He loved those heavenly bodies which, the Hymn
Of Addison declares, preach solemn sermons,
While waltzing on their pivots like young Germans.
Night after night, with telescope in hand,
Supposing that the night was fair and clear,
Aloft, on the house-top, he took his stand,
Till he obtained to know each twinkling sphere
Better, I doubt, than Milton’s “Starry Vere;”
Thus, reading thro’ poor Ellen’s fond epistle,
He soon espied the flaw—the lapse so sheer