as creation's ample range extends, 55 The scale of sensual, mental pow'rs ascends ; Mark how it mounts to man's imperial race, From the green myriads in the peopled grass : What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam ; Of smell, the headlong lioness between, And hound sagacious on the tainted green; Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, To that which warbles through the vernal wood! The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! 65 Feels at each thread, and lives along the line; In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew? How instinct varies in the grov'ling swine,
Compar'd, half reas'ning elephant, with thine! 70 'Twixt that and reason, what a nice barrier! For ever sep'rate, yet for ever near ! Remembrance and reflection how alli'd,
What thin partitions sense from thought divide; And middle natures, how they long to join, Yet never pass th' insuperable line! Without this just gradation, could they be Subjected, these to those, or all to thee? The pow'rs of all subdued by thee alone, Is not thy reason all these pow'rs in one?
See thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. Above, how high progressive life may go ! Around, how wide! how deep extend below! Vast chain of being! which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, No glass can reach; from infinite to thee, From thee to nothing.
Cease then, nor order imperfection name; Our proper bliss depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee.
Submit In this, or any other sphere, Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear; Safe in the hand of one disposing pow'r, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.
All nature is but art unknown to thee;
All chance, direction which thou canst not see ; All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good:
And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right.
HAS God, thou fool! work'd solely for thy good, Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food? Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn, For him as kindly spreads the flow'ry lawn : Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings? Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings. Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat? Loves of his own and raptures swell the note. The bounding steed you pompously bestride Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride. Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain? The birds of heav'n shall vindicate their grain. 115 Thine the full harvest of the golden year ? Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer : The hog, that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call, Lives on the labours of this lord of all. Know, Nature's children all divide her care : The fur that warms a monarch, warm'd a bear. While man exclaims, "See all things for my use ! See man for mine!" replies a pamper'd goose : And just as short of reason he must fall, Who thinks all made for one, not one for all. 125
Who taught the nations of the field and wood To shun their poison, and to choose their food? Prescient, the tides or tempests to withstand, Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand? Who made the spider parallels design, Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?
Who bid the stork, Columbus like, explore Heav'ns not his own, and worlds unknown before? Who calls the council, states the certain day, Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?
SEE man from Nature rising slow to art!
To copy instinct then was Reason's part : Thus then to man the voice of Nature spake—
Go, from the creatures thy instructions take. Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield; Learn from the beasts the physic of the field; 141 Thy arts of building from the bee receive; Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave; Learn of the little nautilus to sail,
Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. Here, too, all forms of social union find, And hence let reason, late, instruct mankind : Here subterranean works and cities see; There towns aërial on the waving tree.
Learn each small people's genius, policies,
The ants' republic and the realm of bees ;
How those in common all their wealth bestow,
And anarchy without confusion know; And these for ever, tho' a monarch reign,
Their sep❜rate cells and properties maintain. Mark what unvari'd laws preserve each state, Laws wise as nature, and as fix'd as fate.
UNHARBOUR'D now, the royal stag forsakes His wonted lair; he shakes his dappled sides, And tosses high his beamy head; the copse Beneath his antlers bends. What doubling shifts He tries! Not more the wily hare; in these Would still persist, did not the full-mouth'd pack With dreadful concert thunder in his rear.
The woods reply, the hunter's cheering shouts
Float through the glades, and the wide forest rings. How merrily they chant! their nostrils deep Inhale the grateful steam.
See, the swift courser strains! his shining hoofs Securely beat the solid ground. Who now The dangerous pitfall fears, with tangling heath High-overgrown? Or who the quivering bog, Soft yielding to the step? All now is plain, Plain as the strand sea-laved, that stretches far Beneath the rocky shore. Glades crossing glades, The forest opens to our wondering view :
Now the blown, through woods, bogs, roads, and
Has measured half the forest; but alas!
He flies in vain, he flies not from his fears. Though far he cast the lingering pack behind, His haggard fancy still with horror views The fell destroyers; still the fatal cry
Insults his ears and wounds his trembling heart. See here his plot : up yon green hill he climbs, Pants on its brow awhile, sadly looks back On his pursuers, covering all the plain;
But wrung with anguish, bears not long the sight, 30 Shoots down the steep, and sweats along the vale, There mingles with the herd, where once he reign'd Proud monarch of the groves.
But the base herd have learn'd the ways of men. Averse they fly, or with rebellious aim Chase him from thence: needless their impious deed, The huntsman knows him by a thousand marks, Black, and imbost; nor are his hounds deceived. Too well distinguish these, and never leave Their once devoted foe; familiar grows His scent, and strong their appetite to kill. Again he flies, and with redoubled speed Skims o'er the lawn still the tenacious crew Hang on the track, aloud demand their prey, And push him many a league. If haply then Too far escaped, and the gay courtly train
Behind are cast, the huntsman's clanging whip Stops full their bold career: passive they stand Unmoved, an humble, an obsequious crowd, As if by stern Medusa gazed to stones. So at their general's voice whole armies halt In full pursuit, and check their thirst of blood : Soon at the king's command, like hasty streams Damm'd up a while, they foam, and pour along With fresh recruited might. The stag, who hoped 55 His foes were lost, now once more hears astunn'd The dreadful din; he shivers every limb, He starts, he bounds; each bush presents a foe. Press'd by the fresh relay, no pause allow'd, Breathless and faint, he falters in his pace, And lifts his weary limbs with pain, that scarce Sustain their load: he pants, he sobs appall'd, Drops down his heavy head to earth, beneath His cumbrous beams oppress'd. But if perchance
Some prying eye surprise him; soon he rears Erect his tow'ring front, bounds o'er the lawn With ill-dissembled vigour, to amuse The knowing forester, who inly smiles At his weak shifts and unavailing frauds. So midnight tapers waste their last remains, Shine forth awhile, and as they blaze expire. From wood to wood redoubling thunders roll, And bellow through the vales; the moving storm Thickens amain, and loud triumphant shouts, And horns shrill-warbling in each glade, prelude 75 To his approaching fate. And now in view With hobbling gait, and high, exerts amazed What strength is left: to the last dregs of life Reduced, his spirits fail, on every side
Hemm'd in, besieged; not the least opening left 80 To gleaming hope, th' unhappy last reserve. Where shall he turn? or whither fly? Despair Gives courage to the weak. Resolved to die, He fears no more, but rushes on his foes,
And deals his deaths around; beneath his feet 85 These grov'ling lie; those by his antlers gored
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