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[Page 91]
THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM.
1 THE sun revolving on his axis turns,
2 And with creative fire intensely burns;
3 Impell'd the forcive air, our earth supreme,
4 Rolls with the planets round the solar gleam;
5 First Mercury compleats his transient year,
6 Glowing, refulgent, with reflected glare;
7 Bright Venus occupies a wider way,
8 The early harbinger of night and day;
9 More distant still our globe terraqueous turns,
10 Nor chills intense, nor fiercely heated burns;
11 Around her rolls the lunar orb of light,
12 Trailing her silver glories through the night:
13 On the earth's orbit see the various signs,
14 Mark where the sun, our year compleating, shines:
15 First the bright Ram his languid ray improves;
16 Next glaring wat'ry thro' the Bull he moves;
17 The am'rous Twins admit his genial ray;
18 Now burning, thro' the Crab he takes his way;
19 The Lion, flaming, bears the solar power;
20 The Virgin faints beneath the sultry shower.
21 Now the just Ballance weighs his equal force,
22 The slimy Serpent swelters in his course;
23 The sabled Archer clouds his languid face;
24 The Goat, with tempests, urges on his race;
25 Now in the Water his faint beams appear,
26 And the cold Fishes end the circling year.
27 Beyond our globe the sanguine Mars displays
28 A strong reflection of primoeval rays;
29 Next belted Jupiter far distant gleams,
30 Scarcely enlight'ned with the solar beams;
31 With four unfix'd receptacles of light,
32 He tours majestic thro' the spacious height:
33 But farther yet the tardy Saturn lags,
34 And five attendant luminaries drags;
35 Investing with a double ring his pace,
36 He circles thro' immensity of space.
37 These are thy wond'rous works, first source of good!
38 Now more admir'd in being understood.
Bristol, Dec. 23.
D. B.
About this text
Author: Thomas Chatterton
Themes:
Genres:
heroic couplet; narrative verse
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Chatterton, Thomas, 1752-1770. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse; by Thomas Chatterton, the supposed author of the poems published under the names of Rowley, Canning, &c. London: printed for Fielding and Walker, Pater-Noster Row, MDCCLXXVIII., 1778, pp. 90-91. xxxii,245,[3]p.,plates; 8⁰. (ESTC T39457; OTA K039720.000)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization
of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all
editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic
text originally produced by the TCP project, this
ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by Thomas Chatterton
- ACROSTIC ON MISS [ELEANOR HOYLAND]. 1768. ()
- ACROSTIC ON MISS [SALLY CLARKE]. 1768. ()
- THE ADVICE. ADDRESSED TO MISS M—— R——, OF BRISTOL. ()
- A BURLESQUE CANTATA. 1770. ()
- BURLETTA. THE WOMAN OF SPIRIT. 1770. ()
- CERDICK, TRANSLATED FROM THE SAXON. ()
- CHATTERTON'S WILL. 1770. ()
- COLIN INSTRUCTED. 1770. ()
- THE CONSULIAD, AN HEROIC POEM. ()
- THE DEATH OF NICOU, AN AFRICAN ECLOGUE. ()
- THE DEFENCE, ()
- ELEGY, ON W. BECKFORD ESQ. ()
- ELEGY, To the Memory of Mr. THOMAS PHILLIPS of Fairford. ()
- ELEGY. ()
- ELEGY. ()
- EPISTLE TO THE REVEREND MR. CATCOTT. ()
- ETHELGAR, A SAXON POEM. ()
- FEBRUARY, AN ELEGY. ()
- GODRED CROVAN, A POEM. ()
- GORTHMUND, TRANSLATED FROM THE SAXON. ()
- HECCAR AND GAIRA AN AFRICAN ECLOGUE. ()
- THE HIRLAS, Translated from the ancient British of OWEN CYFELIOG, Prince of Powys. ()
- IN IMITATION OF OUR OLD POETS. ON OURE LADYES CHIRCH. 1769. ()
- KENRICK. TRANSLATED FROM THE SAXON. ()
- THE METHODIST. MAY 1770. ()
- NARVA AND MORED, AN AFRICAN ECLOGUE. ()
- ODE TO MISS H—L—D. 1768. ()
- ON MR. ALCOCK, OF BRISTOL, AN EXCELLENT MINIATURE PAINTER. ()
- One CANTO of an ANCIENT POEM, CALLED The UNKNOWN KNIGHT or the TOURNAMENT. ()
- THE PROPHECY. ()
- SENTIMENT. 1769. ()
- SONG TO MR. G. CATCOTT. 1769. ()
- A SONG. ADDRESSED TO MISS C—AM OF BRISTOL. ()
- SONG. FANNY[|BETSY] OF THE HILL. 1770. ()
- TO A FRIEND. ()
- TO MISS B—SH, OF BRISTOL. ()
- TO MISS C—KE. 1768. ()
- TO MISS H—L—D. 1768. ()
- TO MISS H—L—D. 1768. ()
- TO MISS H—L—D. 1768. ()
- TO MISS H—L—D. 1768. ()
- TO MISS H—L—D. WITH A PRESENT. 1768. ()
- TO MR. HOLLAND. ()
- TO THE BEAUTEOUS MISS H—L—D. ()