Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/51

Book II. The melting rainbow's vernal-tinctur'd hues To me have shone so pleasing, as when first The hand of science pointed out the path In which the sun-beams gleaming from the west Fall on the wat'ry cloud, whose darksome veil Involves the orient; and that trickling show'r Piercing thro' every crystalline convex Of clust'ring dew-drops to their flight oppos'd, Recoil at length where concave all behind Th' internal surface of each glassy orb Repels their forward passage into air; That thence direct they seek the radiant goal From which their course began; and as they strike In diff'rent lines the gazer's obvious eye, Assume a diff'rent lustre, thro' the brede Of colours changing from the splendid rose To the pale violet's dejected hue.


 * Or shall we touch that kind access of joy,

That springs to each fair object, while we trace, Thro' all its fabric, wisdom's artful aim Disposing every part, and gaining still By means proportion'd her benignant end? Speak, ye, the pure delight, whose favour'd steps The lamp of science thro' the jealous maze Of nature guides, when haply you reveal Her secret honours: whether in the sky, The beauteous laws of light, the central pow'rs That