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CANTO I.
Cedite Romani Scriptores, cedite Graii.
PROPERT.
PROPERT.
Causa latet, vis est notissima. ------
OVID.
OVID.
------ Discors concordia foetibus apta est.
ID.
ID.
2
ARGUMENT.
The subject proposed.—Invocation.—Long despotic sway of Error, Ignorance, &c. over the regions of the Earth; and particularly this devoted Land.—Unexpected return of the Golden Age, with Civilization and Science.—Address to Philosophy, invoking her assistance to explain the Phenomenon.—The narrative then commences ‘ab ovo:’—Edinburgh: its desolate state: tutelary Genius:—divers of its Philosophers, and their vain endeavours to introduce a better order of things.—A happy Omen: The P---m---c Society:—their melancholy condition:— wonderful Illumination, and Metamorphosis:—first movements, and appearance in what may be termed their Nympha state of existence:—Anticipations of future Glory.
3
Now mighty Homer's long despotic sway,
And all the thunders of his song decay;
Sable with dust, he holds some shelf on high,
Mid moth-worn monkish tomes unseen to lie:
Now Virgil waves his silver Wand in vain,
His Magic Power shall not return again;
The youth, from deep enchantment of his page
Start up—while slow he creeps to cobweb hermitage:
And Milton, poet of the Worlds Unknown,
Now truly lies forgotten and alone;
His lofty Visions meet no wond'ring eye,
But far through Limbo drear for ever fly:
For, lo! I rise to wake a loftier strain—
No Bullies blust'ring on the Trojan plain,
No love-lorn Dido cursing faithless man,
No Demons wrangling in their dark divan;
Far be from me such unpoetic Themes,
Such vulgar visions mix not with my dreams;—
Give place to me, ye Minstrel Race of yore,
I sing the wondrous Prodigy of Lore!
I sing the Institute, in rapid rhyme,
Its monstrous Birth, and giant Growth sublime!
And all the thunders of his song decay;
Sable with dust, he holds some shelf on high,
Mid moth-worn monkish tomes unseen to lie:
Now Virgil waves his silver Wand in vain,
His Magic Power shall not return again;
4
Start up—while slow he creeps to cobweb hermitage:
And Milton, poet of the Worlds Unknown,
Now truly lies forgotten and alone;
His lofty Visions meet no wond'ring eye,
But far through Limbo drear for ever fly:
For, lo! I rise to wake a loftier strain—
No Bullies blust'ring on the Trojan plain,
No love-lorn Dido cursing faithless man,
No Demons wrangling in their dark divan;
Far be from me such unpoetic Themes,
Such vulgar visions mix not with my dreams;—
Give place to me, ye Minstrel Race of yore,
I sing the wondrous Prodigy of Lore!
I sing the Institute, in rapid rhyme,
Its monstrous Birth, and giant Growth sublime!
5
And Thou, O Muse, whose never sleeping eye
Bends on the poet, from thy Mount on high,
Command a Polar Star to guide my way,
With faithful course, and ever-burning ray;
While things unheard of yet in verse or prose,
With vent'rous step, I hasten to disclose.
Bends on the poet, from thy Mount on high,
Command a Polar Star to guide my way,
With faithful course, and ever-burning ray;
While things unheard of yet in verse or prose,
With vent'rous step, I hasten to disclose.
Long time had Genius slumber'd in his den,
And Science fled from every haunt of men,
Grim Ignorance, his ebon-tinctured robe
Flung o'er each region of the peopled globe:—
But chief where Scotia's rugged hills arise,
With heathy summits to the icy skies;
There moody Error held his iron reign,
And rampant Passion boil'd in every vein;
All, all appeared a wild and moral void,
No love was felt—no happiness enjoy'd;
Even Hope, her heaven-ward wing had stretch'd for flight,
And fiercely howl'd the grisly Fiends of night!
And Science fled from every haunt of men,
Grim Ignorance, his ebon-tinctured robe
Flung o'er each region of the peopled globe:—
But chief where Scotia's rugged hills arise,
With heathy summits to the icy skies;
There moody Error held his iron reign,
And rampant Passion boil'd in every vein;
All, all appeared a wild and moral void,
No love was felt—no happiness enjoy'd;
6
And fiercely howl'd the grisly Fiends of night!
But lo! at once, like lightning thro' the gloom.
Philosophy emerges from her tomb;
Truth spreads around her pure resistless ray;
Saturnian Ages rise again to Day;
The Veil that hid the Universe so fair,
Or only gave an image of despair,
Now in a thousand tatters sunder torn,
Unfolds the Spheres in radiant beauty borne;
The uncouth, savage Signs of human Thought,
No longer burst in discord from the throat,
But mouths rotund , and tongues of silver sound,
Pour Elocution's oily streams around;
The dark arcana of Alchemic search,
Sprout fresh and fair, as bark of silver birch;
Law rises bright, as Venus from the Brine,
And binds blood-thirsty hordes in Zone of love divine.
Philosophy emerges from her tomb;
Truth spreads around her pure resistless ray;
Saturnian Ages rise again to Day;
The Veil that hid the Universe so fair,
Or only gave an image of despair,
Now in a thousand tatters sunder torn,
Unfolds the Spheres in radiant beauty borne;
The uncouth, savage Signs of human Thought,
No longer burst in discord from the throat,
But mouths rotund , and tongues of silver sound,
Pour Elocution's oily streams around;
7
Sprout fresh and fair, as bark of silver birch;
Law rises bright, as Venus from the Brine,
And binds blood-thirsty hordes in Zone of love divine.
Come! Philosophic Spirit, wake, explore
The secret causes of such general Lore;
For thy etherial eye can clearly see,
What powers unseen bring forth the things that be.
The secret causes of such general Lore;
For thy etherial eye can clearly see,
What powers unseen bring forth the things that be.
High, in this proud Metropolis of our land,
The demon Error fix'd his firmest stand:
Alas! Dunedin's ancient, regal name,
For matchless ignorance was known to fame.
Her Genius long, in silence, wander'd o'er
The sandy beach of Fortha's murmuring shore;
Mid gloomy shades of Heroes once renown'd,
He groaning traced his melancholy round.—
The demon Error fix'd his firmest stand:
Alas! Dunedin's ancient, regal name,
For matchless ignorance was known to fame.
8
The sandy beach of Fortha's murmuring shore;
Mid gloomy shades of Heroes once renown'd,
He groaning traced his melancholy round.—
Though Ferguson, with angel ken, could scan
The laws of Nature, and the powers of Man;
His magic eloquence no charm possess'd
To move those hearts, like ocean rocks at rest;
And Stewart, too, the Statesman and the Sage,
The Amaranth of every coming age,
With all the energy his thoughts express,
Could not the arm of Error's power repress.—
In vain their eagle eyes, with stedfast glance,
Thro' media dim to Nature's depths advance;
In vain their moral maxims meet the ear,
No maxims move the wretch who will not hear;
Gregorian thunders repercuss in vain;
Like dying swan, poor Rhetoric wakes his strain;
Playfair perambulates the starry Zone,
And lists harmonious Spheres unheeded and alone;
And many another deep and learned Sage,
Pines unrequited by a thankless age.
The laws of Nature, and the powers of Man;
His magic eloquence no charm possess'd
To move those hearts, like ocean rocks at rest;
And Stewart, too, the Statesman and the Sage,
The Amaranth of every coming age,
With all the energy his thoughts express,
Could not the arm of Error's power repress.—
In vain their eagle eyes, with stedfast glance,
Thro' media dim to Nature's depths advance;
In vain their moral maxims meet the ear,
No maxims move the wretch who will not hear;
9
Like dying swan, poor Rhetoric wakes his strain;
Playfair perambulates the starry Zone,
And lists harmonious Spheres unheeded and alone;
And many another deep and learned Sage,
Pines unrequited by a thankless age.
Edina's Genius wept and wander'd yet,
Nor dared to prophecy a happier fate;
When lo! an Omen to his wat'ry eyes,
With meteor gleam, foretold new destinies;
It seemed to rise with gradual progress bright,
And scared old Error, and his Fiends of night.
Nor dared to prophecy a happier fate;
When lo! an Omen to his wat'ry eyes,
With meteor gleam, foretold new destinies;
It seemed to rise with gradual progress bright,
And scared old Error, and his Fiends of night.
There is within old Alma Mater's dome,
(In olden times Dame Learning's fav'rite home)
A snug apartment, thirteen feet by eight,
O'er-canopied with mossy-mantled slate:
Here crazy seats around the walls extend,
And tatter'd mats the well-worn floor defend;
Its cushion'd rostrum, too, had once been green,
And dirt and dullness sanctify the scene;
Here bugs from time unknown a fortress held,
And many a tribe of Orators expell'd;
Here cobweb tap'stry o'er the dusky wall,
Waves black and dismal, like a sable pall;
And seldom-lighted lamps, with sickly glow,
“O'er the dun gloom, a dreadful glimm'ring throw!”
(In olden times Dame Learning's fav'rite home)
A snug apartment, thirteen feet by eight,
O'er-canopied with mossy-mantled slate:
10
And tatter'd mats the well-worn floor defend;
Its cushion'd rostrum, too, had once been green,
And dirt and dullness sanctify the scene;
Here bugs from time unknown a fortress held,
And many a tribe of Orators expell'd;
Here cobweb tap'stry o'er the dusky wall,
Waves black and dismal, like a sable pall;
And seldom-lighted lamps, with sickly glow,
“O'er the dun gloom, a dreadful glimm'ring throw!”
Within the covert of this foul retreat,
A secret Junto oft were wont to meet,
By peril long, and tribulation prov'd,
And P---m---c was the name they lov'd;
Thus erst a hundred Seers lay safe encag'd,
When crafty Jezebel through Israel rag'd:
But now, nor ancient Hall nor gloomy Cave,
From hostile ken, could Learning's Lovers save!
Alas! grim Error, in his prowling round,
In their last hold, Dame Learning's children found!
O'er them he lov'd, with vulture wing to brood,
And breathe his hell-born venom through their blood;
Till ---'s voice nor ---'s honoured name,
The uproar wild of warring tongues could tame,
Nor from absurd pursuits their goatish minds reclaim.
As wasps or spiders, in a bottle pent,
In mutual strife will give their fury vent;
So these in discord dire their brethren tore,
And stain'd their fangs with fratricidal gore.—
A secret Junto oft were wont to meet,
By peril long, and tribulation prov'd,
And P---m---c was the name they lov'd;
Thus erst a hundred Seers lay safe encag'd,
When crafty Jezebel through Israel rag'd:
11
From hostile ken, could Learning's Lovers save!
Alas! grim Error, in his prowling round,
In their last hold, Dame Learning's children found!
O'er them he lov'd, with vulture wing to brood,
And breathe his hell-born venom through their blood;
Till ---'s voice nor ---'s honoured name,
The uproar wild of warring tongues could tame,
Nor from absurd pursuits their goatish minds reclaim.
As wasps or spiders, in a bottle pent,
In mutual strife will give their fury vent;
So these in discord dire their brethren tore,
And stain'd their fangs with fratricidal gore.—
But miracles oft sport with Nature's laws,
And Facts occur without an obvious Cause:
A wondrous change ensues—(mark, and admire!)
Somehow ignited by ethereal fire,
These Phœnix-Seers, illumin'd, purg'd, refin'd,
Arise to renovate the Human Kind!—
But time would fail me, language too would fail,
This mystic metamorphose to detail—
To tell how civil strife and earthly ire,
With hissing sound, and sulph'rous stench expire;
How first from philosophic trance they wake,
Like Milton's Demons from the burning Lake;
How their tongues stammer!—how their eye-balls roll!—
How star-born Science sublimates each soul!—
Nor did they not perceive their happier plight,
Nor look'd unconscious of celestial light;
Each quondam Dunce felt now so flush'd and full,
With brains unwonted scheming in his scull.—
And Facts occur without an obvious Cause:
A wondrous change ensues—(mark, and admire!)
Somehow ignited by ethereal fire,
12
Arise to renovate the Human Kind!—
But time would fail me, language too would fail,
This mystic metamorphose to detail—
To tell how civil strife and earthly ire,
With hissing sound, and sulph'rous stench expire;
How first from philosophic trance they wake,
Like Milton's Demons from the burning Lake;
How their tongues stammer!—how their eye-balls roll!—
How star-born Science sublimates each soul!—
Nor did they not perceive their happier plight,
Nor look'd unconscious of celestial light;
Each quondam Dunce felt now so flush'd and full,
With brains unwonted scheming in his scull.—
O tell me, Ye, by sweet experience taught,
How empty heads with sudden Sense were fraught?
How those grew clever, who were dull before?
How bashful Blockheads rose to blush no more?
Explain what magic means, what mystic rules,
Evolv'd Philosophers from squabbling Fools?
For Facts alone I sing—The Causes strange
Ye best can tell, who feel the blissful change.—
How empty heads with sudden Sense were fraught?
13
How bashful Blockheads rose to blush no more?
Explain what magic means, what mystic rules,
Evolv'd Philosophers from squabbling Fools?
For Facts alone I sing—The Causes strange
Ye best can tell, who feel the blissful change.—
Now, quick as mushrooms in a dewy night,
Statesmen, Œconomists, arise upright;
Astronomers, with sapient prying glance,
Dart their keen eyeballs o'er the blue Expanse;
Now, Moralists, and Poets, and Divines,
Of future greatness give expressive signs;
Opticians, Chymists, and Belles-Lettres men,
Shoot up as thick as rushes in a fen;
Long-winded Lawyers, leering, sly, alert,
And rusty-nosed Logicians—all upstart!—
As Warriors once from Serpent Teeth upsprung,
As Gallia's Chiefs start from the vulgar throng,
As insect Swarms from wriggling maggots rise,
To sip the balmy breath of summer skies;
So these from elemental meanness came,
To seize the honours of immortal Fame!
Statesmen, Œconomists, arise upright;
Astronomers, with sapient prying glance,
Dart their keen eyeballs o'er the blue Expanse;
Now, Moralists, and Poets, and Divines,
Of future greatness give expressive signs;
Opticians, Chymists, and Belles-Lettres men,
Shoot up as thick as rushes in a fen;
Long-winded Lawyers, leering, sly, alert,
And rusty-nosed Logicians—all upstart!—
14
As Gallia's Chiefs start from the vulgar throng,
As insect Swarms from wriggling maggots rise,
To sip the balmy breath of summer skies;
So these from elemental meanness came,
To seize the honours of immortal Fame!
At first—(O listen, thou, whose ardent soul
Sees forms of everlasting grandeur roll,
Yet art afraid to hope of better days,
Or prophecy of unpolluted praise—
This Tale will teach thee, that no chains may bind,
No barrier bound a star-illumin'd Mind!)
At first, like modest Bard who doubts his powers,
They gave not to the World their studious hours,
But squander'd these new Energies so great,
In lowly Conversations, tête a tête.
Yet 'twas a wondrous ravishment to hear
Their deep discussion, and their tones severe;
When, inly thrill'd, each rav'd like Northern Scald
With frost-bit nose, and wrinkled forehead bald.
Sees forms of everlasting grandeur roll,
Yet art afraid to hope of better days,
Or prophecy of unpolluted praise—
This Tale will teach thee, that no chains may bind,
No barrier bound a star-illumin'd Mind!)
At first, like modest Bard who doubts his powers,
They gave not to the World their studious hours,
But squander'd these new Energies so great,
In lowly Conversations, tête a tête.
15
Their deep discussion, and their tones severe;
When, inly thrill'd, each rav'd like Northern Scald
With frost-bit nose, and wrinkled forehead bald.
Edina's Genius, viewing from afar,
Hail'd the glad Sign, and bless'd the rising Star.
Hail'd the glad Sign, and bless'd the rising Star.
What spell shall bind the dragon in his den?
Or from illumin'd Sage withhold the pen?
Shall timid maid the rampant tiger tame?
Or Modesty the man who thirsts for fame?—
No, no,—a lasting being must be given
To thoughts and plans cast in the mould of Heaven!
Such visions fair as float athwart their mind,
Must soon some ever-during Semblance find—
Must soon to Europe's emulous Sçavants speak,
In form of Lecture, Essay, Sketch, Critique;
While high Dunedin, with attentive ear,
Shall list their lucubrations loud and clear,
Embalm their mem'ries, and their names revere.
Or from illumin'd Sage withhold the pen?
Shall timid maid the rampant tiger tame?
Or Modesty the man who thirsts for fame?—
No, no,—a lasting being must be given
To thoughts and plans cast in the mould of Heaven!
Such visions fair as float athwart their mind,
Must soon some ever-during Semblance find—
Must soon to Europe's emulous Sçavants speak,
In form of Lecture, Essay, Sketch, Critique;
16
Shall list their lucubrations loud and clear,
Embalm their mem'ries, and their names revere.
One swore that sooner in an egg-shell ship,
He o'er the Red Sea's rapid waves would skip,
Than his unauthor'd being longer brook!—
Their joint acclaim the old Apartment shook;
As when in tavern dim, at midnight board,
A sly companion, by some witty word,
Wild merriment to tipplers will afford:
All ruff, and dance, and roar, and joyous pledge
To follow on to fame this merry Sage.
He o'er the Red Sea's rapid waves would skip,
Than his unauthor'd being longer brook!—
Their joint acclaim the old Apartment shook;
As when in tavern dim, at midnight board,
A sly companion, by some witty word,
Wild merriment to tipplers will afford:
All ruff, and dance, and roar, and joyous pledge
To follow on to fame this merry Sage.
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