LESSON XII. 



ON COMETS. 



At his command, affrighting human kind, 

 Comets drag on their blazing lengths behind; 

 Nor, as we think, do they at random rove, 

 But in determin'd times, through long ellipses move ; 

 And though sometimes they near approach the SUH, 

 Sometimes beyond our system's orbit run, 

 Throughout their race they act their Maker's will, 

 His power declare, his purposes fulfil. BAKER, 



Hark! from the world's exploding centre driv'n, 

 With sounds that shook the firmament of heav'n, 

 Careers the fiery giant fast and far, 

 On bick'ring wheels and adamantine car : 

 From planet whirl'd, to planet more remote, 

 He visits realms beyond the reach of thought ; 

 But wheeling homeward when his course is run, 

 Curbs the red yoke, and mingles with the sun! 



CAMPBELL. 



kind of wandering bodies is known 

 by the name of Comets. These the common peo- 

 ple call blazing stars, because they generally' have 

 long tails blazing or streaming from them. As 

 these extraordinary bodies are but seldom seen, 

 they are by many persons thought portentous, 

 presaging some extraordinary event ; some look 

 upon them as bloody signs hung out by Divine re- 

 sentment over a guilty world: some read in their 

 appearance the fate of nations and the fall of 

 monarchies ; others imagine they foretel desolat- 

 ing plagues, famines, or wars. They must, how- 

 ever, be acquitted of all tendency of this kind. 

 D 2 Nor 



