What Page of Wisdom is deny'd him? None;
If learning his chief Leffon makes him wife.
Nor is Inftruction, Here, our only Gain;
There dwells a noble Pathos in the Skies,
Which warms our Passions, profelytes our Hearts:
How eloquently fhines the glowing Pole ?
With what Authority it gives its Charge,
Remonftrating great Truths in Style fublime,
Tho' Silent, Loud! heard Earth around; above
The Planets heard; and not unheard in Hell:
Hell has her Wonder, tho' too proud to praise :
Is Earth, then, more Infernal? Has fhe Thofe,
Who neither praife, LORENZO! nor admire?
LORENZO'S Admiration, pre-ingag'd,
Ne'er afk'd the Moon One question; never held
Least Correspondence with a fingle Star :
Ne'er rear'd an Altar to the Queen of Heav'n,
Walking in Brightnefs; or her Train ador'd:
Their fublunary Rivals have long fince
Engrofs'd his whole Devotion; Stars malign,
Which make their fond Aftronomer run mad;
Darken his Intellect, corrupt his Heart;
Cause him to facrifice his Fame, and Peace;
Idolater, more grofs than ever kiss'd
The lifted Hand to LUNA, or pour'd out

The Blood to JovE!-O THOU, to whom belongs
All Sacrifice! O Thou Great Jove Unfeign'd!
DIVINE INSTRUCTOR! Thy first Volume, This,
For Man's Perufal; All in CAPITALS!

In Moon, and Stars, (Heaven's golden Alphabet !)
Emblaz'd to feize the Sight; who runs, may read ;-
Who reads, can understand: 'Tis Unconfin'd
To Chriftian Land, or Jewry's; fairly writ
In Language univerfal, to MANKIND:

A Language, Lofty to the Learn'd; yet Plain,

To Thofe that feed the Flock, or guide the Plough,,

Or,

Or, from its Husk, ftrike out the bounding Grain'!

A Language, worthy the GREAT MIND, that speaks!
Preface, and Comment, to the Sacred Page!
Which oft refers its Reader to the Skies,
As pre-fuppofing his Firft Leffon there,
And Scripture-felf a Fragment, That unread.
Stupendous Book of Wisdom, to the Wife!
Stupendous Book! and open'd, NIGHT! by Thee.
By Thee much open'd, I confefs, ○ Night!
Yet more I wish; but how fhall I prevail?
Say, gentle Night! whofe modeft, maiden Beams
Give us a new Creation, and present

The World's great Picture, foften'd to the Sight
Nay, Kinder far, far more Indulgent ftill,
Say, Thou, whose mild Dominion's Silver Key
Unlocks our Hemisphere, and fets to View
Worlds beyond Number; Worlds conceal'd by Day
Behind the proud, and envious, Star of Noon!
Canft thou not draw a deeper Scene -And fhew
The mighty POTENTATE, to whom belong
Thefe rich Regalia, pompously display'd

To kindle that High Hope? Like Him of Uz,
around; I fearch on every Side-

I

gaze O for a Glimpse of HIM my Soul adores!

As the chas'd Hart, amid the defart Waste,

Pants for the living Stream; for HIM who made her, So pants the thirsty Soul, amid the Blank

Of fublunary Joys: Say, Goddess! Where?

Where, blazes His bright Court? Where, burns His

Throne?

Thou know'ft; for Thou art near Him; by Thee, round.
His grand Pavilion, facred Fame reports

The fable Curtains drawn: If not, can none
Of thy fair Daughter-Train, fo fwift of Wing,.
Who travel far, difcover where He dwells?
A Star His Dwelling pointed out below:

Ye

Ye Pleiades! Ar&turus! Mazaroth!

And thou, Orion! of ftill keener Eye!

Say, ye, who guide the Wilder'd in the Waves,
And bring them out of Tempeft into Port!

On which Hand muft I bend my Course to find Him?—
Thefe Courtiers keep the Secret of their KING;
I wake whole Nights, in vain, to steal it from them.

I WAKE; and, waking, climb Night's radiant Scale,
From Sphere to Sphere; the Steps by Nature fet
For Man's Afcent; at once to tempt, and aid;
To tempt his Eye, and aid his towering Thought;
Till it arrives at the great Goal of all.

IN ardent Contemplation's rapid Car,

From Earth, as from my Barrier, I fet out:
How swift I mount? Diminish'd Earth recedes ;
I pass the Moon; and from her further Side,
Pierce Heaven's blue Curtain; strike into Remote,
Where, with his lifted Tube, the fubtil Sage
His artificial, airy Journey takes,

And to Celeftial lengthens Human Sight:

I pause at every Planet on my Road,

And ask for HIM, who gives their Orbs to roll,
Their Foreheads fair to fhine: From SATURN's Ring,
In which, of Earths an Army might be loft,
With the bold Comet, take my bolder Flight,
Amid thofe fovereign Glories of the Skies,

Of independent, native Luftre, proud,

The Souls of Systems! and the Lords of Life,

Thro' their wide Empires!-What behold I now?
A Wilderness of Wonders burning round;
Where larger Suns inhabit higher Spheres ;
Perhaps the Villas of defcending Gods!
Nor halt I here; my Toil is but begun ;
'Tis but the Threshold of the DEITY;
Or, far beneath it, I am groveling ftill:
Groveling in Elevation few can reach!

Nor

Nor is it ftrange; I built on a Mistake;

The Grandeur of His Works, whence Folly fought For Aid, to Reason fets His Glory higher;

Who built thus high for Worms (mere Worms to Him;} O where, LORENZO! muft the BUILDER dwell?

PAUSE, then; and, for a Moment, here refpire.-
If human Thought can keep its Station Here:
Where am I?--Where is Earth ?- Nay, where artThou,
O Sun? Is the Sun turn'd Reclufe? -And are
His boafted Expeditions fhort to Mine?.

To mine, how short? On Nature's Alps I ftand,
And fee a thousand Firmaments beneath!
A Thousand Syftems! as a Thousand Grains!
So much a Stranger, and fo late arriv'd,
How can Man's curious Spirit not inquire,
What are the Natives of this World fublime,
Of this fo foreign, un-terreftrial Sphere,
Where Mortal, untranflated, never stray'd?

"O YE, as distant from my little Home, "As fwifteft Sun beams in an Age can fly! "Far from my native Element I roam, "In Quest of New, and Wonderful, to Man: "What Province This, of His immense Domain, "Whom all obeys? Or Mortals here, or Gods? "Ye Borderers on the Coasts of Blifs! What are you? "A Colony from Heaven? Or, only rais'd,

By frequent Vifit from Heaven's neighbouring Realms, "To fecondary Gods, and half-divine?

"Whate'er your nature, This is past Dispute, "Far other Life you live, far other Tongue

"You talk, far other Thought, perhaps, you think, "Than Man: How various are the Works of God? "But fay, What Thought? Is Reason here inthron'd, "And abfolute? Or Senfe in Arms against her?

"Have you Two Lights? Or need you no reveal'd? Enjoy your happy Realms their golden Age?

"And

And had Your EDEN an abftemious EVE?

"Our Eve's fair Daughters prove their Pedigree,
"And ask their ADAMS-- Who would not be Wife?
"Or, if your Mother fell, are you Redeem'd?
"And if redeem'd-is your Redeemer fcorn'd?
"Is this your final Refidence? If not,

"Change you your Scene, Tranflated? Or, by Death?.
"And if by Death; What Death ?--Know you Disease? ›
"Or horrid War?-With War, This fatal Hour,
"EUROPA groans; (fo call we a small Field,
"Where Kings run mad). In Our World, DEATH
deputes

"Intemperance to do the Work of Age;

"And, hanging up the Quiver Nature gave him,
"As flow of Execution, for Dispatch

"Sends forth Imperial Butchers; bids them slay
"Their Sheep, (the filly Sheep they fleec'd before)
"And tofs him twice Ten thousand at a Meal.
"Sit all your Executioners on Thrones ?

"With you, can Rage for Plunder make a God?
"And Bloodshed wash out every other Stain?
"But you, perhaps, can't bleed: From Matter grofs
"Your Spirits clean, are delicately clad

"In fine fpun Æther; Privileg'd to foar,

"Unloaded, uninfected: How unlike

"The Lot of Man? How Few of human Race
"By their own Mud unmurther'd? How we wage
"Self-War eternal ?-Is your painful Day
"Of hardy Conflict o'er? Or, are you ftill
"Raw Candidates at School? And have you Thofe
"Who difaffect Reverfions, as with Us?-
"But what are We? You never heard of Man,
"Or Earth; the Bedlam of the Univerfe!
"Where Reason, undifeas'd with You, runs mad,
"And nurfes Folly's Children as her own;
"Fond of the Fouleft: In the facred Mount

"Of