Poems, and phancies written By the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, And Excellent Princess The Lady Marchioness of Newcastle [i.e. Margaret Cavendish]. The Second Impression, much Altered and Corrected |
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 | Poems, and phancies |  |
Of Cold Winds.
As water Rarified doth make Winds blow,So winds when Rarified do Colder grow;
For if they much be Rarified, than they
Do further Blow, and spread out every way;
So Cold they are as they like Needles prick;
Through thinness they do break, and cannot stick,
But into Atomes fall, whose Figures be
Sharp, and peirce porous Bodies, as we see.
Yet some will think, if Air were parted so,
The winds could not have such strong force to blow:
True, Atomes could not peirce, if they were found
To be all Dull, Flat, Heavy, Blunt or Round;
But by Dividing they so Sharp do grow,
Shat through all porous Bodies they do go;
But when the Winds are soft, they intermix
As Water doth, and in one Body fix;
They rather wave than blow, as Fans are spread,
Which Ladies use to cool their Cheeks when red:
Or like as Water drops, that disunite,
Feel harder, than when mixt they on us light,
Unless such Streams upon our heads do run,
As we a shelter seek, the VVet to shun;
But when a Drop congealed is with Cold,
As Hail-stones are, then it more strength doth hold;
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Than Hail-stones, yet they've no such force thereby;
They fall so Soft that they scarce strike our touch,
Hail-stones we feel and know their weight too much.
But Figures that are Flat are dull and slow,
Make weak Impressions wheresoe're they go;
For let ten times the quantity of Steel
Be beaten small, no hurt by that you I feel;
But if that one will take a Needle small,
Whose point is sharp, and prick the Flesh withall,
Strait it shall hurt, and put the Flesh to pain,
Which greater strength doth not of what is plain;
For though you press it hard against the Skin,
'T may heavy feel, but cannot enter in:
And so the VVind that's thin and rarifi'd
May press us down, but never peirce the side.
Or take a Blade that's Flat, though strong and great,
And with great strength upon ones Head it beat,
You'l break the Skul, but not knock out his Brains;
Which Arrows sharp soon do, and with less pains.
Thus what is small, is subt'ler and more quick;
For all small Points in porous Bodies stick.
VVinds broken small to Atomes, when they blow,
Are Colder much than when they streaming flow:
For all that's joyned and united close,
Is stronger much, and gives the harder Blows.
This shews what's closest in it self to be,
Although an Atome in its small degree;
Take Quantity for Quantity alike,
And Union more than Mixture hard shall strike.
| Poems, and phancies | |