The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society Part 5

Awhile they sit, from higher cares released, And pleased partake the intellectual feast.

Of good and ill they spoke, effect and cause, Celestial agencies, and Nature's laws.

So when angelic Forms to Syria sent Sat in the cedar shade by ABRAHAM'S tent; A s.p.a.cious bowl the admiring Patriarch fills With dulcet water from the scanty rills; 450 Sweet fruits and kernels gathers from his h.o.a.rd, With milk and b.u.t.ter piles the plenteous board; While on the heated hearth his Consort bakes Fine flour well kneaded in unleaven'd cakes.

The Guests ethereal quaff the lucid flood, Smile on their hosts, and taste terrestrial food; And while from seraph-lips sweet converse springs, Lave their fair feet, and close their silver wings.

END OF CANTO II.

ORIGIN OF SOCIETY.

CANTO III.

PROGRESS OF THE MIND.

CONTENTS.

I. Urania and the Muse converse 1. Progress of the Mind 42. II. The Four sensorial powers of Irritation, Sensation, Volition, and a.s.sociation 55. Some finer senses given to Brutes 93. And Armour 108.

Finer Organ of Touch given to Man 121. Whence clear ideas of Form 125.

Vision is the Language of the Touch 131. Magic Lantern 139. Surprise, Novelty, Curiosity 145. Pa.s.sions, Vices 149. Philanthropy 159. Shrine of Virtue 160. III. Ideal Beauty from the Female Bosom 163. Eros the G.o.d of Sentimental Love 177. Young Dione idolized by Eros 186. Third chain of Society 206. IV. Ideal Beauty from curved Lines 207. Taste for the Beautiful 222. Taste for the Sublime 223. For poetic Melancholy 231. For Tragedy 241. For artless Nature 247. The Genius of Taste 259. V. The Senses easily form and repeat ideas 269. Imitation from clear ideas 279. The Senses imitate each other 293. In dancing 295. In drawing naked Nymphs 299. In Architecture, as at St. Peter's at Rome 303. Mimickry 319. VI. Natural Language from imitation 335.

Language of Quails, c.o.c.ks, Lions, Boxers 343. Pantomime Action 357.

Verbal Language from Imitation and a.s.sociation 363. Symbols of ideas 371. Gigantic form of Time 385. Wings of Hermes 391. VII. Recollection from clear ideas 395. Reason and Volition 401. Arts of the Wasp, Bee, Spider, Wren, Silk-Worm 411. Volition concerned about Means or Causes 435. Man distinguished by Language, by using Tools, labouring for Money, praying to the Deity 438. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil 445. VIII. Emotions from Imitation 461. The Seraph; Sympathy 467.

Christian Morality the great bond of Society 483-496.

CANTO III.

PROGRESS OF THE MIND.

I. Now rose, adorn'd with Beauty's brightest hues, The graceful HIEROPHANT, and winged MUSE; Onward they step around the stately piles, O'er porcelain floors, through laqueated ailes, Eye Nature's lofty and her lowly seats, Her gorgeous palaces, and green retreats, Pervade her labyrinths with unerring tread, And leave for future guests a guiding thread.

First with fond gaze blue fields of air they sweep, Or pierce the briny chambers of the deep; 10 Earth's burning line, and icy poles explore, Her fertile surface, and her caves of ore; Or mark how Oxygen with Azote-Gas Plays round the globe in one aerial ma.s.s, Or fused with Hydrogen in ceaseless flow Forms the wide waves, which foam and roll below.

[Footnote: _How Oxygen_, l. 13. The atmosphere which surrounds us, is composed of twenty-seven parts of oxygen gas and seventy-three of azote or nitrogen gas, which are simply diffused together, but which, when combined, become nitrous acid. Water consists of eighty-six parts oxygen, and fourteen parts of hydrogen or inflammable air, in a state of combination. It is also probable, that much oxygen enters the composition of gla.s.s; as those materials which promote vitrification, contain so much of it, as minium and manganese; and that gla.s.s is hence a solid acid in the temperature of our atmosphere, as water is a fluid one.]

Next with illumined hands through prisms bright Pleased they untwist the sevenfold threads of light; Or, bent in pencils by the lens, convey To one bright point the silver hairs of Day. 20 Then mark how two electric streams conspire To form the resinous and vitreous fire; Beneath the waves the fierce Gymnotus arm, And give Torpedo his benumbing charm; Or, through Galvanic chain-work as they pa.s.s, Convert the kindling water into gas.

[Footnote: _Two electric streams_, l. 21. It is the opinion of some philosophers, that the electric ether consists of two kinds of fluids diffused together or combined; which are commonly known by the terms of positive and negative electricity, but are by these electricians called vitreous and resinous electricity. The electric shocks given by the torpedo and by the gymnotus, are supposed to be similar to those of the Galvanic pile, as they are produced in water.

Which water is decomposed by the Galvanic pile and converted into oxygen and hydrogen gas; see Additional Note XII.

The magnetic ether may also be supposed to consist of two fluids, one of which attracts the needle, and the other repels it; and, perhaps, chemical affinities, and gravitation itself, may consist of two kinds of ether surrounding the particles of bodies, and may thence attract at one distance and repel at another; as appears when two insulated electrised b.a.l.l.s are approached to each other, or when two small globules of mercury are pressed together.]

How at the poles opposing Ethers dwell, Attract the quivering needle, or repel.

How Gravitation by immortal laws Surrounding matter to a centre draws; 30 How Heat, pervading oceans, airs, and lands, With force uncheck'd the mighty ma.s.s expands; And last how born in elemental strife Beam'd the first spark, and lighten'd into Life.

Now in sweet tones the inquiring Muse express'd Her ardent wish; and thus the Fair address'd.

"Priestess of Nature! whose exploring sight Pierces the realms of Chaos and of Night; Of s.p.a.ce unmeasured marks the first and last, Of endless time the present, future, past; 40 Immortal Guide! O, now with accents kind Give to my ear the progress of the Mind.

How loves, and tastes, and sympathies commence From evanescent notices of sense?

How from the yielding touch and rolling eyes The piles immense of human science rise?-- With mind gigantic steps the puny Elf, And weighs and measures all things but himself!"

The indulgent Beauty hears the grateful Muse, Smiles on her pupil, and her task renews. 50 Attentive Nymphs in sparkling squadrons throng, And choral Virgins listen to the song; Pleased Fawns and Naiads crowd in silent rings, And hovering Cupids stretch their purple wings.

II. "FIRST the new actions of the excited sense, Urged by appulses from without, commence; With these exertions pain or pleasure springs, And forms perceptions of external things.

Thus, when illumined by the solar beams, Yon waving woods, green lawns, and sparkling streams, In one bright point by rays converging lie 61 Plann'd on the moving tablet of the eye; The mind obeys the silver goads of light, And IRRITATION moves the nerves of sight.

[Footnote: _And Irritation moves_, l. 64. Irritation is an exertion or change of some extreme part of the sensorium residing in the muscles or organs of sense in consequence of the appulses of external bodies. The word perception includes both the action of the organ of sense in consequence of the impact of external objects and our attention to that action; that is, it expresses both the motion of the organ of sense, or idea, and the pain or pleasure that succeeds or accompanies it. Irritative ideas are those which are preceded by irritation, which is excited by objects external to the organs of sense: as the idea of that tree, which either I attend to, or which I shun in walking near it without attention. In the former case it is termed perception, in the latter it is termed simply an irritative idea.]

"These acts repeated rise from joys or pains, And swell Imagination's flowing trains; So in dread dreams amid the silent night Grim spectre-forms the shuddering sense affright; Or Beauty's idol-image, as it moves, Charms the closed eye with graces, smiles, and loves; 70 Each pa.s.sing form the pausing heart delights, And young SENSATION every nerve excites.

[Footnote: _And young Sensation_, l. 72. Sensation is an exertion or change of the central parts of the sensorium or of the whole of it, _beginning_ at some of those extreme parts of it which reside in the muscles or organs of sense.

Sensitive ideas are those which are preceded by the sensation of pleasure or pain, are termed Imagination, and const.i.tute our dreams and reveries.]

"Oft from sensation quick VOLITION springs, When pleasure thrills us, or when anguish stings; Hence Recollection calls with voice sublime Immersed ideas from the wrecks of Time, With potent charm in lucid trains displays Eventful stories of forgotten days.

Hence Reason's efforts good with ill contrast, Compare the present, future, and the past; 80 Each pa.s.sing moment, un.o.bserved restrain The wild discordancies of Fancy's train; But leave uncheck'd the Night's ideal streams, Or, sacred Muses! your meridian dreams.

[Footnote: _Quick Volition springs_, l. 73. Volition is an exertion or change of the central parts of the sensorium, or of the whole of it _terminating_ in some of those extreme parts of it which reside in the muscles and organs of sense.

The vulgar use of the word _memory_ is too unlimited for our purpose: those ideas which we voluntarily recall are here termed ideas of _recollection_, as when we will to repeat the alphabet backwards. And those ideas which are suggested to us by preceding ideas are here termed ideas of _suggestion_, as whilst we repeat the alphabet in the usual order; when by habits previously acquired B is suggested by A, and C by B, without any effort of deliberation. Reasoning is that operation of the sensorium by which we excite two or many tribes of ideas, and then reexcite the ideas in which they differ or correspond. If we determine this difference, it is called judgment; if we in vain endeavour to determine it, it is called doubting.

If we reexcite the ideas in which they differ, it is called distinguishing. If we reexcite those in which they correspond, it is called comparing.]

[Footnote: _Each pa.s.sing moment_, l. 81. During our waking hours, we perpetually compare the pa.s.sing trains of our ideas with the known system of nature, and reject those which are incongruous with it; this is explained in Zoonomia, Sect.

XVII. 3. 7. and is there termed Intuitive a.n.a.logy. When we sleep, the faculty of volition ceases to act, and in consequence the uncompared trains of ideas become incongruous and form the farrago of our dreams; in which we never experience any surprise, or sense of novelty.]

"And last Suggestion's mystic power describes Ideal hosts arranged in trains or tribes.

So when the Nymph with volant finger rings Her dulcet harp, and shakes the sounding strings; As with soft voice she trills the enamour'd song, Successive notes, unwill'd, the strain prolong; 90 The transient trains a.s.sOCIATION steers, And sweet vibrations charm the astonish'd ears.

[Footnote: _a.s.sociation steers_, l. 91. a.s.sociation is an exertion or change of some extreme part of the sensorium residing in the muscles and organs of sense in consequence of some antecedent or attendant fibrous contractions. a.s.sociate ideas, therefore, are those which are preceded by other ideas or muscular motions, without the intervention of irritation, sensation, or volition between them; these are also termed ideas of suggestion.]

"ON rapid feet o'er hills, and plains, and rocks, Speed the scared leveret and rapacious fox; On rapid pinions cleave the fields above The hawk descending, and escaping dove; With nicer nostril track the tainted ground The hungry vulture, and the prowling hound; Converge reflected light with nicer eye The midnight owl, and microscopic fly; 100 With finer ear pursue their nightly course The listening lion, and the alarmed horse.

"The branching forehead with diverging horns Crests the bold bull, the jealous stag adorns; Fierce rival boars with side-long fury wield The pointed tusk, and guard with shoulder-shield; Bounds the dread tiger o'er the affrighted heath Arm'd with sharp talons, and resistless teeth; The pouncing eagle bears in clinched claws The struggling lamb, and rends with ivory jaws; 110 The tropic eel, electric in his ire, Alarms the waves with unextinguish'd fire; The fly of night illumes his airy way, And seeks with lucid lamp his sleeping prey; Fierce on his foe the poisoning serpent springs, And insect armies dart their venom'd stings.

[Footnote: _The branching forehead_, l. 103. The peculiarities of the shapes of animals which distinguish them from each other, are enumerated in Zoonomia, Sect. x.x.xIX. 4.

8. on Generation, and are believed to have been gradually formed from similar living fibres, and are varied by reproduction. Many of these parts of animals are there shown to have arisen from their three great desires of l.u.s.t, hunger, and security.]

[Footnote: _The tropic eel_, l. 111. Gymnotus electricus.]

[Footnote: _The fly of night_, l. 113. Lampyris noctiluca.

Fire-fly.]