That we should all opinions hold 675 Quoth Sidrophel, it is no part Of prudence to cry down an art, And what it may perform, deny, Because you understand not why; As Averrhois play'd but a mean trick, To damn our whole art for eccentrick, For who knows all that knowlege contains? Men dwell not on the tops of mountains, But on their fides, or rifings feat ; So 'tis with knowledge's vaft height. Do not the hist'ries of all ages Relate miraculous presages Of strange turns, in the world's affairs, 680 685 And fome that have writ almanacks? 690 The Median emp'ror dream'd his daughter 695 And that a vine, sprung from her haunches, Are there not myriads of this fort, When crows and ravens croak upon trees? 700 705 VOL. I. The Roman fenate, when within The city walls an owl was feen, Did cause their clergy, with lustrations, Our fynod calls humiliations, The round-fac'd prodigy t'avert From doing town or country hurt. And if an owl have so much pow'r, Why should not planets have much more, Inferior fowls of the air move, And should see further, and foreknow More than their augury below? Tho' that once ferv'd the polity Of mighty states to govern by; And this is what we take in hand, By pow'rful art, to understand; 710 715 720 Which, how we have perform'd, all ages 725 3 A Have we not lately in the moon, Found a new world, to th' old unknown? And Magellan could never compass? 730 Made mountains with our tubes appear, And cattle grazing on them there? Quoth Hudibras, you lie fo ope, That I, without a telescope, Can find your tricks out, and defcry Where you tell truth, and where you lie : For Anaxagoras long agone, Saw hills, as well as you, i̇' th' moon, And held the fun was but a piece Of red hot iron as big as Greece; Believ'd the heav'ns were made of stone, Because the fun had voided one; And, rather than he would recant 735 740 But what, alas! is it to us, Whether i̇' th' moon, men thus or thus That are not in our own dominions? 745 750 What science can be brought from thence, 755 In which we do not here commence? What revelations, or religions, That are not in our native regions? Are fweating-lanterns, or screen-fans, Made better there than they 're in France? 760 Or do they teach to fing and play O'th' guitar there a newer way? |