Prodigious 'tis, that one attractive ray
Should this way bend, the next an adverse way ;
For, fhould th' unfeen magnetic jets defcend
All the fame way, they could not gain their end;
They could not draw and bind the fabrick fast,
Unless alike they every part embrac’d.
How does Cartefius all his finews ftrain,
How much he labours, and how much in vain,
The earth's attractive vigour to explain!
This bold contriver thus his thoughts conveys:
Inceffant ftreams of thin magnetic rays
Gush from their fountains, with impetuous force,
In either pole, then take an adverse course :
Those from the Southern pole the Northern feek;
The Southern thofe that from the Northern break:
In either pole thefe rays emitted meet
Small pores provided, for their figures fit;
Still to and fro they circulating pafs,
Hold all the frame, and firmly bind the mass.
Thus he the parts of earth from flight restrains,
And girds it faft by fine imagin'd chains.
But oh! how dark is human reason found!.
How vain the man, with wit and learning crown'd!
How feeble all his ftrength, when he essays
To trace dark Nature, and detect her ways;
Unless he calls its Author to his aid,
Who every fecret fpring of motion laid,
Who over all his wondrous works prefides,
And to their useful ends their causes guides !
Thefe paths in vain are by enquirers trod;
There's no philofophy without a God.
Admir'd Cartefius, let the curious know,
7 If your magnetic atoms always flow
From pole to pole, what form'd their double fource,
What fpur'd, what gave them their inflected course?
Tell, what could drill and perforate the poles,
And to th' attractive rays adapt their holes?
A race fo long what prompts them to pursue ?
Have the blind troops th' important end in view?
How are they fure they in the poles fhall meet
Pores of a figure to their figure fit?
Are they with fuch fagacity endued
To know, if this their journey be pursued,
They fhall the earth's conftructure closely bind,
And to the centre keep the parts confin'd?
Let us review this whole magnetic fcheme,
Till wifer heads a wifer model frame.
For its formation let fit atoms start,
To one determin'd point, from every part.
Encountering there from regions oppofite,
They clafh, and interrupt each other's flight;
And, rendezvoufing with an adverfe course,
Produce an equal poife, by equal force:
For while the parts by laws magnetic act,
And are at once attracted and attract;
While match'd in ftrength they keep the doubtful field,
And neither overcome, and neither yield,
To happy purpofe they their vigour fpend;
For thefe contentions in the balance end,
Which must in liquid air the globe fufpend.
Befides materials which are brute and blind,
Did not this work require a Knowing Mind,
Who for the task fhould fit detachments chufe
From all the atoms, which their hoft diffufe
Through the wide regions of the boundlefs fpace,
And for their rendezvous appoint the place?
Who fhould command, by his almighty nod,
Thefe chofen troops, unconfcious of the road,
And unacquainted with th' appointed end,
Their marches to begin, and thither tend;
Direct them all to take the nearest way,
Whence none of all th' unnumber'd millions ftray;
Make them advance with fuch an equal pace,
From all the adverfe regions of the fpace,
That they at once should reach the deftin'd place;
Should mufter there, and round the centre fwarm,
And draw together in a globous form?
Grant, that by mutual oppofition made
Of adverse parts, their mutual flight is staid;
That thus the whole is in a balance laid;
Does it not all mechanic heads confound,
That troops of atoms, from all parts around,
Of equal number, and of equal force,
Should to this fingle point direct their course;
That fo the counter-pressure every way,
Of equal vigour, might their motions ftay,
And, by a feady poife, the whole in quiet lay ?
Befides, the structure of the earth regard :
For firmness how is all its frame prepar'd!
With what amazing skill is the vast building rear'd!
Metals and veins of folid ftone are found
The chief materials, which the globe compound.
See, how the hills, which high in air afcend,
From pole to pole their lofty lines extend.
Thefe ftrong unfhaken mounds refift the fhocks
Of tides and feas tempeftuous, while the rocks,
That fecret in a long continued vein
Pafs through the earth, the ponderous pile fuftain :
Thefe mighty girders, which the fabrick bind,
These ribs robust and vaft, in order join'd;
These fubterranean walls, difpos'd with art,
Such ftrength, and fuch Aability impart,
e That forms above, and earthquakes under ground,
Break not the pillars, nor the work confound.
Give to the earth a form orbicular,
Let it be pois'd, and hung in ambient air;
Give it the fituation to the fun
Such as is only fit; when this is done,
Suppofe it ftill remain'd a lazy heap;
From what we grant, you no advantage reap.
You either muft the earth from rest disturb,
Or roll around the heavens the folar orb.
Elfe what a dreadful face will nature wear!
How horrid will thefe lonefome feats appear!
This ne'er would fee one kind refreshing ray;
That would be ruin'd, but a different way,
Condemn'd to light, and curs'd with endless day;
A cold Icelandian defert one would
One, like Sicilian furnaces, would glow.
That nature may this fatal error fhun,
Move, which will please you beft, the earth or fun. 370 But, fay, from what great builder's magazines
You'll engines fetch, what ftrong, what vaft machines
Will you employ to give this motion birth,
And whirl fo fwiftly round the fun or earth?
Yet, learned heads, by what mechanic laws
Will you
of either orb this motion caufe?
Why do they move? why in a circle? why
With fuch a measure of velocity?
Say, why the earth-if not the earth, the fun
Does through his winding road the Zodiack run?
Why do revolving orbs their tracks fublime
So conftant keep, that fince the birth of time
They never vary'd their accuftom'd place,
Nor loft a minute in fo long a race?
But hold! perhaps I rudely prefs too far;
You are not vers'd in reasoning so severe.
To a first question your reply 's at hand;
Afk but a fecond, and you fpeechless stand.
You fwim at top, and on the furface ftrive,
But to the depths of nature never dive:
For if you did, instructed you'd explore
Divine contrivance, and a God adore.
Yet fons of art one curious piece devise,
From whofe conftructure motion fhall arife.
Machines, to all philofophers 'tis known,
Move by a foreign impulfe, not their own.
Then let Gaffendus chufe what frame he please,
By which to turn the heavenly orbs with eafe;
Thofe orbs muft reft, till by th' exerted force
Of fome first mover they begin their course :
Meer difpofition, meer mechanic art,
Can never motion to the globes impart ;
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