Et radiis inde amotis affurgere noctem, Splendoremque novum reduces accendere flammas?

Sed fruftrà Aurora rofeum fperamus amicum; Velârunt imbres, aut incubuere vapores; Speramus fruftrà folita flavedine spargi . Lucis iter medium; aut tempeftas ingruit atra, Aut fubitum emicuit fulgur. Nunc horrida denfis Nox cœlo incumbit tenebris, fæcunda timorum; Gaudia nunc eadem parit, attonitique videmus Innumeras Stellas, æternaque lumina Mundi. Maturate, fenes, totafque intendite vires Ingenii, & multo tandem fudore repertas Narrate aerias refolutas ufque columnas, Circuitufque undarum, & torta volumina fumi. Dat Refponfum alias voces, fruftràque refartum Quaffa novis fulcit compagibus Argumenta: Diffimili fub vefte latens Ænigma recurrit; Quærentemque eludit inextricabilis Error.

En! Sol indomitus robufti more Gigantis Immenfo varios rotat orbe volubilis orbes, Dum duplici vehitur curfu; tamen ordine certo Mutaturque dies, finifque imponitur Anno.

Than that Night rifes from his absent Ray,
And his returning Luftre kindles Day?

But we expect the Morning Red in vain: 'Tis hid in Vapors, or obscur'd by Rain. The Noontyde Yellow we in vain require: 'Tis black in Storm, or red in Light'ning Fire. Pitchy and dark the Night fometimes appears, Friend to our Woe, and Parent of our Fears: Our Joy and Wonder fometimes She excites, With Stars unnumber'd, and eternal Lights. Send forth, Ye Wife, fend forth your lab'ring Thought: Let it return with empty Notions fraught,

Of airy Columns every Moment broke,

Of circling Whirlpools, and of Spheres of Smoke:
Yet this Solution but once more affords

New Change of Terms, and scaffolding of Words:
In other Garb my Queftion I receive;

And take the Doubt the very fame I gave.

Lo! as a Giant ftrong the lufty Sun Multiply'd Rounds in one great Round does run, Twofold his Course, yet conftant his Career, Changing the Day, and finishing the Year.

Mox ubi decurfo pronus redit æthere, blandum
Tempus agens feffis; placidaque involvitur umbra
Terra filens; tacitum dat Luna alterna nitorem,
Languidulumque diem radiis diffundit amicis:
Ipfa tamen certis, mutabilis ora, recurrit
Legibus, & juffos obfervat menftrua curfus.
Quifque Planetarum proprio revolutus in orbe
Libratis fertur fplendenti tramite pennis:
Quifque fua varium jactat pro forte nitórem,
Er regit inclufos divifo in limite currus;
Dumque volans aditum fuper arva liquentia fcindit,
Alterius neque vim confert neque detrahit alis.
Anne hi splendefcunt vero fulgore Planetæ?
An fua quemque dies illuftrat & infitus ardor?
An verum eft, quod jam veftri explicuere labores,
Obfervare omnes Solem, atque hoc ducere fonte
Furtivos radios, & non fua mittere tela?

Millia quinetiam Stellarum millia cerno,

Quas neque lineolæ cohibent, neque quadra, nec orbes;
(Heu! normæ tenues, finitæ copia mentis,
Cum feritur, vel aratur humus, cum condimus ædes.)
Luce tamen diffufa adeo variaque refulgent,

Quanta manum loquitur, quæ finxerat, Infinitam.

Quam

Again when his defcending Orb retires,
And Earth perceives the Abfence of his Fires;
The Moon affords us Her alternate Ray,
And with kind Beams diftributes fainter Day:
Yet keeps the Stages of her Monthly Race,
Various her Beams, and changeable her Face.
Each Planet shining in his proper Sphere,

Does with juft Speed his radiant Voyage fteer:
Each fees his Lamp with diff'rent Luftre crown'd:
Each knows his Courfe with diff'rent Periods bound;
And is his Paffage thro' the liquid Space,

Nor haftens, nor retards his Neighbor's Race.
Now shine thefe Planets with fubftantial Rays?
Does innate Luftre gild their measur'd Days?
Or do they (as your Schemes, I think, have shown)
Dart furtive Beams, and Glory not their own,
All Servants to that Source of Light, the Sun?

Again I fee ten thousand thousand Stars, Nor caft in Lines, in Circles, nor in Squares: Su (Poor Rules, with which our bounded Mind is fill'd, When We would plant, or cultivate, or build) But shining with fuch vaft, fuch various Light, As speaks the Hand, that form'd them, Infinite:

How

Quam forma exilis, quam gloria parva videtur
Humani ingenii fummo quæfita labore,

Si juxtà fpe&tetur amabile confonus ordo,
Quem Natura jubet, ftatuit quem Spiritus orbis!

Si verò in noftras defcendat mitiùs oras
Vivida vis Solis, nimio neque torreat igne;
Ardoris fefe extendit pars quantula sphæris
Divifis longo fpatio, cœloque remoto?
Stellarumque, acies noftri quas languida vifus
Æterno fixas cœli fub fornice cernit,
Quæque fuis opibus, nativo & dives honore,
Fortè vibrat validos propriis de fontibus ignes,
Sol Ipfa; atque alios orbes, óculifque negatas
Humanis, luftrat diffufo lumine Terras.

Forfitan & fufo circum æthere cornua Lunæ
Diminuunt reparantquè novæ, furguntque caduntque;
Atque alia hos circum volvuntur Sydera Soles,
Quæ noftræ in morem Telluris femina certis
Fætibus apta ferunt, regionefque ordine certo
Divifas, terrafque fuas, fuaque æquora nôrunt..
Hi tamen ardentes adeò radicitùs Orbes,
Clara receptac'la, & fæcundi lumine fontes,