Laftly, In fire and fnow the heat and cold's intense,

490 The utmost qualities that strike our sense; These two, as bounds, the middle warmths controul,

Which rife by juft degrees, and make a whole : 'Tis certain then that these varieties

Are finite, and that two extremes comprise,
On this fide melting flames, on that fide ice.
This prov'd, it follows, that those seeds whofe
frame

Is perfectly alike, their fhapes the fame,
Are infinite; for, fince these reasons teach,
That thofe varieties of shape ne'er reach
To infinite, there must be infinite of each;
Or elfe, what I before fuccessfully oppos'd,
The all is finite, and in bounds enclos'd.

500

This taught, my lab'ring mufe next fweetly fings,

That proper feeds for ev'ry kind of things
Are infinite; that these preserve the mass,
And kinds of things, by constant strokes in ev'ry
place:

For though fome kinds of beasts we rarely view,
As if unfruitful nature bore but few;
Yet other countries may supply our wants:
Thus India breeds fuch troops of elephants,
As fight their wars, and ufually o'ercome;
So num'rous are they there, fo few at Rome.
But grant in nature fuch a fingle one,

The like to which nor is, nor e'er was known:
Yet were its proper seeds but finite, how

The earth does in itself fuch parts contain, As make up fprings which feed the greedy main; And fuch feed too as fierceft fire can frame; For many parts, like Etna, vomit flame: And fuch whence trees and tender fhrubs do shoot; [fruit. And grafs for beafts, for man fweet corn and Hence term'd the mother of the gods contefs'd The common parent too of man and beast. The poets fing, that through the heav'ns above, She chariots, drawn by fierce yok'd lions, drove; And riding to and fro, fhe wanders there: They teach by this, that in the spacious air Hangs the vast mass of earth, and needs no prop Of any lower earth to keep it up.

They yoke fuch beafts, to show that ev'ry child, Though form'd by nature fierce, untam'd, and wild, [mild. Soften'd by care and love, grows tame, and Her lofty head a mural garland wears, Because the towns and ftately castles bears: And thus adorn'd with gaudy pomp and show," Goes through our towns, and as the paffes through, 571

The vulgar fear, and all with rev'rence bow.

For think the feeds of any fingle mafs

Being finite, fcatter'd through the mighty space, Where, how, or when, what force, or what de-. fign,

520

Amid fuch diff'rent feeds, could make them join?

For 'tis not reafon prompts them to combine.
But as in wrecks, the feats, the mafts, the oars,
Confus'dly fcatter'd, fill the neighb'ring fhores;
That men might learn by fuch fad fights as thefe
The force, and cruel treach'ries of the feas;
And fill diftruft, though with perfidious smile
Becalm'd, it tempts them on to farther toil.
So finite feeds would in the space be toft,
And in the whirls of diff'rent matter loft;
So that they ne'er could join, or be at peace,
Nor yet preserve their union, nor increase :
But now 'tis plain, and ev'n our senses show
That things are made; and, made, increase and

530

Nor motions, which compofe or else increase, Always preferve things made, but fometimes

cease:

540

So these two contraries do always jar
With equal force, and still maintain the war.
Now thefe, now those prevail; and infant's moans
Are ever mix'd with others' dying groans:

A thousand odd conceits, a thousand names;
And gives her a large train of Phrygian dames:
Because in Phrygia corn at first took birth,
And thence was fcatter'd o'er the other earth.
They eunuch all her priefts, from whence 'tis
shown,

580

That they deferve no children of their own,
Who or abuse their fires, or disrespect,
Or treat their mothers with a cold neglect;
Their mothers, whom they fhould adore.-
Amidst her pomp fierce drums and cymbals beat,
And the hoarfe horns with rattling notes do threat.
The pipe with Phrygian airs disturbs their fouls,
Till, reafon overthrown, mad paffion rules.
They carry arms, thofe dreadful figns of war,
To raife in impious routs religious fear. [goes,
When carry'd thus in pomp, through towns the
And health on all moft filently beftows; 590
With offer'd money they beftrew the plain,
And rofes cover her, and all her train.
Here fome in arms dance round among the
crowd,

Look dreadful gay in their own sparkling blood, (
Their crests still ihaking with a dreadful nod.
These represent those armed priests, who strove
To drown the tender cries of infant Jove;
By dancing quick they made a greater found,
And beat their armour as they danc'd around;
Left Saturn fhould have found and eat the boy,
And Ops for ever mourn'd her prattling joy, 601
For this her train is arm'd; or else to show
They'll ferve their country, and enlarge it too,

Whenever danger, or when honour calls.

For fee, our limbs receive from all their food

Nought here below, nought in our pow'r he needs;
Ne'er fmiles at good, ne'er frowns at wicked deeds.
The earth wants fenfe, and yet contains the
feeds;

And therefore trees and living creatures breeds.
Now those that would their wanton fancies please,
And use the name of Neptune for the feas;
Ceres for corn, or Bacchus for the vine,
Rather than speak the plainer terms of wine,
Such men may call, and strength of fancy show,
The earth the mother of the gods below,
And those above, although she is not fo.
The fheep, the warlike horse, and bull, in food
Agree; and all drink of the same cold flood:
And yet they diff'rent are; and cach delights
In proper motions, manners, appetites;
Such diff'rent feeds in ev'ry herb do grow ;
Such diff'rent feeds in ev'ry water flow.

620

Now though blood, humour, nerves, and vein, and bone,

629

Are parts of animal, and make up one;
Yet what varieties their forms divide?
How all unlike? Their diff 'rence vaftly wide!
So all combustibles, though not the fame
In other things, have parts of such a frame
As make gay sparkles, afhes, light, and flame.
And fo confider ev'ry thing, you'll find
Each made of diff'rent feeds in shape and kind.
Laftly, We all confefs fome object please
The smell and taste at once.———
Now feeds of diff'rent shapes must make up these,
For tafte and fm.ell do diff'rent organs ftrike,
Therefore their figures cannot be alike :
So that each mafs does diff'rent shapes enclose,
And ev'ry body diff'rent feeds compose.

}

}

640

650

A pregnant proof of this my fong affords, For there are letters common to all words; Yet fome of diff'rent fhapes and figures join, To make each diff'rent word, each diff'rent line. Not but that many are in shape the fame, But all agree not in one common frame. And fo of other things; though things are made Of many common feeds in order laid, Yet may the compounds widely disagree, And we may justly guess that flone, and tree, Or an'mal kind, as bird, and beast, and man, From feeds of diff'rent fhapes and kinds began. Yet all join not with all, for thence would rife Vaft monsters, nature's great abfurdities; Some things half-beast, half-man, and some would grow

Tall trees above, and animals below;

Some join'd of fish and beafts, and ev'ry where,
Frightful chimeras, breathing flames, appear. 660
But fince we see no fuch, and things arife
From certain feeds, of certain shape and fize,
And keep their kind, as they increase and grow;
There's fome fix'd reafon why it should be fo.

Now these are cath'lic laws; these rules do bind Not animals alone, but ev'ry kind; For fince they all of diff'rent natures are, The figures of their feeds can never fquare; Not but that many are in fhape the fame, But all agree not in one common frame. Now fince the feeds are diff'rent, thence will grow A diff'rence in their weight and motion too, 680 Their ftroke, connection, concufs. Now by)

thefe,

Not animals alone, but heav'n, earth, feas,
Are plac'd in their own proper fpecies.

Now farther learn, what I with toil and pain, With many a careful thought, and lab'ring brain, Have fought to teach thee; left thou fhouldit miltake,

And think the feeds of black compofures, black;
Of white things, white; or other bodies wear
Thofe diff'rent colours that their feeds did bear.
For leeds are colourless; without a dye,
Or like, or unlike thofe that seem to lie
On bodies furfaces, and ftrike our eye.

690)

Now if you think fuch feeds are things unfit To be conceiv'd, how fond is the conceit! For fince that men born blind, whose nat'ral night Was never scatter'd by one beam of light, Know things by touch, he's foolish that denies," That any notices of things can rise, Unless from colours ent'ring at our eyes. For in the dark we feel, and form from thence 700 Some images; yet then no colours strike our sense. But this position stronger reasons show; For feeds of things ne'er change, though co

lours do:

For fomewhat must survive each change, and be
Effentially immutable, and free;

Left all should fink to nought, and thence arise,
For what is chang'd from what it was, that dies,
Therefore feeds colourlefs, unfit for view,
Or grant or grant annihilation true.
Though feeds are colourlefs, and free from"

710

dyes, They're form'd of diff'rent figures; whence arise The num'rous colours, gay varieties. And fince, as we difcours'd before, we find It matters much with what first seeds are join'd, What figure, what pofition they maintain, What motions give, and what receive again; 'Tis strait refolv'd why things as black as night Can change fo foon, and put on virgin white; And scatter all around their vig'rous light. As in the fea, when the mad ocean raves, And white curls rise upon the foaming waves; For thus it is: That which feem'd black before, By lofing little parts, or taking more, Their number, motion, order, ftation, site, Pofition chang'd, from black are turn'd to white.

720

But if the fea were ting'd with natʼral sky, What force, what art could make it change the dye?

For change its frame, and change, and change
Yet ftill the native tincture would remain, [again,
And never put on white; but if the feed, 730
Painted with diff 'rent colours, all agreed
To make one white; as little parts, that bear
Quite diff'rent figures can compose one square;
Then it would follow, as in fquares there lie
Such diff'rent figures, naked to our eye,
Juft fo, in one pure whiteness, we should view
A thousand colours mix'd, and diff 'rent too.
Befides; look o'er those diff'rent shapes; for
there

No hindrance in their natures does appear,
Why all may not agree to make one square. 740.
But neither fenfe, nor nature's laws permit,
That diff'rent colours should compose one white.
Nay more; the only cause that all propose
For colour'd feeds, this fancy overthrows ;
For here from white, white bodies do not rife,
Nor black from black, but feeds of various dyes,
Now colourless feeds will fooner make a white,
Than black, or any other oppofite.

Befides; fince colours are alone by day,
And owe their beings to the glitt'ring ray, 750
But feeds of things do not exist alone

}

By day: 'tis plain that they are ting'd with none;
For how can colours be in darkest night,
Since they all change, and vary with the light,
According as the ray's oblique or right.
So plumes, that go around the pigeon's head,
Sometimes look brifker, with a deeper red;
And then in different pofition feen
Show a gay sky, all intermix'd with green :
And fo in peacock's tails, all fill'd with light, 760
The colour varies with the change of fite.
Now fince thefe colours rife from beams o'th' fun
Reflex, they cannot be when those are gone.

And fince the eyes a diff'rent stroke receive From white, from that which black, or others

give :

And fince it matters not what colour's worn
By things we touch, but what fit shapes are born,
We easily infer feeds want no dyes;
Thofe the variety of fhapes fupplies,

And thence thofe diff'rent forts of touch may
rife.
77.
Befides; fince certain colours not agree
To certain fhapes; and any dye may be
any fhape, then tell me why we find
Such colours ftill belong to fuch a kind?
Why cannot crows their usual dye forsake,
And put on white? Why fwans not mourn in
black?

Again break any thing, we find at last The lefs the parts, the more the colours waste : For inftance; fhave but gold, the gaudy red, Which through the whole compofure once was fpread, 780

19 loft and gone, the parts unheeded lie,
Nor with their tempting purple court our eye.
Which fhows that bodies are from colours freed,
Before they come to be as fmall as feed.

Farther; fince fome ne'er touch the ear or nofe,

With found, or smell; we nat'rally suppose
That neither found, nor fmell belong to those.
So likewife, fince 'tis nonfenfe to deny
Some feeds too small, and subtle for our eye,
Thefe free from colour we must all conceive, 7901
As well as thofe from found and tatte believe,
Whofe found, nor tafte, our ears, nor tongue
perceive.

And yet the mind can comprehend as well
Thefe void of dye, as thofe of found and smell.
Befides not only colour is not found

In feeds; but neither fmell, nor tafte, nor found:
They no brifk odours in effluviums fend,
Or to delight the nofe, or to offend;
But void of odours all. So artifts choofe
An odorous liquor to compofe

800

Their rich perfumes; left they infect and spoil
Their odours, with the native smell of oil.
And thus as all their former reafons fhow,
The feeds on compound bodies ne'er beftow
Their found, their tafte or imell; for they have

From putrid and fermenting clods arise,
When fem'nal rain defcends in foft'ning dew,
And makes the weary'd earth bring forth anew.
Befides, leaves, water, grafs, do make up beaft,
And man too feeds on blafts, and is increas'd:
Their flesh is turn'd to ours; and fo again
The birds and blafts increase by eating men.
All these things prove, that any fort of food
Nature can easily turn to flesh and blood:
Whence aninials, thofe things of ienfe, fhe frames,
As out of wood fhe raifes fire and flames.
And hence, as we difcours'd before, we find
It matters much with what firft feecs are join'd;
What fite, and what pofition they maintain,
What motions give, and what receive again.

831

But what confirms, what prompts thee to be-lieve,

(rive That things, endow'd with fenfe, can ne'er deTheir beings from infenfibles, and live? Perchance, as common obfervation shows, Because earth, stone, wood, various things com840

pofe;

And yet there's neither life, nor fense in thole.

And proper food for all by which they thrive, Grow ftrong, and propagate their race, and live:

Thence justly all the name of mother give.
And fo each part returns, when bodies die,
What came from earth to earth, what from the
sky

Dropt down, afcends again, and mounts on high..
For death does not destroy, but difunite
The feeds, and change their order and their fite:
Then makes new combinations, whence arise
In bodies all those great varieties:
970
Their change in colour, fhape, and frame; and
thence

980

}

Some for a while enjoy, then lofe their fenfe.
From whence, as we obferv'd before, we find
It matters much with what first feeds are join'd:
What fite, and what pofition they maintain,
What motion give, and what receive again;
And that the feeds of bodies ne'er contain
Such frail and tranfient things as feem to lie
On bodies' furfaces, and change and die.
It matters much, ev'n in these ruder lines,
How, or with what each single letter joins;
For the fame letters, or almost the fame,
Make words to fignify earth, fun, and flame,
The moon, the heav'n, corn, animals, and trees,
And fea but their pofition difagrees;
"Their order's not alike; in bodies fo;
As their feeds order, figure, motion do, [too.
The things themfelves muft change and vary
But now attend, I'll teach thee fomething new;
Tus ftrange, but yet 'tis reafon, and 'tis true: 990
Ev'n what we now with greatest eafe receive,
Seem'd frange at first, and we could fcarce believe;
And what we wonder at, as years increase,
Will feem more plain, and all our wonder cease,
For look, the heav'n, the stars, the fun, the moon,
If on a fudden to us mortals shown,
Difcover'd now, and never seen before, [more?
What could have rais'd the people's wonder
What could be more admir'd at here below?
Ev'n you had been furpris'd at such a show. Ioco
But now, all cloy'd with thefe, fcarce caft an eye,
Or think it worth the pains to view the sky.
Wherefore fly no opinion, 'cause 'tis new;
But ftrictly fearch, and after careful view,
Reject, if fa fe; embrace it, if 'tis true.

Now I have prov'd before, this mighty space
Is infinite, and knows no lowest place,
Nor uppermoft: no bounds this all controul;
For that's against the nature of the whole.
Through this vaft space fince feeds then always

Thus then 'tis prov'd, and certain, that elsewhere, The bufy atoms join, as well as here:

Such earths, fuch feas, fuch men, fuch beafts, arife,

All like to thofe furrounded by our fkies.

Again when there can be no hindering cause, But place and feed enough; by nature's laws Things must be made: Now if the feed furmount The utmost ftretch of number's vaft account; And the fame nature can compofe a mass, As once in this, in any other place; It plainly follows, that there mutt arife Diftinct and num'rous worlds, earths, men, and fkies,

In places diftant, and remote from this.

Now farther add: No (pecies has but one,
Which is begun, increas'd, and grows alone:
But ev'ry kind does certainly contain,
Of individuals, a num'rous train;

1030

As bird, and filent fish, as beaft and man:
Therefore the fpecies of the fun and moon,
Of heav'n and earth, muft needs have more than
1040

one.

For ev'ry one of thefe is made, and grows
By the fame nature's cath'lic laws, with those
Whofe fpacious kinds do num'rous trains en-

clofe.

If this you understand, you'll plainly fee How the vast mass of matter, nature, free From the proud care of any meddling deity, Does work by her own private ftrength, and move Without the trouble of the pow'rs above. For how, good gods! can thofe that live in peace, In a disturb'd and everlafting eafe, Rule this vaft all? Their lab'ring thoughts divide 'Twixt heav'n and earth, and all their motions guide?

1950

Send heat to us, the various orbs controul,
Or be immenfe, and fpread o'er all the whole?
Or hide the heav'n in clouds, whence thunder
thrown,

Beats ev'n their own afpiring temples down?
Or through vaft deferts break th' innocent wood,
Nor hurts the bad, but ftrikes the just and good?

Learn next, th' infinite mafs fends new fupplies
Into the world already form'd, whence fkies, 106.
And this vaft ball of earth, and boift'rous feas,
And fpacious air grow bigger, and increase;
For all to their own proper kinds retire,
To earth the earthy, fiery parts to fire,
To water, wat'ry; till they grow as great
As nature's fix'd and fteady laws permit.
For as in animals, when ev'ry vein
Receives no more than what flies off again,
They can increase no more: fuch means fecure
Thofe things from farther growth, when once