Thus with a faithful aim have we presumed, Adventurous, to delineate Nature's form; Whether in vast, majestic pomp array'd, 440 Or dress'd for pleasing wonder, or serene In Beauty's rosy smile. It now remains, Through various being's fair proportion'd scale, To trace the rising lustre of her charms, From their first twilight, shining forth at length To full meridian splendour. Of degree The least and lowliest, in the effusive warmth Of colours mingling with a random blaze, Doth Beauty dwell. Then higher in the line And variation of determined shape, 450 Where Truth's eternal measures mark the bound Of circle, cube, or sphere. The third ascent Unites this varied symmetry of parts With colour's bland allurement; as the pearl Shines in the concave of its azure bed, And painted shells indent their speckled wreath. Then more attractive rise the blooming forms Through which the breath of Nature has infused Her genial power to draw with pregnant veins Nutritious moisture from the bounteous earth, 460 In fruit and seed prolific: thus the flowers Their purple honours with the Spring resume; And such the stately tree which Autumn bends With blushing treasures. But more lovely still Is Nature's charm, where to the full consent Of complicated members, to the bloom Of colour, and the vital change of growth, Life's holy flame and piercing sense are given, And active motion speaks the temper'd soul: So moves the bird of Juno; so the steed 470 With rival ardour beats the dusty plain, And faithful dogs with eager airs of joy Salute their fellows. Thus doth Beauty dwell There most conspicuous, even in outward shape, Where dawns the high expression of a mind: By steps conducting our enraptured search To that eternal origin, whose power, Through all the unbounded symmetry of things, Like rays effulging from the parent sun, This endless mixture of her charms diffused. 480 Mind, mind alone, (bear witness, earth and heaven!) The living fountains in itself contains Of beauteous and sublime: here hand in hand, Sit paramount the Graces; here enthroned, Celestial Venus, with divinest airs, Invites the soul to never-fading joy. Look then abroad through nature, to the range Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres Wheeling unshaken through the void immense; And speak, O man! does this capacious scene 490 With half that kindling majesty dilate Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose [Endnote G] Refulgent from the stroke of Caesar's fate, Amid the crowd of patriots; and his arm Aloft extending, like eternal Jove When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, And bade the father of his country, hail! For lo! the tyrant prostrate on the dust,