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    With a strange inward tremor ; my brain full of light , Sees vanishing visions more exquisite still ! Those are glimpses of heaven , they quicken the soul , And rouse it to fashion a Life to great aims- — To create the grand thoughts that will Science control—To glory in martyrdom ' s vesture of flames ! To stand up ' mid the crowd , and speak out the bright truth That has grown up defiant of all thatis rife ; To change all the dreamy Rehearsals of Youth Into one steadfast Part to be played for a Life . Not for Fame , in itself , —that was never a prize Worth the toil and the tears men have paid for its pride , — But for Fame as a brightness to lure her fond eyes , Till it make her creep lovingly close to my side . Now if any one else had placed these lines before me , I think the critical scalpe l would have been somewhat cruelly inserted ; but no surgeon dissects his own offspring ! I place them before you upon much the same ground as that of an unknown correspondent , who , sending me some love verses , remarks , — " It is a little foolish , perhaps , to drop one ' tears , or groan one ' s prayers in the market place , but the thing is not without precedent j and if , by lapse of time , the tears have become petrified crystals , or the groans by distance are mellowed into sad music , why , perhaps , the gazing and listening public have a claim on them for temporary excitement . When the biographical becomes historical , which in love matters takes no very long time , it is every one ' s property who cares to appropriate it . " Exactly ! The unhappy Oyster , troubled with disease , secretes a Pearl to glisten on Fanny ' s neck ; and Poems are the Pearls secreted during the malady of love . But as Moliere says , ily a fagot etfagot , there are pearls and pearls , some of them priceless gems , others cast aside for grains of wheat . As I am always in love I ought always to be writing poems ( Tremble !) But somehow I find that an occasional flirtation - with the Muse is less expensive than Marriage , and not being a marrying man , I don't encourage " serious thoughts" of poetry . I hope my correspondent is of the same way of thinking ; at any rate here are his verses : — To Ever present—ever near Though afar : In this hour of gloom thou art Shining o ' er me , calm and clear , Like a star To the careworn traveller . Oh ! sweet heart Still guide me Through the wild waste—memory . Sad , yet blessed memory ; Ah ! my own Heart must yield its ruby stream , Ere it cease to beat for thee , Thee alone : Daily life must thoughtless be , And no dream bless my rent , Ere I forget I have been blest . Have been blest—Oh ! God of heaven , God of love !—Grant me patience , soothe this pain ; Loved one be not lightly driven To reprove Passion , which hath well nigh riven Heart and brain ; Give , oh give Hope again , that I may live .

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    COMTE'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . By G . II . Lewes . Part YIII . —Astronomy and Religion . I need scarcely say that many interesting details must necessarily bo omitted in these papers , in order not to extend the series to a length incompatible with its introductory character . To complete what I deem indispensable to be said on the subject of Astronomy , I will notice Comte ' s division of the science , his remarks on its hierarchical position , and its illustration of the doctrine of final causes .

    In Mathematics , Comte establishes , with great precision , the two capital divisions of Geometry and Mechanics : the one treating of space , and the forms of things occupying space- —i . e ., treating of lines , surfaces , and solids , straight or curved ; the other treating of motion and its laws . Astronomy is , par excellence , a mathematical science ; indeed it may be called applied mathematics ; and it forms the link between general Mechanics and terrestrial Physics , for it is simply a science of spaces , figures , and motion , brought clown from the region of pure abstraction into that of reality by the introduction , of a real agent—gravitation . Astronomy also , conformably with its mathematical structure , has two

    capital divisions—4 st , Geometrical Astronomy * or celestial geometry , which from its having possessed the scientific character so long before the other ' still preserves the name of astronomy , properly so called ; 2 nd , Mechanical Astronomyy or celestial mechanics , of which Newton was the immortal founder , and which has received so vast and so admirable a development within the last century . In astronomy , properly so called , we have only to determine the form and magnitude of the heavenly bodies ; and to stnidy the geometrical laws according to which their positions vary , without considering these changes of position in relation to the forces which produce them ; or , in more

    positive terms > to the elementary movements on which they depend . Thus was it able to make , and actually did make , the most important progress before celestial mechanics began to exist ; and even since that time , its most remarkable discoveries have been due to its own spontaneous development , as we see so well in the beautiful work of the great Bradley on Aberration and Nutation . Celestial mechanics , on the contrary , is , from its nature , essentially dependent on . celestial geometry , without which it could not possess any solid foundation . Its object , in fact , is to analyze the actual movements of the stars , so as to connect them , according to t he rules of rational mechanics , with the elementary movements governed by

    an universal and invariable mathematical law ; and in then proceeding from this law , to bring to a high degree of perfection our knowledge of the real movements , by determining them , a priori , by the calculations of general mechanics , —taking the least possible number of terms from direct observation , but yet always verifying them by it . It is thus that is established , in the most natural way , the fundamental bond between astronomy and physics , properly so called ; a connexion now become such , that several great phenomena form an almost insensible transition from the one to the

    other , as we see particularly in the theory of tides . But it is evident that what gives to celestial mechanics all their reality , is , as Comte endeavours to show , its having started from the actual knowledge of real movements , furnished by celestial geometry . It is precisely from their not having been conceived in accordance with this fundamental relation , that all the attempts made before Newton to form systems of celestial mechanics , —and among others , that of Descartes , — -were necessarily illusory under the scientific point of view , however useful they may have been at the time under the philosophical aspect .

    The position of Astronomy in the hierarchical scale is so evidently that given to it by Comte , that all readers will with him regard the title chosen by Newton as a trait of philosophic insight : Philosophies naturalisprincipia mathematical Newton thus , with concise energy , pointed out that the general laws of celestial phenomena are the prime basis of the entire system of human knowledge . Moreover , Astronomy stands first in virtue of its absolute independence of all other phenomena . It stands aloof . It is in no way subordinated to any physical , chemical , or physiological phenomena . But , on the contrary ,

    it is certain that physical , chemical , physiological , and even social phenomena , are essentially subordinated to astronomical phenomena , in a more or less direct manner , independently of their mutual co-ordination . The study of the other fundamental sciences can therefore Only p ossess a truly rational character , when it is preceded , as an essential requisite , by an accurate knowledge of the astronomical laws , referring to the most general phenomena . How could our mind apprehend any terrestrial p henomenon , in a really scientific manner , without in the first place considering what that earth is , in the world of which we form part , —seeing that its position and its movements necessarily exercise a preponderating influence all

    the phenomena that happen in it ? What must our physical conceptions be , and , as a consequence , our chemical and physiological , without the fundamental notion of gravitation , which overrules them all ? To choose the most unfavourable example , where the subordination is the least apparent , we must admit , although at first it may appear strange , that even those phenomena which relate to the development of human society , could not be conceived in a rational way without a previous consideration of the principal laws of astronomy . We may easily become sensible of this , by lanet its

    observing that if the different astronomical elements of our p , as distance from the sun , and the consequent duration of the year , the obliquity of the ecliptic , &c . were to undergo any important changes ,-- ^ resul which in astronomy would have scarcely any other effect than that o modifying cortain co-efficients , )—our social development would doubtless bo notably affected , and even become impossible , if ever these altcrat ' ° " f were to pass beyond a certain point . Cointe declares he is not afraid o ^ meriting the reproach of exaggeration by saying on this subject , that soc physics did not become a possible science , until geometricians had " ° ^ strated , as a general result of celestial mechanics , that the derangemen our solar system could never extend beyond gradual and very w

    oscillations about a mean state necessarily invariable . One would have a very imperfect idea of the high intellectual importan of the theories of astronomy , were he to limit his view to their nccess y and special influence on the different parts of Natural Philosophy- ^ must also have regard to the general 1 effect which they directly have o fundamental tendencies of our intelligence , to whose renovation the l ) r 0 ^ of astronomy has contributed more powerfully than that of any science . - » t j , Consider only the religious , aspect of Astronomy , and the truth o ^ foregoing remark , vrilt , ataud out * and here , while concurring vrith » u

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    406 THE LEADER / , ¦ ' ,,. r | fe ^ .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 22, 1852, page 496, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1936/page/20/