The Virginia Gazette

Of the Beauty and Usefulness of the AURORA.

Ascending from the Shades of Night
Aurora glow'd in all her rosy Light,
The Daughter of the Dawn

TICKELL's HOMER.

POETS, who know no better Method of pleasing, than by lively Pictures of Things, have given us the pleasantest Descriptions of Aurora.

They make her the Daughter of the Air, and style her the Forerunner of the Day. In this Quality she is charged with the Custody of the Gates in the East, and it is she who, at the appointed Time, comes to open them with her rosy Fingers. She sends before her the Zephyrs, to scatter gloomy Vapours, and purify the thickened Air. Wherever she appears, she enlivens the Verdure, makes Flowers grow under her Steps, and spreads Beauty and Joy over the Universe.

These poetical Fancies have something in them very agreeable, but the fabulous Strokes, with which Truth is blended therein, are nothing but a Paint, that disfigures it and impairs its Beauty. Let us then leave the Poetical and consider the Natural Aurora. This, indeed, is so majestical and so bright, that it wants no borrowed Help, or Decorations, to be infinitely pleasing.

The Aurora, with Regard to us, is a Creation entirely new, and every whit as noble and free a Gift, as the first Creation. It is wholly new, since the Aurora causes Heaven and Earth to rise out of that profound Darkness, which took from us the Sight and Use of them, as if they were no more. It may even be said, without derogating from the exactest Truth, that the Birth of Light is more magnificent at present, than it was at the first Moment of it's Creation. There were then no Spectators, nor any Objects to be enlightened. The Earth, it is true, was already made: God had formed the several Parts of Matter, he had with Economy spread the various Strata, and prepared all the Organs thereof; But the Animals, the Plants and the Works wherewith it was to be covered and adorned, were not as yet upon it. They appeared thereon but successively, and within the Compass of several Days, as God was pleased to regulate their Being, and assign them their respective Places. The Waters of the Atmosphere had not yet been raised on high, nor those of the Sea collected and confined within the lower Places wherein they now sojourn. These Waters covered the whole Earth: In short, it was as yet without either Order or Beauty. But now when the Dawning of the Day scatters the Darkness, it opens to our Sight an Earth strewed with Blessings.
and embellished, for our Sakes, with the most costly Attire. It unveils every Thing to our Eyes; it shews us the Mountains, with the waving Woods, with which they are crowned: It offers to our View the softer Hills, with the Vines that are like Tapestry upon them; the Fields, with the Crops that cover them: It draws the Curtain from over whole Cities, and Towns; It brings out of Darkness the Domes and Pyramids of Temples, the magnificent Castles of the Great, and the Abodes of the People dispersed all over the Plain. To this Favour of renewing the World, the Aurora adds another, It gives new Life to Man himself, in raising him from Sleep, which is the Image of Death. The Morning restores him to the Use of his Understanding, of which Sleep had almost robbed him. It warns him of the Time when he is to Return to his Work. The Birds are in the Bushes before him, and fill the Air with a Thousand warbling Notes. But let us not be so entirely taken up with the Good and Favours done to us, as to forget to bestow a great Part of our Attention on the Delight that heightens them. I see the whole Circle of the Horizon gradually inflamed with the brightest Red. The Clouds every where contract various and lively Colours; the Edges of the thickest become Fringes brighter than Silver: the thin Vapours that cross the Vale, are become like Gold. The Green of the Plants, attempered with the Drops of Dew which cover them, gives them the Clearness, and all the Lustre of Pearls.