were visible, they appear again as at first, finishing their entire circuit in twenty-seven days, twelve hours, and twenty minutes. all but the wakeful nightingale ; Poor melancholy bird, that all night long Tell's to the moon thy tale of tender woe, From what sad cause can such sweet sorrow flow, And whence this mournful melody of song? Thy poet's musing fancy would translate What mean the sounds that swell thy little breast, When still at dewy eve thou leav'st thy nest, Thus to the list'ning night to sing thy fate. Pale sorrow's victims wert thou once among, Though now releas'd in woodland wilds to rove? Say, hast thou felt from friends some cruel wrong? Or died'st thou martyr of disastrous love? Ah, songstress sad! that such my lot might be, To sigh and sing at liberty, like thee! Hesperus that led C. SMITH. Venus, the brightest of all the planets, is a constant attendant on the sun, from whom she never removes about forty-eight degrees, and consequently is never seen at midnight, nor in opposition to that luminary, being visible only for three or four hours in the morning or evening, according as she is before or after the sun; when she rises before him in the morning, she is called Phosphorus, or Lucifer, or the morning star; when she sets after him in the evening, she is denominated Hesperus or Vesperus, or the evening star. Friend to mankind, she glitters from afar, Now the bright evening, now the morning star. 625 And at our present labour, 642 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of God. Gen. ii. 15. pleasant the sun, Methinks I discern a thousand admirable properties in the sun. 'Tis the best material of the Creator. There is more of God in its lustre, energy, and usefulness, than in any other visible being. To worship it as a deity was the least inexcusable of all the heathen idolatries. One scarce can wonder that fallen reason should mistake so fair a copy for the adorable original. 671 Their stellar virtue Their starry virtue. 682 Celestial voices to the midnight air What a pleasing care is awakened by such a reflection! How venerably it renders my retired walks! I am struck with reverence, as under the roof of some sacred edifice, or in the presencechamber of some mighty monarch. Oh! may I never bring any pride of imagination nor indulge the least dissolute affection where such refined and exalted intelligencies exercise their watch! 'Tis possible that I am surrounded with such a cloud of witnesses; but it is certain that God, the infinite eternal God, is now and ever with me. The great Jehovah, before whom all the angelic armies bow their heads and veil their faces, surrounds me, supports me, pervades me. In him I live, move, and have my being. HERVEY'S Contemplation. 707 Pan or Sylvanus Rural gods of the woods, and shepherds. 708 Nor Faunus haunted, Certain deities of the country, represented as having the legs, feet, and ears of goats, and the rest of the body human. They were called satyres by the Greeks. 714 More lovely than Pandora, Jupiter to punish the impiety and artifice of Promotheus, requested Vulcan to make him a woman of clay as a wife; when the artist had formed her, and she received life, all the gods vied in making her presents. Venus gave her beauty, the Graces the power of captivating; Apollo taught her to sing, Mercury instructed her in eloquence, and Minerva gave her the most rich and splendid ornaments; she was called Pandora, which intimates that she was possessed of every necessary gift. Jupiter gave her a beautiful box, which she was to present to the man that married her; Mercury conducted her to Promotheus, who was conscious of the intended deceit and refused her; his brother, Epimetheus, was not possessed of such prudence and sagacity but married Pandora, and on opening the box presented, there issued from it a multitude of 717 719 evils and distempers, which dispersed themselves all over the world, and from that fatal moment have never ceased to afflict the human race. Hope was the only one remaining at the bottom of the box. Of Japhet when to th' unwiser son The son of Japhet was Promotheus, who formed a man of clay, and stole fire from heaven to animate him, which so displeased Jupiter, that he commanded Hermes to bind him to the mountain Caucasus, and sent an eagle to gnaw and devour his liver as fast as it grew, which punishment continued till Hercules set him free. brought by Hermes, Hermes, a title of Mercury. Jove, a title of Jupiter. 781 When Gabriel The arch-angel, chief of the guardian angels of Paradise. 782 Uzziel, One of the guardian angels of Paradise. 788 Ithuriel and Zephon, Guardian angels of paradise. 803 Illusions as he list, phantoms and dreams, Dreams are either divine from the influence of the Holy Spirit, whereby several parts of divine revelation were communicated to holy men in their dreams; secondly, natural, from the confused thoughts of the daily affairs of life; thirdly, diabolical, from the suggestions of evil spirits, such was the first dream of Eve. 843 and his grave rebuke Severe in youthful beauty, The beauty of person, and the decency of behaviour of person add infinite weight to what is pronounced by any one. "Tis the want of this that often makes the rebukes and advice of rigid persons of no effect, and leave a displeasure in the minds of those to whom they address; but youth and beauty, if accompanied with a graceful and becoming severity, is of force sufficient to raise, even in the most profligate, a sense of shame. "Wisdom shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver unto thee." Prov. iv. 9. 965 Back to th' infernal pit I drag thee chain'd, An angel laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and set a seal upon him. Rev. xx. 2, 3. 981 Of Ceres The goddess of corn and harvest. 987 Like Teneriffe A high mountain in the Island of Teneriffe, one of the Canary Islands. A chain of mountains in Africa. These mountains are so high that the ancients have supposed the heavens rested on its top, and that Atlas supported the world on his shoulders. The fable of Atlas supporting the heavens on his back, seems to arise from a king of the name who was fond of astronomy, and from his often frequenting |