Th' Involuntary well directed Fry,
The unknown ſomething readily obey.
No Pilot can with more Exactneſs ſteer,
Not Sun or Moon divides the Year.
Not the revolving Stars their Courſe obey•
Not Darkneſs can ſucceed the Day,
With a more punctual ſteady Pace,
In Manner, Meaſure, Time and Place;
True to the very Diſtance of the Shore,
They'r never, where they never were before
Where there's but few, there ever was but few,
To ev'ry Circumſtance ſo true.
Such Courſes ſteer, ſuch Orders keep,
Thro' all the wandring Mazes of the Deep;
As if the Ancient Paths they could diſcry,
Or read their Father's Hiſtory:
Then Caledonians lend an humble Ear,
And your own [1] ill accepted Bleſſings hear,
From the profound unmeaſur'd Deeps
Where Nature all her Wonders keeps.
Her [2] Handmaid Inſtinct, this Bleſt Meſſage gave
- ↑ Ill accepted. It must be owned, Scotland has not given that full welcome to this Gift of Heaven, the Fish that Nature and Providence seem|ed to expect from them, for whose Benefit without Doubt they were ap|pointed.
- ↑ Instinct is here represented as delivering a Message in the Watry Audience, and making a Speech to the Fish, the Image, its hoped is not im|proper, nor is the Liberty taken at all unpoetical; so I make no excuse for it, but think, that what we call Instinct, may serve to represent Nature in all the Creatures obeying their Times and Seasons, exactly according to the great and just Law of Creation, and the Influence of Invisible Providence.
