The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside Part 5

Through every scene of ridicule in things To lead the tenor of my devious lay; Through every swift occasion, which the hand Of Laughter points at, when the mirthful sting Distends her sallying nerves and chokes her tongue; What were it but to count each crystal drop Which Morning's dewy fingers on the blooms Of May distil? Suffice it to have said, [Endnote FF]

Where'er the power of Ridicule displays Her quaint-eyed visage, some incongruous form, 250 Some stubborn dissonance of things combined, Strikes on the quick observer: whether Pomp, Or Praise, or Beauty, mix their partial claim Where sordid fashions, where ign.o.ble deeds, Where foul Deformity are wont to dwell; Or whether these with violation loathed, Invade resplendent Pomp's imperious mien, The charms of Beauty, or the boast of Praise.

Ask we for what fair end, [Endnote GG] the Almighty Sire In mortal bosoms wakes this gay contempt, 260 These grateful stings of laughter, from disgust Educing pleasure? Wherefore, but to aid The tardy steps of Reason, and at once By this prompt impulse urge us to depress The giddy aims of Folly? Though the light Of Truth slow dawning on the inquiring mind, At length unfolds, through many a subtile tie, How these uncouth disorders end at last In public evil! yet benignant Heaven, Conscious how dim the dawn of truth appears 270 To thousands; conscious what a scanty pause From labours and from care, the wider lot Of humble life affords for studious thought To scan the maze of Nature; therefore stamp'd The glaring scenes with characters of scorn, As broad, as obvious, to the pa.s.sing clown, As to the letter'd sage's curious eye.

Such are the various aspects of the mind-- Some heavenly genius, whose unclouded thoughts Attain that secret harmony which blends 280 The etherial spirit with its mould of clay, Oh! teach me to reveal the grateful charm That searchless Nature o'er the sense of man Diffuses, to behold, in lifeless things, The inexpressive semblance [Endnote HH] of himself, Of thought and pa.s.sion. Mark the sable woods That shade sublime yon mountain's nodding brow: With what religious awe the solemn scene Commands your steps! as if the reverend form Of Minos or of Numa should forsake 290 The Elysian seats, and down the embowering glade Move to your pausing eye! Behold the expanse Of yon gay landscape, where the silver clouds Flit o'er the heavens before the sprightly breeze: Now their gray cincture skirts the doubtful sun; Now streams of splendour, through their opening veil Effulgent, sweep from off the gilded lawn The aerial shadows, on the curling brook, And on the shady margin's quivering leaves With quickest l.u.s.tre glancing; while you view 300 The prospect, say, within your cheerful breast Plays not the lively sense of winning mirth With clouds and sunshine chequer'd, while the round Of social converse, to the inspiring tongue Of some gay nymph amid her subject train, Moves all obsequious? Whence is this effect, This kindred power of such discordant things?

Or flows their semblance from that mystic tone To which the new-born mind's harmonious powers At first were strung? Or rather from the links 310 Which artful custom twines around her frame?

For when the different images of things, By chance combined, have struck the attentive soul With deeper impulse, or, connected long, Have drawn her frequent eye; howe'er distinct The external scenes, yet oft the ideas gain From that conjunction an eternal tie, And sympathy unbroken. Let the mind Recall one partner of the various league, Immediate, lo! the firm confederates rise, 320 And each his former station straight resumes: One movement governs the consenting throng, And all at once with rosy pleasure shine, Or all are sadden'd with the glooms of care.

'Twas thus, if ancient fame the truth unfold, Two faithful needles, [Endnote II] from the informing touch Of the same parent stone, together drew Its mystic virtue, and at first conspired With fatal impulse quivering to the pole: Then, though disjoin'd by kingdoms, though the main 330 Roll'd its broad surge betwixt, and different stars Beheld their wakeful motions, yet preserved The former friendship, and remember'd still The alliance of their birth: whate'er the line Which one possess'd, nor pause, nor quiet knew The sure a.s.sociate, ere with trembling speed He found its path and fix'd unerring there.

Such is the secret union, when we feel A song, a flower, a name, at once restore Those long-connected scenes where first they moved 340 The attention, backward through her mazy walks Guiding the wanton fancy to her scope, To temples, courts, or fields, with all the band Of painted forms, of pa.s.sions and designs Attendant; whence, if pleasing in itself, The prospect from that sweet accession gains Redoubled influence o'er the listening mind.

By these mysterious ties, [Endnote JJ] the busy power Of Memory her ideal train preserves Entire; or when they would elude her watch, 350 Reclaims their fleeting footsteps from the waste Of dark oblivion; thus collecting all The various forms of being to present, Before the curious aim of mimic art, Their largest choice; like Spring's unfolded blooms Exhaling sweetness, that the skilful bee May taste at will, from their selected spoils To work her dulcet food. For not the expanse Of living lakes in Summer's noontide calm, Reflects the bordering shade, and sun-bright heavens, 360 With fairer semblance; not the sculptured gold More faithful keeps the graver's lively trace, Than he whose birth the sister powers of Art Propitious view'd, and from his genial star Shed influence to the seeds of fancy kind, Than his attemper'd bosom must preserve The seal of Nature. There alone unchanged, Her form remains. The balmy walks of May There breathe perennial sweets; the trembling chord Resounds for ever in the abstracted ear, 370 Melodious; and the virgin's radiant eye, Superior to disease, to grief, and time, Shines with unbating l.u.s.tre. Thus at length Endow'd with all that nature can bestow, The child of Fancy oft in silence bends O'er these mix'd treasures of his pregnant breast With conscious pride. From them he oft resolves To frame he knows not what excelling things, And win he knows not what sublime reward Of praise and wonder. By degrees, the mind 380 Feels her young nerves dilate: the plastic powers Labour for action: blind emotions heave His bosom; and with loveliest frenzy caught, From earth to heaven he rolls his daring eye, From heaven to earth. Anon ten thousand shapes, Like spectres trooping to the wizard's call, Flit swift before him. From the womb of earth, From ocean's bed they come: the eternal heavens Disclose their splendours, and the dark abyss Pours out her births unknown. With fixed gaze 390 He marks the rising phantoms. Now compares Their different forms; now blends them, now divides, Enlarges and extenuates by turns; Opposes, ranges in fantastic bands, And infinitely varies. Hither now, Now thither fluctuates his inconstant aim, With endless choice perplex'd. At length his plan Begins to open. Lucid order dawns; And as from Chaos old the jarring seeds Of Nature at the voice divine repair'd 400 Each to its place, till rosy earth unveil'd Her fragrant bosom, and the joyful sun Sprung up the blue serene; by swift degrees Thus disentangled, his entire design Emerges. Colours mingle, features join, And lines converge: the fainter parts retire; The fairer eminent in light advance; And every image on its neighbour smiles.

Awhile he stands, and with a father's joy Contemplates. Then with Promethean art, 410 Into its proper vehicle [Endnote KK] he breathes The fair conception; which, embodied thus, And permanent, becomes to eyes or ears An object ascertain'd: while thus inform'd, The various organs of his mimic skill, The consonance of sounds, the featured rock, The shadowy picture and impa.s.sion'd verse, Beyond their proper powers attract the soul By that expressive semblance, while in sight Of Nature's great original we scan 420 The lively child of Art; while line by line, And feature after feature we refer To that sublime exemplar whence it stole Those animating charms. Thus Beauty's palm Betwixt them wavering hangs: applauding Love Doubts where to choose; and mortal man aspires To tempt creative praise. As when a cloud Of gathering hail, with limpid crusts of ice Enclosed and obvious to the beaming sun, Collects his large effulgence; straight the heavens 430 With equal flames present on either hand The radiant visage; Persia stands at gaze, Appall'd; and on the brink of Ganges doubts The snowy-vested seer, in Mithra's name, To which the fragrance of the south shall burn, To which his warbled orisons ascend.

Such various bliss the well-tuned heart enjoys, Favour'd of Heaven! while, plunged in sordid cares, The unfeeling vulgar mocks the boon divine; And harsh Austerity, from whose rebuke 440 Young Love and smiling Wonder shrink away Abash'd and chill of heart, with sager frowns Condemns the fair enchantment. On my strain, Perhaps even now, some cold, fastidious judge Casts a disdainful eye; and calls my toil, And calls the love and beauty which I sing, The dream of folly. Thou, grave censor! say, Is Beauty then a dream, because the glooms Of dulness hang too heavy on thy sense, To let her shine upon thee? So the man 450 Whose eye ne'er open'd on the light of heaven, Might smile with scorn while raptured vision tells Of the gay-colour'd radiance flushing bright O'er all creation. From the wise be far Such gross unhallow'd pride; nor needs my song Descend so low; but rather now unfold, If human thought could reach, or words unfold, By what mysterious fabric of the mind, The deep-felt joys and harmony of sound Result from airy motion; and from shape 460 The lovely phantoms of sublime and fair.

By what fine ties hath G.o.d connected things When present in the mind, which in themselves Have no connexion? Sure the rising sun O'er the cerulean convex of the sea, With equal brightness and with equal warmth Might roll his fiery orb, nor yet the soul Thus feel her frame expanded, and her powers Exulting in the splendour she beholds, Like a young conqueror moving through the pomp 470 Of some triumphal day. When join'd at eve, Soft murmuring streams and gales of gentlest breath Melodious Philomela's wakeful strain Attemper, could not man's discerning ear Through all its tones the sympathy pursue, Nor yet this breath divine of nameless joy Steal through his veins and fan the awaken'd heart, Mild as the breeze, yet rapturous as the song?

But were not Nature still endow'd at large With all that life requires, though unadorn'd 480 With such enchantment? Wherefore then her form So exquisitely fair? her breath perfumed With such ethereal sweetness? whence her voice Inform'd at will to raise or to depress The impa.s.sion'd soul? and whence the robes of light Which thus invest her with more lovely pomp Than Fancy can describe? Whence but from Thee, O source divine of ever-flowing love!

And Thy unmeasured goodness? Not content With every food of life to nourish man, 490 By kind illusions of the wondering sense Thou mak'st all Nature beauty to his eye, Or music to his ear; well pleased he scans The goodly prospect, and with inward smiles Treads the gay verdure of the painted plain, Beholds the azure canopy of heaven, And living lamps that over-arch his head With more than regal splendour; bends his ears To the full choir of water, air, and earth; Nor heeds the pleasing error of his thought, 500 Nor doubts the painted green or azure arch, Nor questions more the music's mingling sounds, Than s.p.a.ce, or motion, or eternal time; So sweet he feels their influence to attract The fixed soul, to brighten the dull glooms Of care, and make the destined road of life Delightful to his feet. So fables tell, The adventurous hero, bound on hard exploits, Beholds with glad surprise, by secret spells Of some kind sage, the patron of his toils, 510 A visionary paradise disclosed Amid the dubious wild; with streams, and shades, And airy songs, the enchanted landscape smiles, Cheers his long labours and renews his frame.

What then is taste, but these internal powers Active, and strong, and feelingly alive To each fine impulse,--a discerning sense Of decent and sublime, with quick disgust From things deform'd, or disarranged, or gross In species? This, nor gems, nor stores of gold, 520 Nor purple state, nor culture can bestow; But G.o.d alone, when first His active hand Imprints the secret bias of the soul.

He, mighty Parent! wise and just in all, Free as the vital breeze or light of heaven, Reveals the charms of Nature. Ask the swain Who journeys homeward from a summer day's Long labour, why, forgetful of his toils And due repose, he loiters to behold The sunshine gleaming as through amber clouds, 530 O'er all the western sky; full soon, I ween, His rude expression and untutor'd airs, Beyond the power of language, will unfold The form of beauty, smiling at his heart, How lovely! how commanding! But though Heaven In every breast hath sown these early seeds Of love and admiration, yet in vain, Without fair culture's kind parental aid, Without enlivening suns, and genial showers, And shelter from the blast, in vain we hope 540 The tender plant should rear its blooming head, Or yield the harvest promised in its spring.

Nor yet will every soul with equal stores Repay the tiller's labour, or attend His will, obsequious, whether to produce The olive or the laurel. Different minds Incline to different objects; one pursues The vast alone, [Endnote LL] the wonderful, the wild; Another sighs for harmony, and grace, And gentlest beauty. Hence, when lightning fires 550 The arch of heaven, and thunders rock the ground, When furious whirlwinds rend the howling air, And ocean, groaning from his lowest bed, Heaves his tempestuous billows to the sky; Amid the mighty uproar, while below The nations tremble, Shakspeare looks abroad Prom some high cliff, superior, and enjoys The elemental war. But Waller longs, [Endnote MM]

All on the margin of some flowery stream To spread his careless limbs amid the cool 560 Of plantane shades, and to the listening deer The tale of slighted vows and love's disdain Resound soft-warbling all the livelong day; Consenting Zephyr sighs; the weeping rill Joins in his plaint, melodious; mute the groves; And hill and dale with all their echoes mourn.

Such and so various are the tastes of men.

Oh! bless'd of Heaven, whom not the languid songs Of Luxury, the siren! not the bribes Of sordid Wealth, nor all the gaudy spoils 570 Of pageant Honour, can seduce to leave Those ever-blooming sweets, which from the store Of Nature fair Imagination culls To charm the enliven'd soul! What though not all Of mortal offspring can attain the heights Of envied life; though only few possess Patrician treasures or imperial state; Yet Nature's care, to all her children just, With richer treasures and an ampler state, Endows at large whatever happy man 580 Will deign to use them. His the city's pomp, The rural honours his. Whate'er adorns The princely dome, the column, and the arch, The breathing marbles and the sculptured gold, Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim, His tuneful breast enjoys. For him, the Spring Distils her dews, and from the silken gem Its lucid leaves unfolds; for him, the hand Of Autumn tinges every fertile branch With blooming gold and blushes like the morn. 590 Each pa.s.sing Hour sheds tribute from her wings; And still new beauties meet his lonely walk, And loves unfelt attract him. Not a breeze [Endnote NN]

Flies o'er the meadow, not a cloud imbibes The setting sun's effulgence, not a strain From all the tenants of the warbling shade Ascends, but whence his bosom can partake Fresh pleasure, unreproved. Nor thence partakes Fresh pleasure only; for the attentive mind, By this harmonious action on her powers 600 Becomes herself harmonious; wont so oft In outward things to meditate the charm Of sacred order, soon she seeks at home To find a kindred order, to exert Within herself this elegance of love, This fair-inspired delight; her temper'd powers Refine at length, and every pa.s.sion wears A chaster, milder, more attractive mien.

But if to ampler prospects, if to gaze On Nature's form, where, negligent of all 610 These lesser graces, she a.s.sumes the port Of that Eternal Majesty that weigh'd The world's foundations, if to these the mind Exalts her daring eye, then mightier far Will be the change, and n.o.bler. Would the forms Of servile custom cramp her generous powers?

Would sordid policies, the barbarous growth Of ignorance and rapine, bow her down To tame pursuits, to indolence and fear?

Lo! she appeals to Nature, to the winds 620 And rolling waves, the sun's unwearied course, The elements and seasons; all declare For what the Eternal Maker has ordain'd The powers of man; we feel within ourselves His energy divine; he tells the heart, He meant, he made us to behold and love What he beholds and loves, the general orb Of life and being; to be great like him, Beneficent and active. Thus the men Whom Nature's works can charm, with G.o.d himself 630 Hold converse; grow familiar, day by day, With his conceptions, act upon his plan; And form to his, the relish of their souls.

_NOTES_

BOOK FIRST.

ENDNOTE A.

_'Say why was man'_, etc.--P.8.

In apologising for the frequent negligences of the sublimest authors of Greece, 'Those G.o.dlike geniuses,' says Longinus, 'were well a.s.sured, that Nature had not intended man for a low-spirited or ign.o.ble being: but bringing us into life and the midst of this wide universe, as before a mult.i.tude a.s.sembled at some heroic solemnity, that we might be spectators of all her magnificence, and candidates high in emulation for the prize of glory; she has therefore implanted in our souls an inextinguishable love of everything great and exalted, of everything which appears divine beyond our comprehension. Whence it comes to pa.s.s, that even the whole world is not an object sufficient for the depth and rapidity of human imagination, which often sallies forth beyond the limits of all that surrounds us. Let any man cast his eye through the whole circle of our existence, and consider how especially it abounds in excellent and grand objects, he will soon acknowledge for what enjoyments and pursuits we were destined. Thus by the very propensity of nature we are led to admire, not little springs or shallow rivulets, however clear and delicious, but the Nile, the Rhine, the Danube, and, much more than all, the Ocean,' etc.

--_Dionys. Longin. de Sublim_. ss. xxiv.

ENDNOTE B.

_'The empyreal waste'_.--P. 9.

'Ne se peut-il point qu'il y a un grand es.p.a.ce au-dela de la region des etoiles? Que ce soit le ciel empyree, ou non, toujours cet es.p.a.ce immense qui environne toute cette region, pourra etre rempli de bonheur et de gloire. Il pourra etre concu comme l'ocean, u se rendent les fleuves de toutes les creatures bienheureuses, quand elles seront venues a leur perfection dans le systeme des etoiles.'

--_Leibnitz dans la Theodicee_, part i. par. 19.

ENDNOTE C.

_'Whose unfading light'_, etc.--P. 9.

It was a notion of the great Mr. Huygens, that there may be fixed stars at such a distance from our solar system, as that their light should not have had time to reach us, even from the creation of the world to this day.

ENDNOTE D.

_'The neglect Of all familiar prospects'_, etc.--P. 10.

It is here said, that in consequence of the love of novelty, objects which at first were highly delightful to the mind, lose that effect by repeated attention to them. But the instance of habit is opposed to this observation; for there, objects at first distasteful are in time rendered entirely agreeable by repeated attention.

The difficulty in this case will be removed if we consider, that, when objects at first agreeable, lose that influence by frequently recurring, the mind is wholly pa.s.sive, and the perception involuntary; but habit, on the other hand, generally supposes choice and activity accompanying it: so that the pleasure arises here not from the object, but from the mind's conscious determination of its own activity; and consequently increases in proportion to the frequency of that determination.

It will still be urged perhaps, that a familiarity with disagreeable objects renders them at length acceptable, even when there is no room for the mind to resolve or act at all. In this case, the appearance must be accounted for one of these ways.

The pleasure from habit may be merely negative. The object at first gave uneasiness: this uneasiness gradually wears off as the object grows familiar: and the mind, finding it at last entirely removed, reckons its situation really pleasurable, compared with what it had experienced before.

The dislike conceived of the object at first, might be owing to prejudice or want of attention. Consequently the mind being necessitated to review it often, may at length perceive its own mistake, and be reconciled to what it had looked on with aversion.

In which case, a sort of instinctive justice naturally leads it to make amends for the injury, by running toward the other extreme of fondness and attachment.

Or lastly, though the object itself should always continue disagreeable, yet circ.u.mstances of pleasure or good fortune may occur along with it. Thus an a.s.sociation may arise in the mind, and the object never be remembered without those pleasing circ.u.mstances attending it; by which means the disagreeable impression which it at first occasioned will in time be quite obliterated.

ENDNOTE E.

_'This desire Of objects new and strange'_.--P. 10.

These two ideas are oft confounded; though it is evident the mere novelty of an object makes it agreeable, even where the mind is not affected with the least degree of wonder: whereas wonder indeed always implies novelty, being never excited by common or well-known appearances. But the pleasure in both cases is explicable from the same final cause, the acquisition of knowledge and enlargement of our views of nature: on this account it is natural to treat of them together.

ENDNOTE F.

_'Truth and Good are one, And Beauty dwells in them'_, etc.--P. 14.