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The botanic garden, a poem

In two parts. Part I. Containing The economy of Vegetation, Part II. The Loves of the plants. With philosophical notes. The fourth edition. [by Erasmus Darwin]
Darwin, Erasmus (1731-1802)
  
[epigraph]

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[section]
  
TO THE AUTHOR OF THE POEM ON THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.
  
TO Dr. DARWIN.
  
TO Dr. DARWIN.
  
TO Dr. DARWIN.
  
Address to the River Derwent, on whose Banks the Author of the Botanic Garden resides.
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THE BOTANIC GARDEN.
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PART I. CONTAINING THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION
 I. 
CANTO I.
 I. 
I.
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II.
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III.
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IV.
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V.
 VI. 
VI.
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VII.
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3.
 VIII. 
VIII.
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XII.
  
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CANTO II.
  
[prologue]
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
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III.
 IV. 
IV.
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V.
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3.
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4.
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VI.
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 VII. 
VII.
 VIII. 
VIII.
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XI.
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CANTO III.
  
[prologue]
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
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III.
 IV. 
IV.
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V.
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2.
 VI. 
VI.
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VII.
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VIII.
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IX.
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X.
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XI.
 XII. 
XII.
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XIII.
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XIV.
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CANTO IV.
  
[prologue]
 I. 
I.
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II.
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III.
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2.
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IV.
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VIII.
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X.
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XII.
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 XIII. 
XIII.
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XIV.
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1.
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2.
 XV. 
XV.
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PART II. CONTAINING THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS
 I. 
CANTO I.
 II. 
CANTO II.
 III. 
CANTO III.
 IV. 
CANTO IV.

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IV.

“Effulgent Maids! you round deciduous day,
Tressed with soft beams, your glittering bandsarray;
18

On Earth's cold bosom, as the Sun retires,
Confine with folds of air the lingering fires;
19

O'er Eve's pale forms diffuse phosphoric light,
And deck with lambent flames the shrine of Night.
So, warm'd and kindled by meridian skies,
And view'd in darkness with dilated eyes,
Bologna's chalks with faint ignition blaze,
Beccari's shells emit prismatic rays.
20

So to the sacred Sun in Memnon's fane,
Spontaneous concords quired the matin strain;
21

—Touch'd by his orient beam, responsive rings
The living lyre, and vibrates all its strings;
Accordant ailes the tender tones prolong,
And holy echoes swell the adoring song.
“You with light Gas the lamps nocturnal feed,
Which dance and glimmer o'er the marshy mead;
Shine round Calendula at twilight hours,
And tip with silver all her saffron flowers;
Warm on her mossy couch the radiant Worm,
Guard from cold dews her love-illumin'd form,
22

From leaf to leaf conduct the virgin light,
Star of the earth, and diamond of the night.
You bid in air the tropic Beetle burn,
And fill with golden flame his winged urn;
Or gild the surge with insect-sparks, that swarm
Round the bright oar, the kindling prow alarm;
Or arm in waves, electric in his ire,
The dread Gymnotus with ethereal fire.—
23

Onward his course with waving tail he helms,
And mimic lightnings scare the watery realms.
24

So, when with bristling plumes the Bird of Jove
Vindictive leaves the argent fields above,
Borne on broad wings the guilty world he awes,
And grasps the lightning in his shining claws.
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