How shall the stranger-man's illumined eye, In endless voyage without port? The least 180 Great as they are, what numbers these surpass, Those twinkling multitudes of little life, He swallows unperceived! Stupendous these? 185 Yet what are these stupendous to the whole? Exuberant Source! perhaps I wrong thee still. 190 What transport hence? yet this the least in Heaven. Who toss'd this mass of wonders from his hand, 'Tis to that glory, whence all glory flows, 195 200 Which gave it birth. But what this Sun of Heaven? So distant from its shadow chased below. And chase we still the phantom through the fire, O'er bog, and brake, and precipice, till death? 205 Defy the dangers of the field and flood, Or, spiderlike, spin out our precious all, Our more than vitals spin (if no regard To great futurity,) in curious webs 210. Of subtle thought and exquisite design, (Fine network of the brain!) to catch a fly! The momentary buzz of vain renown!^ A name! a mortal immortality! Or (meaner still) instead of grasping air, For sordid lucre plunge we in the mire? 215 Drudge, sweat, through every shame, for every gain: Our hope in Heaven, our dignity with man, 220 Which goad through every slough our human herd, Hard-travel'd from the cradle to the grave. How low the wretches stoop! how steep they climb! These demons burn mankind, but most possess Lorenzo's bosom, and turn out the skies. Is it in time to hide eternity? And why not in an atom on the shore Glory and wealth! have they this blinding power? 230 Would it surprise thee? be thou then surprised; If prone in thought, our stature is our shame; 235 240 246 And man should blush, his forehead meets the skies. O'erleaps, and claims the future and unseen, The vast unseen! the future fathomless! When the great soul buoys up to this high point, Can parts or place (two bold pretenders) make 250 255 260 Assist our flight, Fame's flight is Glory's fall. A celebrated wretch when I behold, 265 When I behold a genius bright and base, Of towering talents and terrestrial aims, Methinks I see, as thrown from her high sphere, The glorious fragments of a soul immortal, 270 With rubbish mix'd, and glittering in the dust: 275 Great ill is an achievement of great powers. Plain sense but rarely leads us far astray. Reason the means, Affections choose our end. Means have no merit, if our end amiss. 280 If wrong our hearts, our heads are right in vain. Right ends and means make wisdom, worldly-wise 285 Let genius, then, despair to make thee great; Nor flatter station. What is station high? "Tis a proud mendicant: it boasts and begs; Whoever wear them challenge our devoir. 290 To beings pompously set up, to serve 295 The meanest slave: all more is Merit's due, Her sacred and inviolable right; Nor ever paid the monarch, but the man. Our hearts ne'er bow but to superior worth; Nor ever fail of their allegiance there. 300 Fools, indeed, drop the man in their account, Let the small savage boast his silver fur, Each man makes his own stature, builds himself. Her monuments shall last, when Egypt's fall. 305 310 315 Of these sure truths dost thou demand the cause? The cause is lodged in immortality. Hear, and assent. Thy bosom burns for power; What station charms thee? I'll install thee there; "Tis thine. And art thou greater than before? Then thou before wast something less than man. Has thy new post betray'd thee into pride? That treacherous pride betrays thy dignity; That pride defames humanity, and calls The being mean which staffs or strings can raise : That pride, like hooded hawks, in darkness soars, From blindness bold, and towering to the skies. 320 325 "Tis born of Ignorance, which knows not man: A Nero, quitting his imperial throne, 330 High worth is elevated place: 'tis more, It makes the post stand candidate for thee; Makes more than monarchs, makes an honest man. Though no Exchequer it commands, 'tis wealth; And though it wears no ribband, 'tis renown: 335 340 Renown, that would not quit thee though disgraced, Nature proclaims it most absurd in man, By pointing at his origin and end; Milk and a swathe, at first, his whole demand; His whole domain, at last, a turf or stone; 345 To whom, between, a world may seem too small. Of just Ambition, to the grand result, The curtain's fall; theie see the buskin'd chief Unshod behind this momentary scene, 350 Reduced to his own stature, low or high, 355 As vice or virtue sinks him, or sublimes; O thou Most Christian enemy to peace! Again in arms? again provoking Fate? 360 |