XLIII.
TELEOLOGY.
1.
The casement of a chamber in an inn
O'erlook'd a courtyard full of weeds and stones.
And on the stones and weeds that deck'd therein
A haunt of blue-flies, heap'd with offal, bones,
Ordures, and broken pots and rusty tin,
(Which 'neath this casement made a goodly show)
Out of the lattice from the room within,
A traveller whom it lodged was wont to throw
The soap-suds daily scraped from cheek and chin,
His razor's refuse, mixt with frothy flow
Of basin-rinsings warm; nor cared a pin
Whose pate might catch such casual chrism. Below
Upon a dunghill, thirsty, parcht, and thin,
A miserable nettle chanced to grow.
2.
This wretched weed, which else had died of drought,
In the chance rescue of that daily rain
Its own advantage found; and, free from doubt,
Perceiving in it adaptation plain
Of means to a beneficent design,
Exclaim'd “O Urticarian Jupiter,
What wisdom is there in thy will divine!
Who dost on all thy universe confer
Convincing proofs of providence benign.
By what supreme administrative feat
Hast thou contrived for me, thy grateful child,
Recurrence of this tepid torrent sweet!
Which every morning with its moisture mild
Revives my strength, and heals all hurtful heat.
Whilst, regularly rising day by day,
Thy gracious sun rules all the rolling year,
Warms the wide world with his benignant ray,
And in their season bids my buds appear.
How admirably organised is all
This wondrous world! whose aspect everywhere
Reveals to reverent thought, in great and small,
Contrivance order'd with consummate care
Its maker's purpose to fulfil: which is
The happiness of nettles. Mighty Jove,
On me thy mercies have not fallen amiss.
Thy purpose I divine: and, proud to prove
My part therein, each seed of mine that settles
Shall do its best to fill the world with nettles.”
3.
Thus, in good faith, the thriving weed adored
The patronage of providence; and, wedding,
The graceful action to the grateful word,
Began to cover with a verdant spreading
Of stinging stuff the filth it chanced to find
A root in (how it knew not, neither why)
'Mid shards, and scurf, and scum of every kind;
Convinced it was promoting worthily
The strenuous effort of almighty Jove
A virgin nettle forest to create.
4.
Meanwhile, the traveller in the room above
Had finish'd the affair for which of late
He had been lingering in that inn. The man
Was (as the Fabulist forgot to state
When he this Fable in hot haste began)
A manufacturer in search of coal
To feed his forges at the cheapest rate.
And, having visited at last the whole
Coal-bearing region, rummaged it about,
And made his choice, now, wishing to get rid
Of the rejected samples, he threw out
(To join the other refuse that unchid
Sprawl'd in the heat upon that heap of dung)
The residue of his unclean collection.
5.
By woeful luck there chanced to fall among
That grimy clan, in their abrupt ejection,
A heavy lump of carboniferous schist,
Which flat upon the flowering nettle flopp'd;
Whose crusht philosophy, collapsing, miss'd
Benignant purpose in the blow that stopp'd
Philosophising with a pang of pain.
“Fatality, and malediction!” hiss'd
The mangled weed with indignation vain,
“What Demon rules this universe, and slays
Without a purpose, making earth one hell?
Blind Chance it is! and since blind Chance obeys
No guiding law, methinks it might as well
Have fall'n on either side of me, instead
Of tumbling thus precisely on my head!”
6.
Uttering this blasphemy the nettle died.
But not before his gaze, fast growing dim,
Had contemplated with a mournful pride
The tumulary pile that cover'd him.
For there he mark'd the impress of a plant
Of perisht centuries. That antique print
Of vegetable forms no more extant
He took for epitaph, admiring in 't
The grandeur of his race in days gone by,
And “semper virens!” was his life's last sigh.
MORAL.
Self-Interest, whiles it prospers, aye believes
Its profit the chief aim of Providence.
And even death's sigil on the tomb deceives
Its vanity with plausible pretence
Of pride in nothingness, abasht no whit
To join Hic Jacef to Hic incipit.
