Part 10

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Footnote 34:

The poet gives a whimsical account of the first formation of man, out of this earth, which is represented as being then new; and, having been recently separated from the high æther, is therefore supposed as yet holding some affinity with heaven, and retaining its seeds. He describes the son of Japetus (Prometheus) moulding a portion of earth, mixed with river-water, into the similitude of those heathen deities, who were said to rule over all things.

A poetic translation into our own language, of the lines above quoted, which exhibit “the godlike image,” thus formed, after its being animated by the stolen fire of Prometheus, is comprehended in the italicised lines of the following passage, extracted from Mr. Dryden’s versification of the first book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses; in which the English poet has well preserved the beauty, the force, and the sublimity of the thought, so finely expressed in the original:—

“A creature of a more exalted kind Was wanting yet, and then was Man design’d Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast, For empire form’d, and fit to rule the rest: Whether with particles of heav’nly fire The God of nature did his soul inspire; Or earth, but now divided from the sky, And pliant still, retain’d th’ ætherial energy: Which wise Prometheus temper’d into paste, And, mixt with living streams, the godlike image cast: Thus, while the mute creation downward bend Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes Beholds his own hereditary skies.”

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Mr. Pope has well observed, that—

“The proper study of mankind, is Man:”—

But, in order that he may be enabled to know himself, it is indispensably necessary for him to acquire such a knowledge of other created beings that surround him, as the limited nature of his faculties will allow. He must attentively observe the operations of nature in the material universe, survey with a reflecting mind its stupendous fabric, and study its laws. Hence, he will be made acquainted, and although in a partial, yet not an inconsiderable degree, with the powers and extent of that intellectual principle which he finds in the government of the moral, as well as the natural world. And being thus enabled to know his own proper standing in creation, and his appropriate relation to all its parts, he will by these means be qualified to ascend to those enquiries, which will open to his mind a just sense of the attributes of the Deity, of whose existence he will feel a perfect conviction. In this way, will man obtain a due knowledge of his own “being, end and aim;” and become fully sensible of his entire dependence on his Creator: while he will thereby learn, that he incessantly owes him the highest adoration and the most devoted service. In this way it is, that the philosopher, more especially the astronomer,—

“Looks, through Nature, up to Nature’s God.” Pope’s Ess. on Man.

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Footnote 35:

Man will, unquestionably, by taking an extensive range in the contemplation of nature, proportionably enlarge his intuitive conceptions of the attributes of her Almighty First Cause; of whose transcendently exalted existence, the study of his own being, one of nature’s greatest works, will have taught him the reality: and a due knowledge of himself, alone, will also instruct him in the dependent nature of his condition, and the duties resulting from that state of dependence, in his humble relation to the Supreme being.

Mr. Smart, in the poem before quoted, has prettily expressed this idea, in the following lines:—

“Vain were th’ attempt, and impious, to trace Thro’ all his works th’ Artificer Divine— And tho’ no shining sun, nor twinkling star, Bedeck’d the crimson curtains of the sky; Tho’ neither vegetable, beast, nor bird, Were extant on the surface of this ball, Nor lurking gem beneath; tho’ the great sea Slept in profound stagnation, and the air Had left no thunder to pronounce its Maker; Yet Man at home, within himself, might find The Deity immense; and, in that frame So fearfully, so wonderfully made, See and adore his Providence and Pow’r.”

Footnote 36:

The same sentiment is beautifully expressed by Thomson, in the following apostrophe:

“With thee, serene Philosophy! with thee, And thy bright garland, let me crown my song! Effusive source of evidence, and truth! A lustre shedding o’er th’ ennobled mind, Stronger than summer-noon; and pure as that, Whose mild vibrations soothe the parted soul, New to the dawning of celestial day. Hence through her nourish’d pow’rs, enlarged by thee, She springs aloft, with elevated pride, Above the tangling mass of low desires, That bind the fluttering crowd; and angel-wing’d, 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 or to fancy’s eye display’d: The First up-tracing, from the dreary void, 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, Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense, Diffusive painted on the rapid mind.” Summer, l. 1729 and seq.

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Besides the various and important uses of astronomy, here pointed out, it is connected, by means of numerous ramifications, with other departments of science, directed to some of the most useful pursuits of human life. Lalande has even shewn us, in the preface to his Astronomie, in what manner this science has a relation to the administration of civil and ecclesiastical affairs, to medicine, and to agriculture. A knowledge of astronomy is obviously connected, by means of chronology, with history. It is even a necessary study, in order to become acquainted with the heathen mythology; and many beautiful passages in the works of the ancient poets can neither be distinctly understood nor properly relished, without a knowledge of the stars: nay, that finely poetical one, in the book of Job, in which the Deity is represented as manifesting to that patient man of affliction and sorrow the extreme imbecility of his nature, is unintelligible without some knowledge of astronomy:—

“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?— Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season; or canst thou guide Arcturus, with his sons?”

Some of the greatest poets of antiquity were in a manner fascinated, by the grandeur of that science, (though they accompanied it with mystical notions,) which furnishes the sublimest objects in nature to the contemplation of the astronomer.

Ovid tells us, he wished to take his flight among the stars:

—-—-—“Juvat ire per alta Astra; juvat, terris et inerti sede relictis, Nube vehi, validique humeris insistere Atlantis.” Metamorph. lib. xv.

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Footnote 37:

It delights me to soar among the lofty stars; it delights me to leave the earth and this dull habitation, to be wafted upon a cloud, and to stand upon the shoulders of the mighty Atlas.

Mr. Dryden has thus translated the original into English verse:—