Introductory address delivered before the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art / by Henry W. Acland.

  • Henry Acland
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory address delivered before the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art / by Henry W. Acland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    With every Plant, in sign of worship wave. Fountains and ye, that warble, as ye flow, Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise. Join voices, all ye living Souls. Ye Birds, That, singing, up to Heaven-gate ascend, Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise. Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep, Witness if I he silent, morn or even, To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade, Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise. Hail, universal Lord ! Be bounteous still To give us only good; and, if the night Have gathered aught of evil, or concealed, Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark. Thus Buskin in prose, and Milton in lofty verse, handle the contemplation of Natural objects : Heber dashes a saddening touch of Scientific prophecy into similar poetic enthusiasm for Nature. I prais’d the Earth, in beauty seen With garlands gay of various green; I prais’d the Sea, whose ample field Shone glorious as a silver shield; And Earth and Ocean seem’d to say ‘ Our beauties are but for a day! ’ I prais’d the Sun, whose chariot roll’d On wheels of amber and of gold; I prais’d the moon, whose softer eye Gleam’d sweetly through the summer sky; And Moon and Sun in answer said ‘ Our days of light are numbered ! ’
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