William Powell Jones - Newton Further Demands The Muse

Rice University
Newton Further Demands the Muse

Author(s): William Powell Jones
Source: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 3, No. 3, Restoration and Eighteenth
Century (Summer, 1963), pp. 287-306
Published by: Rice University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/449346
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Newton Further Demands the Muse
W ILLIAM PO W E L L JONES
SIR ISAAC NEWTON wras already known

throughout the world of science before his death in 1727. The
famous eulogies written on him after his death by James
Thomson and Richard Glover, together with the earlier Latin
verses by Edmund Halley, made him known as well to the
general reading public and especially the literary world. "Newton
demands the muse," Glover wrote, and other poets, recognizing
his genius, wrote about Newton and his discoveries until he
became to them a symbol of how science put new life into an
old idea, that the universe is orderly and that the glory of
God is revealed in nature, especially in the heavens. This poetic
fame of Newton has already been described by Marjorie Nicol-
son and supplemented by Alan McKillop, so well indeed that
it would seem superfluous to write further on the subject.'
The main reason for my doing so is to present evidence for
my conviction, after reading numerous eighteenth-century
poems influenced by science, that the poets, when they talked
about Newton, were usually thinking of the orderly universe
demonstrated by the Principia rather than the beauty of
light and colors shown in the Optics. In presenting this evidence
I shall also supplement Miss Nicolson's rich documentation of
the "Newtonian" poems before 1757, her terminal date, and
add some interesting items from 1715 to 1800.
Newton Demands the Muse has been widely and properly
recognized as a significant contribution to the influence of
science on poetry and, especially, on aesthetics.2 In this book
Miss Nicolson has clearly shown that Newton's Optics had a
metaphysical as well as an aesthetic impact on poetry, that in
the area of color and light the "very important" influence of
1Newton Demands the Muse (Princeton, 1946). For additional background

material, especially on Thomson, see A. D. McKillop, James Thomson: The
Castle of Indolence and Other Poems (University of Kansas Press, 1961), pp.
128-156. Latin poems on Newton are discussed by James R. Naiden, "Newton De-
mands the Latin Muse," Symposium, VI (1952), 111-122, and French poems by
Ruth T. Murdock, "Newton and the French Muse," Journal of the History of
Ideas, XIX (1958), 323 ff.
2Herbert Drennon, reviewing the book in Philological Quarterly, XXVI (1947),
128-132, raises some doubts as to its conclusions.
288 N E W T O N D E M A N D S THE MUSE
Milton was followed by that of Newton, from

find not only new observation, new techniq
a new vocabulary, but also a growing intere
color in connection with the 'Sublime' and 'Beautiful' which
came to a climax in Burke's Enquiry" (p. 4). She has also
given much evidence from the poets themselves to show that,
through their study of Newvton, they "came to look upon nature
with new eyes and to develop a descriptive poetry different from
that of earlier generations in its carefree and often technical use
and description of color and light" (p. 19).
In other words, this book is an ample demonstration of what
is now coming to be more clearly understood, that science in
the early eighteenth century, by means of its imaginative appeal,
furnished the poets with new imagery to sharpen old themes.
Early in the century, as I have shown, Biblical paraphrases
became new from adding scientific detail to the older picture of
nature in Job, the Psalms, the creation, and even the judg-
ment day.3 Later, the eclectic use by Thomson of material from
many branches of science gave new life to old ideas, as Alan
McKillop has demonstrated.4
Similarly, the old idea of harmony and order in the universe
was given a new impetus by Newton's mathematical demon-
strations in the Principia leading to his laws of motion. The
sublime idea of unnumbered heavenly bodies moving in regular
orbits appealed to the imagination of the poets, as Miss Nicolson
showed in her studies of the telescope,5 appealed to them so
profoundly that there is scarcely a scientific poem during the
eighteenth century that does not involve this influence of the
Principia that critics have called Newtonianism.6
This larger influence of scientific ideas on eighteenth-century
English poetry, the use of new scientific imagery to sharpen
old ideas, has been fully documented in my forthcoming book.
This book will tell the story of this new scientific poetry, be-
ginning with the larger works like Blackmore's Creation, Thom-
3PMLA, LXXIV (1959), 41-51.

4The Background of Thomson's Seasons (Minneapolis, 1942). Professor Mc-
Killop has been very helpful in reading this article and my forthcoming book.
5These and similar studies have been reprinted in her Science and Imagination
(Cornell University Press, 1956).
6See McKillop, The Background of Thomson's Seasons, pp. 6-7 for a summary
of early scholarship on Newtonianism. The history of the idea of order in nature
in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries may be seen in Michael
Machlem, The Anatomy of the World (Minneapolis, 1958).
WILLIAM PO W E LL JONES 289
son's Seasons, and the physico-theological poems of Henry

Brooke, Moses Browne, Henry Baker, and others, where science
includes, among others, astronomy, botany, zoology, geology,
and human anatomy. These earlier poems nevertheless place
their chief emphasis on the contrasting worlds revealed by the
telescope and microscope. This rich and sometimes sublime
imagery of the orderly world of nature gives way gradually in
tlhe second half of the century to the simpler aspects of natural
history, the birds and plants of the English landscape.
In the many poems described in my book, the influence of
Newton's Principia, at least as great as that of the Optics, goes
far beyond the poems that mention Newton specifically. It
is true that the Optics, being written in English, would seem
to be more accessible to the poets than the Principia in Latin,
but actually both works were best known in the popularizations,
such as WVilliam Derham's Astro-Theology (1715), Henry Pem-
berton's A View of Sir I. Newton's Philosophy (1728), and
Benjamin Martin's various handbooks of elementary science,
not to mention Francesco Algarotti's explanation of the Optics
for ladies, or the science included in such theological treatises
as William Wollaston's Religion of Nature Delineated (1722).
Yet the poets knew that Newton had mathematically demon-
strated the order of the universe and calculated the orbits not
only of planets in the solar system but of erring comets as well.
They used this idea over and over in numerous variations, and
when they praised Newton by name, they put greater emphasis
on the Principia than on the Optics. In the longer "poetical
essays5" where several fields of science were used for illustration
the poets devoted more space to the mathematical demonstra-
tion of an orderly universe-illustrated by gravitation, the
precise motions of planets and even comets, and the effect of
the moon on tides-than to the physics of light and color.
II
Let us begin with the eulogies of Newton written shortly after

his death in 1727, since the earlier tributes to Newton by John
Reynolds, John Hughes, and Richard Blackmore are cited for
various purposes by Miss Nicolson. Naturally, the Principia
was better known in this period, and it continued after 1727
to be the source of those phases of Newtonian science most
often used by the poets.7
290 NE TO N D E M A NDS THE MUSE
James Thomson in his eclectic manner put a considerable

amount of science into the numerous revisions of The Seasons,
and much of it naturally ran to color in the natural history both
of the English landscape and of the exotic scenery from travel
books. Yet when Thomson in 1727 wrote the first of several
eulogies to Newton, A Poem Sacred to the Memory of Sir
Isaac Newton, his main emphasis was on the Principia. The
cosmic voyage of Newton after death, quitting this earth "to
mingle with his stars," is a sort of frame for a summary of the
scientific achievement of "our philosophic sun," for the tribute
ends with Newton wandering "thro' those endless worlds, He
here so well described," discovering from the angels what he
could not learn here, his soul soaring swiftly "with the whirl-
ing orbs, Comparing things with things, in rapture lost." The
cosmic voyage of Newton, as we shall see, was not new with
Thomson and was used long after him, but the interesting
point is his use of it as a frame for his long and more precise
description of the discoveries involving the Principia. For eighty-
four lines the poet traces the secret hand of Providence "from
motion's simple laws" and shows how sun and planets and
satellites are bound in their places, the whole celestial universe
moving "in silent harmony" through "the blended power Of
gravitation and projection"; how the moon by attraction affects
the tides; how in the skies distant stars blaze into suns, each
the living center "of an harmonious system" ruled by the
power of gravitation; howv the comet returns "through the
long eliptic curve"; and how sound flows through the air.
Before the lengthy tribute that ends the poem, Thomson then
devotes twenty-nine lines to color and light that declare "how
just, how beauteous the refractive law."
Two other long memorial poems on Newton show a similar
proportion of emphasis on the Principia. The poem by Richard
Glover printed in Henry Pemberton's 1728 popularization of
Newton, in an attempt to summarize Newtonian science in
didactic verse, devotes six pages to general topics, notably
gravitation and the motion of heavenly bodies, the next two
and one-half pages to color and light, a similar amount to
7McKillop's richly documented introduction to Thomson's poem on Newton

(cited in note 1) fills out the influence of Newton in the first half of the
century. In general, I have repeated only those poems on Newton that are par-
ticularly pertinent to my purpose.
W I L L I A M POW E LL JONES 291
sound, and a final three and one-half pages to unsolved

lems and other concluding matter. In 1735 Dr. Samuel B
printed his neglected tribute, "A Poem Sacred to the M
of Sir Isaac Newton," with even less emphasis on the Optics
than either Thomson or Glover. Bowden begins with general
praise of the studious sage
Who to creation's distant regions soar'd,

And wonders hid from human eyes explor'd;
Did nature's deep recesses open lay,
Dispel the gloom, and spread immortal day.
Bowden tried in his couplets to explain gravitation, the balance

of empire between two different powers, the projectile and the
central, governed by mechanical laws. Among Newton's ac-
complishments, he said, are learning to view a comet without
surprise, reforming chronology, and explaining such mysterious
phenomena of nature as the changes of the moon by attraction,
the effect of the moon on tides, the refraction of light (half a
page), and the vibration of sound and light waves.8
Before Bowden's tribute had been printed, a number of
anonymous eulogies appeared, ephemeral verses with little
poetic value but often specific in their description of the
Principia. The first of them is a contribution to The London
Medley, a series of pieces spoken at Westminster School on
January 28, 1731:
Newton arose; shew'd how each planet moved. ...

He was the first that could unerring trace
Each orbit thro' th' immense expanded space:
He was the first that with unweary'd flight,
Fathom'd the depth of heav'n, and reach'd the height,
Where comets thro' the void revolving flow,
Their course oblique and settled period know;
Guided by him when we survey the whole,
Worlds beyond worlds that by him measur'd roll,
And with the vast idea fill the soul;
What is this point of earth, this mortal seat,
How little all appears, and He how great!
8Samuel Bowden, Poetical Essays on Several Occasions, II (London: J. Pem-

berton, 1735), 1-16.
292 N E W T O N DEMANDS THE M U S E
The second, a more general summary in

Address'd to Mr. Pope (1732), describes Newton as one "in
whom the heavenly mind Shines forth distinguish'd and above
mankind," and gives him credit for having "first survey'd The
plan by which the Universe was made: Saw nature's simple,
yet stupendous laws, And prov'd th' effects, tho' not explain'd
the cause."
In 1733 Queen Caroline set up a grotto in the Royal Hermit-
age as a sort of scientific hall of fame, in which the busts of
Newton, Locke, Boyle, Wollaston, and Samuel Clarke were
placed to remind visitors of the achievements of science and
physico-theology. The grotto received considerable attention in
a series of occasional verses written for a contest sponsored by
the Gentleman's Magazine in April 1733.9 The first prize,
printed in June, contains only two lines on Newton:
Newton the volume of the skie unseals,
And all th' amazing miracle reveals.
The second and third prizes do not mention Newton by name,
but the fourth praises him particularly for the Principia:
Then Newton, wondrous man! still higher soar'd,
Describ'd the laws by which the shining orbs,
That through the boundless void incessant roll,
Perform their course encircling; how they keep
One certain track, by bonds invisible
Confin'd, nor through the liquid aether stray.10
The sixth poem repeats the same theme of tracking wandering

planets and the orbits of eccentric comets through boundless
space where
Millions of worlds possess the vast profound!

Millions of suns with planets circling round!
Planets, which secondary planets grace,
Endless the wonders of th' ethereal space.1'
The seventh prize has abundant praise for Newton, all because
of his work on gravitation and the removal of errors from
previous astronomical discoveries:
9Gentleman's Magazine, III (1733), 207 f. The grotto was described in verses
reprinted (III, 41) from the Weekly Miscellany. The poems were collected in a
volume, The Contest.
'0Gentleman's Magazine, III, 369.
W I L L I A M1 P O W E L L JONES 293
Newton without a rival reigns alone,

Prince of the new philosophy, his own.
Not until the eighth prize poem is the theory of colors m
tioned, and even then it is overshadowed by gravitation and
motions of circling orbs and devious comets. The ninth devot
one quatrain to each sage but "sagacious Newton" is clearly
known for the Principia. No. 10 sums up Newton's genius:
The works of nature, that in embryo lay,
Dawn into life, and in a flood of day
Newton's great genius to the world convey.l2
The contest in the Gentleman's Magazine produced no great
poetry, but surely it is the Principia, not the Optics, that here
demands the muse.
In 1735 Mrs. Jane Brereton wrote two poems complimentary
to Newton, in both of which the chief topic is attraction and
the orderly motions of heavenly bodies. One of them, entitled
"Merlin," contrasted the crude science of the magician with
that which "blaz'd on Newton with meridian light," revealing
"attraction's mighty force And how fierce comets run their
stated course." These new phenomena are
Surprising scenes! by Heav'n reserv'd in store
For its own fav'rite Newton to explore.
With faculties enlarg'd he's gone to prove
The laws and motions of yon worlds above;
And the vast circuits of th' Expanse survey
View solar systems in the Milky Way.
The other poem is addressed to Queen Caroline "On the Bustoes

in the Royal Hermitage," where in addition to verses on Locke,
Boyle, Wollaston, and Clarke she praises Newton for revealing
God through order:
Newton, th' All-wise Creator's works explores,

Sublimely, on the wings of knowledge, soars;
Th' establish'd order, of each orb, unfolds,
And th' omnipresent God, in all, beholds:
If to the dark abyss, or bright abode,
He points; the view still terminates in God.'3
11Gentleman's Magazine, pp. 429 ff. for prizes 6-9.

12Gentleman's Magazine, p. 541.
294 N E W T O N D E M A N DS THE M U S E
III
The death of Newton gave a fresh impetu
of the idea of the limitations of science, th
the scientist who after death wanders amon
the secrets of the universe that he vainly sou
Even before 1727 John Reynolds (Death's V
John Hughes (The Ecstacy, written before
Newton in cosmic voyages, and the more g
contemplative man finding intellectual enjo
appeared often in poetry as an offshoot of
of the "happy man" inherited from the seven
Newvton among the stars, learning his physi
is an alluring picture. Thomson gave the th
he used it as the frame for his praise of Newt
him others took it up, as in the tributes of
Edward Young.l6 In the memorial poems a
Glover and Bowden combine Newton's Princ
voyage. Glover hinted that if man could fi
distant stars Newton would be found immort
In each new sphere, each new-appearing sun,

In furthest regions at the very verge
Of the wide universe should'st thou be seen.
And Bowden, at the end of his poem, showed Newton after
death going through space in triumph, learning more than he
could on earth:
See where he mounts the high, diurnal sphere,

And leaves a trail of light above the air;
The stars accost him, as he soars along,
And souls of wand'ring sages round him throng.
53Both poems were published in Merlin: a Poem . . . by a Lady, (London,

1735). Mrs. Cockburn's "A Poem occasioned by the Busts set up in the Queen's
Hermitage," probably written about the same time, was printed in Poems by
Eminent Ladies (London, 1755), I, 234-238.
'4See Mariorie Nicolson, Voyages to the Moon (1948) and Spectator No. 635
(reprinted with a discussion of this theme in McKillop, The Castle of Indolence
and Other Poems, pp. 130 ff.). For the idea of the limitations of science, see
my article in Studies in English Literature, I (1961), 97-114.
'5M. S. Rostvig, The Happy Man, Vol. II: 1700-1760 (Oslo, 1958), pp. 30-33,
162-170, quotes several poems not included here. One of them is an ode by W.
Hinchcliffe that "portrayed the happy life of the dead as one continuous college
course in Newtonian physics."
16Both poems are quoted in McKillop, The Castle of Indolence and Other
Poems, p. 136.
WILLIAM POWELL JONES 295
Mark where he halts on Saturn, tipt with

And pleas'd sunreys his theory below;
Sees the five moons alternate round him shi
Rise by his laws, and by his laws decline,
Then thro' the void takes his immortal ra
Amidst the vast infinity of space.
The most vivid example of this idea appea

poem closely influenced by Thomson, David Mallet's The
Excursion. The passage where this appears in Book II, that
ecstatic survey of the celestial universe as it reveals God, is one
of many in the poem that show the influence of Newton's
Principia. Mallet describes the order in the skies in words that
might have been written by his friend Thomson, how the huge
globes, observing "one unchanging law,"
Revolve harmonious, world attracting world

With mutual love, and to their central sun
All gravitating; now with quicken'd pace
Descending tow'rd the primal orb, and now
Receding slow, excursive from his bounds.
This spring of motion, this hid power infus'd
Through universal nature, first was known
To thee, great Newton! Britain's justest pride,
The boast of human race; whose towering thought,
In her amazing progress unconfin'd,
From truth to truth ascending, gain'd the height
Of science, whither mankind from afar
Gaze up astonish'd. Now beyond that height
By death from frail mortality set free,
A pure intelligence he wings his way
Through wondrous scenes, new-open'd in the world
Invisible, amid the general quire
Of saints and angels, rapt with joy divine,
Which fills, o'erflows, and ravishes the soul!
His mind's clear vision from all darkness purg'd,
For God himself shines forth immediate there,
Through those eternal climes, the frame of things,
In its ideal harmony, to him
Stands all reveal'd. -But how shall mortal wing
Attempt this blue profundity of Heaven,
Unfathomable, endless of extent!
296 NEW T O N D E M A N D S T H E MU S E
Where unknown suns to unknown systems

Whose numbers who shall tell? stupendous
In flaming millions through the vacant hun
Sun beyond sun, and world to world unseen
Measureless distance, unconceiv'd by thoug
The scientific exploration of the universe af
applied to science related to gravitation and
specific mention of Newton. In 1729 Richard
Wanderer applied the idea to Halley:
Hence Halley's soul etherial flight essays;
Instructive there from orb to orb she strays
Sees, round new countless suns, new systems
Sees God in all! and magnifies the whole.
In Richard Gambol's The Beauties of the Uni
departed soul goes on a grand tour of the skies:
Unbounded in its ken, (from prison free,)
Will clearly view what here we darkly see:
Those planetary worlds, and thousands mo
Now veil'd from human sight, it shall expl
Joseph Trapp developed the idea in the first
lugubrious poem, Thoughts upon the Four Last T
two parts of which, "Death" and "Judgment,"
in 1734. It is fitting that Trapp, who as lectu
Oxford had recommended science as a subject fo
use examples from science to show the deligh
hidden knowledge after death. The gratificati
becomes one of the chief delights of the after li
out infinite nature and learning the causes o
the soul wanders through the "unnumber'd w
Sees how barb'd comets shake their fiery h
How planets, hung on nothing, spin in air;
Of plain effects the latent causes views;
How hail is moulded, and how rise the dews:
How blended elements unite in strife,
And bury'd seeds, by dying, spring to life:
What paints the tulip, and the blushing rose;
And from the violet the fresh odor flows:
How cold congeals, and why ascends the fire;
Why tides swell high, and less'ning ebbs retire.
WILLIAM POWELL JONES 297
The poet continues his scientific journey t

ocean to see coral groves and fish, and into the middle of the
earth to see metals in their birth and the hidden seas and rivers
that flow underground. As a final result he will better see
the Creator in all the universe, and how in Him all things live
in nature's vast frame, "the vilest worm below, the highest
saint above."
In 1733 Pope was clearly influenced by this scientific com-
monplace when in the Essay on Man he showed the relative
superiority of celestial beings, even in scientific knowledge, by
letting them show Newton as we show an ape. Yet Mrs. Brereton
was closely following Thomson in Merlin when she hailed
Newton as heaven's own favorite who was able to achieve what
Merlin could never do but must himself wait for death in
order to explore fully the skies:
With faculties enlarg'd, he's gone to prove
The laws and motions of yon worlds above;
And the vast circuits of th' expanse survey,
View solar systems in the Milky Way.
Except for Thomson and Mallet, the clearest expression of
the idea that in the future life we will all grasp what the
greatest scientists could not discover on earth is found in the
anonymous A Philosophic Ode on the Sun and the Universe,
published in London in 1750. The poem explains that while the
great Kepler discovered the law of the motion of planets, the
greater Newton showed that the comets obey one general law
and "first fully illustrated these two laws or theorems." The
poet praises Newton for revealing order in the heavens:
Newton, immortal Newton rose;

This mighty frame, its order, laws,
His piercing eyes beheld:
That Sun of Science pour'd his streams,
All darkness fled before his beams,
And Nature stood reveal'd.
Though Newton's genius cloudless shone,
Discover'd truths before unknown,
By none before believ'd;
That time will come when such shall know
Much more than Newton ever knew,
Than fancy e'er conceiv'd.17
298 N E W T O N D E M A N D S THE M U S E
And then in a footnote the author amplifies t

gratification of curiosity "will be one of the p
bless'd: and what an ample field does the unive
many ages would pass in barely informing ou
number of worlds?"
IV
There are numerous other poems in the eigh

that reflect the influence of Newton's Prin
reference or by describing the regular motio
bodies and the effect of gravitation, especiall
heavens declare the glory of God, and to the po
the great scientist who was able to show this m
The revelation of God through astronomy belon
study, and so I shall include here, in a chrono
only those poems where Newton is named. In
overlapping with Miss Nicolson's illustrations
will deal only with ideas arising from the Princip
Matthew Tomlinson's The Trinity, written i
most of its science about comets and tides to D
Theology but praises Newton's "piercing wit."
cites Newton three times in his long poetical essay, Nature
Display'd (1727), once for color, once for motion of the
comets, and once for the influence of gravitation on tides.
Samuel Edwards praises Newton in the preface to his poem,
The Copernican System (1728), and again when, after describ-
ing the strict bounds set for direful comets, he asks where were
the stars "when tow'ring Newton's eyes were closed in death."
The anonymous author of Madness: a Poem (1728) pays the
Principia an indirect compliment when he calls Newton a fool
for believing that he controls nature:
By him the stars are fix'd, the planets roll,

And wasteful comets own his wide controul;
There's nought in nature, art, or science new,
But comes within his comprehensive view.
In 1733 Pope distilled the scientific commonplaces of his

time into the imaginative discourse of his Essay on Man. In
17P. 15. H. N. Fairchild, Religious Trends in English Poetry, II, 69, discusses
this poem and places its science above its philosophy.
WILLIAM POWELL JONES 29g
arriving at his parodox of man in E

and riddle of the world," he stated
had been saying more verbosely about
revealed by Newton's laws of motio
He who througlh vast immensity
See worlds on worlds compose one
Observe how system into system
Wlhat other planets circle other
What varied being peoples every
Mlay tell why Heaven has made u
Again in Epistle II he ridicules the
tlhe universe but cannot know them
definitely in terms of Newton, not only by the allusion to
gravitation and motion from the Principia and to correcting
"old time" from the Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amend-
ed, but also by reference to the recent poems on Newton's death
by Tlhomson and otlhers in which Newton is depicted as learn-
ing from "superior beings" after death what he had not been
able to discover in this world. It is difficult to reconcile these
lines with Pope in another context, "God said, Let Newton be,
and there was light," but a reading of the entire passage shows
that Newton is praised as the best of futile scientists:
Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides,

Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old time, and regulate the sun. ...
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule-
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!
Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal man unfold all Nature's law,
Admir'd such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And show'd a Newton as we show an ape.
Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind,
Describe or fix one movement of his mind?
Who saw its fires here rise, and there descend,
Explain his own beginning, or his end?
The Essay on Man is not thought of as a scientific poem, but

surely it is clear that at least the first two epistles are made
more vivid by reference to recent scientific discoveries and by
300 N EWTON DEMANDS THE MUSE
repetition of the very ideas and ex

physico-theological poems. The sci
is unparalleled imaginative discour
century of the rhetoric of science.
Also in 1733 Samuel Bowden, w
to write his long eulogy on Newton, summarized his notion
of the Principia in these lines from his poetical essay, "On
the New Method of Treating Physick, ascribed to Dr. Morgan,
on his Philosophical Principles of Medicine":
Sages now trust to fairy scenes no more,

Nor venture farther, than they see the shore:
They build on sense, then reason from th' effect,
On well establish'd truths their schemes erect;
By these some new Phaenomena explain;
And light divine in ev'ry process gain.
Such was the path immortal Newton trod.
He form'd the wondrous plan, and mark'd the road;
Led by this clue he travel'd o'er the sky,
And marshal'd all the shining worlds on high,
Pursu'd the comets, where they farthest run,
And brought them back obsequious to the sun.18
In 1735 William Melmoth devoted 24 lines of his poem,

Of Active and Retired Life to praise of Newton, the mighty
genius who explored all creation and gave the clue to the vast
design of the celestial universe: "Long as those orbs he weigh'd
shall shed their rays, His truth shall guide us, and shall last
his praise."
Also in 1735 Henry Brooke wrote his long physico-theological
poem, Universal Beauty, which Miss Nicolson profusely quotes
to show the poet's interest in light and color. While it is difficult
to analyze the ecstatic ramblings of this poetical essay, it seems
clear to me that Brooke's main scientific interest is in the world
seen under the microscope, both plant and animal, yet the
first of his six books is devoted to the divine order seen in the
contrasting worlds of the telescope and microscope. The "uni-
versal wedlock" that holds celestial bodies in harmonious motion
and the boundless universe "where countless orbs through count-
less systems shine" show clearly that he was influenced by the
18Bowden, Poetical Essays, I (London, 1733), 25-35.
W I L L I A M P O W E L L JONES 301
Principia, even when he concludes that the final answ

"beyond what Clarkes can prove or Newtons can explo
An example of NTewton cited several times in an un
place is Thomas Hobson's Christianity the Light of the
published in 1745 but written several years earlier. In
count of the creation of the universe, Hobson pictures th
and kindred orbs that range through space with harm
motion. He explains that his account of the sun fixed
heavens by geometric rule "with unbroken laws of kind
tion" refers to Newton's theory that attraction in the su
the earth and planets together. Three more times in t
Hobson refers to Newton's theory of attraction, once as a
metaphor comparing reason's control of the passions "as New-
ton's sun the erring planets guides."
In 1739 Moses Browne in his ambitious Essays on the Universe
had much to say about the orderly world revealed by astronomy
through the Principia: "Newton! vast mind! whose piercing
pow'rs apply'd, The secret cause of motion first descry'd." In
the same year Samuel Boyse first printed Deity, a long poem
on the attributes of God revealed by science, where his praise
of Newton is implied by the use of the Principia to show the
vast design of the celestial systems and by the concluding hymn
of nature: "While systems roll, obedient to thy view, And
worlds rejoiced-which Newton never knew." In 1743 John
Brown, in Honour: a Poem, linked Newton on motion with
Socrates on morals:
See Newton chase conjecture's twilight ray,

And light up nature into certain day!
He wide creation's trackless mazes trod;
And in each atom found the ruling God.19
In 1746 Henry Jones published in Dublin a poem that

showed the influence of the Principia on popular science,
Philosophy: a Poem address'd to the Ladies who attend Mr.
Booth's Lectures. After describing experiments with color, mag-
netism, and electricity, Jones gives an account of one of the
ingenious planetariums then used for explanation:
Contracted here by wondrous art is seen

A boundless system in a small machine;
l9Reprinted in Robert Dodsley, A Collection of Poems (1760), III, 285-97.
302 N E W T O N D E M A N D S THE M U S E
Here human skill to proud perfection broug

The mortal mimic of omnific thought,
Th' Almighty's model to the mind conveys,
The universe, and all its pow'rs displays;
How wander planets, how revolves the year,
The moon how changes, and how comets glare.
The important effect of this popularization, however, is to show

the God behind nature:
Whose pow'rful fiat, whose creative will

First founded nature, and supports her still.
Here godlike Newton's all capacious mind
(The glory and the guide of human kind)
Shows wedded worlds far distant worlds embrace
With mutual bands, yet keep their destin'd space,
Roll endless measures through th' etherial plain,
Link'd by the social strong attractive chain,
Whose latent springs exert all nature's force,
Inwrap the poles, and point the stars their course.20
Isaac Hawkins Brown composed a Latin poem on the im-

mortality of the soul that was translated in at least six different
English versions after its publication in 1754, which is an
example of how the Principia could be introduced into a learned
work. Among "those sons of science" who describe the motions
of the celestial bodies Bacon showed the way, he said, to the
immortal Newton, who "unlocks great nature's secret springs"
by demonstrating the laws ordained by God, such as the one
that shows how matter is driven by gravity and so gives motion
to "creation's vast machine."21
20Reprinted in his Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1749), pp. 22-26.

Jones's poem, "An Essay on the Weakness of Human Knowledge," which Miss
Nicolson cites (Newton Demands the Muse, p. 137) as an instance of turning
from praise of Newton to criticism, is easily understood when put alongside
many other poems on the limitations of science, as I have shown elsewhere. The
1749 volume contains (p. 150) another tribute to Newton in "To a Friend,"
where among the sporadic appearance of wise men "Plato glitter'd, godlike New-
ton shone."
21John Cranwell, A Poem on the Immortality of the Soul, translated from the
Latin of Isaac Hawkins Browne (Cambridge, Eng., 1765). Fairchild, Religious
Trends, I, 472-475, names also the translations of William Hay, Richard Grey,
Soame Jenyns, and John Byrom. A translation with commentary and notes was
also made by John Lettice (Cambridge, Eng., 1795).
WILLiAM POWELL JONES 303
In 1754 Thomas Denton in his poem, Imm

Consolation of Human Life, used a number
science including color, the metamorphosis of
ton's laws of motion: "Thus deathless Newton deaf to nature's
cries Would measure time and space, and travel 'round the
skies."22 In 1761 The Vanity of Philsophick Systems: a Poem
addressed to the Royal Society had as its theme the fallibility of
all human knowledge, yet among thinkers the anonymous poet
places Newton highest for his Principia:
Sagacious Newton lost with pond'ring thought

To mathematick rules a system brought;
God as an Eastern monarch, left for show;
His viceroy, Gravity, the God below.
In 1762 the anonymous poet of The Muse's Recreation devoted

much of his praise of science to the motion of the "spheres that
roll harmonious" and in the illumined spaces of the Milky Way
sees the noble powers of the exalted soul "Like Newton grasp
creation's ample whole." In 1765 the author of the anonymous
On the Winter Solstice: a Descriptive Poem soars in his imagi-
nation "Through the fixed stars; sees round each blazing sun
Unnumber'd systems in their journey run" and tries to explore
the secret causes behind them "with bold Newton's line."
In 1771 William Hayward Roberts, in his three long poetical
essays on the existence, attributes, and providence of God, fre-
quently used the discoveries of the Principia (e.g., "what hidden
power wheels the bright planets round their central orb?"),
yet in his examples of scientists he cited Newton, "pride of
Britannia's isle," for the Optics. In the same year Edward Burn-
aby Greene, as part of "The Advice," asked his readers to study
science and learn what controls the tides, the seasons, and the
stars, "And with unerring Newton tread the road, That lifts the
bosom to the throne of God."23 The idea of the limitations of
science in Robert Nugent's Faith: a Poem (1774) concentrated
on motion and gravitation, asking questions (e.g., "whence does
central force attract?") which no one can answer. He implied
that the Principia has the nearest answer when he concludes
that even "Newton's lights would blaze in vain."
22Printed anonymously in 1754, the poem was reprinted in 1755 with the
author's name.
e3Poetical Essays (London, 1771), p. 114.
304 N E W T O N D E M A N DS THE M U S E
In 1779 an obscure short poem, William Tasker's "An Ode

to Curiosity," depicted Newton riding sublimely in space in
search of God, the Universal Mind:
By thee inspir'd, he fearless soar'd,

The trackless paths of space explor'd,
Up to the first Great Cause;
Th' eccentric comet's course he knew,
From principles sublimely few,
Explain'd all Nature's laws.
Th' attractive and repulsive force,
He taught to solve the planets' course
Encircling thee, 0 Sun!24
In 1781 Capel Lofft wrote his long poetical essay, Eudosia:
or a Poem on the Universe, in which six of the seven books are
a belated tribute to astronomy and the orderly motion of tlhe
celestial universe revealed in tlhe Principia. Newton is mentioned
by name often: in Book III, where an unnamed star in Virgo
should be given the "immortal name" of Newton, who from the
heavens "Charm'd true philosophy to visit earth"; in Book V,
where in the midst of eclipses, phases in the planets, and tides,
an explanation of Newton's Optics is introduced; and in Book
VI on comets and on electricity where Franklin, a modern mix-
ture of Solon and Newton, is introduced.
In 1784 Thomas Maurice, in Westminster-Abbey: an Elegiac
Poem, praised Newton for the Principia:
'Tis Newton's self unfolds, in daring strain,
The flaming tract which devious comets run;
The eternal laws that bind the ebbing main,
And to the center fix the stedfast sun.
In 1785 William Cowper wrote the best poem on the diviniza-

tion of nature in his age, but the science of The Task is limited
to the natural history of the English countryside. Cowper be-
comes impatient with scientists who count the spots on the sun,
measure an atom, or gird a world. When he mentions Newton
it is only when he wishes to recall nostalgically when religion
and science were friends in the early days when "Newton, the
childlike sage" was "a sagacious reader of the works of God."
24Tasker, Poems (London, 1779).
WILLIAM POWELL JONES3 305
But he reflects the influence of the Princ

lates on the glory of God in the stars tha
the "rolling worlds" and "the harmonious
In 1788 James Hurdis praised in The Village Curate the
great scientists whose astronomical genius has helped "unfold
the awful Deity," especially Newton, whose "quick and piercing
eye" penetrates the secrets of the universe. In 1795 a belated
tribute to Newton and the power of astronomy to reveal the
order of the universe appeared in Henry Moore of Liskeard's
Private Life: a Moral Rhapsody, as the poet in retirement medi-
tates on science:
Now boldly soars among the stars to stray,

While Newton's mighty genius points the way:
Thro' Nature's dread immense he darts his eyes,
And new unnumber'd wonders round him rise;
What well-proportion'd pow'rs the planets roll,
How various parts compose one beauteous whole;
While in her centre thron'd, blest harmony
Tunes her immortal strings and charms them to agree.25
Finally in 1799 Thomas Maurice in Grove Hill described the

astronomical models of Ferguston "who with great Newton in
mechanics towers," with which we can explore the heavens
"where gravitating worlds unnumbered sweep In beauteous
order."
There are many other poets who mention Newton, but I
have omitted those of general praise26 as well as some, like
William Blake, who are generously treated by Miss Nicolson.
In general, by the end of the century Linnaeus in botany,
Priestley in chemistry, and Herschel in astronomy had replaced
Newton, but none of them achieved the emotional appeal of
Newton.
The full story of the influence of Newton's discoveries pro-
claimed in the Principia is too long to tell here, but I have tried
to show that when poets in the eighteenth century wrote about
the celestial universe, the orderly motion of planets and comets,
25Reprinted in Moore, Poems, Lyrical and Miscellaneous (London, 1803), pp.

144-153.
20For example, Samuel Bishop in 1796 praises Newton with Bacon and Boyle
for true science. See also Soame Jenyns, "Epistle Written in the Country," and
Samuel Boyse, "Triumph of Nature," for general praise of Newton.
306 NEW T O N D E M A N D S - THE M U S E
gravitation, and the effect of the moon on tide

ing of the Principia. Often the poets were u
where they touched upon the sublime in a m
into boundless space, yet they saw Newton as a symbol of a
new science that could show the orderliness of planets and
stars and even comets, another proof to them of the wisdom of
God in nature. The aesthetics of eighteenth-century English
poetry is full of light and color that was heightened by Newton's
Optics, but the numerous poems on the wisdom of God in
nature use Newton's laws of motion from the Principia. By the
1740's the idea was a commonplace to be used without mention
of Newton's name, but when special tribute was paid to the
great scientist the Principia received more emphasis than the
Optics.
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Newton Further Demands the Muse

SIR ISAAC NEWTON wras already known

1Newton Demands the Muse (Princeton, 1946). For additional background

Milton was followed by that of Newton, from

3PMLA, LXXIV (1959), 41-51.

son's Seasons, and the physico-theological poems of Henry

Let us begin with the eulogies of Newton written shortly after

James Thomson in his eclectic manner put a considerable

7McKillop's richly documented introduction to Thomson's poem on Newton

sound, and a final three and one-half pages to unsolved

Who to creation's distant regions soar'd,

Bowden tried in his couplets to explain gravitation, the balance

Newton arose; shew'd how each planet moved. ...

8Samuel Bowden, Poetical Essays on Several Occasions, II (London: J. Pem-

The second, a more general summary in

The sixth poem repeats the same theme of tracking wandering

Millions of worlds possess the vast profound!

Newton without a rival reigns alone,

The other poem is addressed to Queen Caroline "On the Bustoes

Newton, th' All-wise Creator's works explores,

11Gentleman's Magazine, pp. 429 ff. for prizes 6-9.

In each new sphere, each new-appearing sun,

See where he mounts the high, diurnal sphere,

53Both poems were published in Merlin: a Poem . . . by a Lady, (London,

Mark where he halts on Saturn, tipt with

The most vivid example of this idea appea

Revolve harmonious, world attracting world

Where unknown suns to unknown systems

The poet continues his scientific journey t

Newton, immortal Newton rose;

And then in a footnote the author amplifies t

There are numerous other poems in the eigh

By him the stars are fix'd, the planets roll,

In 1733 Pope distilled the scientific commonplaces of his

arriving at his parodox of man in E

Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides,

The Essay on Man is not thought of as a scientific poem, but

repetition of the very ideas and ex

Sages now trust to fairy scenes no more,

In 1735 William Melmoth devoted 24 lines of his poem,

18Bowden, Poetical Essays, I (London, 1733), 25-35.

Principia, even when he concludes that the final answ

See Newton chase conjecture's twilight ray,

In 1746 Henry Jones published in Dublin a poem that

Contracted here by wondrous art is seen

l9Reprinted in Robert Dodsley, A Collection of Poems (1760), III, 285-97.

Here human skill to proud perfection broug

The important effect of this popularization, however, is to show

Whose pow'rful fiat, whose creative will

Isaac Hawkins Brown composed a Latin poem on the im-

20Reprinted in his Poems on Several Occasions (London, 1749), pp. 22-26.

In 1754 Thomas Denton in his poem, Imm

Sagacious Newton lost with pond'ring thought

In 1762 the anonymous poet of The Muse's Recreation devoted

In 1779 an obscure short poem, William Tasker's "An Ode

By thee inspir'd, he fearless soar'd,

In 1785 William Cowper wrote the best poem on the diviniza-

24Tasker, Poems (London, 1779).

But he reflects the influence of the Princ

Now boldly soars among the stars to stray,

Finally in 1799 Thomas Maurice in Grove Hill described the

25Reprinted in Moore, Poems, Lyrical and Miscellaneous (London, 1803), pp.