To cheer remoter planets num'rous form'd,
By him in all their mingled tracts were feen.
He also fix'd our wand'ring queen of night,
Whether she wanes into a scanty orb,
Or, waxing broad, with her pale fhadowy light,
In a foft deluge overflows the fky.
Her ev'ry motion clear-difcerning, He
Adjusted to the mutual Main, and taught
Why now the mighty mafs of water fwells
Refiftlefs, heaving on the broken rocks,
And the full river turning: till again
The tide revertive, unattracted, leaves
A yellow waste of idle fands behind.
Then breaking hence, he took his ardent flight
Thro' the blue infinite; and ev'ry star,
Which the clear concave of a winter's night
Pours on the eye, or aftronomic tube,
Far-ftretching, fnatches from the dark abyss;
Or fuch as farther in fucceffive skies
To fancy fhine alone, at his approach
Blaz'd into funs, the living centre each
Of an harmonious fyftem: all combin'd,
And rul'd unerring by that fingle pow'r,
Which draws the ftone projected to the ground.
O unprofufe magnificence divine!
O wisdom truly perfect! thus to call
From a few caufes fuch a fcheme of things,
Effects fo various, beautiful, and great,
An universe complete? And O belov'd
Of Heav'n! whofe well-purg'd penetrative eye,
The myftic veil tranfpiercing, inly feann'd
The rifing, moving, wide-establish'd frame.
He, first of men, with awful wing purfu'd
The Comet thro' the long eliptic curve,
As round innum'rous worlds he wound his way;
Till, to the forehead of our ev'ning sky
Return'd, the blazing wonder glares anew,
And o'er the trembling nations fhakes difmay.
The heav'ns are all his own; from the wild rule
Of whirling vortices, and circling Spheres,
To their first great fimplicity reftor'd.
The schools astonish'd stood; but found it vain
To combat ftill with demonstration strong,
And, unawaken'd, dream beneath the blaze
Of truth. At once their pleasing visions fled,
With the gay fhadows of the morning mix'd,
When NEWTON rofe, our philofophic fun.
Th' aerial flow of Sound was known to him,
From whence it firft in wavy circles breaks,
Till the touch'd organ takes the meffage in.
Nor could the darting beam of speed immense,
Efcape his fwift purfuit, and measʼring eye.
Ev'n Light itself, which ev'ry thing displays,
Shone andifcover'd, till his brighter mind.
Untwisted all the fhining robe of day;
And, from the whit'ning undiftinguish'd blaze,
Collecting ev'ry ray into his kind,
To the charm'd eye educ'd the gorgeous train
Of Parent-colours. First the flaming Red
Sprung vivid forth; the tawny Orange next;
And next delicious Yellow; by whose fide
Fell the kind beams of all-refreshing Green.
Then the pure Blue, that fwells autumnal skies,
Ethereal play'd; and then, of fadder hue,
Emerg'd the deepen'd Indico, as when
The heavy-fkirted ev'ning droops with froft.
While the last gleamings of refracted light
Died in the fainting Violet away.
Thefe, when the clouds diftil the rofy fhow'r,
Shine out diftinct adown the wat'ry bow;
While o'er our heads the dewy vifion bends
Delightful, melting on the fields beneath.
Myriads of mingling dyes from these result,
And myriads ftill remain ; infinite fource
Of beauty, ever blufhing, ever new!
Did ever poet image aught fo fair,
Dreaming in whifp'ring groves, by the hoarfe brook!
Or prophet, to whose rapture heav'n descends!
Ev'n now the fetting fun and fhifting clouds,
Seen, Greenwich, from thy lovely heights, declare
How juft, how beauteous the refractive law.
The noiseless tide of time, all bearing down
To vaft eternity's unbounded fea,
Where the green iflands of the happy shine,
He ftemm'd alone; and to the fource (involv'd
Deep in primeval gloom) ascending, rais'd
His lights at equal distances, to guide
Hiftorian, wilder'd on his darkfome way.
But who can number up his labours? who
His high difcov'ries fing? when but a few
Of the deep-studying race can ftretch their minds
To what he knew: in fancy's lighter thought,
How fhall the mufe then grafp the mighty theme?
What wonder thence that his devotion fwell'd
Refponfive to his knowledge! For could he,
Whofe piercing mental eye diffusive saw
The finish'd univerfity of things,
In all its order, magnitude, and parts,
Forbear inceffant to adore that Pow'r
Who fills, fuftains, and actuates the whole ?
Say, ye who beft can tell, ye happy few, Who saw him in the fofteft lights of life, All unwithheld, indulging to his friends
The vast unborrow'd treasures of his mind,
Oh speak the wondrous man! how mild, how calm,7
How greatly humble, how divinely good;
How firm establish'd on eternal truth;
Fervent in doing well, with ev'ry nerve
Still preffing on, forgetful of the past,
And panting for perfection: far above
Thofe little cares, and vifionary joys,
That fc perplex the fond impaffion'd heart
Of ever-cheated, ever-trusting man.
And you, ye hopeless gloomy-minded tribe,
You who, unconscious of those nobler flights
That reach impatient at immortal life,
Against the prime endearing privilege
Of Being dare contend, fay, can a foul
Of fuch extenfive, deep, tremendous pow'rs,
Enlarging ftill, be but a finer breath
Of fpirits dancing thro' their tubes a while,
And then for ever loft in vacant air?
But hark! methinks I hear a warning voice, Solemn as when fome awful change is come,
Sound thro' the world-'Tis done-The meafure's full; And I refign my charge.Ye mould'ring ftones,
That build the tow'ring pyramid, the proud
Triumphal arch, the monument effac'd
By ruthlefs ruin, and whate'er fupports
The worship name of hoar antiquity,
Down to the duf! what grandeur can ye boast
While NEWTON lifts his column to the fkies,
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