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Unboastful Maid! though now the Lily pale
Transparent grace thy beauties meek;
Yet ere again along the impurpling vale,
The purpling vale and elfin-haunted grove,
Young Zephyr his fresh flowers profusely throws,
We'll tinge with livelier hues thy check;
And, haply, from the nectar-breathing Rose
Extract a blush for love!

The Superior Planets.

COLERIDGE.

Those distant Spheres that roll about the Sun,
And round the Earth's inferior orbit run;
That further, into boundless regions fly,
Mix with the stars, and wander through the sky,
Boast what their heavenly grandeur seems to claim,
"Superior Planets," for their general name.

s;

And first, the nearest of these moving Stars,
A symbol shines of stern and fiery Mars
His ruddy look, and dim-reflected ray,
(As some surmise) a circling mist betray,
But for what end created, who can tell?
Or image those that on his surface dwell?

Next rolling through th' immensity of space,
Four smaller Planets* run their distant race,
Faint glimm'ring sparks! the unassisted eye
Can scarce perceive them in the glittering sky.
Through countless ages, tho' unknown to man,
Admired as now,
their wonted course they ran;
By him unseen, 'mid brighter spheres sublime,
Traced their own paths, and kept their destined time.
Thus had they still, in secret beauty shone,

But Science, searching, marked them for her own;

* See notes at the end.

Ceres, and Pallas, were the first she named,
The others next, a like distinction claimed ;
Orb within orb, they all in order move,
And, silent, swell the harmony above.

Nor pause we here-for yonder skies invite
The wandering Muse to more refulgent light,
To Jupiter, who, with unrivalled ray,
Serene and bright, pursues his trackless way.
There, where remote the starry host among,
He glides in silent majesty along,

A thousand Earths would scarce his power attain,
And o'er the night with equal splendour reign.
Subject, alike, to Nature's simple laws,

"In mystic dance," four Satellites he draws;
These, thro' their brief and rapid-wheeling flight,
Now in eclipse, and now emerging bright,
To Roemer proved how swiftly light is driv'n
From Heav'n to Earth, again from Earth to Heav'n!
Thus, when fair Science first in freedom rose,
And Galileo triumphed o'er her foes;

When from on High, o'er Newton's soul serene,
Dawned mighty truths, and wonders yet unseen,
All Nature's laws seemed opening to our view,
And what we once conjectured-then we knew.
With softer beam, next Saturn deigns to shine,
And creeps by every star, thro' every Sign;
Three golden rings, a large stupendous mass,
Of shining matter round his centre pass;
A polish'd girdle-whose reflected light,
In dismal distance, chases dismal night.
Whirled, as in mimic paths, a num'rous train
Of lagging moons, his tardy course restrain,
So tend to check his pace around the sun,
That thirty years to Saturn are but one.
Nor ends, if end it has, the system here,
As far beyond, in his appointed sphere,

Rolls Herschell's world—and last, with fainter gleam, Huge Neptune far returns the solar beam.

Oft may we fruitless search the glowing sky

Through boundless space their glimmering lamps to spy;

There, though amid the blue expanse of heaven,
In rapid flight these mighty orbs are driven,
Such tedious years each circling course attend,
The age of man in vain awaits its end.
What, if by them the solar ray benign
Unfelt, in dreary solitude they shine;
If clouds and storms the sky perpetual hide,
Nor breathing thing can on their surface bide;
For some great good, they hold their cheerless flight,
Nor seek the day, nor shun th'eternal night.

And higher, should we still presumptuous soar,
In wider range th'ethereal realms explore;
Pierce the bright zone in which our System rolls,
Or wandering thence, survey the glittering poles,
Each tiny Star a glorious Sun appears,

Around whose light revolve unnumbered spheres ;
So vast their distance, and their size so great,
What Mind can scan, what Muse reveal their state?
What mortal Power, unaided, can divine

Their end-their purpose, -or for whom they shine?
Bent on a nearer view of heavenly things,
Imagination spreads her dazzling wings,

And tho' in boldest, loftiest flight upraised,

But faltering hymns-"SUCH WONDROUS WORKS BE PRAISED!"

ANON.

NOTES.

Page 19.-A train-band captain eke was he.
Eke (eacan, Sax) likewise; in addition-nearly obsolete,-

""Twill be prodigious hard to prove

That this is eke the throne of love."-Prior.

Page 30.-Was confined to the rip.

The rip. A machine used in poultry-yards, under which it is usual to confine the mother-bird with the young brood. The word is derived from the Saxon hrip, which means a covering, or protection, for the young.

Page 31.-The Tailor-Bird offered to make up new clothes.

The Tailor-Bird, so called from the singular manner in which it constructs its nest, which is composed of two leaves, sewed together by the little tailor, whose bill serves him for a needle, and the fine fibres of leaves furnish him with a substitute for thread, by which means he attaches a dead leaf to a living one, growing at the end of a branch. It is an inhabitant of India.

Page 31.-The Wren's Golden Crest.

The Golden-crested Wren is the smallest of the British birds; it takes its name from a circle of gold-coloured feathers, bordered with black, forming an arch above its eyes. It is a native of every part of Europe, and is also to be found in Asia and America.

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