506 The Astronomer. 



And next came Saturn, but his ring 

 Was all besmeared with black ; 



I wonder if the cause is put 

 In any almanack ? 



Then came the little Georgian star, 

 Like little Jacky Homer, 



Who holding fast his Christmas pie 

 Sat snugly in the corner. 



A comet must not be forgot, 

 Who left his tail behind, 



Then stopped to look for what he'd lost, 

 But this he could not find. 



Proud of the show, and ready primed 



With poetry and prose, 

 The astronomer resumed his flight, 



An owl amidst the crows. 



He sang how first 'twas jumble all " 

 Earth, water, mixed together 



Spread out beneath the sun-like soup 

 Or a sea of fluid leather ; 



How from the mass round globes shot off 

 At once in wild commotion, 



And light arose amidst the storm 

 And flashed upon the ocean ; 



And those who had an eye might see 



(If any then had eyes) 

 A thousand suns resplendent burn, 



A thousand systems rise ; 



How nature was ashamed to show 



Such wild organization, 

 And opened to the eye of day 



A beauteous creation j 



How earth was crusted o'er with good 

 Rich vales, stupendous mountains, 



With birds to fill the air with song, 

 With groves to shade the fountains ; 



With fish to wallow in the seas, 

 Insects to suck the flowers ; 



With man, to tyrannize at will, * 



Endowed with godlike powers. 



He sang that though the heavens are vast, 



And awful to behold, 

 And though the arch above us gleams 



With stars of living gold, 



Yet still that equal wonder lies 

 In things minute on earth, 



That nature teems with shapes of life 

 With scarce discovered birth ; 



