To lend new fuel to declining suns,
To light up worlds, and feed th' ethernal fire.
With thee, serene Philosophy! with thee, 1725
And thy bright garland, let me crown my song!
Effusive source of evidence, and truth!
A luster shedding o'er th' ennobled mind,
Stronger than summer-noon; and pure as that,
Whose mild vibrations sooth the parted soul, 1720
New to the dawning of celestial day.
Hence thro' her nourish'd powers, enlarg'd by thee,
She springs aloft, with elevated pride,
Above the tangling mass of low desires,
That bind the fluttering croud; and angel-wing'd, 1735
The heights of science and of virtue gains,
Where all is calm and clear; with Nature round,
Or in the starry regions, or th' abyss,
To Reason's, and to Fancy's eye display'd:
The First up-tracing, from the dreary void, 1740
The chain of causes and effects to Him,
The world-producing Essence, who alone
Possesses being; while the Last receives
The whole magnificence of heaven and earth,
And every beauty, delicate or bold, 1745
Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense,
Diffusive painted on the rapid mind.
Tutor'd by thee, hence Poetry exalts
Her voice to ages; and informs the page
With
