The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1825-11-09
From the Connecticut Mirror.
TO THE MOON.

There are touches in the following lines that
are great. We know of nothing in modern
poetry that will compare with the sublimity
of thought in which the writer likens the dis
coveries of Newton, to the communion of Mo-
ses with his God. The lines need no com.
ment, but we have the right, and we feel the
inclination to do what justice we can to the
merits Of this beautiful piece.
Hail beauteous and nconstant Thou who
roll'st
Thy silver car around the realm of night,
Queen of soft hours how Fancul art thou
In equipage and vesture.-Now thou com'st
With slender horn, piercing the western cloud
As erst on Judah's hills, when Joyous throngs
With trump and festival saluted. thee;
Anon thy waxing crescent mid the host
OF consultations, like some fairy boat
6lides DER the waveess sea then as bride
Thou bow'st thy cheek behind feeey veil
Fimid and far;- bright in regal robes
Dost bid thy full-orb'd chariot proudly roll,
Sweeping with silent rein the starry path
Up to the highest node-then plunging low
To seek dim Nadir in his misty cell.
--Loy'st thou our Earth, that thou dost hold
thy lamp
To guide and cheerher, when the wearied Sun
Forsakes her ?-Sometimes, rowing on, thou
shedd'st
Who feeds thy urn with light-but sinking deep
Meath the dark shadow of the earth, dost mourn
And find thy retribution.
-Dost thou mold
Dalliance with Ocean, that his mighty heart
Tosses 81 thine approach, and his mad tides
Drinking thy favoring glance, more rudely lash
Their rocky bulwark ?-Do thy children trace
Through crystal tubs our coarser-featur'd orb
Even as we gaze on thee with Eucd's art
Ferchance frnuT mile I'm mile. her sDhers how
Fcr IN lov'd tropics-aRd her spreading seas
Rich with their myriad isles. Perchance they
mark
Where midas cliffs the trembling cloud invade,
Or Andes with his fiery banner floats
The empyrean-where old Atlas towers,
Or that rough chain whence him of Carthage
pour d.
Terror on Rome.-Thou too, perchance, hast
nuTs'd
Some bold Copernicus-or fondly caIld
A Calico forth--those sun-ike souls
Which shone darkness, though our darkness
faipd
To comprehend them.-Can'st thou boast like
earth
A Kepler, skful pioneer and wise -
A sage to write his name among the stars
Like glorious Herschel s-or dynasty
Like great Cassini's, which from sire to son
Transmitted Science as birthright sea'd?
Rose there some lunar Horrox--to whose
glance
Respleudent Venus her adventurous course
Reyeald even in his boyhood !--some La Place
Luminous as the skies he sought to read p
Thou deignst no answered. fain wonld ask
If since thy bright creation, thou hadst seen
Aught like Newton--whose admitted eye
The arcana of the universe explor'd?,
Lights subtle ray its mechanism disclosed
The impetuous Comet, his mysterious lore
Unfolded system after system rose,
Eternal wheeling thro' the immense of space,
And taught him of their lsws.--Even angels
stood
Amaz'd-as when in ancient times they saw
On Sinai's top, mortal walk with God.
tut he to whom the secrets of the skies
We're whispered, in huHility ador'd,
breathing with chldlike reverence, the prayer.
-" When on yon heavens, with all their orbs
gaz'd
Jeh0uGh !-7phat is man %