sages. The author grants, for the sake of argument, that the earth might be composed, and placed where it is, without the aid of a Supreme Being; yet, what he asks, will set it in motion? and, if not set in motion, what would it become, but an interminable desart? One half must be in endless night; and the other in perpetual day.

This ne'er would see one kind refreshing ray;
That doom'd to light, and curs'd with endless day;
A cold Icelandean desert one would grow;

One, like Sicilian furnaces, would glow.

That nature may this fatal error shun,

Move, which will please you best, the earth or sun.
But, say, from what great builder's magazines
You'll engines fetch, what strong, what vast machines
Will you employ to give this motion birth,
And whirl so swiftly round the sun or earth?
Yet, learned heads, by what mechanic laws
Will you of either orb this motion cause?
Why do they move? Why in a circle? Why
With such a measure of velocity?

Say, why the earth-if not the earth, the sun
Does through his winding road the zodiac run?
Why do revolving orbs their tracks sublime
So constant keep that from the birth of time?
They never varied their accustom'd place,
Nor lost a minute in so long a race?

B. I.

The following description well speaks its own praise :

See how sublime th' uplifted mountains rise,
And with their pointed heads invade the skies?
How the high cliffs their craggy arms extend
Distinguish states, and sever'd realms defend!
How ambient shores confine the restless deep,
And in their ancient bounds the billows keep!
The hollow vales their smiling pride unfold:
What rich abundance do their blossoms hold !
Regard their lovely verdure, ravish'd view
The party colour'd flowers of various hue!
VOL. XV.

Y

Not eastern monarchs, on their nuptial day,
In dazzling gold and purple shine so gay
As the bright natives of th' unlabour'd field,
Unvers'd in spinning, and in looms unskill'd.*
See, how the ripening fruits the gardens crown,
Imbibe the sun, and make his light their own!
See the sweet brooks in silver masses creep,
Enrich the meadows, and supply the deep;
While from their weeping urns the fountains flow,
And vital moisture, where they pass, bestow!
Admire the narrow stream, and spreading lake,
The proud aspiring grove, and humble brake:
How do the forests and the woods delight!

How the sweet glades, and openings, charm the sight!
Observe the pleasant lawn and airy plain,
The fertile furrows rich with various grain :
How useful all! How all conspire to grace
'Th' extended earth, and beautify her face!

B. I.

We except this line, which, to be sure, is a most frigid para. phrase of the verse in St. Luke: Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet, I say unto you, that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of those.' It is to Blackmore's credit, that he undertook to imitate so beautiful a passage; and, if we except the last line, he has imitated it with tolerable success. Milton had set him the example:

-Favonius re-inspires

The frozen earth, and clothes in fresh attire

The lilly and the rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.

Sonnet to Mr. Lawrance.

A

SUMMARY ACCOUNT

OF THE

FOLLOWING POEM,

AND WHAT IS CONTAINED IN EACH BOOK.

THE design of this work is to demonstrate the existence of a Divine Eternal Mind.

The arguments used for this end are taken from the various marks of wisdom and artful contrivance, which are evident to observation in the several parts of the material world, and the faculties of the human soul.

The first book contains the proof of a Deity, from the instances of design and choice, which occur in the structure and qualities of the earth and sea.

The second pursues the proof of the same proposition, THERE IS A GOD, from the celestial motions, and more fully from the appearances in the solar system, and the air.

In the third, the objections which are brought by atheistical philosophers against the hypothesis established in the two preceding books, are answered.

In the fourth, is laid down the hypothesis of the Atomists or Epicureans, and other irreligious philosophers, and confuted.

In the fifth, the doctrine of the Fatalists, or Aristotelians, who make the world to be eternal, is considered and subverted.

In the sixth, the argument of the two first books is resumed, and the existence of God demonstrated from the prudence and art discovered in the several parts of the body of man.

In the seventh, the same demonstration is carried on from the contemplation of the instincts in brute animals, and the faculties and operations of the soul.. of man.

The book concludes with a recapitulation of what has been treated of, and a hymn to the Creator of the World.

CREATION;

A

PHILOSOPHICAL POEM.

IN SEVEN BOOKS.

6 Principio cœlum, ac terras camposque liquentes,
Lucentemque globum Lunæ, Titaniaque astra
Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.
Inde hominum, pecudumque genus, viteque volantum,
Et quæ marmoreo fert monstra sub æquore pontus.'

Virg.

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

The proposition. The invocation. The existence of a GOD demonstrated, from the marks of wisdom, choice, and art, which appear in the visible world, and infer an intelligent and free cause. This evinced from the contemplation, I. of the earth. 1. Its situation. 2. The cohesion of its parts, not to be solved by any hypothesis yet produced. 3. Its stability. 4. Its structure, or the order of its parts. 5. Its motion, diurnal and annual, or else the motion of the sun in both those respects. The cause of these motions not yet accounted for by any philosopher. 6. Its outside or face; the beauties and conveniences of it; its moun