Part 9 (1/2)
”There writhing Mania sits on Reason's throne, Or Melancholy marks it for her own, 90 Sheds o'er the scene a voluntary gloom, Requests oblivion, and demands the tomb.
And last a.s.sociation's trains suggest Ideal ills, that harrow up the breast, Call for the dead from Time's o'erwhelming main, And bid departed Sorrow live again.
[Footnote: _And last a.s.sociation_, l. 93. The miseries and the felicities of life may be divided into those which arise in consequence of irritation, sensation, volition, and a.s.sociation; and consist in the actions of the extremities of the nerves of sense, which const.i.tute our ideas; if they are much more exerted than usual, or much less exerted than usual, they occasion pain; as when the finger is burnt in a candle; or when we go into a cold bath: while their natural degree of exertion produces the pleasure of life or existence. This pleasure is nevertheless increased, when the system is stimulated into rather stronger action than usual, as after a copious dinner, and at the beginning of intoxication; and diminished, when it is only excited into somewhat less activity than usual, which is termed ennui, or irksomeness of life.]
[Footnote: _Ideal ills_, l. 94. The tooth-edge is an instance of bodily pain occasioned by a.s.sociation of ideas. Every one in his childhood has repeatedly bit a part of the gla.s.s or earthen vessel, in which his food has been given him, and has thence had a disagreeable sensation in his teeth, attended at the same time with a jarring sound: and ever after, when such a sound is accidentally produced, the disagreeable sensation of the teeth follows by a.s.sociation of ideas; this is further elucidated in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XVI. 10.]
”Here ragged Avarice guards with bolted door His useless treasures from the starving poor; Loads the lorn hours with misery and care, And lives a beggar to enrich his heir. 100 Unthinking crowds thy forms, Imposture, gull, A Saint in sackcloth, or a Wolf in wool.
While mad with foolish fame, or drunk with power, Ambition slays his thousands in an hour; Demoniac Envy scowls with haggard mien, And blights the bloom of other's joys, unseen; Or wrathful Jealousy invades the grove, And turns to night meridian beams of Love!
[Footnote: _Enrich his heir_, l. 100.
c.u.m furor haud dubius, c.u.m sit manifesta phrenitis, Ut locuples moriaris, egenti vivere fato.
JUVENAL.]
[Footnote: _A Wolf in wool_, l. 102. A wolf in sheep's clothing.]
”Here wide o'er earth impetuous waters sweep, And fields and forests rush into the deep; 110 Or dread Volcano with explosion dire Involves the mountains in a flood of fire; Or yawning Earth with closing jaws inhumes Unwarned nations, living in their tombs; Or Famine seizes with her tiger-paw, And swallows millions with unsated maw.
”There livid Pestilence in league with Dearth Walks forth malignant o'er the shuddering earth, Her rapid shafts with airs volcanic wings, Or steeps in putrid vaults her venom'd stings. 120 Arrests the young in Beauty's vernal bloom, And bears the innocuous strangers to the tomb!--
[Footnote: _With airs volcanic_, l. 119. Those epidemic complaints, which are generally termed influenza, are believed to arise from vapours thrown out from earthquakes in such abundance as to affect large regions of the atmosphere, see Botanic Garden, V. I. Canto IV. l. 65. while the diseases properly termed contagious originate from the putrid effluvia of decomposing animal or vegetable matter.]
”AND now, e'en I, whose verse reluctant sings The changeful state of sublunary things, Bend o'er Mortality with silent sighs, And wipe the secret tear-drops from my eyes, Hear through the night one universal groan, And mourn unseen for evils not my own, With restless limbs and throbbing heart complain, Stretch'd on the rack of sentimental pain! 130 --Ah where can Sympathy reflecting find One bright idea to console the mind?
One ray of light in this terrene abode To prove to Man the Goodness of his G.o.d?”
[Footnote: _Sentimental pain_, l. 130. Children should be taught in their early education to feel for all the remediable evils, which they observe in others; but they should at the same time be taught sufficient firmness of mind not intirely to destroy their own happiness by their sympathizing with too great sensibility with the numerous irremediable evils, which exist in the present system of the world: as by indulging that kind of melancholy they decrease the sum total of public happiness; which is so far rather reprehensible than commendable. See Plan for Female Education by Dr. Darwin, Johnson, London, Sect. XVII.
This has been carried to great excess in the East by the disciples of Confucius; the Gentoos during a famine in India refused to eat the flesh of cows and of other animals to satisfy their hunger, and save themselves from death. And at other times they have been said to permit fleas and musquitoes to feed upon them from this erroneous sympathy.]
II. ”HEAR, O YE SONS OF TIME!” the Nymph replies, Quick indignation darting from her eyes; ”When in soft tones the Muse lamenting sings, And weighs with tremulous hand the sum of things; She loads the scale in melancholy mood, Presents the evil, but forgets the good. 140 But if the beam some firmer hand suspends, And good and evil load the adverse ends; With strong libration, where the Good abides, Quick nods the beam, the ponderous gold subsides.
”HEAR, O ye Sons of Time! the powers of Life Arrest the elements, and stay their strife; From wandering atoms, ethers, airs, and gas, By combination form the organic ma.s.s; And,--as they seize, digest, secrete,--dispense The bliss of Being to the vital Ens. 150 Hence in bright groups from IRRITATION rise Young Pleasure's trains, and roll their azure eyes.
[Footnote: _From wandering atoms_, l. 147. Had those ancient philosophers, who contended that the world was formed from atoms, ascribed their combinations to certain immutable properties received from the hand of the Creator, such as general gravitation, chemical affinity, or animal appetency, instead of ascribing them to a blind chance; the doctrine of atoms, as const.i.tuting or composing the material world by the variety of their combinations, so far from leading the mind to atheism, would strengthen the demonstration of the existence of a Deity, as the first cause of all things; because the a.n.a.logy resulting from our perpetual experience of cause and effect would have thus been exemplified through universal nature.]
”With fond delight we feel the potent charm, When Zephyrs cool us, or when sun-beams warm; With fond delight inhale the fragrant flowers, Taste the sweet fruits, which bend the blus.h.i.+ng bowers, Admire the music of the vernal grove, Or drink the raptures of delirious love.
”So with long gaze admiring eyes behold The varied landscape all its lights unfold; 160 Huge rocks opposing o'er the stream project Their naked bosoms, and the beams reflect; Wave high in air their fringed crests of wood, And checker'd shadows dance upon the flood; Green sloping lawns construct the sidelong scene, And guide the sparkling rill that winds between; Conduct on murmuring wings the pausing gale, And rural echoes talk along the vale; Dim hills behind in pomp aerial rise, Lift their blue tops, and melt into the skies. 170
[Footnote: _The varied landscape_, l. 160. The pleasure, we feel on examining a fine landscape, is derived from various sources; as first the excitement of the retina of the eye into certain quant.i.ties of action; which when there is in the optic nerve any acc.u.mulation of sensorial power, is always agreeable. 2. When it is excited into such successive actions, as relieve each other; as when a limb has been long exerted in one direction, by stretching it in another; as described in Zoonomia, Sect. XL. 6. on ocular spectra. 3. And lastly by the a.s.sociations of its parts with some agreeable sentiments or tastes, as of sublimity, beauty, utility, novelty; and the objects suggesting other sentiments, which have lately been termed picturesque as mentioned in the note to Canto III, l. 230 of this work. The two former of these sources of pleasure arise from irritation, the last from a.s.sociation.]
”So when by HANDEL tuned to measured sounds The trumpet vibrates, or the drum rebounds; Alarm'd we listen with ecstatic wonder To mimic battles, or imagined thunder.
When the soft lute in sweet impa.s.sion'd strains Of cruel nymphs or broken vows complains; As on the breeze the fine vibration floats, We drink delighted the melodious notes.
But when young Beauty on the realms above Bends her bright eye, and trills the tones of love; 180 Seraphic sounds enchant this nether sphere; And listening angels lean from Heaven to hear.
[Footnote: _We drink delighted_, l. 178. The pleasure we experience from music, is, like that from viewing a landscape, derived from various sources; as first from the excitement of the auditory nerve into certain quant.i.ties of action, when there exists any acc.u.mulation of sensorial power. 2. When the auditory nerve is exerted in such successive actions as relieve each other, like stretching or yawning, as described in Botanic Garden, Vol. II, Interlude the third, these successions of sound are termed melody, and their combinations harmony. 3. From the repet.i.tion of sounds at certain intervals of time; as we hear them with greater facility and accuracy, when we expect them; because they are then excited by volition, as well as by irritation, or at least the tympanum is then better adapted to a.s.sist their production; hence the two musical times or bars; and hence the rhimes in poetry give pleasure, as well as the measure of the verse: and lastly the pleasure we receive from music, arises from the a.s.sociations of agreeable sentiments with certain proportions, or repet.i.tions, or quant.i.ties, or times of sounds which have been previously acquired; as explained in Zoonomia Vol. I. Sect. XVI. 10. and Sect. XXII. 2.]
”Next by SENSATION led, new joys commence From the fine movements of the excited sense; In swarms ideal urge their airy flight, Adorn the day-scenes, and illume the night.
Her spells o'er all the hand of Fancy flings, Gives form and substance to unreal things; With fruits and foliage decks the barren waste, And brightens Life with sentiment and taste; 190 Pleased o'er the level and the rule presides, The painter's brush, the sculptor's chisel guides, With ray ethereal lights the poet's fire, Tunes the rude pipe, or strings the heroic lyre: Charm'd round the nymph on frolic footsteps move The angelic forms of Beauty, Grace, and Love.
”So dreams the Patriot, who indignant draws The sword of vengeance in his Country's cause; Bright for his brows unfading honours bloom, Or kneeling Virgins weep around his tomb. 200 So holy transports in the cloister's shade Play round thy toilet, visionary maid!