[ 568 3 
ORIGINAL POETRY. 
[Jan. 1, 
POWER, 
A TCETICAL ESSAY, 
By JAMES JENNINGS. 
Knowledge is Powerd' 
Call no\v to mind what high capa¬ 
cious powers 
Lie folded up in man.” — A i:enside. 
Power I sing. Power drst produc’d 
the world, 
And starry banners in the heavens unfurl’d j 
Launch’d through the wide immense of 
endless space, 
T^dyriadsof globes to run their cTi-cling race ; 
With peopled planets deck’d each radiant sun, 
And added moons through every phase to run; 
Flung forth the comets, fix’d their w’andering 
way. 
And bade them knowledge all divine display ; 
Smiles in each herb, or flower of beauteous 
hue, 
In spring, or fountain, or the dropping dew; 
But this immense the Muse dares not to 
scan. 
Of Power, as present in the mind of man ; 
She now with humble and with trembling 
wing. 
Presumes to touch the harp’s neglected 
string. 
Knowledge is Power. Go search the human 
mind 
From its dim dawn to ages most re.'in’d ; 
Behold of Writhig the amazing art! 
I?ovv days far gone to us their power impart; 
i)n flags or reed-leaves first the letters ran, 
As rudely rose the infant race of man; 
Til!, more matur’d, to parchment grew at 
length. 
The pu.ny scribbler in his giant strength. 
Behold the Scriptures, ancient deeds of 
trust, 
To man bequeath’d to make him wise and 
juJt; 
Adown their soils the streams of knowledge 
flow, 
iViiich whoso drinks no more may thirst 
below : 
^hejr saving power protects the human 
heart. 
And well pieserves Jt from each demon dart. 
look now to-Egypt, where the prophet 
caught 
Hi^ various lore, by priests full early taught; 
The l.ifty Piles*, upon her plains survey, 
And tell if knowiecige lent a potent ray ; 
Else whence aro.se, to kiss the clouds on 
high, 
Those massive stones which simple power 
defy ? 
* The Pyramids. 
Proceed to Greece, her attic taste behold. 
He r sculptur’d columns and her arches bold. 
Her lofty temples dedicate to gods, 
Where beauteous ruin to the tempest nods ; 
Her marble roofs which half admit the day, 
Lo, what of Power doth Knowledge here 
displiy } 
See Homer, sovereign of the human heart. 
Ill war, in peace, his powerful aid impart; 
Eire, with just rage, the impetuous Peleus* 
son, 
Or point Ulysses wisdom’s way to run: 
Whilst various worthies round the harper 
stand. 
Diffusing science wide throughout the land. 
On Rome, the mistress of the world, 
attend, 
And graceful statues there in groups shall 
bend ; 
Proclaim the power to stir the human mind. 
To passion various, elegant, refin’d ; 
Here Virgil’s music soothes the listening 
ear. 
There Lydian measures Horace bids you 
hear; 
Whilst Pliny’s page of herbs shall leach the 
name. 
And Celsus heal thy weak and languid 
frame. 
Fair dawn of science, doom’d long time to 
share 
Whole nights of dark and horrible despair ; 
Till, in the West, bright corruscations ran, 
And Power .once more illum’d the mind of 
man. 
» 
Next Albion visit. Bacon foremost stands 
To shed a radiance over distant lands ; 
To him we owe the Nitreus Dust to make, 
Whose mighty thunder earth and air can 
shake. 
Knowledge is Pciyrr,—and well if power were 
us’d_ 
For nought but good—Y’’etoh,howoft abus’d ! 
Full many a mortal, reeling red with gore, 
bhall curse the science Bacon taught of 
yore ; 
For now big castles press the swelling deep, 
To whelm their thousands in eternal sleep; 
Whilst wholesale butchery, o’er the sea wave 
dread, 
Flings legs and arms, the dying and the 
dead; 
Accurs’d such knowledge ! turn, O science^ 
turn 
To nobler deeds—for worthier prowess burn. 
See now of Power the glory and the 
pride, 
The An of Printing draw the veil aside; 
Unfold to all mankind the hidden laws 
Uf mind and matter and the great first 
