“E4AQ2. «the dream of Galileo. 385 
and as inexhaustible, the spring of his enjayments. But 
~why, Galileo, fhould I thus speak to you at present? such 
-enjoyments cannot be comprehended by a spirit still fet- 
‘ tered to a sluggifh companion, which can proceed no far- 
ther in its labours:than that companion is able to go along, 
wad scarcely begins to raise itself aloft, before it is forci- 
bly dragged back to the dust. 
It may not be able to comprehend these enjoyments in 
@ all their godlike fullnefs and: perfection; but surely, Coper- 
nicus, exclaimed I, it knows them in their nature, and in 
- their efsence. For what joys does not wisdom procure 
“ms, even in this sublunary life? What rapture is not felt 
by the soul, evenin this frame of mortality, when the dark 
. and doubtful twilight.of its understanding begins to-give 
. place to the dawn of science, and the secret splendour ex- 
tends wider and wider, till the full light of knowledge:at 
‘dast arises, and displays before the enraptured eye, re- 
: gions full of eternal beaiity ? Call:to mind, thou who hast 
_ penetrated so far into the mysteries of God, and the plan 
of his creation,—call to mind that glorious moment, wher 
* sthe first bold conception arose ‘within thee, and summoned 
- together all the faculties. of thy soul, to comprehend, to 
» fafhion, and to arrange it ; but when all the-noble harmony 
“was completed, with what intoxicating feelings of love, 
, didst thou not review the labour of thy soul,-and feel thy 
» zesemblance to that eternal Being, whose sublimest concep- 
“tions had been copied by thee. -Yes, my guide, even 
here below, wisdom is rich in. celestial joys; had the not 
been so, could we, from her bosom,. have looked with 
such indifference on. all the vanities of the world. 
The cloud which supported us, had sunk.again.to earth, 
and now it rested,as 1 thought, upon one.of the hills in 
_ the-necighbourhood.of Rome. The great-metropolis of the 
» world lay before us; but full of the deepest contempt for 
VOL. ix. AA Oe 
