תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

For conq'ring Nelson, in success array'd,

Felt all the power of fam'd Apollo's || aid.

Hail, king of light! his race and thine were one,
His rise like thine-his fall the setting Sun.

J. W. P.

To the Editors of the Monthly Correspondent.

DEAR SIRS,

Feb. 20, 1814.

THE inclosed lines I wish inserted, addressed to Mr. Thomas Taylor, the celebrated Platonist, as under.

[blocks in formation]

LINES ADDRESSED TO MR. T. TAYLOR,

ON READING HIS ERUDITE TRANSLATIONS OF THE DIVINE WORKS OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLE,

BY J. W. PUCKLE.

O SAGE sublime! in ancient lore profound,

Whose mind pervades the universe around;

Whose Genius soars through all the realms of space,
And whose keen sight can such dark myst❜ry trace.
Oh! that like thee, I Wisdom's page could scan,
Fraught with fair science, which ennobles man;
Pursue the paths of Truth and Virtue dear,
Philosophy my aid, and guide to steer,
Through all the devious tracks of erring life,
Through disappointments and vexatious strife.
What energy of thought, and matchless mind,
Breathe through thy writings, with a skill refin’d;
There, mid the rays of Science, Genius rears
Her head aloft, and lovely she appears,

Clad in the mantle of a Soul divine,

She seems a Proclus's in every

line;

* Sol.

There too with spotless Truth, she's seen array'd,
And robed in Light, illumines ev'ry shade,
Like Phoebus bright with strength and glory crown'd,
With energy she darts her beams around;
And misty ignorance, dissipating wide,
Unveils fair Reason, nature's Joy and Pride;
Like Phœbus too, when hastening on his race,
She's seen alone, no other light has place;
And clouds dispelling mid a radiant blaze,
Her peerless charms enrapture and amaze !
Such is thy Genius, may the lot be mine,
To bend with rev'rence at its sacred shrine;
To draw from Fountains of immortal fame,
Plato's Philosophy and virtuous name;
To learn how Wisdom, perfect, unconfin'd,
Creation vast, in ancient days defin'd;
To trace through parts the harmony of wholes,
See the gradation of superior souls;

To watch the circling spheres in beauty's round,
To view the gods in nature's order found;
To learn that these, in bright succession spring
From heaven's allwise, supreme, Almighty King!
The vast, the eternal mind's creative power,
In goodness energizing every hour;
One mighty centre giving life to all,
From space's confines to this earthly ball;
The good the one, the parent of all things,
Whose praises every orb in motion sings;
And mid his progeny, deific powers,
Beneficence through nature ever showers:
Such may I view through aneient sages hore,
Beauty and order every where explore.
O genius! pregnant with immortal fire,

That sweep'st, with hallowed hand, Apollo's lyre;

At once the glory and peculiar grace

Of this base, selfish, and degen'rate race,

Be it my task till life has ceased to flow,
To hail thy name with rapture's strongest glow;
To gather knowledge from thy sacred page,
Teeming prolific, in a barren age;

With truths sublime, on sure foundations laid,
To universal man imparting aid.

O! may the fates, thus kindly deal with me,
Only to know philosophy and thee:

And when the soul from body wings its way

To the bright regions of perpetual day;

There to watch Virtue, Wisdom, and thy course—
To taste of bliss nectarian from its source.

ON THE MOON.

[Continued from page 102.]

Ir is farther to be observed, that those inhabitants of the Moon, which are placed about the middle of the surface, or face, next us, about Mount Olympus and the Adriatic sea, will constantly see our Earth over their heads, and increasing and decreasing in light, like as the Moon itself appears to us. Those who are situated near the borders, whether on the right or left, or upon the top or bottom, will also constantly have the same appearance in the opposite part of the hori zon. But those who live on the side of the Moon, which is not presented to us, will know nothing of our Earth; or, at least, they will never have an opportunity of seeing this large and wonderful Moon (as it will appear to the inhabitants there, who can see it) without travelling perhaps more than 1500 of our miles on the surface of that luminary. To those who do live on this side of the Moon, or travel to it upon any account, as we may pass from the northern into the southern hemisphere of our globe, the Earth, indeed, when at full to them, will appear to be almost four times the breadth that the Moon does to us, and to communicate about fifteen times as much light to her as she does to us

when at the full. It is this very reflection from the Earth which occasions that dusky light, which may frequently be seen for some days near the change in the body of the Moon, though not then enlightened by an immediate reflection of the Sun's rays after infringing on the Earth.

I have said, that the same face of the Moon is constantly turned towards the Earth; which is in a great measure true, though not strictly so. The motion of the Moon round the Earth, on account of the great eccentricity of her orbit, is very unequal, whilst that round her axis is steady and uniform. By the latter, she constantly turns her face towards us; by the former, the surface is turned from us. As one or the other of those exceeds, it will cause a variation in these appearances, according to the difference, either in excess or defect, of one or the other. Both the limbs will appear differently, either more or less, as one or the other of these has the advantage; either on the western limb, from the first appearance of the new Moon to the full, or on the eastern limb, from the full to the latest time of being seen before the change. It need not be requested or pressed upon my readers, the observation of these variations in the different stages of the Moon's revolution, as well as at the full; convinced, as all must be, that these remarks must be sufficiently persuasive to render any special recommendation unnecessary to the class of readers, for whom it is my wish to exercise my utmost services. The comparatively small difference in these appearances of the eastern and western limbs of the Moon is usually called her libration, to denote the variation from her true balance, or regular and mean situation.

It has been observed, that the Earth is visible to little more than one half of the lunar inhabitants; and it must be equally obvious, that to those who are so situated as to behold it, the Earth will seem to be fixed, and without any circular motion, excepting what can only be produced by the Moon's libration. It must be no less manifest, that those who live

[blocks in formation]

in the middle of the Moon's hemisphere will see the Earth directly over their heads, whilst those who live near the extremity of that hemisphere, will always perceive the Earth as a large Moon nearly in the horizon. In the course of a month also, the Earth will present all the phases or appearances of the Moon; but at times, and under appearances diametrically opposite. Nor can the least doubt be entertained that our Earth must appear to them to be variegated with spots of different magnitudes and colours, arising from oceans, seas, clouds, continents, islands, &c. as our Moon appears to us; but these spots of our Earth will appear to the inhabitants of the Moon to revolve about the Earth's axis so distinctly and plainly, that they will be at no loss to determine the nature and properties of the Earth's diurnal motion.

From the constant daily rotation of the Earth upon its axis to the east, all the stars and planets, as well as the Moon, will constantly appear to move every day to the westward. But the Moon's real motion, like the rest of the planets, is towards the east.-Nothing can be more plain. It is only to observe her on any particular night near some known fixed star, and on the following night she will be advanced to the eastward from about twelve to fourteen degrees, a little more or less, according as the Moon is in her apogee or perigee, and is slower or quicker in motion accordingly. By this means, she will accomplish her revolution in her orbit in the time, as already mentioned; but in a little more or less time, as the additional advance in her orbit to accomplish the same relative position with the Earth and Sun. If this should be near the part of her perigee, the new Moon will return sooner; if near the part of her apogee, it must of necessity be prolonged.

CHEMISTRY.

CHEMISTRY is that science which investigates and endeavours to ascertain the effect of the action of bodies upon

« הקודםהמשך »