Venus 1874

Modern technology seems to be driving a revival of interest in
astronomy. Better views of the heavenly bodies increasingly expand our
horizon and clarity of observation. However, it was not just we, the
Ancient Greeks, or Keppler who held a sense of awe and wonder of the
universe; this poet writing to the paper in the tiny colony at the end
of the earth (Adelaide) at the last transit of Venus reminds us of
man's eternal fascination with the mystery of the Cosmos

"Address to Venus
(1874)

So thou hast come and gone as they fore-told us,
And justified each careful calculation;
At first the sceptical said thou had'st sold us
And disappointed our great expectation,
Because,- no doubt in order to enhance it,-
Behind opaquest clouds began thy transit.

But soon the sun shone out, and our observers
Through telescopes and coloured glasses gazing,
Beheld thy form, and, frantic in their fervours,
Intently watched the spectacle amazing,
Noting the times of transit and of egress,
While thou did'st frown as black as any Negress.

Was it the sun's fierce glowing rays around thee
Induced thee to put of thy garb of light?
Or did the crowd of watchful eyes confound thee
To shroud thyself in sable robes of night?
Not so did thee rise from the sea all dripping
To plead with Paris for the golden pippin.

Art thou aware what wonderful commotion
Thy transit has occasioned here below;
How many learned men have crossed the ocean
To pitch their tents amid Kerguelin's snow,
Or, following Cook that navigator mighty,
Erect their telescopes in Otaheite?

Dost note the changes here since that occasion
When full a century ago Cook came?
What thinks thou of our national invasion
Of this new land? May'st thou not fairly claim
Our lasting gratitude- if we have got any,-
To think thou led'st him to the Bay of Botany?

And tell us too what unsuspected wonders
Thou wilt discover- what new facts await us!
Shall we avoid our predecessors' blunders
With all our proud array of apparatus?
Or is The Register's parade a story all
Of "photo-heliograph" and " equatorial?"

'Tis said thou hast disclosed an atmosphere
Inhaled perchance by countless living creatures;
Tell us what other marvels we may hear
Revealed about thy closely-noted features?
Some hoped to see thee with a bright young satellite;
Hast thou to mortal eyes afforded that delight?

Perchance with sights still stranger thou salutest
Some lucky gazer through a monster telescope;
But mostly 'tis with measurements minutest
And calculations hard our learned fellows cope,
Resolved to ascertain with thy assistance
Almost to half an inch the sun's true distance.

And what if our philosophers have stumbled,
Detecting in their reckonings some flaws!
Will it have pleased thee, Venus, to have humbled
Their pride in reading the Creator's laws?
Some wiseacres I know hate all alliance
Between eternal truth and men of science.

Such fellows emulate the inquisition,
And, had they the powers as they have the inclination,
Would doom our Galileo's to perdition
Or lock them up till they made recantation
And owned- how e'er their conciences might twist 'em,-
That Moses understood the Solar System.

Are there such creatures on thy globe; oh Venus,
Who love the darkness better than the light,
And from the quest for knowledge try to ween us
As foolish nurse-maids rule a child, by fright?
Such zealots far more scepticism kindle
Than all the teachings of Professor Tyndall.

No! In thy glowing orb my fancy fashions
Beings superior to our mundane errors,
Refined in intellect, subdued in passions,
Their search for truth exempt from vulgar terrors,
Finding in every new law's revelation
Only fresh scope for love and veneration.

(submitted by)
Jim G

(Jim Greenfield) wrote in message . com...
Modern technology seems to be driving a revival of interest in
astronomy. Better views of the heavenly bodies increasingly expand our
horizon and clarity of observation. However, it was not just we, the
Ancient Greeks, or Keppler who held a sense of awe and wonder of the
universe; this poet writing to the paper in the tiny colony at the end
of the earth (Adelaide) at the 1874 transit of Venus reminds us of
man's eternal fascination with the mystery of the Cosmos

"Address to Venus"


So thou hast come and gone as they fore-told us,
And justified each careful calculation;
At first the sceptical said thou had'st sold us
And disappointed our great expectation,
Because,- no doubt in order to enhance it,-
Behind opaquest clouds began thy transit.

But soon the sun shone out, and our observers
Through telescopes and coloured glasses gazing,
Beheld thy form, and, frantic in their fervours,
Intently watched the spectacle amazing,
Noting the times of transit and of egress,
While thou did'st frown as black as any Negress.

Was it the sun's fierce glowing rays around thee
Induced thee to put of thy garb of light?
Or did the crowd of watchful eyes confound thee
To shroud thyself in sable robes of night?
Not so did thee rise from the sea all dripping
To plead with Paris for the golden pippin.

Art thou aware what wonderful commotion
Thy transit has occasioned here below;
How many learned men have crossed the ocean
To pitch their tents amid Kerguelin's snow,
Or, following Cook that navigator mighty,
Erect their telescopes in Otaheite?

Dost note the changes here since that occasion
When full a century ago Cook came?
What thinks thou of our national invasion
Of this new land? May'st thou not fairly claim
Our lasting gratitude- if we have got any,-
To think thou led'st him to the Bay of Botany?

And tell us too what unsuspected wonders
Thou wilt discover- what new facts await us!
Shall we avoid our predecessors' blunders
With all our proud array of apparatus?
Or is The Register's parade a story all
Of "photo-heliograph" and " equatorial?"

'Tis said thou hast disclosed an atmosphere
Inhaled perchance by countless living creatures;
Tell us what other marvels we may hear
Revealed about thy closely-noted features?
Some hoped to see thee with a bright young satellite;
Hast thou to mortal eyes afforded that delight?

Perchance with sights still stranger thou salutest
Some lucky gazer through a monster telescope;
But mostly 'tis with measurements minutest
And calculations hard our learned fellows cope,
Resolved to ascertain with thy assistance
Almost to half an inch the sun's true distance.

And what if our philosophers have stumbled,
Detecting in their reckonings some flaws!
Will it have pleased thee, Venus, to have humbled
Their pride in reading the Creator's laws?
Some wiseacres I know hate all alliance
Between eternal truth and men of science.

Such fellows emulate the inquisition,
And, had they the powers as they have the inclination,
Would doom our Galileo's to perdition
Or lock them up till they made recantation
And owned- how e'er their conciences might twist 'em,-
That Moses understood the Solar System.

Are there such creatures on thy globe; oh Venus,
Who love the darkness better than the light,
And from the quest for knowledge try to ween us
As foolish nurse-maids rule a child, by fright?
Such zealots far more scepticism kindle
Than all the teachings of Professor Tyndall.

No! In thy glowing orb my fancy fashions
Beings superior to our mundane errors,
Refined in intellect, subdued in passions,
Their search for truth exempt from vulgar terrors,
Finding in every new law's revelation
Only fresh scope for love and veneration.

by John Howard Clark
Editor of the "Adelaide Register"
(submitted by)
Jim G