"No ('tis replied) the first Almighty Cause The exceptions few; some change since all began: 145 If plagues or earthquakes break not Heaven's design, 155 Who knows but He whose hand the lightning forms, Better for us, perhaps, it might appear, followed by a destructive tidal wave ("tempest "), the city of San Iago was swallowed up by the earthquake; the inundation overflowed the city of Conception and reached Callao. 147. some change, etc. The meaning is, some change, indeed, there has been since the beginning of all things. 156. Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline! Cæsar Borgia, a son of Pope Alexander VI., was a monster of wickedness. Among other crimes, he poisoned his father and assassinated his brother. He died in 1507. Catiline, the Roman conspirator against whom Cicero thundered, and whose history Sallust wrote. He died 62 B.C. 159-160. Cæsar's... young Ammon. Cæsar: that is, Julius Cæsar. By "young Ammon” is meant Alexander the Great. Ammon was an Egyptian deity, to whose shrine, in the Libyan Desert, Alexander paid a visit, and was saluted by the priests as the son of their god. 160 165 But all subsists by elemental strife; Is kept in nature, and is kept in man. What would this man? Now upward will he soar, And little less than angel, would be more; Now looking downwards, just as grieved appears To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears. 170 175 180 185 Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleased with nothing if not blest with all? The bliss of man (could pride that blessing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind; 190 No powers of body or of soul to share But what his nature and his state can bear. Why has not man a microscopic* eye? For this plain reason, man is not a fly. Say what the use, were finer optics* given, 195 To inspect a mite, not comprehend the heaven? Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er, To smart and agonize at every pore? 169. elemental strife = a strife of the el- | 196. To inspect a mite... heaven: that ements. 173. What would this man = what, then, does man desire? 176. To want, at lacking. 183. state, condition of the animal. 184. Nothing to add, etc.: that is, she left nothing to add, etc. is, what were the use had man optics so fine that he could inspect a mite, if at the same time he were unable to comprehend the heavens? 197-200. Or touch... pain? This passage is very elliptical: the mean Or, quick effluvia* darting through the brain, If nature thundered in his opening ears, And stunned him with the music of the spheres, How would he wish that Heaven had left him still * The whispering zephyr and the purling rill! Who finds not Providence all good and wise, Far as creation's ample range extends, * 200 305 210 215 ve ing is, supposing touch were 212. The mole's dim curtain. . . beam. 199. effluvia, exhalations. philosopher Pythagoras taught "The eyes [of the European mole] are two black glittering points, about the size of mustard seed, concealed and protected by the surrounding skin and hair" [dim curtain].-Appletons' Cyclopædia.—“ Beam' (literally a collection of rays emitted from any luminous body) has reference to the supposed wonderful power of sight possessed by the lynx. tainted green: that is, a field in which is the scent or odor of game. 218. Feels. spider. Supply it, meaning the In the nice bee, what sense so subtly* true Remembrance and reflection how allied! What thin partitions sense from thought divide ! See, through this air, this ocean and this earth, Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, 220 225 230 235 240 Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroyed: 245 Let earth unbalanced from her orbit fly, All are but parts of one stupendous whole, That, changed through all, and yet in all the same, Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns 251-256. Let earth... God. The meaning here is, should earth tre and nature would tremble, etc. fly unbalanced from its centre, 262. to serve mere engines: that is, to then would planets and suns serve as mere engines. would be just as absurd, etc. the soul of the universe, God. 255 260 265 270 275 28ત |