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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 THE NIGHT-WATCH 
 
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 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 AN ARGUMENT. 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD TROTT FISHER. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 W ILLIAM PICKERING. 
 
 1845.
 
 PRINTED BY C. WUITTINGUAM, CHISWICK.
 
 1° 
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 THE sun was down : and as the timid moon 
 Unveil'd her pale face to salute the night, 
 Two travelers, who had toil'd through the hot day, 
 Stretch 'd side by side upon a bank of heath, 
 Breathed welcome to the cool and tranquil hour. 
 
 Introduction 
 of the subject. 
 
 " Hail, gentle Night ! that in thy mantle wrapp'st 
 The living world with all its toils and cares, 
 And nursest it to meet another day ; 
 How gladly do we hide our weary heads 
 Under the broody shadow of thy breast, 
 And court oblivion ! while the scene around 
 Has all put off its charm : the birds are mute, 
 The flowers are colourless ; and this fair earth, 
 Man's rich inheritance, one joyless blank." 
 
 '75442
 
 2 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Thus spake the younger of the twain, who loved 
 Beautiful Nature but for beauty's sake, 
 To feed therewith his fancy's appetite, 
 And wanton in its fulness. Oft he stray 'd 
 The livelong day by river, wood, and glen, 
 Or clomb the mountain-peak to gaze ad own 
 Upon the lovely landscape. Nor did less 
 The elder dote on beauty ; but therein 
 He read the symbol of divinity — 
 Mind's visible token ; and the while he fixed 
 His eye on earth-born order, there he mark'd 
 Some quality of spirit and of heaven, 
 Where his heart rested. 
 
 In his curious youth 
 He had soar'd high on Contemplation's wing, 
 Above the palpable concrete, and sought 
 The viewless essence of the living soul : 
 And for his pastime had assay 'd to note 
 Within the limits of pedantic rhyme 
 His devious difficult way, while he would trace 
 Its origin and attributes and end. 
 Thus in the leisure of maturer age 
 A passion as of youth still urged him on,
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 The rugged story of material things 
 To bind in measured language apt and brief, 
 As 'twere in the soft trammels of the Muse; 
 For he had sworn her fealty, and for this 
 Had wander'd forth into her pleasant haunts. 
 And thus the fellow-trav'llers held their way, 
 Gathering fair images from all they saw, 
 While the light lasted. Then, at fall of night, 
 When one spake welcome to the oblivious gloom, 
 The other, as a father chides his son, 
 With kind rebuke persuasive thus replied. 
 
 " Forgive, dear friend, the monitory tone 
 That rules the voice of age, nor deem it harsh, 
 All be it chime not with fantastic youth. 
 Together we have quaff'd the sparkling morn ; 
 Together loiter' d o'er the mellow noon ; 
 And sipt together the still balm of eve : 
 And what to me was sweet therein methought 
 Was no less sweet to thee : the scented air, 
 The verdure-varied landscape, all distinct 
 With beauteous characters of life and health, 
 The elegance of all that moved around —
 
 4 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 The headlong torrent and the smiling lake. 
 Quick-nibbling flocks and lazy-marching- kine, 
 Ravish'd our outward senses ; and it seem'd 
 Our hearts were tuned to the same harmony, 
 And throbb'd accordant. But what now I hear 
 Bewrays the thoughtless appetite of youth, 
 That snatches at the fruit which nearest blooms, 
 Unlearn'd of aught beyond. For who would thus 
 Surrender all unquestion'd the fair night, 
 As the waste birthright of oblivion ; 
 But that he hath not learnt to gather there 
 The richest fruits of wisdom? Much I bless 
 The glorious Sun, without whose generous aid 
 Our body's life were as our body's death, — 
 No season for the soul to till and sow 
 For its own proper harvest. I bless too 
 The glorious Sun, for that his genial rays 
 So deck and paint this little field of earth — 
 Our body's heritage — that all is joy 
 Night opens Within its close domain. But when the Sun 
 
 to our view 
 
 ti.e greatest Hath hid his dazzling beams, 'tis then our eyes 
 
 works of 
 
 Nature. Can pierce into the open realms of space ; 
 
 Wherein our bodiless uncumber'd spirits 
 May one day travel free, in nearer view
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Of beatific glory : and e'en now, 
 
 From this far spot, our hungry souls may feast 
 
 On heavenly elements, and dimly trace 
 
 A shadow of the universal God." 
 
 E'en as he spake, up sprang the zealous youth, 
 As starting from a dream, and for awhile 
 Stood motionless and gazed upon the heavens. 
 " If this be so — and that it is yon star 
 It may be nightly tells, while I, intent 
 Upon the sluggard's drowsy game, bar out 
 Its glowing tidings, and am no more learn'd 
 Of heavenly lore than the down-grazing ox — 
 But oh ! I rouse me ! and no more, I swear, 
 Shall wily sleep creep o'er me, while the night 
 Unfolds the book of Heaven, till my eyes 
 Have read therein its wondrous history. 
 But thou ! my friend, whose curious agile soul 
 Flits thro' the expanse of nature far and near, 
 Culling all knowledge from her open flowers, 
 And hiving for thyself a secrete store 
 Of purest wisdom — if I e'er have caught 
 The honied drops that oozed from thy full heart, 
 As for my daily bread, and follow 'd thee
 
 6 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 E'en as a son his sire, — be now, as erst, 
 My teacher and my guide." 
 
 The old man smiled, 
 And said ; " The boon thou ask'st I fain will grant : 
 For what so sweet a task — so heavenly sweet, 
 As to teach wisdom ! 'Tis indeed a gift 
 Which nought diminishes the giver's store ; 
 While him that takes it doth enrich tenfold 
 Beyond earth's riches. Nor thou, Spirit of song, — 
 Thou who so long hast haunted fairy realms, 
 And animated strange unnatural shapes 
 To stir men's passions, — wilt thou now disdain 
 The form of living truth ; which, by thy grace, 
 Shall with its simple beauty more delight, 
 Than were it trick'd in the most gorgeous trim 
 Of the bright East, or mantled in the stole 
 Of stately Rome or Greece. But only thou 
 Consort and blend thee with that purer Spirit, 
 That was at the beginning, ere the birth 
 Of aught created, resting in the essence 
 Of uncreated and eternal Being : 
 Whence, with the spring of active energy, 
 It flow'd abroad into the nascent world,
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 7 
 
 To mix and mould and animate the whole. 
 So may'st thou thrive in such high fellowship ! 
 And lead me on thro' Nature's farthest realms, 
 Amidst the eldest of material things, 
 And guide me as I go ; that I may see 
 What obvious is to sense, and seeing, know 
 Their mutual fitness and fair quality, 
 And cry aloud their one Original." 
 
 He paused and stood awhile in anxious guise ; 
 Now gazing round upon the things of Earth, 
 Scarce visible amid th' o'erreaching gloom ; 
 Now peering far beyond the shades of night, 
 Where myriad stars lit up the vault of Heaven : 
 Then in a small clear accent thus began. 
 
 '* How hard it is for brief and puny man Everything 
 
 that is, has its 
 
 To tamper with the bounds of Time and Space ! aitimatecaase 
 
 beyond our 
 
 Yet not a thing that meets his daily sense, sense. . 
 
 — Holds it a shape by Nature's work, or man's, 
 
 Or brute or animate, — but would he trace 
 
 Its history, and know from whence it came, 
 
 Its age, its quality, from cause to cause 
 
 He journeys upwards, as his learning serves,
 
 8 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Perchance to some vast law, whose Maker still 
 Rests in obscurity ; alone unmade, 
 The universal spring ; himself unseen, 
 But by his works confest. 
 
 No law, how- Nor deem, in pride, 
 
 ever univer- 
 
 sal, can be Though, standing on the vantage-ground of lore, 
 
 deemed an nl- _,. , , 1 
 
 timate cause, I nou e en may st mark aright some simple law 
 
 unless it have »•,,.. , 
 
 the attributes Wide as the universe, innate within 
 
 The elements of matter, reasoning whence 
 Thou canst approve the order of the world 
 To be, as of necessity, the same 
 We see, in motion, form, and quality, 
 That thou hast found the primal cause of things. 
 For whence those elements, and how subject 
 To that strong law ? Which if it be not God, 
 Complete in power, by whom at first they were, 
 And in whom live and move, a stronger law 
 Must still be found beyond ; itself of God, 
 Unless it be eternal, uncreate, 
 Omnipotent; then is it GOD indeed. 
 
 TneiDterven- And what, if it be found, as well it may, 
 cits between That between Him and this material world
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 9 
 
 Are intermediate ministries, impress'd ,l ' 1 ' i 11 '"" 
 
 Cause and an 
 
 Or delegate, which work dependency effeci proves 
 
 ° * an excellency 
 
 Each upon each, in such nice harmony > power. 
 
 That error is impossible ? Shall we 
 
 Who mark this harmony, and trace the cause 
 
 Finitely visible, by which it works 
 
 Unchanging and infallible — shall we 
 
 Call that necessity which is in sooth 
 
 Obedience ? Be it then necessity : 
 
 Not of itself, but of those elements — 
 
 The soulless elements in which it is, 
 
 And without which were not. What is it then ? 
 
 What — but the easy undiverted flow 
 
 Of their Creator's power ? — the farther this 
 
 Remote, its greater excellency proved. 
 
 As if a man, (to mix small things with great,) 
 
 Versed in the science of elastic spheres, 
 
 Intent to hit a mark upon a plane 
 
 Where several balls lie scatter'd up and down, 
 
 Should wanton in the surety of his skill, 
 
 And strike a ball with such nice mastery, 
 
 That starting indirect it falls oblique 
 
 Upon another, which now takes a course 
 
 Straight for a third ; and thus they all are sped
 
 10 
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Each upon each in order ; till the last 
 Plumps on the mark, by a less cunning hand 
 So obvious to the first. Tis thus God works, 
 Lavish of means, still of his end secure. 
 
 By tracing Then go, Philosopher, search Nature's ways, 
 
 remote causes 
 
 we assert this Pile cause on cause, and multiply His skill 
 
 excellency. 
 
 Whose hand hath framed such far dependencies 
 Lest, like the ignorant, we deem him near, 
 An object of our petty sense, or charge 
 His goodness for our daily wants and cares — 
 The creatures of ourselves. But let us bow 
 In wonderment, while from their eldest birth 
 We trace the forms of things, as best we can, 
 And gather thence his glorious attributes. 
 
 The begin- 
 ning of 
 created 
 things. 
 
 In the beginning, ere a thing was made, 
 If Space and Time then were essentially, 
 They had their being in the mind of God ; 
 Incomprehensible to us, who mark 
 And measure them by since created things. 
 In His one Soul had reason, love, and power, 
 Rested eternally ; but love prevail'd, 
 And God no longer will'd to be alone :
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Then reason plann'd creation, over which 
 Power shed a genial virtue— and it was. 
 
 What Thrones and Princedoms rose subordinate, 
 First-born to life, celestial substances 
 Of spirit, free of earthy particle 
 Which yet was not, — if any such there were 
 By God's full grace, — and for what ministry 
 They were and are, it is not our's to seek. 
 Our carnal sense is impotent of all 
 Beyond carnality, and reason shrinks 
 From sporting on where carnal senses fail. 
 Enough if we can mark aright what is 
 Within our sense, and argue thence one Spirit. 
 
 Of spiritual 
 creatures we 
 
 kimw no- 
 thing. 
 
 First then we see the sun, the moon, the stars, 
 In form and action of all things we know 
 The ancientest. But think not that they came 
 Straight from the proper hand of God himself 
 So shaped and poised by his primeval work : 
 Lest some philosopher, more skill'd than thou, 
 Should trip thee while thou deem'st thy step so sure, 
 And teach thee how they took the forms they hold 
 By their own energies, spontaneous 
 
 Of material 
 creatures, the 
 oldest forms 
 we know are 
 the heavenly 
 bodies, 
 
 which, how- 
 ever, were 
 not created
 
 12 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 of these forms And irresistible ; and prove their place 
 
 took tbem in And several motions, such as now they seem, 
 
 (be course of .. . . 
 
 lime, by the To be as but of yesterday, the work 
 
 instinct pro- ... • n 
 
 perties of Of their own instinct virtues, acting all 
 
 their own . 1 • i 
 
 parts; By certain laws which rule their destiny. 
 
 For know this globe of water, earth, and air 
 
 Is soluble to atoms most minute, 
 
 Of simple substance, various quality : 
 
 Which,severally set to wander free, 
 
 Would mingle every wise among themselves, 
 
 And meeting other creature elements 
 
 Of heat, and all the subtile essences 
 
 Pervading space, would gain new property 
 
 By chemic fusion or cohesive force, 
 
 Condensed and crystallized. Thus, in the lapse 
 
 Of countless ages, such another globe 
 
 Might be remoulded by the soulless force 
 
 Of things material, as we see this now, 
 
 Of solid, liquid, and ethereal mass. 
 
 Which, that it was so form'd, concrete and shaped 
 
 By the brute nature of its simple parts 
 
 Growing with time, if that thou know'st it not, 
 
 Go search within the caverns of the earth, 
 
 And read it storied in her granite block,
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 13 
 
 And on the tablet of her bedded soils. 
 There mark them in their generations laid, 
 The sport of fire or flood ; and patient still 
 Of heat and wet, and all free elements 
 That may assail them in their quietude, 
 And loose perchance their fettcr'd particles 
 To roam again in unobstructed space. 
 
 and iiy those 
 pi operties 
 1 1 1 . i > return 
 again i" th< ii 
 
 i li mints. 
 
 But that thou mayst not deem it hard to think 
 That these gross things of shape and size and weight 
 Are compound of such light material, 
 Look at the coal that blazes on thv hearth ; 
 How quick it hurries from its lumpish state, 
 And flees away in native particles, 
 Impalpable to sight and touch ! Or watch 
 Familiar water, as cold serves or heat, 
 Mark how it settles into rocky ice, 
 Or steals away in vapour ! Granite thus 
 And adamantine ore before fierce heat 
 Would rush into their elemental forms. 
 
 \\ hi' li, from 
 what we ob- 
 serve of mai- 
 ler, it is easy 
 to conceive ; 
 
 Of such then know this solid earth once was, 
 Of such her sister planets ; it might be 
 As learned men have shewn, diffuse throughout 
 
 and that all 
 matter once 
 existed in a 
 
 state of 
 vapour.
 
 14 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 The solar space, a vapoury world of fire : 
 A host of several atoms, unconfused, 
 Chasing around an axial firmament. 
 Which by their own innate activities, 
 Toward their centre gathering mass and heat, 
 The particles that wander'd more remote 
 Cool'd and condensed into the forms we see, 
 This Earth, those planets, running onward still 
 The passive course their atoms ran before. 
 
 in the pic But first to note aright what now we see : — 
 
 sent condi- 
 tion of matter This fair round Earth, which on its axle whirls, 
 
 we may ob- 
 serve the And holds an onward course, continually 
 
 System of the 
 
 s.m and Throughout our time marking the days and years, 
 Is one of a celestial family, 
 
 Whose head we call the Sun. The wondrous Sun ! 
 Who looks so like a god to our weak sense, 
 That men have worshipt him ! Though he, in sooth, 
 Is but a creature of like dignity 
 With each and all the myriad host of stars 
 Which speck night's azure scene. The wondrous Sun 
 From him be our beginning : but, in vain 
 We strive to fathom his primeval source ; 
 How in the depth of time his sovran fire
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 15 
 
 Was kindled, to dispense continual heat 
 Through countless ages, and to burn on still ! 
 Poised in mid-heaven, as to us it seems, 
 He rests essentially. Around him move, 
 Within one plane of space, the wand'ring stars, 
 Of which the Earth is one ; whose seeming path 
 Perplex'd the astronomers of olden time, 
 As if they moved at random, here or there, 
 Forward or backward. But the wit of man 
 Hath traced the clew at last, and found their ways 
 Divinely regular. All run their rounds 
 With mutual harmony of place and time. 
 
 First, Mercury — so men have named the star Mercury. 
 
 Which, like a favourite child by his fond sire, 
 Wheels his near course about the parent Sun. 
 Him, when the flagging herb at eventide 
 Tastes its first dew, or at the chilly dawn, 
 Like the brief lord of twilight you may see, 
 Now following fast from the black shades of night, 
 Now heralding the morn. 
 
 Bright Venus next, veno». 
 
 Most beautiful of all the host of heaven,
 
 16 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Smiles brilliance through the darkness. She as well 
 Follows or leads the radiant Lord of day ; 
 But at remoter distance ; that at times 
 The love-sick maid may sit and sigh to her 
 Through half the pensive night. Full oft the bard 
 Hath tuned his lyre to honour her ; so like 
 The queen of beauty doth she charm his sense ! 
 
 Gaze while ye may ; for oft the jealous Sun 
 Flings his bright beams round this celestial pair, 
 And bars the sight of Earth's fond denizens. 
 
 The Earth. At measured distance next this genial Earth, 
 
 On which we live and move, from which we mark 
 The boundless fields of Heaven, and urge our thought 
 Throughout all space, this spot which we inhabit, 
 A star like other stars, holds on its course 
 Around the Sun ; while still around itself 
 The fair attendant Moon revolving too 
 Makes our night beautiful. 
 
 o 
 
 Mars. Then fiery Mars ! 
 
 Whose aspect red and bloodlike men once thought 
 Look'd war and slaughter : learn'd in later days
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 17 
 
 To trace the cause of things, no more they read 
 Destruction in his eye, but mark him form'd, 
 Like this our goodly Earth, of seas and lands, 
 Whose ocreous surface, unobscured by clouds, 
 Pours back the Sun's red rays, while his white poles 
 Proclaim eternal snow. lie too perchance 
 Is tenanted by intellectual life, 
 Breathed by the spirit of primeval love. 
 
 Next, but at double interval, is seen Jupiter. 
 
 Stupendous Jupiter; to whom this earth, 
 With all its weary leagues of land and sea, 
 Is as a pea to the plump orange-fruit ! 
 Thrice in the time which marks our day and night, 
 He whirls upon his axle ; thrice renews 
 To his own denizens — if such there be — 
 The shades of evening and the beams of morn. 
 But lest, more distant from the fount of light, 
 Five times the space betwixt the Sun and us, 
 So frequent night should intercept good work, 
 Four beauteous satellites around him watch, 
 And gathering lustre from the opposite Sun, 
 Profitless gloom relieve. Attended thus, 
 
 c
 
 18 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 In twice six years, such years as mark our time, 
 He rounds his orbit. 
 
 Saturn. Saturn next appears ! 
 
 For whose long journey round the distant Sun 
 Scarce thrice ten years suffice. About his waist 
 Two fine concentric rings of solid mass 
 Whirl as he whirls, and hold their separate place 
 Apart in curious balance. Underneath 
 They spread a zone of long-enduring gloom, 
 A dire eclipse, that veils the face of day 
 Through fifteen tedious years. Still let us own 
 Nature's munificence: as the just Sun 
 The alternate sides of these o'er-arching rings 
 Illuminates, how must the habitants 
 On each glad side in turn admire the night, 
 While their bright bows are waning to the West, 
 Or crescent from the East ! Nor more the while 
 Doth utter darkness through long winter's nights 
 Bar active purpose on the opposite side : 
 Though the blank rings be mute, seven orbs above 
 Are eloquent of light, and the sad gloom 
 Consoling promise a return of day.
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 10 
 
 Such are the stars — the wand'ring lights of Heaven — 
 That man's unaided ken hath pored upon 
 Through his brief time, since erst in Syria's plains, 
 Artless and weaponless, he kept afield 
 His unpenn'd flocks and herds, and watch'd the night. 
 Oft, as he mark'd their strange extravagance, 
 For such it seem'd, nor knew the simple law 
 That erewhile fashion'd them and ruled them still, 
 Therein his speculative fancy read- 
 Visions of wondrous import, and forewarn'd 
 The fate of empires. But of later years 
 His sense, befriended by his handy skill, 
 Hath conquer'd native weakness; and his eye 
 Is led to pry into the realms of space, 
 And gather truths that men of yore ne'er dream'd. 
 Thus in the twofold interval, which lies The four ot 
 
 da-zodiacal 
 
 Between the paths of Mars and Jupiter, piauets. 
 
 The baffled sage would fain have mark'd some star, 
 
 To justify his rule of mutual distance ; 
 
 And fondly charged the harmony of things, 
 
 That this fair space was void. O weak of sense, 
 
 Bow down thy head, and own that all is right, 
 
 All regular, though thou perceivest it not ! 
 
 For in this very space, deem'd void so long,
 
 20 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Four lesser stars, as in the stead of one, 
 
 Are found to wheel their course around the Sun, 
 
 Fulfilling order. 
 
 Uranus. Further on in space, 
 
 Beyond the extremest path of distant Saturn, 
 Order still lives : though men had mark'd it not, 
 Till one of subtler parts proclaim'd of late 
 The being of a planet, so remote 
 As well might mock our curiosity. 
 Nathless he spied it faring through the waste, 
 As far beyond the farthest road of Saturn 
 As Saturn from the centric orb of light. 
 He marked its course, and measured well its ways, 
 And claim'd it subject to the sov'reign sun, 
 Though distant still obedient ; sweeping through 
 Its chilly period by strictest rules 
 Of time and distance, all in unison 
 With the long-noted harmonies of Heaven. 
 
 The proxi- But whence these harmonies ? and what the power 
 
 mate cause of 
 
 the order of That watches through the vasty deep of space 
 
 the Solar 
 
 System. Age after age unsleeping, lest some star 
 
 Should wander devious, and borne athwart
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 21 
 
 Meet other planets with concussion dire, 
 And spreading havoc in its lawless course, 
 Confound and wreck the company of Heaven. 
 
 In every elemental particle 
 Of which material substance is compact 
 There lives an instinct energy, by which 
 Each draws each other and is drawn in turn, 
 Stronger the nearer, weaker more remote. 
 By this the fluid globes of Heaven erst took 
 Their spheric forms, which solid since have grown 
 By the cohesion of their concrete parts. 
 But lest ye should suppose, as well ye may, 
 That such an active influence had borne 
 All particles to form one single mass ; 
 Know that each atom is withal endued 
 With passive quality, by which it rests 
 Eternally, or set to move in space 
 Eternally moves on, obedient. 
 And that, thus qualified, and thus instinct, 
 Each atom was with motion once impress'd ; 
 But whether at the origin of things, 
 Or consequent upon some older work — 
 As it might seem of wide-distentive heat — 
 
 General 
 active energy 
 of main i.il 
 atoms. 
 
 General 
 passive pro- 
 perty. 
 
 Motion im- 
 pressed, or 
 acquired.
 
 22 
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 It is not ours to trace. Enough to say, 
 
 That ere the globes were form'd, this motion was, 
 
 In such direction and such quantity, 
 
 That this with their own mutual force combined 
 
 Bore the free atoms round a point of rest, 
 
 With such consistent equability, 
 
 That all that myriad myriad host might seem 
 
 Endued with unity : as oft I ween 
 
 In childhood ye have seen a well-spun top 
 
 Sleep on its axle. 
 
 Peculiar 
 qualities of 
 
 llif atoms, 
 
 and their 
 iiininal rela- 
 tions. 
 
 Thus would they have held 
 Their several being and moved on till now, 
 And Earth had been unform'd, and the fair Moon, 
 And planets with their beauteous satellites, 
 And e'en the godlike Sun : but the same Mind 
 That fix'd the general law by which they moved, 
 Pregnant of purpose, fix'd their natures too 
 And proper kinds, of which they were and are. 
 These, few and simple, are so rarely fraught 
 With virtues, and adapted each to each, 
 That finely sensitive of heat and cold, 
 And other subtle essences that flow, 
 Or radiate through universal space,
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 23 
 
 They take antipathies and sympathies, 
 Dilated or condensed. Thus, everywise 
 Press' d to commingle, by their proper laws 
 They have combined, in all variety 
 Of form and substance, such as now we see, 
 To form the globes of Heaven. 
 
 Their ten- 
 dency to 
 form (hem 
 selves into 
 globes. 
 
 And this the more 
 To comprehend,— how the loose particles, 
 True to their cause, combined as one to build 
 Our beautiful round fabric of the Earth — 
 Mark how at this late day, the elements, 
 That still move free around her solid crust, 
 Do the like duty to repair her form, 
 Should violence invade. Oft, as you gaze 
 Through the warm azure of the viewless air, 
 Which seems so clear and void, a chilly blast 
 Sweeps through the scene, and on a sudden, lo ! 
 A vapoury image streaks the bright expanse : 
 And what was all dry air is now fulfill'd 
 With wat'ry atoms. First they hold apart, 
 As doubting each of each ; but temper'd soon 
 They grow familiar, and together run 
 By their own energies, in ponderous drops 
 
 Illustration 
 of this 
 tendency.
 
 24 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Conglobing, till the lightsome air beneath 
 
 No more sustains them ; then they fall, to form 
 
 The globe of earth, e'en as they form'd themselves. 
 
 Heat— But more of this anon. — Behoves us first 
 
 To ponder o'er the ways of heat, twin-born, 
 analogous to As it might seem, with light; so like the twain 
 
 light — 
 
 Hold on their course through unobstructed space 
 
 Perceptible, so like together lurk 
 
 In cold dark mass eluding all our sense. 
 
 Radiates in Sped from its source — be this the solar fire, 
 Or kindled of our earthy elements, — 
 Swift through the void the bursting flood of heat 
 Pours in all ways, till its divergent power 
 
 and modifies Is lost in open emptiness. But where 
 
 all matter. _, „ . . 
 
 Creatures ot matter thwart its onward course, 
 
 In these it enters — as a messenger 
 
 Sent from their sovereign Lord, and spurs them on 
 
 To execute his purpose, and discharge 
 
 Their several offices : nor need they more 
 
 Persuasion; but as each and all conceive 
 
 Its influence, they compare their harmonies, 
 
 And nicely blending modify the forms 
 
 Of brute material.
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 25 
 
 But may we trace The son ii 
 
 The principle of this mysterious power source ofonr 
 
 To its vast source ? — Know then, the Sun's hot rays Hkheat 
 
 A fit'l 1 ■ l • l '1 seems Of lik'- 
 
 Are ot like kind with our terrestrial, kind with a u 
 
 The same but in degree, obedient too 
 
 To the same laws : thus what he always gives an ,i we m jg Ut 
 
 He always loses. How so constant then poSL . i, im to 
 
 Year after year pours he unminish'd heat, 
 
 Nor, like our earthy fire, burns out nor cools ? Hypothesis as 
 
 to the natural 
 
 It were not wise to guess at unknown ways, process by 
 
 which his 
 
 Or well might we suppose an atmosphere heat may be 
 
 kept up. 
 
 Of fluid loose obsequious particles 
 To close upon the solid mass of th' Sun; 
 Whose native temperature, as they drop near, 
 Dissolves their quality; then off they flee 
 Discharging light and heat, and seek a place 
 Remote and fitted to their subtler form : 
 And there they wander ; till, condensed by cold 
 Into their pristine weight, they fall again — 
 Again to be dissolved : E'en as we mark 
 The vapoury particles which this dank Earth 
 Throws off continually and drinks again, 
 Balancing moisture. Thus might we suppose 
 The Sun's heat balanced, and unminish'd still.
 
 26 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 But say how man's brief race can know that heat 
 But we do Year after year unminish'd, in all time? 
 
 not know J 
 
 limit h;.s /\ s we ]i the fly that flutters through one day 
 
 been kept J ° J 
 
 np through Might deem the flower unfading:. Rather hold 
 
 all lime, — ° ° 
 
 therefore by r f } ie g un himself as changing: year by year, 
 
 analogy we ° ° " J J 
 
 may conclude And transient as the flower to Him who counts 
 
 thai he has 
 
 cooled. All time as yesterday, and marks alike 
 
 All generations of created things — 
 A short-lived flow'r, or an enduring sun. 
 If not, approve some adverse quality 
 In the Sun's fire, which scorns the law of heat, 
 Such as we note it in terrestrial fire. 
 But if thou canst not, then conclude with me — 
 The Sun himself hath cool'd through countless time 
 and «as once And that an age once was, at which his heat 
 La" ° — Or by combustion, or the initial stroke 
 
 Of independent Will, — was at its prime, 
 Of infinite intensity compared 
 With these congenial rays he sheds to day ; 
 To which the vital current of our hearts, 
 The standard whence we measure heat and cold, 
 — For these are one, and vary but in grade 
 Upwards and downwards from our living blood, — 
 Is so attempered by our curious frame.
 
 THE NIC I IT-WATCH. 
 
 27 
 
 Planets must 
 have been 
 
 held in Men- 
 tion and 
 aeriform. 
 
 Where then was matter? where the Earth, the Moon, Then the 
 
 matter of the 
 
 The planets and their busy satellites, 
 Which range within the limits of his power? 
 As still the stubbornest material forms, 
 Or granite rock or adamantine ore, 
 By the invasion of excessive heat 
 Fly from their concrete nature, and put on 
 A form minutely rare, to all the winds 
 Scatter'd abroad, so then created mass 
 Held not a form, such as we see it now, 
 Dense and conglomerate, but wide-diffuse 
 Throughout the solar realm wander'd at large 
 In particles repulsive each of each, 
 Fulfilling all the interstellar void. 
 
 But, though this offset planetary mass 
 Were thus so keenly passionate of heat, 
 As to put on new nature, and fly off 
 Into far space aeriform, yet thou 
 Deem not that all create material 
 Was therefore of like passion : for we note 
 The various tempers of the things we know — 
 Some of high heat capacious, still compact ; 
 While others melt and quietly flow down ; 
 
 But other 
 matter, even 
 at that ex- 
 cessive tem- 
 perature held 
 its compact 
 form and 
 central place.
 
 28 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Or spring apart with adverse energy, 
 E'en of a glow impatient. Thus it was, 
 While heat was at its prime and held aloof 
 All dissoluble matter spread around 
 Far from its centric home, that other mass 
 Was of such quality as still to drink 
 Excessive heat and still to rest in peace — 
 A patient mass of quintessential fire. 
 
 our system-s Now to descend from this high point of heat 
 eqoiiibnDm Whence all began to cool. Our world was then 
 i R at. One spheroid of undivided form, 
 
 A single globe of monad particles 
 All bearing to one centre by one law 
 And borne by one rotation. But think not 
 That they were class'd at random — dense with rare 
 And rare with dense ; for all were self-array 'd 
 By their own quality, as centre-bound 
 By their own energy, the denser near 
 The rarer more remote ; and in the midst 
 Press'd on all sides the densest held its place, 
 Cohesive and compact. And as they whirl'd 
 With one rotation, so the speed of each 
 Grew with its distance from the line of rest.
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 29 
 
 Now heat was shed all ways, and spent abroad : 
 Which when our elemental world conceived, 
 By the mere nature of its simple parts 
 It waned from its huge bulk : and then the rim 
 Of farthest particles, which roll'd without 
 At greatest speed, bulging in empty space, 
 Dropt towards the centre : but its speed remain'd, 
 Too great at minish'd distance still to keep 
 The simple round ; at which the particles, 
 Unhinder'd from without, continually 
 Flew off from the main host, and took a course 
 Eccentrical, though still minutely near 
 Their pristine circle. So thou oft hast seen 
 A hurried wheel cast off the clinging mire ; 
 Or when some damsel whirls her dripping mop, 
 How the loose spray flies offward, farther still 
 As she whirls faster. 
 
 Variation of 
 such condi- 
 tion, a* heat 
 
 declined ; 
 
 and separa- 
 tion of the 
 extreme par- 
 ticles of 
 mailer; 
 
 Thus as time roll'd on, 
 These offshot particles, so left in space, 
 Multiplied constantly ; and when the main 
 Receded, by their mutual instinct force 
 They fell together and conform'd a ring. 
 And so they might have held their even course, 
 
 and conse- 
 quent forma- 
 tion of a 
 planetary 
 globe of 
 solute 
 matter;
 
 30 
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 And girt the heavens, with one continuous belt 
 
 Of ponderable matter circled round ; 
 
 But, as heat wasted, soon their dwindled bulk 
 
 Shrunk from the perfect span ; and, their close rank 
 
 Once broken, wider still the chasm grew, 
 
 Wider and wider ; till the long-drawn file 
 
 Was gather'd all around one central point, 
 
 Still journeying on as erst — a vasty globe 
 
 Of several atoms, bound by their own weight 
 
 To their own centre. 
 
 Which 
 necessarily 
 acquired a 
 rotatory 
 
 lnolion. 
 
 by which 
 planetary 
 
 satellites 
 might be 
 separated and 
 formed in 
 like manner. 
 
 Now since all moved on 
 With their own motion, and the speed of each 
 Was as its distance from the line of rest, 
 The farthest particles would fain have sped, 
 The nearest have held back, the common point 
 To which they now were bound. And thus it was, 
 Around that common point motion began : 
 Which — when this new-form'd globe, as heat declined, 
 Waned too from its first bulk — was speeded too, 
 And in like fashion other offset forms 
 Of elemental matter took their birth 
 And several being, leaving this in course 
 As this had left the main.
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 31 
 
 And thus went on 
 The work of nature ; and in time were form'd 
 The farthest planet and its satellites — 
 First offspring of the centric mass, endued 
 Each with its proper accidents of place 
 And motion and rotation. — 
 
 The most re- 
 mote planet 
 the first 
 
 loi ini'd ; 
 
 Now return 
 To the first state of these free particles ; 
 When, as was said, they form'd a several ring- 
 Circling the solar space. This, hour by hour, 
 Drew to itself eccentric elements ; 
 Till in due time, the main contracting still, 
 Its distance wax'd so great, that they no more 
 Obey'd its call, but kept their proper place, 
 And took the figure of a second ring 
 Around the parent sphere : and then a third — 
 A fourth — and all the planetary forms 
 Were left at measured distances — like buds 
 On the same stem — and sped, within one plane, 
 In one direction, by the self-same cause ; 
 As like in face as children of one womb 
 Stamp'd with the features of their common sire. 
 
 Then the 
 
 others in the 
 older of their 
 distance in 
 
 like manner. 
 
 The same 
 cause pro- 
 ducing Ihcir 
 onward and 
 rotatory 
 motions in 
 the same 
 direction and 
 within the 
 same plane.
 
 32 
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 A limit set to 
 
 the multipli- 
 cation of the 
 planetary 
 
 satellites : 
 Prov. viii. 1. 
 
 consequent 
 upon the 
 native quali- 
 ties of the 
 material 
 elements; 
 
 which losing 
 their repul- 
 j-ive proper, 
 ties by the 
 diminution of 
 their tempe- 
 rature, be- 
 came liquid 
 and after- 
 wards solid, 
 at the sur- 
 face of each 
 planet. 
 
 Thus then the several planets took their birth, 
 And gave the like in turn : and thus, it seems, 
 They might have multiplied their several forms 
 Continually; but that primeval Mind, 
 Which erst contrived material quality, 
 Knew each condition of material form, 
 And all its works cry Wisdom. Thus it was, 
 In the formation of the globes of Heaven, 
 Lest without end they should be multiplied, 
 A reasonable bound was set ; at which 
 The cooling particles that form'd each globe 
 Lost that repulsive energy which held 
 Them wide-dilate in space, and passive lay 
 Indifferent each to each, a liquid mass. 
 And then, as heat diminish'd still, no more 
 They dropt towards their centre, to fly off 
 At minish'd distance and conform new globes, 
 But held their perfect space, content, and moved 
 Within themselves internallv. Till heat 
 Departing near the surface, some anon, 
 Such was their temper, shot into a crust 
 Of crystal mass compact ; thenceforth to form 
 The base of all such lighter particles 
 As flow'd without unsettled, and a bar
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 33 
 
 To the compress'd metallic elements, 
 
 Which held their place within by their own weight, 
 
 Still pregnant of fierce heat. 
 
 And thus each mass 
 Was fix'd of shape and bulk unchangeable : 
 And all the particles of each which moved 
 With their own motions, now were bound to move 
 In close compact together, all as one — 
 A single member of the host of Heaven ; 
 Set to fulfil eternal destinies, 
 And minister to intellectual good. 
 
 Tims the 
 individuality 
 of each 
 planetary 
 body was 
 fixed, and 
 thereby 
 adapted to 
 its purpose. 
 
 And on this rock I build my argument : — 
 How in the course of time unthinking mass 
 Has moved in perfect order, and gone on 
 To mix its elements, and change its forms, 
 And clothe itself with beauteous harmonies 
 Identical with Reason's finest work, 
 And all subservient to Reason's use — 
 Mental beatitude : and on this base 
 I take my stand, and search if aught can be 
 The cause of reasonable work and good — 
 So vast, so universal, — not itself 
 
 D 
 
 Argument. 
 
 A cause must 
 be commen- 
 surable with 
 its effect both 
 in quality and 
 quantity.
 
 34 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Of wisdom and of goodness and of power 
 Commensurate : and as I find the work 
 In magnitude, so will I deem the cause. 
 But if, when I have strain'd my utmost strength 
 And noted all within my reach, beyond 
 Immeasurable heights shall still appear 
 Towering above — unfathom'd depths below, 
 All of like handiwork, and no end seen, 
 Then will I rest me and proclaim a cause 
 As ample as its work and of like kind, 
 Immense of wisdom, goodness, and of power. 
 
 The motion First mark the motion of these globes of Heaven 
 
 and order of 
 
 the solar These cumbrous aggregates of lifeless mass 
 
 system being 
 
 a reasonable Yet move in order, subject to the laws 
 
 work, that is, 
 
 cognizable by Of living reason : so that reasoning man 
 
 our reason, 
 
 mast be the Can tell of all their devious winding ways, 
 
 effect of a 
 
 reasoning And minute long before their time and place, 
 
 cause, 
 
 E'en as a prophet ! But would reasoning man — 
 Be he the wisest of the wise — foremark 
 The easy orbits of the feather'd brood 
 That skim around a solitary tower 
 Disporting through the day ; — or would he fix 
 The wild colt's circling track upon the lea ; —
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 35 
 
 In vain he contemplates their random ways. 
 
 Reason consorts not with unreasoning will 
 
 Nor knows its hazard work. As well the wretch 
 
 Dark from his mother's womb might strive to scan 
 
 The hues distinct upon a storied wall ! 
 
 But one — whose eye hath hung upon the work 
 
 Of Raphael or Correggio, till his heart 
 
 Glows with bright beauty's image, — hath he e'er 
 
 Turn'd from the scene to ask, if he, who laid 
 
 The colours there in such variety, 
 
 So blent in harmony, himself could see ? 
 
 Thus, when we mark unthinking lifeless mass 
 
 Moving in beauteous order, all adapt 
 
 To our mind's faculty, and of like kind 
 
 With our own reason's product, we needs must 
 
 Confess a living Mover, reasoning 
 
 E'en as we reason, but of excellence 
 
 Proportion'd to his work. 
 
 and of a 
 cause which 
 reasoned as 
 we reason. 
 
 And thus by right 
 We commune with him, and essay to trace 
 The wonder of the work. So what we can, 
 We will : albeit we stand on this far speck 
 Bound for a twinkling, while his work is spread 
 
 The same 
 laws which 
 affect our 
 system 
 
 extend also
 
 36 
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 beyond its Throughout all space for all eternity ! 
 
 limits. _, . " 
 
 ror lest one might suppose the single Power, 
 That made the elements of which our Sun 
 And his cognate dependents are compound, 
 And gave them quality, by which they took 
 Several forms and motions reasonable, 
 In the free course of nature, by such work 
 Was spent and satisfied, within these bounds 
 Resting confined, while others rule without ; — 
 The distance Mark yonder star — the nearest let it be 
 
 of the fixed 
 
 stars from Of all the lights of Heaven : there it bides 
 
 our Sun and 
 
 fmm each Night after night, unbending to the sway 
 
 other is im- 
 measurably Of our huge Sun ; — all potent though he be 
 
 great : 
 
 To drag the monstrous planets in his train, — 
 Yet doth that star defy his mastery ; 
 And marks him only as a speck of light 
 Scarce visible. For know its place so far 
 Remote in space that all in vain we strive 
 To learn how far it is ; though we can mark 
 Each planet's place by veritable rule 
 And note its distance, be it most remote 
 Within the Sun's dominion. Thus betwixt 
 The farthest planet and this nearest light 
 That shines to us beyond, their lies a gulf
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 37 
 
 Of space immeasurable : and as we prove 
 
 The nearest of the myriad lights of Heaven 
 
 Immeasurably far from us and our's, 
 
 So we conclude them each as far from each 
 
 As it from us. If then the nearest light 
 
 Be thus immeasurably far from us, 
 
 And each immeasurably far from each, — 
 
 Where is the farthest ? 
 
 Yet, at that far point, 
 In that remotest star, whose doubtful gleam 
 Scarce vindicates its being to thy sense, 
 Note as thou may'st a kindred character 
 Stamp'd in its face, which tells its birth and being- 
 Congenial with thine own familiar Sun. 
 This slender glimmering starbeam which would seem 
 So insignificant of grand import, 
 Brings tidings of a vast and wondrous truth 
 To fill thy soul with reverence. Read with me 
 Its simple history : 
 
 As one small drop 
 Is of like kind and native quality 
 With ocean's giant tide, so that faint beam 
 
 Yet there is 
 evidence to 
 shew that 
 each Star is 
 a creatine of 
 the same 
 Creator as 
 our Sun. 
 
 For the light 
 of a star-beam 
 is of like 
 nature with 
 the light of a 
 j'Uiibcam ;
 
 38 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 Is of one nature with the dazzling flood 
 
 That bursts upon us from the noonday Sun : 
 
 A particle of unobstructed light 
 
 Hath travell'd down from that stupendous height 
 
 And rests within thine eye ! Now, question it, 
 
 Gauge it, and measure it by a beam of th' Sun 
 
 Let into darkness through minutest hole ; 
 
 And thou wilt own them of like quality 
 
 And sprung from a like source. Not otherwise 
 
 Than, when the morn's clean breath from distant fields 
 
 Wafts feeble odours, thou must needs confess 
 
 The jasmine or the hyacinth or rose 
 
 Flowering afar, e'en as they flower at home 
 
 Within the precincts of thy garden range, 
 
 Filling the air with fragrance. 
 
 Therefore Hence we learri- 
 
 the same 
 
 Lordof light, That light, this subtle essence which direct 
 
 who holds ° 
 
 dominion l s pour'd upon us from the bounteous Sun, — 
 
 in our system 
 
 h..ids J3 e it embodied in divergent streams 
 
 dominion 
 
 likewise in Of proper particles, or be it nought 
 
 all the visible r r i » » 
 
 Mar>, and in But the mere creature of ethereal motion 
 
 all spice, 
 
 through which Quicken'd like music to our ready sense, — 
 
 the light ^ J ' 
 
 i ...- -,be- Whate'er it be, or of what elements,
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 3D 
 
 This treasure of our being, without which 
 
 All that we know of good and beautiful 
 
 Were not for us existent, — this key-stone 
 
 Of the proud arch whereby we scale to Heaven, 
 
 So curiously moulded for our use 
 
 That we seem made for it, and it for us, — 
 
 This masterpiece of all its Maker's works, 
 
 Which seems our own peculiar— dwells alike 
 
 In that remotest star beyond our use, 
 
 As excellent as in our proper Sun : 
 
 And through the vast unfathom'd depth between 
 
 The obsequious elements have pass'd it down 
 
 To this far spot, unquestion'd, for it bore 
 
 Their master's passport ! And what one star tells 
 
 Is told alike by all the host of Heaven : — 
 
 That He, who made the light and governs it, 
 
 Holds his dominion, not as here or there, 
 
 But in each star that shines, and all between, 
 
 And everywhere in universal space ! 
 
 tw< en tin-in 
 
 and us. 
 
 Add too to this : — in the far fields of space, 
 Beyond the solar realm, stars may be seen ' 
 To hold communion, and intermove 
 Each about each in certain periods, 
 
 Wc further 
 leu ii, from 
 
 till' <il>-' 1 Mil 
 
 motion of 
 certain fixed 
 stars, that 
 their material
 
 40 
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 particles are 
 endued with 
 a power of 
 gravitation 
 acting by the 
 same law as 
 the material 
 particles of 
 our system. 
 
 Whence we 
 infer that the 
 same Creator 
 made and 
 orders 
 each and all 
 of such stars. 
 
 Determinable by the simple law 
 
 Which rules our Sun and his appendant globes. 
 
 Whence learn we — that same instinct energy 
 
 Which lives in these material elements 
 
 That form our Sun and planets — the key-note 
 
 Of all their harmonies — lives in those stars 
 
 Identical, and to the self-same work 
 
 Of perfect order tunes their elements. 
 
 And thus we read in every star of Heaven — 
 
 That he who made material elements, 
 
 And erst impress'd them with this energy, 
 
 Has his dominion, not as here or there, 
 
 Serving respect to place or circumstance, 
 
 But in each star that holds a course in Heaven 
 
 Order'd unerringly : and this to us 
 
 Is everywhere in universal space. — 
 
 Hence, 
 limited as our 
 faculties may 
 be, we are 
 right to con- 
 clude the 
 omnipotence, 
 eternity, and 
 infinity, of 
 the prime 
 Cause of 
 things : 
 also Hi.« 
 
 " Great Cause of all we see, and all we know, 
 And all we can believe to be ; if not 
 Omnipotent, how shall we fix thy power ? 
 If not eternal, when didst thou begin? 
 If not all-present, where in endless space — 
 Endless to us — where is it thou art not ? 
 One principle of all material fact ;
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 41 
 
 Instinct alike in every grain of sand unity and 
 
 wisdom. 
 
 That presses to the beach, as in the mass 
 
 That moves in farthest heaven ! instinct alike 
 
 Within the taper flickering at my side, 
 
 As in each star that twinkles visible 
 
 In the black vault of night ! induing all 
 
 With calculable order, palpable 
 
 To reason though itself unreasoning ; 
 
 And thus concluded of an origin 
 
 O 
 
 Not of itself — brute — manifold — inert, 
 But active — single — and of reasoning sense, 
 And power commensurate to this vast work, — 
 To summon into being what was not ; 
 To fill void space with massive elements, 
 So qualified and temper'd, each to each, 
 In their simplicity, that of themselves 
 Running together, as it were by chance, 
 In myriad modes blent interchangeably, 
 They thus work out a long variety 
 Of changeful order, and subserve the while 
 To reasoning souls, their Maker's nearer kin, 
 After his likeness sense-indued to thrive 
 On mental competence and moral good."
 
 42 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 The old man paused, as in an ecstasy 
 Of adoration and high gratitude ; 
 While he, the younger of the twain, surprised 
 Stood, like a mariner at break of dawn 
 Fresh in the view of some delicious isle, 
 Enchanted and perplex'd. "All hail!" he cried, 
 " Thou beauteous order ! as thou still roll'st on, 
 Silent, undevious, to thy Maker's word, 
 Spoke at thy first creation, listening still, 
 My sold shall feast upon thy harmony. 
 Ye noblest creatures of the universe — 
 Ye starry spheres, compact of living light, 
 Well might the wondering savage deem ye gods 
 And arbiters of fate ! But ye the while 
 Are but the ministers of Reason's word, 
 Self-composite of simple elements 
 Made in time past, and at their making stamp'd 
 With the full destiny of time to come, 
 Which ages shall unfold : — But when to end ? 
 Unerring order must be order still. 
 Shall it that had beginning have no end ?" — 
 
 We must not To which in answer thus the elder spake : — 
 any material " Change is the order of material things,
 
 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 43 
 
 And constancy is not : and he who plann'd 
 
 The origin of system plann'd its end. 
 
 Thus e'en within the span of our brief time 
 
 Suns have been blotted from the map of Heaven : 
 
 Involved it may be in the nebulous mass 
 
 Of their appendant atoms, which before, 
 
 In several planetary globes, revolved 
 
 Round their bright centre and let through the light : 
 
 Till, their course run, they dropp'd into the goal; 
 
 And now, combust to hostile elements, 
 
 They struggle in confliction each with all : 
 
 Hence, it may be, to find their peace at length 
 
 In unity of motion, spinning round 
 
 Their central axle, and regenerate 
 
 Another world of planetary globes. 
 
 system, how- 
 i \ c i stable, 
 will be etet 
 n.il; its End 
 i- in i lement 
 oi i'* order. 
 Fixed stars 
 bave b< en 
 obsei » ed to 
 disappear, 
 
 Know too — within the system of our sun 
 There lurks an element of ruin, spread 
 Throughout all space — ethereal particles, 
 Inertly operant ; which clog the track 
 Of the swift planets and retard their speed. 
 So year by year they drop insensibly 
 Toward the centre : and the hour shall come — 
 Alldstant though it be, yet come it must — 
 
 and there is 
 reason for 
 believing in 
 the existence 
 of a resisting 
 medinm, 
 which, if 
 exist) in, is 
 always <>pe- 
 rating to the 
 destrnction of 
 om system,
 
 44 THE NIGHT-WATCH. 
 
 When this fair earth, and all its beauteous things 
 which must Of land and sea, with all its hidden mines 
 
 inevitably 
 
 happen by Of crystal and of gold, and man's proud works — 
 
 fire in the , 
 
 natural course The records of his genius or his power, 
 
 of events. 
 
 All, by one fierce contagion caught amain, 
 Shall — like the stubble after harvest-home — 
 Rush into vapoury forms of ash and smoke, 
 And in black chaos lose the light of day."* 
 
 He spake ; — and gently laid his head to rest, 
 Secure beneath the canopy of night 
 As in the chamber of his forefathers. 
 The younger watch'd awhile ; till sense at last 
 Sank impotent, and kindred shapes of Heaven 
 Rose on his inner sight, with such sweet dreams 
 As follow holy thought and high desire. 
 
 * " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the 
 earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, 
 but thou shalt endure ; they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and 
 as a vesture thou shalt change them and they shall be changed : but 
 thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." — Psalm cii. 
 
 PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK.
 
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