Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
T ! i £ PROGRESS OF SCIENCE . BY MB . SMITH . O THOU ! whose great all-searching eye Boih penetrate immensity
, Where Nature ' s limits end ; Celestial Wisdom ! thee 1 chuse To be my goddess and my muse , 'My guardian and my friend . What time thy emanation shone Round dark primeval Chaos' throne , And pour'd the beaming light : When " at the awful Godhead ' s call
, , Before thee roll'd this new form'd ball , Then Error fled with Ni g ht . Then did thy influence benign , With gentle splendour , mildly shine On patriarchal sage ; Whilst Innocence , with snowy vest , Content , and dove-ey'd Peace , attest The happv golden
age . But ah ! how soon the empire ends , Lo ! Follv , with her troop of friends , Their gloomy banners spread 1 See ! near her Fraud , with subiile lore , . And Cruelty , besmear'd with gore , By mad Ambition led . Was there no friendly climate found , No part of earth ' s wide spacious bound ,
For thee a safe retreat ! Where Nilus pours his copious urns , As through the fertile / and he turns , There , Science , was thy seat . From whence thy animating flame , To Greece , arous'd by Freedom , came , Bv Freedom ' s gen ' rous aid ; Again their heads the Virtues rear , The Muses in their train
appear , With all their charms display'd . How Homer ' s song impetuous pours . On Eagle's wings , lo ! Pindar soars . His rapid , daring flight ; O Sophocles ! lo thee We owe The tender scenes of tragic woe , And Pity ' s s-. l ' r delight . Thou Reason ' s fnirtx ' teldest child
, , Pliilosf . phv , with radiantc mild , The Greek j-artook thy smile—Plato divine , the s ' . igerite , And he who fix'd the ' orb of light , The sage of Santos * Kie . At once io awe us ; md surprise , How , Alliens 1 do thy temples rise , Above the tow ' ring pine ;
Thv statues , . Hhili , is \ seem -a breathe , And for thy glowing touch the wreath Is , great .-tppilies , thine . VOL . ix . a b
Thus flourisU'd Greece , with glory crown'd . Alike for aris and arms renoivn'd ; At length she mether doom : First by fell Discord ' s flaming brand . Then sunk into the grasping hand Of proud imperial Rome . . To-Home then Science rapid flew , Uhurt bFolly ' s torpid crew
p y , ' Or Prejudice ' s rage ; Whilst Ovid tun'd his tender lays , Virgil and Horace wore the bays , And form'd th' Augus , tan age .. - But Luxury , with baneful art , Distiil'd her poison in the heart , And Tyranny arose ; The empire totters in decay ,
And crumbling falls , an easy prey-To rudest gothic foes . What sparks of science yet remain'd From the fell rage of Goth untam'd , " Or Dulness' leaden doom , Are smotl-. er'd by the stifling veil Of Superstition's furious zeal , Within the cloister ' s gloom
. . . „ .. ThusScience lay in torpid rest , Still in Italia ' s fost'ring breast , Thy cradle and thy tomb ! Till waken'd by a lion ' s voice , .. . . The droonine Arts aeain
reioice-And shew a vernal bloom . "¦ ' 0 say 1 who first dispcll'd the cloud Which shaded Virtue ' s bright abode , Who Science first revives ? Erasmus rouz'd the attic fire , And gentle Petrarch tun'd the lyte , ' And Raphael ' s canvas lives . But wherefore shall the willing Muse servile climes
In her dwelling chuse . Unknown to Freedom's namef - Britannia doth superior shine , Asserts her kindred to the Nine , And Freedom joins the claim . Long had the vain sophistic fiiles Of Amtotle flll'd the schools With wrangling , weak debate . '
The pa hless trackgreat Bacon spied , And by experiments descried The way toScience' gate . Then he , whose penetrating mind Could Nature ' s mazy movements find , By more than human skill—Ncv . -ioii ! from whom base error fled , . ¦ O'er Kurope truth diffusive spread . Obedient to his will
. No more let othtr natiens dare With Britain ' s Genius to compare Their cold corrected stile ; S ' jabpcarc , above thc . ru . Ies of art , Arrests the judgment ; storm * thejvtart , To force a tear of Jniili .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
T ! i £ PROGRESS OF SCIENCE . BY MB . SMITH . O THOU ! whose great all-searching eye Boih penetrate immensity
, Where Nature ' s limits end ; Celestial Wisdom ! thee 1 chuse To be my goddess and my muse , 'My guardian and my friend . What time thy emanation shone Round dark primeval Chaos' throne , And pour'd the beaming light : When " at the awful Godhead ' s call
, , Before thee roll'd this new form'd ball , Then Error fled with Ni g ht . Then did thy influence benign , With gentle splendour , mildly shine On patriarchal sage ; Whilst Innocence , with snowy vest , Content , and dove-ey'd Peace , attest The happv golden
age . But ah ! how soon the empire ends , Lo ! Follv , with her troop of friends , Their gloomy banners spread 1 See ! near her Fraud , with subiile lore , . And Cruelty , besmear'd with gore , By mad Ambition led . Was there no friendly climate found , No part of earth ' s wide spacious bound ,
For thee a safe retreat ! Where Nilus pours his copious urns , As through the fertile / and he turns , There , Science , was thy seat . From whence thy animating flame , To Greece , arous'd by Freedom , came , Bv Freedom ' s gen ' rous aid ; Again their heads the Virtues rear , The Muses in their train
appear , With all their charms display'd . How Homer ' s song impetuous pours . On Eagle's wings , lo ! Pindar soars . His rapid , daring flight ; O Sophocles ! lo thee We owe The tender scenes of tragic woe , And Pity ' s s-. l ' r delight . Thou Reason ' s fnirtx ' teldest child
, , Pliilosf . phv , with radiantc mild , The Greek j-artook thy smile—Plato divine , the s ' . igerite , And he who fix'd the ' orb of light , The sage of Santos * Kie . At once io awe us ; md surprise , How , Alliens 1 do thy temples rise , Above the tow ' ring pine ;
Thv statues , . Hhili , is \ seem -a breathe , And for thy glowing touch the wreath Is , great .-tppilies , thine . VOL . ix . a b
Thus flourisU'd Greece , with glory crown'd . Alike for aris and arms renoivn'd ; At length she mether doom : First by fell Discord ' s flaming brand . Then sunk into the grasping hand Of proud imperial Rome . . To-Home then Science rapid flew , Uhurt bFolly ' s torpid crew
p y , ' Or Prejudice ' s rage ; Whilst Ovid tun'd his tender lays , Virgil and Horace wore the bays , And form'd th' Augus , tan age .. - But Luxury , with baneful art , Distiil'd her poison in the heart , And Tyranny arose ; The empire totters in decay ,
And crumbling falls , an easy prey-To rudest gothic foes . What sparks of science yet remain'd From the fell rage of Goth untam'd , " Or Dulness' leaden doom , Are smotl-. er'd by the stifling veil Of Superstition's furious zeal , Within the cloister ' s gloom
. . . „ .. ThusScience lay in torpid rest , Still in Italia ' s fost'ring breast , Thy cradle and thy tomb ! Till waken'd by a lion ' s voice , .. . . The droonine Arts aeain
reioice-And shew a vernal bloom . "¦ ' 0 say 1 who first dispcll'd the cloud Which shaded Virtue ' s bright abode , Who Science first revives ? Erasmus rouz'd the attic fire , And gentle Petrarch tun'd the lyte , ' And Raphael ' s canvas lives . But wherefore shall the willing Muse servile climes
In her dwelling chuse . Unknown to Freedom's namef - Britannia doth superior shine , Asserts her kindred to the Nine , And Freedom joins the claim . Long had the vain sophistic fiiles Of Amtotle flll'd the schools With wrangling , weak debate . '
The pa hless trackgreat Bacon spied , And by experiments descried The way toScience' gate . Then he , whose penetrating mind Could Nature ' s mazy movements find , By more than human skill—Ncv . -ioii ! from whom base error fled , . ¦ O'er Kurope truth diffusive spread . Obedient to his will
. No more let othtr natiens dare With Britain ' s Genius to compare Their cold corrected stile ; S ' jabpcarc , above thc . ru . Ies of art , Arrests the judgment ; storm * thejvtart , To force a tear of Jniili .