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] |
 |
|
 | I. |
| II. |
| III. | CANTO III. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IV. |
| II. |
 | The botanic garden, a poem |  |
127
CANTO III.
ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD CANTO.
Address to the Nymphs. I. Steam rises from the ocean, floats in clouds, descends in rain and dew, or is condensed on hills, produces springs, and rivers, and returns to the sea. So the blood circulates through the body and returns to the heart, 11. II. 1. Tides, 57. 2. Echinus, nautilus, pinna, cancer. Grotto of a mermaid, 65. 3. Oil stills the waves. Coral rocks. Shipworm, or Teredo. Maelstrome, a whirlpool on the coast of Norway, 85. III. Rivers from beneath the snows on the Alps. The Tiber, 103. IV. Overflowing of the Nile from African Monsoons, 129. V. 1. Giesar, a boiling fountain in Iceland, destroyed by inundation, and consequent earthquake, 145. 2. Warm medicinal springs. Buxton. Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, 157. VI. Combination of vital air and inflammable gas produces water. Which is another source of springs and rivers. Allegorical loves of Jupiter and Juno productive of vernal showers, 201. VII. Aquatic Taste. Distant murmur of the sea by night. Sea-horse. Nereid singing, 261. VIII. The Nymphs of the river Derwent lament the death of Mrs. French, 297. IX. Inland navigation. Monument for Mr. Brindley, 341. X. Pumps explained. Child sucking. Mothers exhorted to nurse their children. Cherub sleeping, 365.
128
129
The tuneful tones along her shadowy dells,
Her wrinkling founts with soft vibration shakes,
Curls her deep wells, and rimples all her lakes,
Thrills each wide stream, Britannia's isle that laves,
Her headlong cataracts, and circumfluent waves.
—Thick as the dews, which deck the morning flowers,
Or rain-drops twinkling in the sun-bright showers,
Fair Nymphs, emerging in pellucid bands,
Rise, as she turns, and whiten all the lands.
130
I.
“Your buoyant troops on dimpling ocean tread,
Wafting the moist air from his oozy bed,
Aquatic Nymphs!—you lead with viewless march
The winged Vapours up the aerial arch,
On each broad cloud a thousand sails expand,
And steer the shadowy treasure o'er the land,
Through vernal skies the gathering drops diffuse,
Plunge in soft rains, or sink in silver dews.—
Your lucid bands condense with fingers chill
The blue mist hovering round the gelid hill;
In clay-form'd beds the trickling streams collect,
Strain through white sands, through pebbly veins direct;
Or point in rifted rocks their dubious way,
And in each bubbling fountain rise to day.
Wafting the moist air from his oozy bed,
Aquatic Nymphs!—you lead with viewless march
The winged Vapours up the aerial arch,
On each broad cloud a thousand sails expand,
And steer the shadowy treasure o'er the land,
131
Plunge in soft rains, or sink in silver dews.—
132
The blue mist hovering round the gelid hill;
133
Strain through white sands, through pebbly veins direct;
134
And in each bubbling fountain rise to day.
“Nymphs!
you then guide, attendant from their source,
The associate rills along their sinuous course;
Float in bright squadrons by the willowy brink,
Or circling slow in limpid eddies sink;
Call from her crystal cave the Naiad-Nymph,
Who hides her fine form in the passing lymph,
And, as below she braids her hyaline hair,
Eyes her soft smiles reflected in the air;
Or sport in groups with River-Boys, that lave
Their silken limbs amid the dashing wave;
Pluck the pale primrose bending from its edge,
Or tittering dance amid the whispering sedge.—
The associate rills along their sinuous course;
Float in bright squadrons by the willowy brink,
Or circling slow in limpid eddies sink;
Call from her crystal cave the Naiad-Nymph,
Who hides her fine form in the passing lymph,
And, as below she braids her hyaline hair,
Eyes her soft smiles reflected in the air;
Or sport in groups with River-Boys, that lave
Their silken limbs amid the dashing wave;
Pluck the pale primrose bending from its edge,
Or tittering dance amid the whispering sedge.—
“Onward you pass, the pine-capt hills divide,
Or feed the golden harvests on their side;
The wide-ribb'd arch with hurrying torrents fill,
Shove the slow barge, or whirl the foaming mill.
Or lead with beckoning hand the sparkling train
Of refluent water to its parent main,
And pleased revisit in their sea-moss vales
Blue Nereid-forms array'd in shining scales,
Shapes, whose broad oar the torpid wave impels,
And Tritons bellowing through their twisted shells.
Or feed the golden harvests on their side;
The wide-ribb'd arch with hurrying torrents fill,
Shove the slow barge, or whirl the foaming mill.
Or lead with beckoning hand the sparkling train
Of refluent water to its parent main,
And pleased revisit in their sea-moss vales
Blue Nereid-forms array'd in shining scales,
135
And Tritons bellowing through their twisted shells.
“So from the heart the Sanguine Stream distils
O'er Beauty's radiant shrine in vermil rills,
Feeds each fine nerve, each slender hair pervades,
The skins bright snow with living purple shades,
Each dimpling cheek with warmer blushes dyes,
Laughs on the lips, and lightens in the eyes.
—Erewhile absorb'd, the vagrant globules swim
From each fair feature, and proportion'd limb,
Join'd in one trunk with deeper tint return
To the warm concave of the vital urn.
O'er Beauty's radiant shrine in vermil rills,
Feeds each fine nerve, each slender hair pervades,
The skins bright snow with living purple shades,
Each dimpling cheek with warmer blushes dyes,
Laughs on the lips, and lightens in the eyes.
—Erewhile absorb'd, the vagrant globules swim
From each fair feature, and proportion'd limb,
Join'd in one trunk with deeper tint return
To the warm concave of the vital urn.
II.
1.
“Aquatic Maids! you sway the mighty realmsOf scale and shell, which Ocean overwhelms;
As Night's pale Queen her rising orb reveals,
And climbs the zenith with refulgent wheels,
Carr'd on the foam your glimmering legion rides,
Your little tridents heave the dashing tides,
136
Restrain their fury, or direct their force.
137
2.
“Nymphs! you adorn, in glossy volutes roll'd,The gaudy conch with azure, green, and gold.
138
Give the keel'd Nautilus his oar and sail;
139
The anchor'd Pinna, and his Cancer-friend;
With worm-like beard his toothless lips array,
And teach the unwieldy Sturgeon to betray.—
Ambush'd in weeds, or sepulchred in sands,
In dread repose He waits the scaly bands,
Waves in red spires the living lures, and draws
The unwary plunderers to his circling jaws,
Eyes with grim joy the twinkling shoals beset,
And clasps the quick inextricable net.
You chase the warrior Shark, and cumberous Whale,
And guard the Mermaid in her briny vale;
Feed the live petals of her insect-flowers,
Her shell-wrack gardens, and her sea-fan bowers;
140
And drop a pearl in every gaping shell.
3.
“Your myriad trains o'er stagnant oceans tow,Harness'd with gossamer, the loitering prow;
Or with fine films, suspended o'er the deep,
Of oil effusive lull the waves to sleep.
141
Where living rocks of worm-built coral breathe;
Meet fell Teredo, as he mines the keel
With beaked head, and break his lips of steel;
Turn the broad helm, the fluttering canvas urge
From Maelstrome's fierce innavigable surge.
—'Mid the lorn isles of Norway's stormy main,
As sweeps o'er many a league his eddying train,
Vast watery walls in rapid circles spin,
And deep-ingulph'd the Demon dwells within;
142
Down his deep den the whirling vessel draws;
Churns with his bloody mouth the dread repast,
The booming waters murmuring o'er the mast.
III.
“Where with chill frown enormous Alps alarmsA thousand realms, horizon'd in his arms;
While cloudless suns meridian glories shed
From skies of silver round his hoary head,
Tall rocks of ice refract the coloured rays,
And Frost sits throned amid the lambent blaze;
Nymphs! your thin forms pervade his glittering piles,
His roofs of chrystal, and his glassy ailes;
Where in cold caves imprisoned Naiads sleep,
Or chain'd on mossy couches wake and weep;
Where round dark crags indignant Waters bend
Through rifted ice, in ivory veins descend,
Seek through unfathom'd snows their devious track,
Heave the vast spars, the ribbed granites crack,
143
And swell the imperial Danube or the Rhine.—
—Or feed the murmuring Tiber, as he laves
His realms inglorious with diminish'd waves,
144
Sees dancing slaves insult his martial plains;
Parts with chill stream the dim religious bower,
Time-mouldered bastion, and dismantled tower;
By alter'd fanes and nameless villas glides,
And classic domes, that tremble on his sides;
Sighs o'er each broken urn, and yawning tomb,
And mourns the fall of Liberty and Rome.
IV.
“Sailing in air, when dark Monsoon inshroudsHis tropic mountains in a night of clouds;
145
And showers o'er Afric all his thousand urns;
High o'er his head the beams of Sirius glow,
And, Dog of Nile, Anubis barks below.
Nymphs! you from cliff to cliff attendant guide
In headlong cataracts the impetuous tide;
146
The bright expanse to Egypt's shower-less lands.
—Her long canals the sacred waters fill,
And edge with silver every peopled hill;
147
And Memnon bending o'er his broken lyre;
O'er furrow'd glebes and green savannas sweep,
And towns and temples laugh amid the deep.
V.
1.
“High in the frozen North where Heccla glows,And melts in torrents his coeval snows;
O'er isles and oceans sheds a sanguine light,
Or shoots red stars amid the ebon night;
When, at his base intomb'd, with bellowing sound
Fell Giesar roar'd, and struggling shook the ground;
148
A boiling deluge o'er the blasted heath;
And, wide in air, in misty volumes hurl'd
Contagious atoms o'er the alarmed world;
Nymphs! your bold myriads broke the infernal spell,
And crush'd the Sorceress in her flinty cell.
2.
“Where with soft fires in unextinguish'd urns,
Cauldron'd in rock, innocuous Lava burns;
On the bright lake your gelid hands distil
In pearly showers the parsimonious rill;
And, as aloft the curling vapours rise
Through the cleft roof, ambitious for the skies,
In vaulted hills condense the tepid steams,
And pour to Health the medicated streams.
—So in green vales amid her mountains bleak
Buxtonia smiles, the Goddess-Nymph of Peak;
Deep in warm waves, and pebbly baths she dwells,
And calls Hygeia to her sainted wells.
Cauldron'd in rock, innocuous Lava burns;
On the bright lake your gelid hands distil
In pearly showers the parsimonious rill;
And, as aloft the curling vapours rise
Through the cleft roof, ambitious for the skies,
In vaulted hills condense the tepid steams,
And pour to Health the medicated streams.
—So in green vales amid her mountains bleak
Buxtonia smiles, the Goddess-Nymph of Peak;
149
And calls Hygeia to her sainted wells.
“Hither in sportive bands bright Devon leads
Graces and Loves from Chatsworth's flowery meads,
Charm'd round the Nymph, they climb the rifted rocks;
And steep in mountain-mist their golden locks;
On venturous step her sparry caves explore,
And light with radiant eyes her realms of ore;
—Oft by her bubbling founts, and shadowy domes,
In gay undress the fairy legion roams,
Their dripping palms in playful malice fill,
Or taste with ruby lip the sparkling rill;
Croud round her baths, and, bending o'er the side,
Unclasp'd their sandals, and their zones untied,
Dip with gay fear the shuddering foot undress'd,
And quick retract it to the fringed vest;
Or cleave with brandish'd arms the lucid stream,
And sob, their blue eyes twinkling in the steam.
—High o'er the chequer'd vault with transient glow
Bright lustres dart, as dash the waves below;
And Echo's sweet responsive voice prolongs
The dulcet tumult of their silver tongues.—
O'er their flush'd cheeks uncurling tresses flow,
And dew-drops glitter on their necks of snow;
Round each fair Nymph her dropping mantle clings,
And Loves emerging shake their showery wings.
Graces and Loves from Chatsworth's flowery meads,
Charm'd round the Nymph, they climb the rifted rocks;
And steep in mountain-mist their golden locks;
On venturous step her sparry caves explore,
And light with radiant eyes her realms of ore;
—Oft by her bubbling founts, and shadowy domes,
In gay undress the fairy legion roams,
Their dripping palms in playful malice fill,
Or taste with ruby lip the sparkling rill;
150
Unclasp'd their sandals, and their zones untied,
Dip with gay fear the shuddering foot undress'd,
And quick retract it to the fringed vest;
Or cleave with brandish'd arms the lucid stream,
And sob, their blue eyes twinkling in the steam.
151
Bright lustres dart, as dash the waves below;
And Echo's sweet responsive voice prolongs
The dulcet tumult of their silver tongues.—
O'er their flush'd cheeks uncurling tresses flow,
And dew-drops glitter on their necks of snow;
Round each fair Nymph her dropping mantle clings,
And Loves emerging shake their showery wings.
“Here oft her Lord surveys the rude domain,
Fair arts of Greece triumphant in his train;
Lo! as he steps, the column'd pile ascends,
The blue roof closes, or the crescent bends;
New woods aspiring clothe their hills with green,
Smooth slope the lawns, the grey rock peeps between;
Relenting Nature gives her hand to Taste,
And Health and Beauty crown the laughing waste.
Fair arts of Greece triumphant in his train;
Lo! as he steps, the column'd pile ascends,
The blue roof closes, or the crescent bends;
152
Smooth slope the lawns, the grey rock peeps between;
Relenting Nature gives her hand to Taste,
And Health and Beauty crown the laughing waste.
VI.
“Nymphs!
your bright squadrons watch with chemic eyes
The cold-elastic vapours, as they rise;
With playful force arrest them as they pass,
And to pure Air betroth the flaming Gas.
Round their translucent forms at once they fling
Their rapturous arms, with silver bosoms cling;
In fleecy clouds their fluttering wings extend,
Or from the skies in lucid showers descend;
Whence rills and rivers owe their secret birth,
And Ocean's hundred arms infold the earth.
The cold-elastic vapours, as they rise;
With playful force arrest them as they pass,
And to pure Air betroth the flaming Gas.
153
Their rapturous arms, with silver bosoms cling;
In fleecy clouds their fluttering wings extend,
Or from the skies in lucid showers descend;
Whence rills and rivers owe their secret birth,
And Ocean's hundred arms infold the earth.
“So, robed by Beauty's Queen, with softer charms
Saturnia woo'd the Thunderer to her arms;
O'er her fair limbs a veil of light she spread,
And bound a starry diadem on her head;
Long braids of pearl her golden tresses grac'd,
And the charm'd Cestus sparkled round her waist.
—Raised o'er the woof, by Beauty's hand inwrought,
Breathes the soft Sigh, and glows the enamour'd Thought;
Vows on light wings succeed, and quiver'd Wiles,
Assuasive Accents, and seductive Smiles.
—Slow rolls the Cyprian car in purple pride,
And, steer'd by Love, ascends admiring Ide;
Climbs the green slopes, the nodding woods pervades,
Burns round the rocks, or gleams amid the shades.—
Glad Zephyr leads the van, and waves above
The barbed darts, and blazing torch of Love;
Reverts his smiling face, and pausing flings
Soft showers of roses from aurelian wings.
Delighted Fawns, in wreaths of flowers array'd,
With tiptoe Wood-Boys beat the chequer'd glade;
Alarmed Naiads, rising into air,
Lift o'er their silver urns their leafy hair;
Each to her oak the bashful Dryads shrink,
And azure eyes are seen at every chink.
—Love culls a flaming shaft of broadest wing,
And rests the fork upon the quivering string;
Points his arch eye aloft, with fingers strong
Draws to his curled ear the silken thong;
Loud twangs the steel, the golden arrow flies,
Trails a long line of lustre through the skies;
“'Tis done!” he shouts, “the mighty Monarch feels!”
And with loud laughter shakes the silver wheels;
Bends o'er the car, and whirling, as it moves,
His loosen'd bowstring, drives the rising doves.
—Pierced on his throne the starting Thunderer turns,
Melts with soft sighs, with kindling rapture burns;
Clasps her fair hand, and eyes in fond amaze
The bright Intruder with enamour'd gaze.
“And leaves my Goddess, like a blooming bride,
“The fanes of Argos for the rocks of Ide?
“Her gorgeous palaces, and amaranth bowers,
“For cliff-top'd mountains, and aerial towers?”
He said; and, leading from her ivory seat
The blushing beauty to his lone retreat,
Curtain'd with night the couch imperial shrouds,
And rests the crimson cushions upon clouds.—
Earth feels the grateful influence from above,
Sighs the soft Air, and Ocean murmurs love;
Ethereal Warmth expands his brooding wing,
And in still showers descends the genial Spring.
Saturnia woo'd the Thunderer to her arms;
O'er her fair limbs a veil of light she spread,
And bound a starry diadem on her head;
Long braids of pearl her golden tresses grac'd,
And the charm'd Cestus sparkled round her waist.
154
Breathes the soft Sigh, and glows the enamour'd Thought;
Vows on light wings succeed, and quiver'd Wiles,
Assuasive Accents, and seductive Smiles.
—Slow rolls the Cyprian car in purple pride,
And, steer'd by Love, ascends admiring Ide;
Climbs the green slopes, the nodding woods pervades,
Burns round the rocks, or gleams amid the shades.—
Glad Zephyr leads the van, and waves above
The barbed darts, and blazing torch of Love;
Reverts his smiling face, and pausing flings
Soft showers of roses from aurelian wings.
Delighted Fawns, in wreaths of flowers array'd,
With tiptoe Wood-Boys beat the chequer'd glade;
155
Lift o'er their silver urns their leafy hair;
Each to her oak the bashful Dryads shrink,
And azure eyes are seen at every chink.
—Love culls a flaming shaft of broadest wing,
And rests the fork upon the quivering string;
Points his arch eye aloft, with fingers strong
Draws to his curled ear the silken thong;
Loud twangs the steel, the golden arrow flies,
Trails a long line of lustre through the skies;
“'Tis done!” he shouts, “the mighty Monarch feels!”
And with loud laughter shakes the silver wheels;
Bends o'er the car, and whirling, as it moves,
His loosen'd bowstring, drives the rising doves.
—Pierced on his throne the starting Thunderer turns,
Melts with soft sighs, with kindling rapture burns;
Clasps her fair hand, and eyes in fond amaze
The bright Intruder with enamour'd gaze.
“And leaves my Goddess, like a blooming bride,
“The fanes of Argos for the rocks of Ide?
“Her gorgeous palaces, and amaranth bowers,
“For cliff-top'd mountains, and aerial towers?”
156
The blushing beauty to his lone retreat,
Curtain'd with night the couch imperial shrouds,
And rests the crimson cushions upon clouds.—
Earth feels the grateful influence from above,
Sighs the soft Air, and Ocean murmurs love;
Ethereal Warmth expands his brooding wing,
And in still showers descends the genial Spring.
157
VII.
“Nymphs of aquatic Taste! whose placid smileBreathes sweet enchantment o'er Britannia's isle;
Whose sportive touch in showers resplendent slings
Her lucid cataracts, and her bubbling springs;
Through peopled vales the liquid silver guides,
And swells in bright expanse her freighted tides.
You with nice ear, in tiptoe trains, pervade
Dim walks of morn or evening's silent shade;
Join the lone Nightingale, her woods among,
And roll your rills symphonious to her song;
Through fount-full dells, and wave-worn valleys move,
And tune their echoing waterfalls to love;
Or catch, attentive to the distant roar,
The pausing murmurs of the dashing shore;
Or, as aloud she pours her liquid strain,
Pursue the Nereid on the twilight main.
—Her playful Sea-horse woos her soft commands,
Turns his quick ears, his webbed claws expands,
His watery way with waving volutes wins,
Or listening librates on unmoving fins.
158
Hangs o'er his glossy sides her silver feet,
With snow-white hands her arching veil detains,
Gives to his slimy lips the slacken'd reins,
Lifts to the star of Eve her eye serene,
And chaunts the birth of Beauty's radiant Queen.—
O'er her fair brow her pearly comb unfurls
Her beryl locks, and parts the waving curls,
Each tangled braid with glistening teeth unbinds,
And with the floating treasure musks the winds.—
Thrill'd by the dulcet accents, as she sings,
The rippling wave in widening circles rings;
Night's shadowy forms along the margin gleam
With pointed ears, or dance upon the stream;
The Moon transported stays her bright career,
And maddening Stars shoot headlong from the sphere.
VIII.
“Nymphs! whose fair eyes with vivid lustres glow
For human weal, and melt at human woe;
Late as you floated on your silver shells,
Sorrowing and slow by Derwent's willowy dells;
Where by tall groves his foamy flood he steers
Through ponderous arches o'er impetuous wears,
By Derby's shadowy towers reflective sweeps,
And gothic grandeur chills his dusky deeps;
You pearl'd with Pity's drops his velvet sides,
Sigh'd in his gales, and murmur'd in his tides,
Waved o'er his fringed brink a deeper gloom,
And bow'd his alders o'er Milcena's tomb.
For human weal, and melt at human woe;
Late as you floated on your silver shells,
Sorrowing and slow by Derwent's willowy dells;
159
Through ponderous arches o'er impetuous wears,
By Derby's shadowy towers reflective sweeps,
And gothic grandeur chills his dusky deeps;
You pearl'd with Pity's drops his velvet sides,
Sigh'd in his gales, and murmur'd in his tides,
Waved o'er his fringed brink a deeper gloom,
And bow'd his alders o'er Milcena's tomb.
“Oft with sweet voice She led her infant-train,
Printing with graceful step his spangled plain,
Explored his twinkling swarms, that swim or fly,
And mark'd his florets with botanic eye.—
“Sweet bud of Spring! how frail thy transient bloom,
“Fine film,” she cried, “of Nature's fairest loom!
“Soon Beauty fades upon its damask throne!”—
—Unconscious of the worm, that mined her own!—
—Pale are those lips, where soft caresses hung,
Wan the warm cheek, and mute the tender tongue,
Cold rests that feeling heart on Derwent's shore,
And those love-lighted eye-balls roll no more!
Printing with graceful step his spangled plain,
Explored his twinkling swarms, that swim or fly,
And mark'd his florets with botanic eye.—
“Sweet bud of Spring! how frail thy transient bloom,
“Fine film,” she cried, “of Nature's fairest loom!
“Soon Beauty fades upon its damask throne!”—
—Unconscious of the worm, that mined her own!—
160
Wan the warm cheek, and mute the tender tongue,
Cold rests that feeling heart on Derwent's shore,
And those love-lighted eye-balls roll no more!
“Here her sad Consort, stealing through the gloom
Of murmuring cloysters, gazes on her tomb;
Hangs in mute anguish o'er the scutcheon'd hearse,
Or graves with trembling style the votive verse.
Of murmuring cloysters, gazes on her tomb;
Hangs in mute anguish o'er the scutcheon'd hearse,
Or graves with trembling style the votive verse.
“Sexton! oh, lay beneath this sacred shrine,
“When Time's cold hand shall close my aching eyes,
“Oh, gently lay this wearied earth of mine,
“Where wrap'd in night my loved Milcena lies.
“When Time's cold hand shall close my aching eyes,
“Oh, gently lay this wearied earth of mine,
“Where wrap'd in night my loved Milcena lies.
“So shall with purer joy my spirit move,
“When the last trumpet thrills the caves of Death,
“Catch the first whispers of my waking love,
“And drink with holy kiss her kindling breath.
“When the last trumpet thrills the caves of Death,
“Catch the first whispers of my waking love,
“And drink with holy kiss her kindling breath.
“The spotless Fair, with blush ethereal warm,
“Shall hail with sweeter smile returning day,
“Rise from her marble bed a brighter form,
“And win on buoyant step her airy way.
“Shall hail with sweeter smile returning day,
161
“And win on buoyant step her airy way.
“Shall bend approved, where beckoning hosts invite,
“On clouds of silver her adoring knee,
“Approach with Seraphim the throne of light,
“—And Beauty plead with angel-tongue for Me!”
“On clouds of silver her adoring knee,
“Approach with Seraphim the throne of light,
“—And Beauty plead with angel-tongue for Me!”
IX.
“Your virgin trains on Brindley's cradle smiled,And nursed with fairy-love the unletter'd child,
Spread round his pillow all your secret spells,
Pierced all your springs, and open'd all your wells.—
As now on grass, with glossy folds reveal'd,
Glides the bright serpent, now in flowers conceal'd;
Far shine the scales, that gild his sinuous back,
And lucid undulations mark his track;
162
His long canals, and parts the velvet meads;
Winding in lucid lines, the watery mass
Mines the firm rock, or loads the deep morass,
With rising locks a thousand hills alarms,
Flings o'er a thousand streams its silver arms,
Feeds the long vale, the nodding woodland laves,
And Plenty, Arts, and Commerce freight the waves.
—Nymphs! who erewhile round Brindley's early bier
On snow-white bosoms shower'd the incessant tear,
Adorn his tomb!—oh, raise the marble bust,
Proclaim his honours, and protect his dust!
With urns inverted round the sacred shrine
Their ozier wreaths let weeping Naiads twine;
While on the top Mechanic Genius stands,
Counts the fleet waves, and balances the lands.
X.
“Nymphs!
you first taught to pierce the secret caves
Of humid earth, and lift her ponderous waves;
Bade with quick stroke the sliding piston bear
The viewless columns of incumbent air;—
Press'd by the incumbent air the floods below,
Through opening valves in foaming torrents flow,
Foot after foot with lessen'd impulse move,
And rising seek the vacancy above.—
So when the Mother, bending o'er his charms,
Clasps her fair nurseling in delighted arms;
Throws the thin kerchief from her neck of snow,
And half unveils the pearly orbs below;
With sparkling eye the blameless Plunderer owns
Her soft embraces, and endearing tones,
Seeks the salubrious fount with opening lips,
Spreads his inquiring hands, and smiles, and sips.
Of humid earth, and lift her ponderous waves;
163
The viewless columns of incumbent air;—
Press'd by the incumbent air the floods below,
Through opening valves in foaming torrents flow,
Foot after foot with lessen'd impulse move,
And rising seek the vacancy above.—
So when the Mother, bending o'er his charms,
Clasps her fair nurseling in delighted arms;
Throws the thin kerchief from her neck of snow,
And half unveils the pearly orbs below;
With sparkling eye the blameless Plunderer owns
Her soft embraces, and endearing tones,
164
Spreads his inquiring hands, and smiles, and sips.
“Connubial Fair! whom no fond transport warms
To lull your infant in maternal arms;
Who, bless'd in vain with tumid bosoms, hear
His tender wailings with unfeeling ear;
The soothing kiss and milky rill deny,
To the sweet pouting lip, and glistening eye!—
Ah! what avails the cradle's damask roof,
The eider bolster, and embroider'd woof!—
Oft hears the gilded couch unpity'd plains,
And many a tear the tassel'd cushion stains!
No voice so sweet attunes his cares to rest,
So soft no pillow, as his Mother's breast!—
—Thus charm'd to sweet repose, when twilight hours
Shed their soft influence on celestial bowers,
The Cherub, Innocence, with smile divine
Shuts his white wings, and sleeps on Beauty's shrine.
To lull your infant in maternal arms;
Who, bless'd in vain with tumid bosoms, hear
His tender wailings with unfeeling ear;
The soothing kiss and milky rill deny,
To the sweet pouting lip, and glistening eye!—
Ah! what avails the cradle's damask roof,
The eider bolster, and embroider'd woof!—
Oft hears the gilded couch unpity'd plains,
And many a tear the tassel'd cushion stains!
No voice so sweet attunes his cares to rest,
So soft no pillow, as his Mother's breast!—
—Thus charm'd to sweet repose, when twilight hours
Shed their soft influence on celestial bowers,
The Cherub, Innocence, with smile divine
Shuts his white wings, and sleeps on Beauty's shrine.
165
XI.
“From dome to dome when flames infuriate climb,
Sweep the long street, invest the tower sublime;
Gild the tall vanes amid the astonish'd night,
And reddening heaven returns the sanguine light;
While with vast strides and bristling hair aloof
Pale Danger glides along the falling roof;
And Giant Terror howling in amaze
Moves his dark limbs across the lurid blaze.
Nymphs! you first taught the gelid wave to rise,
Hurl'd in resplendent arches to the skies;
In iron cells condensed the airy spring,
And imp'd the torrent with unfailing wing;
—On the fierce flames the shower impetuous falls,
And sudden darkness shrouds the shatter'd walls;
Steam, smoak, and dust, in blended volumes roll,
And Night and Silence repossess the Pole.—
Sweep the long street, invest the tower sublime;
Gild the tall vanes amid the astonish'd night,
And reddening heaven returns the sanguine light;
While with vast strides and bristling hair aloof
Pale Danger glides along the falling roof;
And Giant Terror howling in amaze
Moves his dark limbs across the lurid blaze.
Nymphs! you first taught the gelid wave to rise,
Hurl'd in resplendent arches to the skies;
166
And imp'd the torrent with unfailing wing;
—On the fierce flames the shower impetuous falls,
And sudden darkness shrouds the shatter'd walls;
Steam, smoak, and dust, in blended volumes roll,
And Night and Silence repossess the Pole.—
“Where were ye, Nymphs! in those disasterous hours,
Which wrap'd in flames Augusta's sinking towers?
Why did ye linger in your wells and groves,
When sad Woodmason mourn'd her infant loves?
When thy fair Daughters with unheeded screams,
Ill-fated Molesworth! call'd the loitering streams?—
The trembling Nymph, on bloodless fingers hung,
Eyes from the tottering wall the distant throng,
With ceaseless shrieks her sleeping friends alarms,
Drops with singed hair into her lover's arms.—
The illumin'd Mother seeks with footsteps fleet,
Where hangs the safe balcony o'er the street,
Wrap'd in her sheet her youngest hope suspends,
And panting lowers it to her tiptoe friends;
Again she hurries on affection's wings,
And now a third, and now a fourth, she brings;
Safe all her babes, she smooths her horrent brow,
And bursts through bickering flames, unscorch'd below.
So, by her Son arraigned, with feet unshod
O'er burning bars indignant Emma trod.
Which wrap'd in flames Augusta's sinking towers?
Why did ye linger in your wells and groves,
When sad Woodmason mourn'd her infant loves?
When thy fair Daughters with unheeded screams,
Ill-fated Molesworth! call'd the loitering streams?—
The trembling Nymph, on bloodless fingers hung,
Eyes from the tottering wall the distant throng,
167
Drops with singed hair into her lover's arms.—
The illumin'd Mother seeks with footsteps fleet,
Where hangs the safe balcony o'er the street,
Wrap'd in her sheet her youngest hope suspends,
And panting lowers it to her tiptoe friends;
Again she hurries on affection's wings,
And now a third, and now a fourth, she brings;
Safe all her babes, she smooths her horrent brow,
And bursts through bickering flames, unscorch'd below.
So, by her Son arraigned, with feet unshod
O'er burning bars indignant Emma trod.
“E'en on the day when Youth with Beauty wed,
The flames surprised them in their nuptial bed;—
Seen at the opening sash with bosom bare,
With wringing hands, and dark dishevel'd hair,
The blushing Bride with wild disorder'd charms
Round her fond lover winds her ivory arms;
Beat, as they clasp, their throbbing hearts with fear,
And many a kiss is mixed with many a tear;—
Ah me! in vain the labouring engines pour
Round their pale limbs the ineffectual shower!—
—Then crash'd the floor, while shrinking crouds retire,
And Love and Virtue sunk amid the fire!—
With piercing screams afflicted strangers mourn,
And their white ashes mingle in their urn.
The flames surprised them in their nuptial bed;—
Seen at the opening sash with bosom bare,
With wringing hands, and dark dishevel'd hair,
The blushing Bride with wild disorder'd charms
Round her fond lover winds her ivory arms;
Beat, as they clasp, their throbbing hearts with fear,
And many a kiss is mixed with many a tear;—
Ah me! in vain the labouring engines pour
Round their pale limbs the ineffectual shower!—
168
And Love and Virtue sunk amid the fire!—
With piercing screams afflicted strangers mourn,
And their white ashes mingle in their urn.
XII.
“Pellucid Forms! whose crystal bosoms show
The shine of welfare, or the shade of woe;
Who with soft lips salute returning Spring,
And hail the Zephyr quivering on his wing;
Or watch, untired, the wintery clouds, and share
With streaming eyes my vegetable care;
Go, shove the dim mist from the mountain's brow,
Chase the white fog, which floods the vale below;
Melt the thick snows, that linger on the lands,
And catch the hailstones in your little hands;
Guard the coy blossom from the pelting shower,
And dash the rimy spangles from the bower,
From each chill leaf the silvery drops repel,
And close the timorous floret's golden bell.
The shine of welfare, or the shade of woe;
Who with soft lips salute returning Spring,
And hail the Zephyr quivering on his wing;
Or watch, untired, the wintery clouds, and share
With streaming eyes my vegetable care;
Go, shove the dim mist from the mountain's brow,
Chase the white fog, which floods the vale below;
Melt the thick snows, that linger on the lands,
And catch the hailstones in your little hands;
Guard the coy blossom from the pelting shower,
And dash the rimy spangles from the bower,
169
And close the timorous floret's golden bell.
170
“So should young Sympathy, in female form,
Climb the tall rock, spectatress of the storm;
Life's sinking wrecks with secret sighs deplore,
And bleed for others' woes, Herself on shore;
To friendless Virtue, gasping on the strand,
Bare her warm heart, her virgin arms expand,
Charm with kind looks, with tender accents cheer,
And pour the sweet consolatory tear;
Grief's cureless wounds with lenient balms asswage,
Or prop with firmer staff the steps of Age;
The lifted arm of mute Despair arrest,
And snatch the dagger pointed at his breast;
Or lull to slumber Envy's haggard mien,
And rob her quiver'd shafts with hand unseen.
—Sound, Nymphs of Helicon! the trump of Fame,
And teach Hibernian echoes Jones's name;
Bind round her polished brow the civic bay,
And drag the fair Philanthropist to day,—
So from secluded springs, and secret caves,
Her Liffy pours his bright meandering waves,
Cools the parch'd vale, the sultry mead divides,
And towns and temples star his shadowy sides.
Climb the tall rock, spectatress of the storm;
Life's sinking wrecks with secret sighs deplore,
And bleed for others' woes, Herself on shore;
To friendless Virtue, gasping on the strand,
Bare her warm heart, her virgin arms expand,
Charm with kind looks, with tender accents cheer,
And pour the sweet consolatory tear;
Grief's cureless wounds with lenient balms asswage,
Or prop with firmer staff the steps of Age;
171
And snatch the dagger pointed at his breast;
Or lull to slumber Envy's haggard mien,
And rob her quiver'd shafts with hand unseen.
—Sound, Nymphs of Helicon! the trump of Fame,
And teach Hibernian echoes Jones's name;
Bind round her polished brow the civic bay,
And drag the fair Philanthropist to day,—
So from secluded springs, and secret caves,
Her Liffy pours his bright meandering waves,
Cools the parch'd vale, the sultry mead divides,
And towns and temples star his shadowy sides.
XIII.
“Call your light legions, tread the swampy heath,
Pierce with sharp spades the tremulous peat beneath;
With colters bright the rushy sward bisect,
And in new veins the gushing rills direct;—
So flowers shall rise in purple light array'd,
And blossom'd orchards stretch their silver shade;
Admiring glebes their amber ears unfold,
And Labour sleep amid the waving gold.
Pierce with sharp spades the tremulous peat beneath;
With colters bright the rushy sward bisect,
And in new veins the gushing rills direct;—
So flowers shall rise in purple light array'd,
And blossom'd orchards stretch their silver shade;
172
And Labour sleep amid the waving gold.
“Thus when young Hercules with firm disdain
Braved the soft smiles of Pleasure's harlot train;
To valiant toils his forceful limbs assign'd,
And gave to Virtue all his mighty mind;
Fierce Achelous rush'd from mountain-caves,
O'er sad Etolia pour'd his wasteful waves,
O'er lowing vales and bleating pastures roll'd,
Swept her red vineyards, and her glebes of gold,
Mined all her towns, uptore her rooted woods,
And Famine danced upon the shining floods.
The youthful Hero seized his curled crest,
And dash'd with lifted club the watery Pest;
With waving arm the billowy tumult quell'd,
And to his course the bellowing Fiend repell'd.
Braved the soft smiles of Pleasure's harlot train;
To valiant toils his forceful limbs assign'd,
And gave to Virtue all his mighty mind;
Fierce Achelous rush'd from mountain-caves,
O'er sad Etolia pour'd his wasteful waves,
O'er lowing vales and bleating pastures roll'd,
Swept her red vineyards, and her glebes of gold,
Mined all her towns, uptore her rooted woods,
And Famine danced upon the shining floods.
The youthful Hero seized his curled crest,
And dash'd with lifted club the watery Pest;
173
And to his course the bellowing Fiend repell'd.
“Then to a Snake the finny Demon turn'd
His lengthen'd form, with scales of silver burn'd;
Lash'd with resistless sweep his dragon-train,
And shot meandering o'er the affrighted plain.
The Hero-God, with giant fingers clasp'd
Firm round his neck, the hissing monster grasp'd;
With starting eyes, wide throat, and gaping teeth,
Curl his redundant folds, and writhe in death.
His lengthen'd form, with scales of silver burn'd;
Lash'd with resistless sweep his dragon-train,
And shot meandering o'er the affrighted plain.
The Hero-God, with giant fingers clasp'd
Firm round his neck, the hissing monster grasp'd;
With starting eyes, wide throat, and gaping teeth,
Curl his redundant folds, and writhe in death.
“And now a Bull, amid the flying throng
The grisly Demon foam'd, and roar'd along;
With silver hoofs the flowry meadows spurn'd,
Roll'd his red eye, his threatening antlers turn'd
Dragg'd down to earth, the Warrior's victor-hands
Press'd his deep dewlap on the imprinted sands;
Then with quick bound his bended knee he fix'd
High on his neck, the branching horns betwixt,
Strain'd his strong arms, his sinewy shoulders bent,
And from his curled brow the twisted terror rent.
—Pleased Fawns and Nymphs with dancing step applaud,
And hang their chaplets round the resting God;
Link their soft hands, and rear with pausing toil
The golden trophy on the furrow'd soil;
Fill with ripe fruits, with wreathed flowers adorn,
And give to Plenty her prolific horn.
The grisly Demon foam'd, and roar'd along;
With silver hoofs the flowry meadows spurn'd,
Roll'd his red eye, his threatening antlers turn'd
Dragg'd down to earth, the Warrior's victor-hands
Press'd his deep dewlap on the imprinted sands;
Then with quick bound his bended knee he fix'd
High on his neck, the branching horns betwixt,
Strain'd his strong arms, his sinewy shoulders bent,
And from his curled brow the twisted terror rent.
174
And hang their chaplets round the resting God;
Link their soft hands, and rear with pausing toil
The golden trophy on the furrow'd soil;
Fill with ripe fruits, with wreathed flowers adorn,
And give to Plenty her prolific horn.
XIV.
“On Spring's fair lip, cerulean Sisters! pour
From airy urns the sun-illumin'd shower,
Feed with the dulcet drops my tender broods,
Mellifluous flowers, and aromatic buds;
Hang from each bending grass and horrent thorn
The tremulous pearl, that glitters to the morn;
Or where cold dews their secret channels lave,
And Earth's dark chambers hide the stagnant wave,
Oh pierce, ye Nymphs! her marble veins, and lead
Her gushing fountains to the thirsty mead;
Wide o'er the shining vales, and trickling hills,
Spread the bright treasure in a thousand rills.
So shall my peopled realms of Leaf and Flower
Exult, inebriate with the genial shower;
Dip their long tresses from the mossy brink,
With tufted roots the glassy currents drink;
Shade your cool mansions from meridian beams,
And view their waving honours in your streams.
From airy urns the sun-illumin'd shower,
Feed with the dulcet drops my tender broods,
Mellifluous flowers, and aromatic buds;
Hang from each bending grass and horrent thorn
The tremulous pearl, that glitters to the morn;
Or where cold dews their secret channels lave,
And Earth's dark chambers hide the stagnant wave,
Oh pierce, ye Nymphs! her marble veins, and lead
Her gushing fountains to the thirsty mead;
Wide o'er the shining vales, and trickling hills,
Spread the bright treasure in a thousand rills.
175
Exult, inebriate with the genial shower;
Dip their long tresses from the mossy brink,
With tufted roots the glassy currents drink;
Shade your cool mansions from meridian beams,
And view their waving honours in your streams.
176
“Thus where the veins their confluent branches bend,
And milky eddies with the purple blend;
The Chyle's white trunk, diverging from its source,
Seeks through the vital mass its shining course;
O'er each red cell, and tissued membrane spreads
In living net-work all its branching threads;
Maze within maze its tortuous path pursues,
Winds into glands, inextricable clues;
Steals through the stomach's velvet sides, and sips
The silver surges with a thousand lips;
Fills each fine pore, pervades each slender hair,
And drinks salubrious dew-drops from the air.
And milky eddies with the purple blend;
The Chyle's white trunk, diverging from its source,
Seeks through the vital mass its shining course;
O'er each red cell, and tissued membrane spreads
In living net-work all its branching threads;
Maze within maze its tortuous path pursues,
Winds into glands, inextricable clues;
Steals through the stomach's velvet sides, and sips
The silver surges with a thousand lips;
Fills each fine pore, pervades each slender hair,
And drinks salubrious dew-drops from the air.
“Thus when to kneel in Mecca's awful gloom,
Or press with pious kiss Medina's tomb,
League after league, through many a lingering day,
Steer the swart Caravans their sultry way;
O'er sandy wastes on gasping camels toil,
Or print with pilgrim-steps the burning soil;
If from lone rocks a sparkling rill descend,
O'er the green brink the kneeling nations bend,
Bathe the parch'd lip, and cool the feverish tongue,
And the clear lake reflects the mingled throng.”
Or press with pious kiss Medina's tomb,
League after league, through many a lingering day,
Steer the swart Caravans their sultry way;
177
Or print with pilgrim-steps the burning soil;
If from lone rocks a sparkling rill descend,
O'er the green brink the kneeling nations bend,
Bathe the parch'd lip, and cool the feverish tongue,
And the clear lake reflects the mingled throng.”
The Goddess paused,—the listening bands awhile
Still seem to hear, and dwell upon her smile;
Then with soft murmur sweep in lucid trains
Down the green slopes, and o'er the pebbly plains,
To each bright stream on silver sandals glide,
Reflective fountain, and tumultuous tide.
Still seem to hear, and dwell upon her smile;
Then with soft murmur sweep in lucid trains
Down the green slopes, and o'er the pebbly plains,
To each bright stream on silver sandals glide,
Reflective fountain, and tumultuous tide.
So shoot the Spider-broods at breezy dawn,
Their glittering net-work o'er the autumnal lawn;
From blade to blade connect with cordage fine
The unbending grass, and live along the line;
Or bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell
With feet repulsive on the dimpling well.
Their glittering net-work o'er the autumnal lawn;
From blade to blade connect with cordage fine
The unbending grass, and live along the line;
Or bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell
With feet repulsive on the dimpling well.
So when the North congeals his watery mass,
Piles high his snows, and floors his seas with glass;
While many a Month, unknown to warmer rays,
Marks its slow chronicle by lunar days;
Stout youths and ruddy damsels, sportive train,
Leave the white soil, and rush upon the main;
From isle to isle the moon-bright squadrons stray,
And win in easy curves their graceful way;
On step alternate borne, with balance nice
Hang o'er the gliding steel, and hiss along the ice.
Piles high his snows, and floors his seas with glass;
178
Marks its slow chronicle by lunar days;
Stout youths and ruddy damsels, sportive train,
Leave the white soil, and rush upon the main;
From isle to isle the moon-bright squadrons stray,
And win in easy curves their graceful way;
On step alternate borne, with balance nice
Hang o'er the gliding steel, and hiss along the ice.
179
CANTO IV.
ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH CANTO.
Address to the Sylphs. I. Trade-winds. Monsoons. N. E. and S. W. winds. Land and sea breezes. Irregular winds, 9. II. Production of vital air from oxygene and light. The marriage of Cupid and Psyche, 25. III. I. Syroc. Simoom. Tornado, 63. 2. Fog. Contagion. Story of Thyrsis and Ægle. Love and Death, 79. IV. 1. Barometer. Air-pump. 127. 2. Air-balloon of Mongolfier. Death of Rozier. Icarus, 143. V. Discoveries of Dr. Priestley. Evolutions and combinations of pure air. Rape of Proserpine, 177. VI. Sea-balloons, or houses constructed to move under the sea. Death of Mr. Day. Of Mr. Spalding. Of Captain Pierce and his Daughters, 207. VII. Sylphs of music. Cecilia singing. Cupid with a lyre riding upon a lion, 245. VIII. Destruction of Senacherib's army by a pestilential wind. Shadow of Death, 275. IX. 1. Wish to possess the secret of changing the course of the winds, 307. 2. Monster devouring air subdued by Mr. Kirwan, 333. X. 1. Seeds suspended in their pods. Stars discovered by Mr. Herschel. Destruction and resuscitation of all things, 363. 2. Seeds within seeds, and bulbs within bulbs. Picture on the retina of the eye. Concentric strata of the earth. The great seed, 393. 3. The root, pith, lobes, plume, calyx, corol, sap, blood, leaves respire and absorb light. The crocodile in its egg, 421. XI. Opening of the flower. The petals, style, anthers,
180
181
Cacalia opens all her honey'd flowers;
182
And nations hover on aurelian wing;
So round the Goddess, ere she speaks, on high
Impatient Sylphs in gawdy circlets fly;
Quivering in air their painted plumes expand,
And coloured shadows dance upon the land.
I.
“Sylphs! your light troops the tropic Winds confine,And guide their streaming arrows to the Line;
While in warm floods ecliptic Breezes rise,
And sink with wings benumb'd in colder skies.
You bid Monsoons on Indian seas reside,
And veer, as moves the sun, their airy tide;
While southern Gales, o'er western oceans roll,
And Eurus steals his ice-winds from the Pole.
Your playful trains, on sultry islands born,
Turn on fantastic toe at eve and morn;
With soft susurrant voice alternate sweep
Earth's green pavilions and encircling deep.
183
On tides of ether, float from clime to clime;
O'er waving Autumn bend your airy ring,
Or waft the fragrant bosom of the Spring.
II.
“When Morn, escorted by the dancing Hours,
O'er the bright plains her dewy lustre showers;
Till from her sable chariot Eve serene
Drops the dark curtain o'er the brilliant scene;
You form with chemic hands the airy surge,
Mix with broad vans, with shadowy tridents urge.
Sylphs! from each sun-bright leaf, that twinkling shakes
O'er Earth's green lap, or shoots amid her lakes,
Your playful bands with simpering lips invite,
And wed the enamour'd Oxygene to Light.—
Round their white necks with fingers interwove,
Cling the fond Pair with unabating love;
Hand link'd in hand on buoyant step they rise,
And soar and glisten in unclouded skies.
Whence in bright floods the Vital Air expands,
And with concentric spheres involves the lands;
Pervades the swarming seas, and heaving earths,
Where teeming Nature broods her myriad births;
Fills the fine lungs of all that breathe or bud,
Warms the new heart, and dyes the gushing blood;
With Life's first spark inspires the organic frame,
And, as it wastes, renews the subtile flame.
O'er the bright plains her dewy lustre showers;
Till from her sable chariot Eve serene
Drops the dark curtain o'er the brilliant scene;
You form with chemic hands the airy surge,
Mix with broad vans, with shadowy tridents urge.
Sylphs! from each sun-bright leaf, that twinkling shakes
O'er Earth's green lap, or shoots amid her lakes,
Your playful bands with simpering lips invite,
And wed the enamour'd Oxygene to Light.—
184
Cling the fond Pair with unabating love;
Hand link'd in hand on buoyant step they rise,
And soar and glisten in unclouded skies.
Whence in bright floods the Vital Air expands,
And with concentric spheres involves the lands;
185
Where teeming Nature broods her myriad births;
Fills the fine lungs of all that breathe or bud,
Warms the new heart, and dyes the gushing blood;
With Life's first spark inspires the organic frame,
And, as it wastes, renews the subtile flame.
“So pure, so soft, with sweet attraction shone
Fair Psyche, kneeling at the ethereal throne;
Won with coy smiles the admiring court of Jove,
And warm'd the bosom of unconquer'd Love.—
Beneath a moving shade of fruits and flowers
Onward they march to Hymen's sacred bowers;
With lifted torch he lights the festive train,
Sublime, and leads them in his golden chain;
Joins the fond pair, indulgent to their vows,
And hides with mystic veil their blushing brows.
Round their fair forms their mingling arms they fling,
Meet with warm lip, and clasp with rustling wing.—
—Hence plastic Nature, as Oblivion whelms
Her fading forms, repeoples all her realms;
Soft Joys disport on purple plumes unfurl'd,
And Love and Beauty rule the willing world.
Fair Psyche, kneeling at the ethereal throne;
Won with coy smiles the admiring court of Jove,
And warm'd the bosom of unconquer'd Love.—
Beneath a moving shade of fruits and flowers
Onward they march to Hymen's sacred bowers;
With lifted torch he lights the festive train,
Sublime, and leads them in his golden chain;
Joins the fond pair, indulgent to their vows,
And hides with mystic veil their blushing brows.
Round their fair forms their mingling arms they fling,
Meet with warm lip, and clasp with rustling wing.—
186
Her fading forms, repeoples all her realms;
Soft Joys disport on purple plumes unfurl'd,
And Love and Beauty rule the willing world.
III.
1.
“Sylphs!
your bold myriads on the withering heath
Stay the fell Syroc's suffocative breath;
Arrest Simoom in his realms of sand,
The poisoned javelin balanced in his hand;—
Fierce on blue streams he rides the tainted air,
Points his keen eye, and waves his whistling hair;
While, as he turns, the undulating soil
Rolls in red waves, and billowy deserts boil.
Stay the fell Syroc's suffocative breath;
Arrest Simoom in his realms of sand,
The poisoned javelin balanced in his hand;—
187
Points his keen eye, and waves his whistling hair;
188
Rolls in red waves, and billowy deserts boil.
You seize Tornado by his locks of mist,
Burst his dense clouds, his wheeling spires untwist;
Wide o'er the West when borne on headlong gales,
Dark as meridian night, the Monster sails,
Howls high in air, and shakes his curled brow,
Lashing with serpent-train the waves below,
Whirls his black arm, the forked lightning flings,
And showers a deluge from his demon-wings.
Burst his dense clouds, his wheeling spires untwist;
Wide o'er the West when borne on headlong gales,
Dark as meridian night, the Monster sails,
Howls high in air, and shakes his curled brow,
Lashing with serpent-train the waves below,
Whirls his black arm, the forked lightning flings,
And showers a deluge from his demon-wings.
2.
“Sylphs! with light shafts you pierce the drowsy Fog,
That lingering slumbers on the sedge-wove bog,
With webbed feet o'er midnight meadows creeps,
Or flings his hairy limbs on stagnant deeps,
You meet Contagion issuing from afar,
And dash the baleful conqueror from his car;
When, Guest of Death! from charnel vaults he steals,
And bathes in human gore his armed wheels.
That lingering slumbers on the sedge-wove bog,
189
Or flings his hairy limbs on stagnant deeps,
You meet Contagion issuing from afar,
And dash the baleful conqueror from his car;
When, Guest of Death! from charnel vaults he steals,
And bathes in human gore his armed wheels.
“Thus when the Plague, upborne on Belgian air,
Look'd through the mist and shook his clotted hair;
O'er shrinking nations steer'd malignant clouds,
And rain'd destruction on the gasping crouds.
The beauteous Ægle felt the venom'd dart,
Slow roll'd her eye, and feebly throbb'd her heart;
Each fervid sigh seem'd shorter than the last,
And starting Friendship shunn'd her, as she pass'd.
—With weak unsteady step the fainting Maid
Seeks the cold garden's solitary shade,
Sinks on the pillowy moss her drooping head,
And prints with lifeless limbs her leafy bed.
—On wings of Love her plighted Swain pursues,
Shades her from winds, and shelters her from dews,
Extends on tapering poles the canvas roof,
Spreads o'er the straw-wove mat the flaxen woof,
Sweet buds and blossoms on her bolster strows,
And binds his kerchief round her aching brows;
Sooths with soft kiss, with tender accents charms,
And clasps the bright Infection in his arms.—
With pale and languid smiles the grateful Fair
Applauds his virtues, and rewards his care;
Mourns with wet cheek her fair companions fled
On timorous step, or number'd with the dead;
Calls to her bosom all its scatter'd rays,
And pours on Thyrsis the collected blaze;
Braves the chill night, caressing and caress'd,
And folds her Hero-lover to her breast.—
Less bold, Leander at the dusky hour
Eyed, as he swam, the far love-lighted tower;
Breasted with struggling arms the tossing wave,
And sunk benighted in the watery grave.
Less bold, Tobias claim'd the nuptial bed
Where seven fond Lovers by a Fiend had bled;
And drove, instructed by his Angel-Guide,
The enamour'd Demon from the fatal bride.—
—Sylphs! while your winnowing pinions fann'd the air,
And shed gay visions o'er the sleeping pair;
Love round their couch effused his rosy breath,
And with his keener arrows conquer'd Death.
Look'd through the mist and shook his clotted hair;
O'er shrinking nations steer'd malignant clouds,
And rain'd destruction on the gasping crouds.
The beauteous Ægle felt the venom'd dart,
Slow roll'd her eye, and feebly throbb'd her heart;
190
And starting Friendship shunn'd her, as she pass'd.
—With weak unsteady step the fainting Maid
Seeks the cold garden's solitary shade,
Sinks on the pillowy moss her drooping head,
And prints with lifeless limbs her leafy bed.
—On wings of Love her plighted Swain pursues,
Shades her from winds, and shelters her from dews,
Extends on tapering poles the canvas roof,
Spreads o'er the straw-wove mat the flaxen woof,
Sweet buds and blossoms on her bolster strows,
And binds his kerchief round her aching brows;
Sooths with soft kiss, with tender accents charms,
And clasps the bright Infection in his arms.—
With pale and languid smiles the grateful Fair
Applauds his virtues, and rewards his care;
Mourns with wet cheek her fair companions fled
On timorous step, or number'd with the dead;
191
And pours on Thyrsis the collected blaze;
Braves the chill night, caressing and caress'd,
And folds her Hero-lover to her breast.—
Less bold, Leander at the dusky hour
Eyed, as he swam, the far love-lighted tower;
Breasted with struggling arms the tossing wave,
And sunk benighted in the watery grave.
Less bold, Tobias claim'd the nuptial bed
Where seven fond Lovers by a Fiend had bled;
And drove, instructed by his Angel-Guide,
The enamour'd Demon from the fatal bride.—
—Sylphs! while your winnowing pinions fann'd the air,
And shed gay visions o'er the sleeping pair;
Love round their couch effused his rosy breath,
And with his keener arrows conquer'd Death.
IV.
1.
“You charm'd, indulgent Sylphs! their learned toil,And crown'd with fame your Torricell, and Boyle;
192
The spring and pressure of the viewless air.
193
Of liquid silver from the lake below,
Weigh the long column of the incumbent skies,
And with the changeful moment fall and rise.
—How, as in brazen pumps the pistons move,
The membrane-valve sustains the weight above;
Stroke follows stroke, the gelid vapour falls,
And misty dew-drops dim the crystal walls;
Rare and more rare expands the fluid thin,
And Silence dwells with Vacancy within.—
So in the mighty Void with grim delight
Primeval Silence reign'd with ancient Night.
2.
“Sylphs! your soft voices, whispering from the skies,
Bade from low earth the bold Mongolfier rise;
Outstretch'd his buoyant ball with airy spring,
And bore the Sage on levity of wing;—
Where were ye, Sylphs! when on the ethereal main
Young Rosiere launch'd, and call'd your aid in vain?
Fair mounts the light balloon, by Zephyr driven,
Parts the thin clouds, and sails along the heaven;
Higher and yet higher the expanding bubble flies,
Lights with quick flash, and bursts amid the skies.—
Headlong He rushes through the affrighted Air
With limbs distorted, and dishevel'd hair,
Whirls round and round, the flying croud alarms,
And Death receives him in his sable arms!—
—Betrothed Beauty bending o'er his bier
Breathes the loud sob, and sheds the incessant tear;
Pursues the sad procession, as it moves
Through winding avenues and waving groves;
Hears the slow dirge amid the echoing ailes,
And mingles with her sighs discordant smiles.
Then with quick step advancing through the gloom,
“I come!” she cries, and leaps into his tomb.
“Oh, stay! I follow thee to realms above!—
“Oh, wait a moment for thy dying love!—
“Thus, thus I clasp thee to my bursting heart!—
“Close o'er us, holy Earth!—We will not part!”—
Bade from low earth the bold Mongolfier rise;
194
And bore the Sage on levity of wing;—
Where were ye, Sylphs! when on the ethereal main
Young Rosiere launch'd, and call'd your aid in vain?
Fair mounts the light balloon, by Zephyr driven,
Parts the thin clouds, and sails along the heaven;
Higher and yet higher the expanding bubble flies,
Lights with quick flash, and bursts amid the skies.—
Headlong He rushes through the affrighted Air
With limbs distorted, and dishevel'd hair,
Whirls round and round, the flying croud alarms,
And Death receives him in his sable arms!—
195
Breathes the loud sob, and sheds the incessant tear;
Pursues the sad procession, as it moves
Through winding avenues and waving groves;
Hears the slow dirge amid the echoing ailes,
And mingles with her sighs discordant smiles.
Then with quick step advancing through the gloom,
“I come!” she cries, and leaps into his tomb.
“Oh, stay! I follow thee to realms above!—
“Oh, wait a moment for thy dying love!—
“Thus, thus I clasp thee to my bursting heart!—
“Close o'er us, holy Earth!—We will not part!”—
“So erst with melting wax and loosen'd strings
Sunk hapless Icarus on unfaithful wings;
His scatter'd plumage danced upon the wave,
And sorrowing Mermaids deck'd his watery grave;
O'er his pale corse their pearly sea-flowers shed,
And strew'd with crimson moss his marble bed;
Struck in their coral towers the pausing bell,
And wide in ocean toll'd his echoing knell.
Sunk hapless Icarus on unfaithful wings;
His scatter'd plumage danced upon the wave,
And sorrowing Mermaids deck'd his watery grave;
196
And strew'd with crimson moss his marble bed;
Struck in their coral towers the pausing bell,
And wide in ocean toll'd his echoing knell.
V.
“Sylphs!
you, retiring to sequester'd bowers,
Where oft your Priestley woos your airy powers,
On noiseless step or quivering pinion glide,
As sits the Sage with Science by his side;
To his charm'd eye in gay undress appear,
Or pour your secrets on his raptured ear.
How nitrous Gas from iron ingots driven
Drinks with red lips the purest breath of heaven;
How, while Conferva from its tender hair
Gives in bright bubbles empyrean air,
The crystal floods phlogistic ores calcine,
And the pure Ether marries with the Mine.
Where oft your Priestley woos your airy powers,
197
As sits the Sage with Science by his side;
198
Or pour your secrets on his raptured ear.
How nitrous Gas from iron ingots driven
Drinks with red lips the purest breath of heaven;
How, while Conferva from its tender hair
Gives in bright bubbles empyrean air,
The crystal floods phlogistic ores calcine,
And the pure Ether marries with the Mine.
“So in Sicilia's ever-blooming shade
When playful Proserpine from Ceres stray'd,
Led with unwary step her virgin trains
O'er Etna's steeps, and Enna's golden plains;
Pluck'd with fair hand the silver-blossom'd bower,
And purpled mead,—herself a fairer flower;
Sudden, unseen amid the twilight glade,
Rush'd gloomy Dis, and seized the trembling maid.—
Her starting damsels sprung from mossy seats,
Dropp'd from their gauzy laps the gather'd sweets,
Clung round the struggling Nymph, with piercing cries
Pursued the chariot, and invoked the skies;—
Pleased as he grasps her in his iron arms,
Frights with soft sighs, with tender words alarms,
The wheels descending roll'd in smoky rings,
Infernal Cupids flapp'd their demon wings;
Earth with deep yawn received the Fair, amaz'd,
And far in Night celestial Beauty blaz'd.
When playful Proserpine from Ceres stray'd,
199
O'er Etna's steeps, and Enna's golden plains;
Pluck'd with fair hand the silver-blossom'd bower,
And purpled mead,—herself a fairer flower;
Sudden, unseen amid the twilight glade,
Rush'd gloomy Dis, and seized the trembling maid.—
Her starting damsels sprung from mossy seats,
Dropp'd from their gauzy laps the gather'd sweets,
Clung round the struggling Nymph, with piercing cries
Pursued the chariot, and invoked the skies;—
Pleased as he grasps her in his iron arms,
Frights with soft sighs, with tender words alarms,
The wheels descending roll'd in smoky rings,
Infernal Cupids flapp'd their demon wings;
200
And far in Night celestial Beauty blaz'd.
VI.
“Led by the Sage, Lo! Britain's sons shall guideHuge Sea-balloons beneath the tossing tide;
201
Ribb'd with strong oak, and barr'd with bolts of brass,
Buoy'd with pure air shall endless tracks pursue,
And Priestley's hand the vital flood renew.—
Then shall Britannia rule the wealthy realms,
Which Ocean's wide insatiate wave o'erwhelms;
Confine in netted bowers his scaly flocks,
Part his blue plains, and people all his rocks.
Deep, in warm waves beneath the Line that roll,
Beneath the shadowy ice-isles of the Pole,
Onward, through bright meandering vales, afar,
Obedient Sharks shall trail her sceptred car,
With harness'd necks the pearly flood disturb,
Stretch the silk rein, and champ the silver curb;
Pleased round her triumph wondering Tritons play,
And Sea-maids hail her on the watery way.
—Oft shall she weep beneath the crystal waves
O'er shipwreck'd lovers weltering in their graves;
Mingling in death the Brave and Good behold
With slaves to glory, and with slaves to gold;
Shrin'd in the deep shall Day and Spalding mourn,
Each in his treacherous bell, sepulchral urn!—
202
Her sighs shall breathe, her sorrows dew their hearse.—
203
He cried, and clasp'd them to his aching heart,—
—Dash'd in dread conflict on the rocky grounds,
Crash the shock'd masts, the staggering wreck rebounds;
Through gaping seams the rushing deluge swims,
Chills their pale bosoms, bathes their shuddering limbs,
Climbs their white shoulders, buoys their streaming hair,
And the last sea-shriek bellows in the air.—
Each with loud sobs her tender sire caress'd,
And gasping strain'd him closer to her breast!—
—Stretch'd on one bier they sleep beneath the brine,
And their white bones with ivory arms intwine!
VII.
“Sylphs of nice ear! with beating wings you
you guide
The fine vibrations of the aerial tide;
Join in sweet cadences the measured words,
Or stretch and modulate the trembling cords.
You strung to melody the Grecian lyre,
Breathed the rapt song, and fan'd the thought of fire,
Or brought in combinations, deep and clear,
Immortal harmony to Handel's ear.—
You with soft breath attune the vernal gale,
When breezy evening broods the listening vale;
Or wake the loud tumultuous sounds, that dwell
In Echo's many-toned diurnal shell.
You melt in dulcet chords, when Zephyr rings
The Eolian Harp, and mingle all its strings;
Or trill in air the soft symphonious chime,
When rapt Cecilia lifts her eye sublime,
Swell, as she breathes, her bosom's rising snow,
O'er her white teeth in tuneful accents flow,
Through her fair lips on whispering pinions move,
And form the tender sighs, that kindle love!
The fine vibrations of the aerial tide;
204
Or stretch and modulate the trembling cords.
You strung to melody the Grecian lyre,
Breathed the rapt song, and fan'd the thought of fire,
Or brought in combinations, deep and clear,
Immortal harmony to Handel's ear.—
You with soft breath attune the vernal gale,
When breezy evening broods the listening vale;
Or wake the loud tumultuous sounds, that dwell
In Echo's many-toned diurnal shell.
You melt in dulcet chords, when Zephyr rings
The Eolian Harp, and mingle all its strings;
Or trill in air the soft symphonious chime,
When rapt Cecilia lifts her eye sublime,
Swell, as she breathes, her bosom's rising snow,
O'er her white teeth in tuneful accents flow,
Through her fair lips on whispering pinions move,
And form the tender sighs, that kindle love!
“So playful Love on Ida's flowery sides
With ribbon-rein the indignant Lion guides;
Pleased on his brinded back the lyre he rings,
And shakes delirious rapture from the strings;
Slow as the pausing Monarch stalks along,
Sheaths his retractile claws, and drinks the song;
Soft Nymphs on timid step the triumph view,
And listening Fawns with beating hoofs pursue;
With pointed ears the alarmed forest starts,
And Love and Music soften savage hearts.
With ribbon-rein the indignant Lion guides;
205
And shakes delirious rapture from the strings;
Slow as the pausing Monarch stalks along,
Sheaths his retractile claws, and drinks the song;
Soft Nymphs on timid step the triumph view,
And listening Fawns with beating hoofs pursue;
With pointed ears the alarmed forest starts,
And Love and Music soften savage hearts.
VIII.
“Sylphs! your bold hosts, when Heaven with justice dreadCalls the red tempest round the guilty head,
Fierce at his nod assume vindictive forms,
And launch from airy cars the vollied storms.—
From Ashur's vales when proud Senacherib trod,
Pour'd his swoln heart, defied the living God,
Urged with incessant shouts his glittering powers,
And Judah shook through all her massy towers;
Round her sad altars press the prostrate crowd,
Hosts beat their breasts, and suppliant chieftains bow'd;
Loud shrieks of matrons thrill'd the troubled air,
And trembling virgins rent their scatter'd hair;
206
Spread the blaspheming scroll before the Lord,
Raised his pale hands, and breathed his pausing sighs,
And fixed on Heaven his dim imploring eyes,—
“Oh! Mighty God! amidst thy Seraph-throng
“Who sit'st sublime, the Judge of Right and Wrong;
“Thine the wide earth, bright sun, and starry zone,
“That twinkling journey round thy golden throne;
“Thine is the crystal source of life and light,
“And thine the realms of Death's eternal night.
“Oh! bend thine ear, thy gracious eye incline,
“Lo! Ashur's King blasphemes thy holy shrine,
“Insults our offerings, and derides our vows,—
“Oh! strike the diadem from his impious brows,
“Tear from his murderous hand the bloody rod,
“And teach the trembling nations, “Thou Art God!”
—Sylphs! in what dread array with pennons broad
Onward ye floated o'er the ethereal road,
207
Contagious vapours, and volcanic gales,
Gave the soft South with poisonous breath to blow,
And rolled the dreadful whirlwind on the foe!—
208
Man falls on Man, on buckler buckler rings;
Groan answers groan, to anguish anguish yields,
And Death's loud accents shake the tented fields!
—High rears the Fiend his grinning jaws, and wide
Spans the pale nations with colossal stride,
Waves his broad falchion with uplifted hand,
And his vast shadow darkens all the land.
IX.
1.
“Ethereal Cohorts! Essences of Air!Make the green children of the Spring your care!
Oh, Sylphs! disclose in this inquiring age
One Golden Secret to some favour'd sage;
209
Or guides the changeful pinions of the winds!
—No more shall hoary Boreas, issuing forth
With Eurus, lead the tempests of the North;
Rime the pale Dawn, or veil'd in flaky showers
Chill the sweet bosoms of the smiling Hours.
By whispering Auster waked shall Zephyr rise,
Meet with soft kiss, and mingle in the skies,
Fan the gay floret, bend the yellow ear,
And rock the uncurtain'd cradle of the year;
Autumn and Spring in lively union blend,
And from the skies the golden Age descend.
2.
“Castled on ice, beneath the circling Bear,A vast Camelion drinks and vomits air;
O'er twelve degrees his ribs gigantic bend,
And many a league his gasping jaws extend;
Half-fish, beneath, his scaly volutes spread,
And vegetable plumage crests his head;
210
From panting gills, wide lungs, and waving leaves;
Then with dread throes subsides his bloated form,
His shriek the thunder, and his sigh the storm.
Oft high in heaven the hissing Demon wins
His towering course, upborne, on winnowing fins;
Steers with expanded eye and gaping mouth,
His mass enormous to the affrighted South;
Spreads o'er the shuddering Line his shadowy limbs,
And Frost and Famine follow as he swims.—
Sylphs! round his cloud-built couch your bands array,
And mould the Monster to your gentle sway;
Charm with soft tones, with tender touches check,
Bend to your golden yoke his willing neck,
With silver curb his yielding teeth restrain,
And give to Kirwan's hand the silken rein.
—Pleased shall the Sage, the dragon-wings between,
Bend o'er discordant climes his eye serene,
211
And call to Hindostan antarctic gales,
Adorn with wreathed ears Kampschatca's brows,
And scatter roses on Zealandic snows,
Earth's wondering Zones the genial seasons share,
And nations hail him “Monarch of the Air.”
X.
1.
“Sylphs! as you hover on ethereal wing,
Brood the green children of parturient Spring!—
Where in their bursting cells my Embryons rest,
I charge you, guard the vegetable nest;
Count with nice eye the myriad Seeds, that swell
Each vaulted womb of husk, or pod, or shell;
Feed with sweet juices, clothe with downy hair,
Or hang, inshrined, their little orbs in air.
Brood the green children of parturient Spring!—
Where in their bursting cells my Embryons rest,
I charge you, guard the vegetable nest;
Count with nice eye the myriad Seeds, that swell
Each vaulted womb of husk, or pod, or shell;
212
Or hang, inshrined, their little orbs in air.
“So, late descry'd by Herschel's piercing sight,
Hang the bright squadrons of the twinkling Night;
Ten thousand marshall'd stars, a silver zone,
Effuse their blended lustres round her throne;
Suns call to suns, in lucid clouds conspire,
And light exterior skies with golden fire;
Resistless rolls the illimitable sphere,
And one great circle forms the unmeasured year.
—Roll on, ye Stars! exult in youthful prime,
Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time;
Near and more near your beamy ears approach,
And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach;—
Flowers of the sky! ye too to age must yield,
Frail as your silken sisters of the field!
Star after star from Heaven's high arch shall rush,
Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush,
Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall,
And Death and Night and Chaos mingle all!
—Till o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,
Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,
Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
And soars and shines, another and the same.
Hang the bright squadrons of the twinkling Night;
Ten thousand marshall'd stars, a silver zone,
Effuse their blended lustres round her throne;
Suns call to suns, in lucid clouds conspire,
And light exterior skies with golden fire;
Resistless rolls the illimitable sphere,
And one great circle forms the unmeasured year.
—Roll on, ye Stars! exult in youthful prime,
Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time;
213
And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach;—
Flowers of the sky! ye too to age must yield,
Frail as your silken sisters of the field!
Star after star from Heaven's high arch shall rush,
Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush,
Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall,
And Death and Night and Chaos mingle all!
—Till o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,
Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form,
Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
And soars and shines, another and the same.
214
2.
“Lo! on each Seed within its slender rindLife's golden threads in endless circles wind;
Maze within maze the lucid webs are roll'd,
And, as they burst, the living flame unfold.
215
The Oak's vast branches in its milky veins;
Each ravel'd bud, fine film, and fibre-line
Traced with nice pencil on the small design.
The young Narcissus, in its bulb compress'd,
Cradles a second nestling on its breast;
In whose fine arms a younger embryon lies,
Folds its thin leaves, and shuts its floret-eyes;
Grain within grain successive harvests dwell,
And boundless forests slumber in a shell.
—So yon grey precipice, and ivy'd towers,
Long winding meads, and intermingled bowers,
Green files of poplars, o'er the lake that bow,
And glimmering wheel, which rolls and foams below,
In one bright point with nice distinction lie
Plann'd on the moving tablet of the eye.
—So, fold on fold, Earth's wavy plains extend,
And, sphere in sphere, its hidden strata bend;—
Incumbent Spring her beamy plumes expands
O'er restless oceans, and impatient lands,
With genial lustres warms the mighty ball,
And the Great Seed evolves, disclosing All;
216
And the vast surface kindles, as it rolls!
3.
“Come, ye soft Sylphs! who sport on Latian land,Come, sweet-lip'd Zephyr, and Favonius bland!
Teach the fine Seed, instinct with life, to shoot
On Earth's cold bosom its descending root;
217
Part the twin Lobes, expand the throbbing Gem;
Clasp in your airy arms the aspiring Plume,
Fan with your balmy breath its kindling bloom,
Each widening scale and bursting film unfold,
Swell the green cup, and tint the flower with gold;
While in bright veins the silvery Sap ascends,
And refluent blood in milky eddies bends;
218
Or drink the golden quintessence of day.
—So from his shell on Delta's shower-less isle
Bursts into life the Monster of the Nile;
First in translucent lymph with cobweb-threads
The Brain's fine floating tissue swells, and spreads;
Nerve after nerve the glistening spine descends,
The red Heart dances, the Aorta bends;
Through each new gland the purple current glides,
New Veins meandering drink the refluent tides;
219
And sheaths his slimy skin in silver mail.
—Erewhile, emerging from the brooding sand,
With Tyger-paw He prints the brineless strand,
High on the flood with speckled bosom swims,
Helm'd with broad tail, and oar'd with giant limbs;
Rolls his fierce eye-balls, clasps his iron claws,
And champs with gnashing teeth his massy jaws;
Old Nilus sighs along his cane-crown'd shores,
And swarthy Memphis trembles and adores.
XI.
“Come, ye soft Sylphs! who fan the Paphian groves,And bear on sportive wings the callow Loves;
Call with sweet whisper, in each gale that blows,
The slumbering Snow-drop from her long repose;
Charm the pale Primrose from her clay-cold bed,
Unveil the bashful Violet's tremulous head;
While from her bud the playful Tulip breaks,
And young Carnations peep with blushing cheeks;
Bid the closed Corol from nocturnal cold
Curtain'd with silk the virgin Stigma fold,
220
And wave in light its iridescent hues.
So shall from high the bursting Anther trust
To the mild breezes the prolific dust;
Or bow his waxen head with graceful pride,
Watch the first blushes of his waking bride,
Give to her hand the honey'd cup, or sip
Celestial nectar from her sweeter lip;
Hang in soft raptures o'er the yielding Fair,
Love out his hour, and leave his life in air.
221
Warm'd with new life, unfolds his larva-form;
Erewhile aloft in wanton circles moves,
And woos on Hymen-wings his velvet loves.
XII.
1.
“If prouder branches with exuberance rudePoint their green germs, their barren shoots protrude;
Wound them, ye Sylphs! with little knives, or bind
A wiry ringlet round the swelling rind;
222
Or bend to earth the inhospitable bough.
223
Delay the leaf-bud, and expand the flower;
224
The lengthening Wood in circling Stamens bend;
The smoother Rind its soft embroidery spread
In vaulted Petals o'er the gorgeous bed;
225
Form the green Calyx, fold including fold;
Each widening Bracte expand it's foliage hard,
And hem the bright pavillion, Floral Guard.
—So the cold rill from Cintra's steepy sides,
Headlong, abrupt, in barren channels glides;
Round the rent cliffs the bark-bound Suber spreads,
And lazy monks recline on corky beds;
Till, led by art, the wondering water moves
Through vine hung avenues, and citron groves;
Green slopes the velvet round it's silver source,
And flowers, and fruits, and foliage mark it's course.
At breezy eve, along the irriguous plain
The fair Beckfordia leads her virgin train;
Seeks the cool grot, the shadowy rocks among,
And tunes the mountain-echoes to her song;
Or prints with graceful steps the margin green,
And brighter glories gild the inchanted scene.
2.
“Where cruder juices swell the leafy vein,
Stint the young germ, the tender blossom stain;
On each lopp'd shoot a softer scion bind,
Pith press'd to pith, and rind applied to rind,
So shall the trunk with loftier crest ascend,
And wide in air it's happier arms extend;
Nurse the new buds, admire the leaves unknown,
And blushing bend with fruitage not it's own.
Stint the young germ, the tender blossom stain;
226
Pith press'd to pith, and rind applied to rind,
So shall the trunk with loftier crest ascend,
And wide in air it's happier arms extend;
Nurse the new buds, admire the leaves unknown,
And blushing bend with fruitage not it's own.
“Thus when in holy triumph Aaron trod,
And offer'd on the shrine his mystic rod;
First a new bark it's silken tissue weaves,
New buds emerging widen into leaves;
Fair fruits protrude, enascent flowers expand,
And blush and tremble round the living wand.
And offer'd on the shrine his mystic rod;
227
New buds emerging widen into leaves;
Fair fruits protrude, enascent flowers expand,
And blush and tremble round the living wand.
XIII.
1.
“Sylphs! on each Oak-bud wound the wormy galls,With pigmy spears, or crush the venom'd balls;
Fright the green Locust from his foamy bed,
Unweave the Caterpillar's gluey thread;
Chase the fierce Earwig, scare the bloated Toad,
Arrest the Snail upon his slimy road;
Arm with sharp thorns the Sweet-brier's tender wood,
And dash the Cynips from her damask bud;
Steep in ambrosial dews the Woodbine's bells,
And drive the Night-moth from her honey'd cells.
So where the Humming-bird in Chili's bowers
On murmuring pinions robs the pendent flowers;
Seeks, where fine pores their dulcet balm distill,
And sucks the treasure with proboscis-bill;
228
Knits her smooth brow, extinguishes her smile;
229
Hide her fine form, and mask her blushing charms;
In ambush sly the mimic warrior lies
And on quick wing the panting plunderer flies.
2.
“Shield the young Harvest from devouring blight,The Smut's dark poison and the Mildew white;
Deep-rooted Mould, and Ergot's horn uncouth,
And break the Canker's desolating tooth.
230
Mines unperceived beneath the shrivel'd rind;
Then climbs the branches with increasing strength,
Spreads as they spread, and lengthens with their length;
—Thus the slight wound ingraved on glass unneal'd
Runs in white lines along the lucid field;
231
And the frail fabric shivers into dust.
XIV.
1.
“Sylphs! if with morn destructive Eurus springs,O, clasp the Harebel with your velvet wings;
Screen with thick leaves the Jasmine as it blows,
And shake the white rime from the shuddering Rose;
Whilst Amaryllis turns with graceful ease
Her blushing beauties, and eludes the breeze.—
Sylphs! if at noon the Fritillary droops,
With drops nectareous hang her nodding cups;
232
And hide the vale's chaste Lily from the ray;
Whilst Erythrina o'er her tender flower
Bends all her leaves, and braves the sultry hour;—
Shield, when cold Hesper sheds his dewy light,
Mimosa's soft sensations from the night;
Fold her thin foliage, close her timid flowers,
And with ambrosial slumbers guard her bowers;
O'er each warm wall while Cerea flings her arms,
And wastes on night's dull eye a blaze of charms.
233
2.
“Round her tall Elm with dewy fingers twine
The gadding tendrils of the adventurous Vine;
From arm to arm in gay festoons suspend
Her fragrant flowers, her graceful foliage bend;
Swell with sweet juice her vermil orbs, and feed;
Shrined in transparent pulp her pearly seed;
Hang round the Orange all her silver bells,
And guard her fragrance with Hesperian spells;
Bud after bud her polish'd leaves unfold,
And load her branches with successive gold.
So the learn'd Alchemist exulting sees
Rise in his bright matrass Diana's trees;
Drop after drop, with just delay he pours
The red-fumed acid on Potosi's ores;
With sudden flash the fierce bullitions rise,
And wide in air the gas phlogistic flies;
Slow shoot, at length, in many a brilliant mass
Metallic roots across the netted glass;
Branch after branch extend their silver stems,
Bud into gold, and blossom into gems.
The gadding tendrils of the adventurous Vine;
From arm to arm in gay festoons suspend
Her fragrant flowers, her graceful foliage bend;
Swell with sweet juice her vermil orbs, and feed;
Shrined in transparent pulp her pearly seed;
Hang round the Orange all her silver bells,
And guard her fragrance with Hesperian spells;
Bud after bud her polish'd leaves unfold,
And load her branches with successive gold.
So the learn'd Alchemist exulting sees
Rise in his bright matrass Diana's trees;
234
The red-fumed acid on Potosi's ores;
With sudden flash the fierce bullitions rise,
And wide in air the gas phlogistic flies;
Slow shoot, at length, in many a brilliant mass
Metallic roots across the netted glass;
Branch after branch extend their silver stems,
Bud into gold, and blossom into gems.
“So sits enthron'd in vegetable pride
Imperial Kew by Thames's glittering side;
Obedient sails from realms unsurrow'd bring
For her the unnam'd progeny of spring;
Attendant Nymphs her dulcet mandates hear,
And nurse in fostering arms the tender year,
Plant the young bulb, inhume the living seed,
Prop the weak stem, the erring tendril lead;
Or fan in glass-built fanes the stranger flowers
With milder gales, and steep with warmer showers.
Delighted Thames through tropic umbrage glides,
And flowers antarctic, bending o'er his tides;
Drinks the new tints, the sweets unknown inhales,
And calls the sons of science to his vales.
In one bright point admiring Nature eyes
The fruits and foliage of discordant skies,
Twines the gay floret with the fragrant bough,
And bends the wreath round George's royal brow.
—Sometimes retiring, from the public weal
One tranquil hour the Royal Partners steal;
Through glades exotic pass with step sublime,
Or mark the growths of Britain's happier clime;
With beauty blossom'd, and with virtue blaz'd,
Mark the fair Scions, that themselves have rais'd;
Sweet blooms the Rose, the towering Oak expands,
The Grace and Guard of Britain's golden lands.
Imperial Kew by Thames's glittering side;
Obedient sails from realms unsurrow'd bring
For her the unnam'd progeny of spring;
235
And nurse in fostering arms the tender year,
Plant the young bulb, inhume the living seed,
Prop the weak stem, the erring tendril lead;
Or fan in glass-built fanes the stranger flowers
With milder gales, and steep with warmer showers.
Delighted Thames through tropic umbrage glides,
And flowers antarctic, bending o'er his tides;
Drinks the new tints, the sweets unknown inhales,
And calls the sons of science to his vales.
In one bright point admiring Nature eyes
The fruits and foliage of discordant skies,
Twines the gay floret with the fragrant bough,
And bends the wreath round George's royal brow.
—Sometimes retiring, from the public weal
One tranquil hour the Royal Partners steal;
Through glades exotic pass with step sublime,
Or mark the growths of Britain's happier clime;
With beauty blossom'd, and with virtue blaz'd,
Mark the fair Scions, that themselves have rais'd;
Sweet blooms the Rose, the towering Oak expands,
The Grace and Guard of Britain's golden lands.
236
XV.
“Sylphs! who, round earth on purple pinions borne,
Attend the radiant chariot of the morn;
Lead the gay hours along the ethereal hight,
And on each dun meridian shower the light;
Sylphs! who from realms of equatorial day
To climes, that shudder in the polar ray,
From zone to zone pursue on shifting wing,
The bright perennial journey of the spring;
Bring my rich Balms from Mecca's hallow'd glades,
Sweet flowers, that glitter in Arabia's shades;
Fruits, whose fair forms in bright succession glow
Gilding the banks of Arno, or of Po;
Each leaf, whose fragrant steam with ruby lip
Gay China's nymphs from pictur'd vases sip;
Each spicy rind, which sultry India boasts,
Scenting the night-air round her breezy coasts;
Roots, whose bold stems in bleak Siberia blow,
And gem with many a tint the eternal snow;
Barks, whose broad umbrage high in ether waves
O'er Ande's steeps, and hides his golden caves;
—And, where yon oak extends his dusky shoots
Wide o'er the rill, that bubbles from his roots;
Beneath whose arms, protected from the storm,
A turf-built altar rears it's rustic form;
Sylphs! with religious hands fresh garlands twine,
And deck with lavish pomp Hygeia's shrine.
Attend the radiant chariot of the morn;
Lead the gay hours along the ethereal hight,
And on each dun meridian shower the light;
Sylphs! who from realms of equatorial day
To climes, that shudder in the polar ray,
From zone to zone pursue on shifting wing,
The bright perennial journey of the spring;
Bring my rich Balms from Mecca's hallow'd glades,
Sweet flowers, that glitter in Arabia's shades;
Fruits, whose fair forms in bright succession glow
Gilding the banks of Arno, or of Po;
Each leaf, whose fragrant steam with ruby lip
Gay China's nymphs from pictur'd vases sip;
Each spicy rind, which sultry India boasts,
Scenting the night-air round her breezy coasts;
Roots, whose bold stems in bleak Siberia blow,
And gem with many a tint the eternal snow;
Barks, whose broad umbrage high in ether waves
O'er Ande's steeps, and hides his golden caves;
—And, where yon oak extends his dusky shoots
Wide o'er the rill, that bubbles from his roots;
237
A turf-built altar rears it's rustic form;
Sylphs! with religious hands fresh garlands twine,
And deck with lavish pomp Hygeia's shrine.
“Call with loud voice the Sisterhood, that dwell
On floating cloud, wide wave, or bubbling well;
Stamp with charm'd foot, convoke the alarmed Gnomes
From golden beds, and adamantine domes;
Each from her sphere with beckoning arm invite,
Curl'd with red flame the Vestal Forms of light.
Close all your spotted wings, in lucid ranks
Press with your bending knees the crowded banks,
Cross your meek arms, incline your wreathed brows,
And win the Goddess with unwearied vows.
On floating cloud, wide wave, or bubbling well;
Stamp with charm'd foot, convoke the alarmed Gnomes
From golden beds, and adamantine domes;
Each from her sphere with beckoning arm invite,
Curl'd with red flame the Vestal Forms of light.
Close all your spotted wings, in lucid ranks
Press with your bending knees the crowded banks,
Cross your meek arms, incline your wreathed brows,
And win the Goddess with unwearied vows.
“Oh, wave, Hygeia! o'er Britannia's throne
Thy serpent-wand, and mark it for thy own;
Lead round her breezy coasts thy guardian trains,
Her nodding forests, and her waving plains;
Shed o'er her peopled realms thy beamy smile,
And with thy airy temple crown her isle!”
Thy serpent-wand, and mark it for thy own;
Lead round her breezy coasts thy guardian trains,
Her nodding forests, and her waving plains;
Shed o'er her peopled realms thy beamy smile,
And with thy airy temple crown her isle!”
238
The Goddess ceased,—and calling from afar
The wandering Zephyrs, joins them to her car;
Mounts with light bound, and graceful, as she bends,
Whirls the long lash, the flexile rein extends;
On whispering wheels the silver axle slides,
Climbs into air, and cleaves the crystal tides;
Burst from it's pearly chains, her amber hair
Streams o'er her ivory shoulders, buoy'd in air;
Swells her white veil, with ruby clasp confined
Round her fair brow, and undulates behind;
The lessening coursers rise in spiral rings,
Pierce the slow-sailing clouds, and stretch their shadowy wings.
The wandering Zephyrs, joins them to her car;
Mounts with light bound, and graceful, as she bends,
Whirls the long lash, the flexile rein extends;
On whispering wheels the silver axle slides,
Climbs into air, and cleaves the crystal tides;
Burst from it's pearly chains, her amber hair
Streams o'er her ivory shoulders, buoy'd in air;
Swells her white veil, with ruby clasp confined
Round her fair brow, and undulates behind;
The lessening coursers rise in spiral rings,
Pierce the slow-sailing clouds, and stretch their shadowy wings.
| The botanic garden, a poem | |