The peripatetic or, Sketches of the heart, of nature and society; In a series of politico-sentimental journals, in verse and prose, of the eccentric excursions of Sylvanus Theophrastus; Supposed to be written by himself [by John Thelwall] |
 | [I]. |
[Who can behold great Nature's awful face] |
 | II. |
| III. |
 | The peripatetic |  |
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[Who can behold great Nature's awful face]
Who can behold great Nature's awful face,
Her form majestic, and her varied grace;—
See through mid air yon orb refulgent stray,
And pour on smiling realms the flood of Day;
Or when still Night becalms the pensive soul,
See silver lamps in countless myriads roll;—
Mark heaving Ocean, while his tempests roar,
Or the slow lapse steals murmuring from the shore;—
See Earth's broad bosom, with perennial pride,
With various stores her various race provide;
Or mark, while round these obvious stores she deals,
What secret stores her verdant robe conceals:—
Who these can view?—Nay; who the turf, the flower
That decks the field, or scents the mantling bower,—
The smallest insect-tenant of the spring
That creeps on earth, or buzzes on the wing,
Who can behold—and blind to Reason's laws,
Not mount to THEE? thou FIRST ALMIGHTY CAUSE!
Her form majestic, and her varied grace;—
See through mid air yon orb refulgent stray,
And pour on smiling realms the flood of Day;
Or when still Night becalms the pensive soul,
See silver lamps in countless myriads roll;—
Mark heaving Ocean, while his tempests roar,
Or the slow lapse steals murmuring from the shore;—
See Earth's broad bosom, with perennial pride,
With various stores her various race provide;
Or mark, while round these obvious stores she deals,
What secret stores her verdant robe conceals:—
Who these can view?—Nay; who the turf, the flower
That decks the field, or scents the mantling bower,—
The smallest insect-tenant of the spring
That creeps on earth, or buzzes on the wing,
Who can behold—and blind to Reason's laws,
Not mount to THEE? thou FIRST ALMIGHTY CAUSE!
But, if bold Science her assistance lend—
If to her deep recesses we descend—
If there the tome mysterious we explore,
Of Nature's genuine theologic lore,
What wider fields of wisdom and delight
Unfold their beauties to our ravish'd sight!
Thro' which, with reverent wonder, we pursue
Creation's course, and Heaven's own footsteps view!
If to her deep recesses we descend—
If there the tome mysterious we explore,
Of Nature's genuine theologic lore,
What wider fields of wisdom and delight
Unfold their beauties to our ravish'd sight!
Thro' which, with reverent wonder, we pursue
Creation's course, and Heaven's own footsteps view!
| The peripatetic | |