And lo, my son that other sapient band, The torch of science flamiflg in their hand! Thro nature's range their searching souls aspire, Or wake to life the canvass and the lyre. Fixt in sublimest thought, behold them rise World after world unfolding to their eyes, Lead, light, allure them thro the total plan, And give new guidance to the paths of man. Yon meteor-mantled hill see Franklin tread, Heaven's awful thunders tolling o'er his head, Convolving clouds the billowy skies deform, And forky flames emblaze the blackening storm, See the descending streams around him burn, Glance on his rod and with his finger turn; He bids conflicting fulminants expire The guided blast, and holds the imprison'd fire. No more, when doubling storms the vault o'erspread, The livid glare shall strike thy race with dread, Nor towers nor temples, shuddering with the sound, Sink in the flames and shake the sheeted ground. His well tried wires, that every tempest wait, Shall teach mankind to ward the bolts of fate, With pointed steel o'ertop the trembling spire, And lead from untouch'd walls the harmless flre; Fill'd with his fame while distant climes rejoice, Wherever lightning shines or thunder rears its voice. And see sage Rittenhouse, with ardent eye, Lift the long tube and pierce the starry sky; Clear in his view the circling planets roll, And suns and satellites their course control. He marks what laws the widest wanderers bind, Copies creation in his forming mind, Sees in his hall the total semblance rise, And mimics there the labors of the skies. There student youths without their tubes behold The spangled heavens their mystic maze unfold, And crowded schools their cheerful chambers grace With all the spheres that cleave the vast of space. To guide the sailor in his wandering way, See Godfrey's glass reverse the beams of day. His lifted quadrant to the eye displays From adverse skies the counteracting rays; And marks, as devious sails bewilder'd roll, Each nice gradation from the steadfast pole. West with his own great soul the canvass warms, Creates, inspires, impassions human forms, Spurns critic rules, and seizing safe the heart, Breaks down the former frightful bounds of Art; Where ancient manners, with exclusive reign, From half mankind withheld her fair domain. He calls to life each patriot, chief or sage, Garb'd in the dress and drapery of his age. Again bold Regulus to death returns, Again her falling Wolfe Britannia mourns; Lahogue, Boyne, Cressy, Nevilcross demand And gain fresh lustre from his copious hand; His Lear stalks wild with woes, the gods defies, Insults the tempest and outstorms the skies; Edward in arms to frowning combat moves, Or, won to pity by the queen he loves, Spares the devoted Six, whose deathless deed Preserves the town his vengeance doom'd to bleed.