A Sequel to Don Juan — page 85: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

76 A SEQUEL To Kil. Absurd ! Will Nature travel from her rules To suit the little pride of wretched man ?— Th’ abominable prejudice of fools Would make her faithless to that gradient plan Which is her vital principle. The schools May prop up ancient dogmas if they can, But I for one will not allow sound sense To yield to human pride and insolence. IV. Of life the lowest forms and most minute Are gradually varied, till they rise Unto the highest. Nature’s bounties suit Each race progressive : she diversifies The organs which endow the worm—the brute , And from the zoophyte she amplifies, Through every stage, those organs, till at length She perfects man in beauty, sense, and strength. IV. Hence I am at a loss to comprehend,— And ne’er shall know unless I have the cap Of knowledge my poor reason to befriend,— How Nature takes a leap, and leaves a gap, With brutes at one, and men at t’other end ; Or why abruptly she the chain should snap Till then so regular in its gradation, That man should stand alone in the creation. comicbookscom