shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth, in thy awful beauty; the stars hide them The sun in his awful beauty moving alone, or with surpassing lustre crowned, in sole dominion, and the stars that hide themselves in the sky, or hide their diminished heads at his sight, instead of being something similar, are absolutely identical. But as these addresses consist of a laborious accumulation of poetical beauties, the intermediate imitations would almost require a perpetual commentary. Round as the shield of my fathers, is from HOME's Douglas. as my shield. The moon which rose last might, round "Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light?" is Milton's address to light, in Paradise Lost, iii. 1. Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven first-born, Or of th' Eternal coeternal beam, Bright effluence of bright essence increate Whose fountain who shall tell. And in Newton's note on the " effluence of bright essence increate." "What the Wisdom of Solomon says of wisdom, Milton applies to light. "She is a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty: She is the brightness of the everlasting light." Wisdom, vii. 25. "Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light?" But "the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave," is from Jerom Stone's description of a May morning; a translation of Gawin Douglas's prologue to the xiith Eneid. See Carric-Thura3. Aurora, joyful harbinger of day, Now from the skies had chased the stars away; And Venus' orb was shorn of halt its beams. Scots Magazine, 1756. selves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest alone; who can be a companion of thy course! The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven: but thou art for ever the same 44; rejoicing in the brightness of thy 44 The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven: but thou art for ever the same.] And afterwards," Exult then, O sun, in the strength of thy youth! Age is dark and unlovely." The original idea, however much diversified, is from ADDISON's Cato. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years; Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. That is, "When the world is dark with tempests; when thunder rolls and lightning flies; thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest' at the storm." But the variations of imagery require also a comment. "The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years;" is a scriptural alteration of Fingal, iii. **. "The oaks resound on their mountains, and the rocks fall down before him." "The ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven,” is from VIRGIL, Georg. ii. 477. Calique vias et sidera monstrent, Defectus solis varios, lunæque labores; Unde tremor terris; qua vi maria alta tumescant Obicibus ruptis, rursusque in seipsa residant. course. When the world is dark with tempests; when thunder rolls, and lightning flies; thou lookest in thy beauty, from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian, thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more*5; whether thy yellow hair flows on the Teach me the various labours of the moon; And whence proceed th' eclipses of the sun; DRYDEN. Rejoicing in the brightness of thy course;" and above, “Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty;—who can be a companion of thy course?" are all from the Psalmist. "In the heavens hath he set a tabernacle for the sun; which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." Psalm xix. 5. see n. 46. But the brightness of his course, is from "The brightness of everlasting light," in Newton's quotation from the Wisdom of Solomon. Supra 43. And "Thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. Id. With surpassing lustre crowned, Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the god Of this new world. is also from the Psalmist. "He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh." Psalm ii. 4. "He laugheth at the shaking of a spear." Job, xli. 19. 45 But to Ossian thou lookest in vain, for he beholds thy beams no more.] From Milton's address to light, Par. Lost, iii. 2. But thou Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain |