Infcribed to the RIGHT HONOURABLE
HALL the great foul of NEWTON quit this earth,
To mingle with his ftars; and ev'ry Mufe,
Aftonifh'd into filence, fhun the weight
Of honours due to his illuftrious name?
But what can man?-Ev'n now the fons of light,
In ftrains high-warbled to seraphic lyre,
Hail his arrival on the coast of bliss.
Yet am not I deterr'd, tho' high the theme,
And fung to harps of angels, for with you,
· Ethereal flames! ambitious, I afpire.
In nature's general fymphony to join.
And what new wonders can ye fhow your gueft! Who, while on this dim fpot, where mortals toil
Clouded in duft, from Motion's fimple laws,
Could trace the fecret hand of Providence,
Wide-working thro' this univerfal frame.
Have ye not liften'd while he bound the Suns,
And Planets, to their spheres! th' unequal task
Of human-kind till then. Oft had they roll'd
O'er erring man the year, and oft difgrac'd
The pride of fchools, before their courfe was known
Full in its caufes and effects to him,
All-piercing fage! Who fat not down and dream'd
Romantic fchemes, defended by the dini.
Of fpecious words, and tyranny of names;
But, bidding his amazing mind attend,
And with heroic Patience years on years
Deep-fearching, faw at laft the Syftem dawn,
And fhine, of all his race, on him alone.
What were his raptures then! how pure! how ftrong
And what the triumphs of old Greece and Rome,
By his diminish'd, but the pride of boys
In fome small fray victorious! when instead
Offhatter:parcels of this earth ufurp'd
By violence inmanly, and fore deeds
Of cruelty and blood, nature herself
Stood all fubdu'd by him, and open laid
Her every latent glory to his view.
'All'intellectual eye, our folar round.
Firft gazing thro', he by the blended pow'r
Of Gravitation and Projection faw
The whole in filent harmony revolve.
From unaffifted vifion hid, the moons
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
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