And paint his person, character, and views, PHILOSOPHIC SPECULATIONS IN GEOLOGY AND COSMOGONY Some drill and bore And tell us whence the stars; why some are fixed, FOLLIES OF THE LEARNED AND THE SCIENTISTS.' And thus they spend The little wick of life's poor shallow lamp In playing tricks with nature, giving laws To distant worlds, and trifling in their own. Is't not a pity now, that tickling rheums Should ever tease the lungs and blear the sight Of oracles like these? Great pity, too, That, having wielded the elements, and built A thousand systems, each in his own way, They should go out in fume, and be forgot? Ah, what is life thus spent? and what are they But frantic, who thus spend it? all for smoke Eternity for bubbles proves at last A senseless bargain. THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. BOOTLESS TOIL. When I see such games, Played by the creatures of a Power, who swears That He will judge the earth, and call the fool To a sharp reckoning, that has lived in vain ; And when I weigh this seeming wisdom well, And prove it in the infallible result So hollow and so false I feel my heart SYMPATHY WITH ERRING HUMANITY. 'T were well, says one sage erudite, profound, Terribly arched, and aquiline his nose, And overbuilt with most impending brows, "T were well, could you permit the world to live In arts like yours. I cannot call the swift I cannot analyze the air, nor catch The parallax of yonder luminous point, That seems half quenched in the immense abyss: LIMITS ARE SET TO HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. CONCEIT OF BLIND SCIENCE. God never meant that man should scale the heavBy strides of human wisdom in His works, [ens, Though wondrous: He commands us in his Word To seek Him rather where his mercy shines. The mind, indeed, enlightened from above, Views Him in all; ascribes to the grand Cause The grand effect; acknowledges with joy His manner, and with rapture tastes his style. But never yet did philosophic tube, That brings the planets home into the eye Of observation, and discovers, else Not visible, his family of worlds, Discover Him that rules them; such a veil Hangs over mortal eyes, blind from the birth, And dark in things divine. Full often too Our wayward intellect, the more we learn Of Nature, overlooks her Author more ; From instrumental causes proud to draw Conclusions retrograde, and mad mistake. SCIENCE MUST BE RELIGIOUS TO PROGRESS. But if his Word once teach us, shoot a ray Through all the heart's dark chambers, and reveal Truths undiscerned but by that holy light, Then all is plain. Philosophy, baptized In the pure fountain of eternal love, Has eyes indeed; and viewing all she sees As meant to indicate a God to man, Gives Him his praise, and forfeits not her own. Learning has borne such fruit in other days His glory, and his nature, to impart, What's that, which brings contempt upon a book, His name a theme for praise and for reproach? RURAL, DOMESTIC LIFE. ITS ADVANTAGES. O friendly to the best pursuits of man, Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace, Domestic life, in rural pleasure passed! Few know thy value, and few taste thy sweets; Though many boast thy favors, and affect To understand and choose thee for their own. But foolish man foregoes his proper bliss, Even as his first progenitor, and quits, Though placed in Paradise (for earth has still Some traces of her youthful beauty left), Substantial happiness for transient joy. MAN MARS THE COUNTRY.-MURDER OF GAME, ETC. Scenes formed for contemplation, and to nurse The growing seeds of wisdom; that suggest, By every pleasing image they present, Reflections such as meliorate the heart, Compose the passions, and exalt the mind; Scenes such as these 't is his supreme delight To fill with riot, and defile with blood. Should some contagion, kind to the poor brutes We persecute, annihilate the tribes, That draw the sportsman over hill and dale, Fearless, and rapt away from all his cares; Should never game-fowl hatch her eggs again, Nor baited hook deceive the fish's eye; Could pageantry, and dance, and feast, and song, Be quelled in all our summer-months' retreats; How many self-deluded nymphs and swains, Who dream they have a taste for fields and groves, Would find them hideous nurseries of the spleen, And crowd the roads, impatient for the town! WHO TRULY ENJOY THE CHARMS OF NATURE. NOT THE HUNTER. They love the country, and none else, who seek For their own sake its silence, and its shade. Delights which who would leave, that has a heart Susceptible of pity, or a mind Cultured and capable of sober thought, THE AUTHOR'S TAME HARE. One sheltered hare Has never heard the sanguinary yell Of cruel man, exulting in her woes. Innocent partner of my peaceful home, Whom ten long years' experience of my care Has made at least familiar; she has lost Much of her vigilant instinctive dread, Not needful here, beneath a roof like mine. Yes-thou mayest eat thy bread, and lick the hand That feeds thee; thou mayest frolic on the floor At evening, and at night retire secure To thy straw couch, and slumber unalarmed; For I have gained thy confidence, have pledged All that is human in me, to protect Thine unsuspecting gratitude and love. If I survive thee, I will dig thy grave; And, when I place thee in it, sighing say, I knew at least one hare that had a friend.1 1 Cowper tamed several hares. EMPLOYMENTS OF A VIRTUOUS, RETIRED LEISURE. How various his employments, whom the world Calls idle; and who justly in return Esteems that busy world an idler too! Friends, books, a garden, and perhaps his pen, Delightful industry enjoyed at home, And nature in her cultivated trim, Dressed to his taste, inviting him abroadCan he want occupation, who has these? Will he be idle, who has much t' enjoy? Me, therefore, studious of laborious ease, Not slothful, happy to deceive the time, Not waste it, and aware that human life Is but a loan to be repaid with use, When He shall call his debtors to account, From whom are all our blessings, business finds Even here while sedulous I seek t' improve, At least neglect not, or leave unemployed, The mind He gave me ; driving it, though slack Too oft, and much impeded in its work By causes not to be divulged in vain, To its just point-the service of mankind. UTILITY TO OTHERS THE BEST AIM. He, that attends to his interior self, Has business; feels himself engaged t' achieve A life all turbulence and noise, may seem, THE MORNING OF THE VIRTUOUS MAN OF LEISURE. The morning finds the self-sequestered man Fresh for his task, intend what task he may. Whether inclement seasons recommend His warm but simple home, where he enjoys With her, who shares his pleasures and his heart, Sweet converse, sipping calm the fragrant lymph, Which neatly she prepares; then to his book Well chosen, and not sullenly perused In selfish silence, but imparted oft, As aught occurs, that she may smile to hear, Or turn to nourishment, digested well. LABORERS TO BE CAREFULLY LOOKED AFTER. EXERCISE. Or if the garden, with its many cares, All well repaid, demand him, he attends The welcome call, conscious how much the hand Of lubbard labor needs his watchful eye, Oft loitering lazily, if not o'erseen, Or misapplying his unskilful strength. Nor does he govern only or direct, But much performs himself. No works, indeed, That ask robust, tough sinews, bred to toil, Servile employ; but such as may amuse, Not tire, demanding rather skill than force. CARE AND LOVE FOR TREES. PRUNING. WALL-FRUITS. Proud of his well-spread walls, he views his trees, Dooms to the knife: nor does he spare the soft TRIMMING OUT OF TREES. The rest, no portion left CAREFUL TENDING OF BUDS NEEDFUL IN THE CAPRICIOUS Fair recompense of labor well bestowed, And wise precaution; which a clime so rude Makes needful still, whose spring is but the child Of churlish winter, in her froward moods Discovering much the temper of her sire. For oft, as if in her the stream of mild Maternal nature had reversed its course, She brings her infants forth with many smiles; But, once delivered, kills them with a frown. He therefore, timely warned, himself supplies Her want of care, screening and keeping warm The plenteous bloom, that no rough blast may sweep His garlands from the boughs. Again, as oft As the sun peeps, and vernal airs breathe mild, The fence withdrawn, he gives them every beam, And spreads his hopes before the blaze of day. THE CUCUMBER. ITS PROPER CULTURE. To raise the prickly and green-coated gourd, So grateful to the palate, and when rare So coveted, else base and disesteemed Food for the vulgar merely - is an art That toiling ages have but just matured, And at this moment unassayed in song. Yet gnats have had, and frogs and mice, long since, Their eulogy those sang the Mantuan bard, And these the Grecian, in ennobling strains; And in thy numbers, Philips, shines for aye The solitary shilling. Pardon, then, Ye sage dispensers of poetic fame, The ambition of one meaner far, whose powers, A cucumber, while costly yet and scarce. THE HOT-BED FOR CUCUMBERS. HOW MADE. The stable yields a stercoraceous heap, For, ere the beech and elm have cast their leaf He seeks a favored spot; that where he builds Its foul inhabitant. But to assuage PLANTING THE CUCUMBER-SEED. The seed, selected wisely, plump and smooth, And glossy, he commits to pots of size Diminutive, well filled with well-prepared And fruitful soil, that has been treasured long, If fanned by balmy and nutritious air, THE CUCUMBER-PLANT; ITS FLOWERS AND FERTILIZATION. COSTLINESS OF HOT-HOUSE CULTURE AND FRUITS. Grudge not, ye rich (since luxury must have His dainties, and the world's more numerous half Lives by contriving delicates for you), Grudge not the cost. Ye little know the cares, The vigilance, the labor, and the skill, That day and night are exercised, and hang Upon the ticklish balance of suspense, That ye may garnish your profuse regales With summer fruits brought forth by wintry suns. Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart The process. Heat and cold, and wind and steam, Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and swarming Minute as dust, and numberless, oft work Dire disappointment, that admits no cure, And which no care can obviate. It were long, Too long, to tell the expedients and the shifts, Which he that fights a season so severe Devises, while he guards his tender trust; And oft at last in vain. The learned and wise Sarcastic would exclaim, and judge the song Cold as its theme, and like its theme the fruit Of too much labor, worthless when produced. THE GREEN-HOUSE. ITS PLANTS DESCRIBED. Who loves a garden loves a green-house too. Unconscious of a less propitious clime, There blooms exotic beauty, warm and snug, [flies, While the winds whistle, and the snows descend. The winter's frown, if screened from his shrewd bite, ARRANGEMENT OF EXOTICS IN THE GREEN-HOUSE. Yet just arrangement, rarely brought to pass Must lend its aid to illustrate all their charms, LABORIOUS CARES OF THE CONSERVATORY.-THEIR RICH REWARD. Much yet remains And disappoints the roots; the slender roots TASTE SHOULD PRESIDE OVER RURAL LABORS. THE KNOLL. So manifold, all pleasing in their kind, Runs round; still ending, and beginning still. To no mean hand, and asks the touch of taste. Is needful. Strength may wield the ponderous spade, Of thought, the creature of a polished mind. VULGAR TASTE IN GARDENING. Without it all is Gothic as the scene To which the insipid citizen resorts, THE GARDEN SHOULD BE FIRST WELL PLANNED. He, therefore, who would see his flowers disposed Sightly and in just order, ere he gives The beds the trusted treasure of their seeds, VARIOUS HABITS OF PLANTS REQUIRE VARIOUS PROVISIONS FOR SUPPORT. Few self-supported flowers endure the wind Uninjured, but expect the upholding aid Of the smooth-shaven prop; and, neatly tied, Are wedded thus, like beauty to old age, For interest sake, the living to the dead. Some clothe the soil that feeds them, far diffused And lowly creeping, modest and yet fair, Like virtue, thriving most where little seen: Some, more aspiring, catch the neighbor shrub With clasping tendrils, and invest his branch, Else unadorned, with many a gay festoon And fragrant chaplet, recompensing well The strength they borrow with the grace they lend. WEEDS ARE LIKE FACTIONISTS. All hate the rank society of weeds, Noisome, and ever greedy to exhaust The impoverished earth; an overbearing race, That, like the multitude made faction mad, Disturb good order, and degrade true worth. |