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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)
  
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1.

“You charm'd, indulgent Sylphs! their learned toil,
And crown'd with fame your Torricell, and Boyle;
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Taught with sweet smiles, responsive to their prayer,
The spring and pressure of the viewless air.
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—How up exhausted tubes bright currents flow
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.
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