Note 170 — Chapter IV

"From floating elements in chaos hurl'd, Self-form'd of atoms, sprang the infant world: No great First Cause inspired the happy plot, But all was matter—and no matter what. Atoms, attracted by some law occult, Settling in spheres, the globe was the result: Pure child of Chance, which still directs the ball, As rotatory atoms rise or fall. In ether launch'd, the peopled bubble floats, A mass of particles, and confluent motes, "So nicely poised, that if one atom flings Its weight away, aloft the planet springs, And wings its course through realms of boundless space, Outstripping comets in eccentric race. Add but one atom more, it sinks outright Down to the realms of Tartarus and night." "Rejected Addresses," pp. 115, 116.