro' the porous Stone, pervade the Hill,
And filtred thro' the Glebe, in Streams distil.
Thus climbs the vital Sap, and by degrees,
With Heat expanded, penetrates the Trees;
The vivid Blood, thus permeates the Veins,
And thro' invisible Meanders strains.
Thus the minutest Corpuscles attract,
And little Powers in little Orbits act,
Obedient at the Point of Contact draw,
Embrace, and feel the universal Law.

The shining Fountain of refracted Rays,
In Robes of Lustre glitters to his Praise.
Reform'd by him, the Day more beauteous shews,
And the fair Morn with fairer Purple glows;

Earth looks more charming to the curious Eye,
And every Flower displays a richer Dye.
While all the fair Phænomena of Light,
Inform the Judgment, as they please the Sight.
We see the Texture of the glittering Bow,
And parent Colours from their Fountain flow;
Whence variously combin'd, with blended Blaze,
Starts all the wild Variety of Rays.

He taught, that Bodies vibrated around,
Produce the flow of Light, or flow of Sound:
How ambient Air in dancing Pulses heaves,
Unfolds its Web, and propagates its Waves,
Thro' the thin Cantons, undulating plays,
And to the trembling Organ Sound conveys.

How vast, how infinite th'amazing Train
Of simple Truths, which in his System reign!
Beauteous Cement! in one connected Line,
Like Rays from Heav'n, they in conjunction shine:

Thus in Assemblage, shine the starry Rays,
And form afar one undistinguish'd Blaze.

Blest is the Man, whose ever-studious Mind,
Can the fair Series of his Truths unwind,
And step by step th'harmonious Chain pursue,
Till Nature's Secrets open to his View.
In Philosophic Flights he soars serene,
And, rapt in Vision, sees the wondrous Scene:
Th'eternal Beauty opens to his sight,
Diviner Charms, and Deluges of Light.
He sees the Chain from Heav'n to Earth descend,
And on their latent Cause Effects depend,
That unseen Cause which agitates each Sphere,
Pervades the Mass, and rules the circling Year.

He views th'expanded Theatre above,
Where Planets in sublimer Orbits move.
To still remoter Tracts, his Thoughts arise,
And build exalted Stories in the Skies;

Where yon fix'd Stars their own bright Vault behold,
And other Spheres their spangled Lights unfold;
Where other Dramas, other Suns take place,
And flame throughout the Latitudes of Space.
Still rising, he adores the Power which reigns,
Supreme o'er all, and every part sustains.
For Newton saw, fair Stamp of Hand divine,
With conqu'ring Beauty o'er Creation shine;
He saw a mild Omnipotence preside,
And Deity diffus'd the System guide.
Charm'd with this Truth, a calm Devotion fir'd,
And Godlike Virtue all his Frame inspir'd.
A Mind thus buoy'd above terrestrial Show,
Smiles at the Comedy of Life below.

The World inform'd by his unerring Rules,
Quits the Enchantment of the slumbring Schools,
Forsakes her vain, and visionary Schemes,
The Din of Sounds, and Tyranny of Names;

Authority itself can't guard the Youth,
Nor, rob'd in all her Splendor, charm like Truth.
She comes encircled with resistless Ray,
And Sounds, and Signs, and Jargon fly away.

On airy Wings, Conjecture loves to climb,
And builds her Turret to the Skies sublime:
There on a Globe the hov'ring Phantom dwells,
Rais'd on a splendid Pyramid of Shells.
There soars the Phenix, with her flaming Plumes,
Fantastic Beings wander o'er the Rooms,
Chimæras, Sylphs, and banisht Fairies rest,
And Rosicrucian Sects the Clime infest;
But Newton came, and scatter'd all the Spell,
And to the ground the mimic Palace fell.
He from unquestion'd Facts his Work began,
And on a lasting Basis built his Plan.
From plain Experiment deriv'd his Scheme,
Still on Mechanic Reasoning, rais'd his Frame.

And from a Pendule, or Prismatic Glass,
Amazing Theorems of Truth could trace.

Hail! blest Experiment, whose grateful Light,
Dispels the Gloom of Sophistry and Night;
Discov'ry sits, close waiting, at thy side,
And Paths of Evidence thy Foot-steps guide;
Error from thee, as from the Morning, flies,
And Bigots half awake, see Light, and close their Eyes.

But oh! what equal Honors can be paid,
Illustrious Newton! to thy sacred Shade?
Let every gentle Blast of wavy Air,
To distant Climes, thy high Discov'ries bear,
And Light in every tremulating Ray
Diffuse thy Praise, who didst its Robes display:
And while the watry World obeys thy Laws,
Let grateful Billows swell with thy Applause.

Let none for him with Tears inglorious mourn,
Or shed unmanly Sorrows o'er his Urn;

To grace his Exit let no human Show,
Or tinsel Pomp attend his Hearse below:
But Ghosts of ancient Heroes rise in State,
And philosophic Shades, in Silence wait;
While Meteors 'midst the dim Procession play,
And Northern Streamers faintly gild the way,
Or Peals of Thunder murmur o'er the Sky,
Or Storms, like those, which rush, when Heroes die.

See where he mounts the high, diurnal Sphere,
And leaves a Trail of Light along the Air;
The Stars accost him, as he soars along,
And Souls of wandring Sages round him throng.
Mark! where he halts on Saturn, tipt with Snow,
And pleas'd surveys his Theory below;
Sees the five Moons alternate round him shine,
Rise by his Laws, and by his Laws decline,
Then thro' the Void takes his immortal Race,
Amidst the vast Infinity of Space.

The Comet in 1680.