The Minstrel; or the Progress of Genius

‘And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace,
‘Whose long progression leads to Deity.
‘Can mortal strength presume to soar so high?
‘Can mortal sight, so oft bedimmed with tears,
‘Such glory bear? – for lo, the shadows fly
‘From Nature’s face; Confusion disappears,
‘And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears.

XLVII

‘In the deep windings of the grove, no more
‘The hag obscene, and grisly phantom dwell;
‘Nor in the fall of mountain-stream, or roar
‘Of winds, is heard the angry spirit’s yell;
‘No wizard mutters the tremendous spell,
‘Nor sinks convulsive in prophetic swoon;
‘Nor bids the noise of drums and trumpets swell,
‘To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon,
‘Or chace the shade that blots the blazing orb of noon.

XLVIII

‘Many a long lingering year, in lonely isle,
‘Stunned with the eternal turbulence of waves,
‘Lo, with dim eyes, that never learned to smile,
‘And trembling hands, the famished native craves
‘Of Heaven his wretched fare: shivering in caves,
‘Or scorched on rocks, he pines from day to day;
‘But Science gives the word; and lo, he braves
‘The surge and tempest, lighted by her ray,
‘And to a happier land wafts merrily away.

XLIX

‘And even where Nature loads the teeming plain
‘With the full pomp of vegetable store,
‘Her bounty, unimproved, is deadly bane:
‘Dark woods and rankling wilds, from shore to shore,
‘Stretch their enormous gloom; which, to explore,
‘Even Fancy trembles, in her sprightliest mood;
‘For there, each eyeball gleams with lust of gore,
‘Nestles each murderous and each monstrous brood,
‘Plague lurks in every shade, and streams from every flood.

L

‘’Twas from Philosophy man learned to tame
‘The soil, by plenty to intemperance fed.
‘Lo, from the echoing axe, and thundering flame,
‘Poison, and plague, and yelling rage, are fled.
‘The waters, bursting from their slimy bed,
‘Bring health and melody to every vale:
‘And, from the breezy main, and mountain’s head,
‘Ceres and Flora, to the sunny dale,
‘To fan their glowing charms, invite the fluttering gale.

LI

‘What dire necessities, on every hand,
‘Our art, our strength, our fortitude, require!
‘Of foes intestine, what a numerous band
‘Against this little throb of life conspire!
‘Yet Science can elude their fatal ire
‘Awhile, and turn aside Death’s levelled dart,
‘Sooth the sharp pang, allay the fever’s fire,
‘And brace the nerves once more, and cheer the heart,
‘And yet a few soft nights and balmy days impart.

LII

‘Nor less to regulate man’s moral frame
‘Science exerts her all-composing sway.
‘Flutters thy breast with fear, or pants for fame,
‘Or pines, to indolence and spleen a prey,
‘Or avarice, a fiend more fierce than they?
‘Flee to the shade of Academus’ grove;
‘Where cares molest not, discord melts away
‘In harmony, and the pure passions prove,
‘How sweet the words of truth, breathed from the lips of Love.

LIII

‘What cannot Art and Industry perform,
‘When Science plans the progress of their toil!
‘They smile at penury, disease, and storm;
‘And oceans from their mighty mounds recoil.
‘When tyrants scourge, or demagogues embroil
‘A land, or when the rabble’s headlong rage
‘Order transforms to anarchy and spoil,
‘Deep-versed in man, the philosophic Sage
‘Prepares, with lenient hand, their phrenzy to assuage.

LIV

‘’Tis he alone, whose comprehensive mind,
‘From situation, temper, soil, and clime
‘Explored, a nation’s various powers can bind,
‘And various orders, in one form sublime
‘Of polity, that, midst the wrecks of time,
‘Secure shall lift its head on high, nor fear