A Collection of Miscellanies Consisting of Poems, Essays, Discourses & Letters, Occasionally Written. By John Norris ... The Second Edition Corrected |
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To Dr. Plot on his Natural History of Stafford-shire.
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 | A Collection of Miscellanies |  |
To Dr. Plot on his Natural History of Stafford-shire.
I.
What strange Perversity is this of Man!VVhen 'twas a Crime to taste th' inlightning Tree
He could not then his hand refrain,
None then so inquisitive, so Curious as He.
But now he has Liberty to try and know
God's whole Plantation below;
Now the Angelic fruit may be
Tasted by all whose Arms can reach the Tree:
H' is now by Licence careless made,
The Tree neglects to climb, and sleeps beneath the Shade.
II.
Such drowsie sedentary Souls have theyVVho could to Patriarchal years live on
Fix'd to Hereditary Clay
And know no Climate but their own.
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Rest before Knowledge they prefer,
And of this Globe wherein they dwell
No more than of the Heavenly Orbs can tell.
As if by Nature plac'd below
Not on this Earth to dwell, but to take root and grow.
III.
Dull Souls, why did great Nature take such careTo write in such a Splendid character;
If Man the only thing below
That can pretend her hand to know
Her fair-writ Volume does despise,
And tho design'd for Wisdom won't be wise?
Th' Almighty gets no Praise from this dull kind,
The Sun was never worship'd by the Blind.
Such Ignorance can ne're Devotion raise,
They will want Wisdom and their Maker Praise.
IV.
They only can this Tribute duely yieldWhose active Spirits range abroad,
Who traverse o're all Nature's field
And view the great Magnificence of God.
They see the hidden wealth of Nature's store
Fall down, and Learnedly adore;
But They most justly yet this Tribute pay
Who don't Contemplate only, but display,
Comment on Nature's Text, and to the sense
Expose her latent excellence,
Who like the Sun, not only travel o're
The World, but give it light that others may adore.
V.
In th' Head of these Heroic FewOur Learned Author first appears in view,
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Does the Earth's Furniture display,
Nor suffers to lye bury'd and unknown
Nature's rich Talent or his own.
Drake and Columbus do in thee revive,
And we from thy Research as much receive.
Thou art as great as they, for 'tis all one
New Worlds to find, or nicely to describe the known.
VI.
On Mighty Hero, our whole Isle survey,Advance thy Standard, conquer all the way.
Let nothing but the Sea controul
The Progress of thy active Soul.
Act like a pious Courteous Ghost,
And to Mankind retrieve what's lost.
With thy victorious charitable hand
Point out the hidden Treasures of our Land.
Envy or Ignorance do what they will,
Thou hast a Blessing from the Muses Hill.
Great be thy Spirt as thy Works divine,
Shew thou thy Maker's Praise, we Poets will sing thine:
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