English

Here, take again thy Sack-cloth ! and thank heav'n
Thy Courtship hath not kill'd me; Is't not Even
Whether wee dye by peecemeale, or at once
Since both but ruine, why then for the nonce
Didst husband my afflictions, and cast o're
Me this forc'd Hurdle to inflame the score?
Had I neer London in this Rug been seen
Without doubt I had executed been
For some bold Irish spy, and crosse a sledge
Had layn mess'd up for their foure gates and bridge .
When first I bore it, my oppressed feet

When he did read how did we flock to hear:
Sure some professors became pupils there.
He would refine abstractions: it was he
That gave the text all its authority,
As if the Stagyrite resigned his pen
And took his censure not his comment then.
And though with some the science goes for pelf,
His lectures made it to transcend itself.
He used the creatures as a scale to storm
The spiritual world, and though 'twas torn
And broken with uncertainties, yet he —
By reason, as by faith — a Deity

1

I don't feel like reading another book,
and I'm tired of poetry — that's not what I want to do.
But my mind is restless, unsettled —
I'll try counting raindrop stains on the oilcloth window.

2

I finish chanting my new poems and fall asleep —
I am a butterfly journeying to the eight corners of the universe.
Outside the boat, waves crash like thunder,
but it is silent in the world of sleep.

" The Bull, the Fleece are crammed, and not a room
For love or money. Let us picnic there
At Audley Court."
I spoke, while Audley feast
Hummed like a hive all round the narrow quay,
To Francis, with a basket on his arm,
To Francis just alighted from the boat,
And breathing of the sea. " With all my heart,"
Said Francis. Then we shouldered through the swarm,
And rounded by the stillness of the beach
To where the bay runs up its latest horn.

We left the dying ebb that faintly lipped

Thyself the filler of thy own abyss,
Thyself the Great Eternity of Bliss!
All When, and Where, in T HEE imbosom'd lay,
The blaze of majesty, and self born day;
No void was found, where E NDLESS B EAUTY beamed;
No darkness, where E SSENTIAL G LORY flamed;
No want, no solitude, where T HOU wer't blest,
And in Thyself the unbounded whole possest.

Of Reason T HOU the co-eternal cause,
Thyself all Reason, and thy Will all Laws;
All reasoning Will with powerful Wisdom fraught!
Thy Wisdom, one unchanging endless thought,

Two posterns gape with deep deceit below,
And o'er the pass fair mantling waters flow;
Evasive whence, they scape the dangerous train,
Or wide expatiate on the yielding plain;
Thro' trading currents sail to distant shores,
Or homeward laden with returning stores.
Laborious here, they hew the sounding wood,
And lift the prize triumphant o'er the flood;
Here, lightly some vimineous burdens bear,
Or jointly here the ponderous rafter share;
Spread o'er their tails, they waft the temper'd clay,

Now first appears the rough proportion'd frame,
Rough in the draught, but perfect in the scheme;
When lo! each little Archimedes nigh,
Metes every angle with judicious eye;
Adjusts the centering cones with skill profound,
And forms the curious hexagon around.

The cells indors'd with double range adhere,
Knit on the sides, and guarded on the rear;
Nought of itself, with circling chambers bound,
Each cell is form'd, to form the cells around;
While each still gives what each alike demands,

Then pois'd his project with transposing scale,
And from the publick, shew'd the private weal?
Whence aptly summ'd, these politicians draw
The trust of power, and fanctitude of law;
Power in dispensing benefits employ'd,
And healing laws, not suffer'd, but enjoy'd.
The members, hence unanimous, combine
To prop that throne, on which the laws recline;
The law's protected even for private ends,
Whereon each individual's right depends;
Each individual's right by union grows,
And one full tide for every member flows;

BOOK VI.

" Y E human offsprings of distinguish'd birth,
" So justly substituted lords of earth;
" Who boast the seal of highest heaven impress'd,
" Thence with supremacy of reason bless'd,
" Attend the song, and vindicate your claim!
" Recall your ancestry of antique fame,
" Prime artizans of each sagacious craft,
" The curious model, or designing draft,
" All talents technical for each device,
" The skilful fabrick, and the texture nice!

Which all perceive, and envy deems complete.
" O Nature! " cries the wretch of human birth,
" O why a step-dame to this lord of earth?
" To brutes indulgent bends thy partial care,
" While just complainings fill our natal air.
" Helpless, uncloathed, the pride of nature lies,
" And Heaven relentless hears his viceroy's cries.
" O wherefore not with native bounties bless'd,
" Nor thus in humble poor dependance dress'd?
" Give me the self-born garb, the bark of trees,
" The downy feather, and the wintry fleece;