AGAIN the GODDESS speaks!--glad Echo swells
The tuneful tones along her shadowy dells,
Her wrinkling founts with soft vibration shakes,
Curls her deep wells, and rimples all her lakes,
5 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,
10 Rise, as she turns, and whiten all the lands.
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,
15 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
20 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.
[_The winged vapours_. l. 14. See additional note No. XXV. on
evaporation.]
[_On each broad cloud_. l. 15. The clouds consist of condensed vapour,
the particles of which are too small separately to overcome the tenacity
of the air, and which therefore do not descend. They are in such small
spheres as to repel each other, that is, they are applied to each other
by such very small surfaces, that the attraction of the particles of
each drop to its own centre is greater than its attraction to the
surface of the drop in its vicinity; every one has observed with what
difficulty small spherules of quicksilver can be made to unite, owing to
the same cause; and it is common to see on riding through shallow water
on a clear day, numbers of very small spheres of water as they are
thrown from the horses feet run along the surface for many yards before
they again unite with it. In many cases these spherules of water, which
compose clouds, are kept from uniting by a surplus of electric fluid;
and fall in violent showers as soon as that is withdrawn from them, as
in thunder storms. See note on Canto I. l. 553.
If in this state a cloud becomes frozen, it is torn to pieces in its
descent by the friction of the air, and falls in white flakes of snow.
Or these flakes are rounded by being rubbed together by the winds, and
by having their angles thawed off by the warmer air beneath as they
descend; and part of the water produced by these angles thus dissolved
is absorbed into the body of the hailstone, as may be seen by holding a
lump of snow over a candle, and there becomes frozen into ice by the
quantity of cold which the hailstone possesses beneath the freezing
point, or which is produced by its quick evaporation in falling; and
thus hailstones are often found of greater or less density according as
they consist of a greater portion of snow or ice. If hailstones
consisted of the large drops of showers frozen in their descent, they
would consist of pure transparent ice.
As hail is only produced in summer, and is always attended with storms,
some philosophers have believed that the sudden departure of electricity
from a cloud may effect something yet unknown in this phenomenon; but it
may happen in summer independent of electricity, because the aqueous
vapour is then raised higher in the atmosphere, whence it has further to
fall, and there is warmer air below for it to fall through.]
[_Or sink in silver dews_. l. 18. During the coldness of the night the
moisture before dissolved in the air is gradually precipitated, and as
it subsides adheres to the bodies it falls upon. Where the attraction of
the body to the particles of water is greater than the attractions of
those particles to each other, it becomes spread upon their surface, or
slides down them in actual contact; as on the broad parts of the blades
of moist grass: where the attraction of the surface to the water is less
than the attraction of the particles of water to each other, the dew
stands in drops; as on the points and edges of grass or gorse, where the
surface presented to the drop being small it attracts it so little as
but just to support it without much changing its globular form: where
there is no attraction between the vegetable surface and the dew drops,
as on cabbage leaves, the drop does not come into contact with the leaf,
but hangs over it repelled, and retains it natural form, composed of the
attraction and pressure of its own parts, and thence looks like
quicksilver, reflecting light from both its surfaces. Nor is this owing
to any oiliness of the leaf, but simply to the polish of its surface, as
a light needle may be laid on water in the same manner without touching
it; for as the attractive powers of polished surfaces are greater when
in actual contact, so the repulsive power is greater before contact.]
[_The blue mist_. l. 20. Mists are clouds resting on the ground, they
generally come on at the beginning of night, and either fill the moist
vallies, or hang on the summits of hills, according to the degree of
moisture previously dissolved, and the eduction of heat from them. The
air over rivers during the warmth of the day suspends much moisture, and
as the changeful surface of rivers occasions them to cool sooner than
the land at the approach of evening, mists are most frequently seen to
begin over rivers, and to spread themselves over moist grounds, and fill
the vallies, while the mists on the tops of mountains are more properly
clouds, condensed by the coldness of their situation.
On ascending up the side of a hill from a misty valley, I have observed
a beautiful coloured halo round the moon when a certain thickness of
mist was over me, which ceased to be visible as soon as I emerged out of
it; and well remember admiring with other spectators the shadow of the
three spires of the cathedral church at Lichfield, the moon rising
behind it, apparently broken off, and lying distinctly over our heads as
if horizontally on the surface of the mist, which arose about as high as
the roof of the church. There are some curious remarks on shadows or
reflexions seen on the surface of mists from high mountains in Ulloa's
Voyages. The dry mist of summer 1783, was probably occasioned by
volcanic eruption, as mentioned in note on Chunda, Vol. II. and
therefore more like the atmosphere of smoke which hangs on still days
over great cities.
There is a dry mist, or rather a diminished transparence of the air,
which according to Mr. Saussure accompanies fair weather, while great
transparence of air indicates rain. Thus when large rivers two miles
broad, such as at Liverpool, appear narrow, it is said to prognosticate
rain; and when wide, fair weather. This want of transparence of the air
in dry weather, may be owing to new combinations or decompositions of
the vapours dissolved in it, but wants further investigation. Essais sur
L'Hygromet, p. 357.]
[_Round the gelid hill_. l. 20. See additional notes, No. XXVI. on the
origin of springs.]
25 "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,
30 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;
35 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,
40 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,
45 Shapes, whose broad oar the torpid wave impels,
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,
50 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,
55 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 realms
Of scale and shell, which Ocean overwhelms;
As Night's pale Queen her rising orb reveals,
60 And climbs the zenith with refulgent wheels,
Car'd on the foam your glimmering legion rides,
Your little tridents heave the dashing tides,
Urge on the sounding shores their crystal course,
Restrain their fury, or direct their force.
[_Car'd on the foam_. l. 61. The phenomena of the tides have been well
investigated and satisfactorily explained by Sir Isaac Newton and Dr.
Halley from the reciprocal gravitations of the earth, moon, and sun. As
the earth and moon move round a centre of motion near the earth's
surface, at the same time that they are proceeding in their annual orbit
round the sun, it follows that the water on the side of the earth
nearest this centre of motion between the earth and moon will be more
attracted by the moon, and the waters on the opposite side of the earth
will be less attracted by the moon, than the central parts of the earth.
Add to this that the centrifugal force of the water on the side of the
earth furthest from the centre of the motion, round which the earth and
moon move, (which, as was said before, is near the surface of the earth)
is greater than that on the opposite side of the earth. From both these
causes it is easy to comprehend that the water will rise on two sides of
the earth, viz. on that nearest to the moon, and its opposite side, and
that it will be flattened in consequence at the quadratures, and thus
produce two tides in every lunar day, which consists of about twenty-
four hours and forty-eight minutes.
These tides will be also affected by the solar attraction when it
coincides with the lunar one, or opposes it, as at new and full moon,
and will also be much influenced by the opposing shores in every part of
the earth.
Now as the moon in moving round the centre of gravity between itself and
the earth describes a much larger orbit than the earth describes round
the same centre, it follows that the centrifugal motion on the side of
the moon opposite to the earth must be much greater than the centrifugal
motion of the side of the earth opposite to the moon round the same
centre. And secondly, as the attraction of the earth exerted on the
moon's surface next to the earth is much greater than the attraction of
the moon exerted on the earth's surface, the tides on the lunar sea, (if
such there be,) should be much greater than those of our ocean. Add to
this that as the same face of the moon always is turned to the earth,
the lunar tides must be permanent, and if the solid parts of the moon be
spherical, must always cover the phasis next to us. But as there are
evidently hills and vales and volcanos on this side of the moon, the
consequence is that the moon has no ocean, or that it is frozen.]
65 2."NYMPHS! YOU adorn, in glossy volumes roll'd,
The gaudy conch with azure, green, and gold.
You round Echinus ray his arrowy mail,
Give the keel'd Nautilus his oar and sail;
Firm to his rock with silver cords suspend
70 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 sepulcher'd in sands,
In dread repose He waits the scaly bands,
75 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,
80 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;
With ores and gems adorn her coral cell,
And drop a pearl in every gaping shell.
[_The gaudy conch_. l. 66. The spiral form of many shells seem to have
afforded a more frugal manner of covering the long tail of the fish with
calcareous armour; since a single thin partition between the adjoining
circles of the fish was sufficient to defend both surfaces, and thus
much cretaceous matter is saved; and it is probable that from this
spiral form they are better enabled to feel the vibrations of the
element in which they exist. See note on Canto IV. l. 162. This
cretaceous matter is formed by a mucous secretion from the skin of the
fish, as is seen in crab-fish, and others which annually cast their
shells, and is at first a soft mucous covering, (like that of a hen's
egg, when it is laid a day or two too soon,) and which gradually
hardens. This may also be seen in common shell snails, if a part of
their shell be broken it becomes repaired in a similar manner with
mucus, which by degrees hardens into shell.
It is probable the calculi or stones found in other animals may have a
similar origin, as they are formed on mucous membranes, as those of the
kidney and bladder, chalk-stones in the gout, and gall-stones; and are
probably owing to the inflammation of the membrane where they are
produced, and vary according to the degree of inflammation of the
membrane which forms them, and the kind of mucous which it naturally
produces. Thus the shelly matter of different shell-fish differs, from
the courser kinds which form the shells of crabs, to the finer kinds
which produces the mother-pearl.
The beautiful colours of some shells originate from the thinness of the
laminae of which they consist, rather than to any colouring matter, as
is seen in mother-pearl, which reflects different colours according to
the obliquity of the light which falls on it. The beautiful prismatic
colours seen on the Labrodore stone are owing to a similar cause, viz.
the thinness of the laminae of which it consists, and has probably been
formed from mother-pearl shells.
It is curious that some of the most common fossil shells are not now
known in their recent state, as the cornua ammonis; and on the contrary,
many shells which are very plentiful in their recent state, as limpets,
sea-ears, volutes, cowries, are very rarely found fossil. Da Costa's
Conchology, p. 163. Were all the ammoniae destroyed when the continents
were raised? Or do some genera of animals perish by the increasing power
of their enemies? Or do they still reside at inaccessible depths in the
sea? Or do some animals change their forms gradually and become new
genera?]
[_Echinus. Nautilus_. l. 67, 68. See additional notes, No. XXVII.]
[_Pinna. Cancer_. l. 70. See additional notes, No. XXVII.]
[_With worm-like beard_. l. 71. See additional notes, No. XXVIII.]
[_Feed the live petals_. l. 82. There is a sea-insect described by Mr.
Huges whose claws or tentacles being disposed in regular circles and
tinged with variety of bright lively colours represent the petals of
some most elegantly fringed and radiated flowers as the carnation,
marigold, and anemone. Philos. Trans. Abridg. Vol. IX. p. 110. The Abbe
Dicquemarre has further elucidated the history of the actinia; and
observed their manner of taking their prey by inclosing it in these
beautiful rays like a net. Phil. Trans. Vol. LXIII. and LXV. and LXVII.]
[_And drop a pearl_. l. 84. Many are the opinions both of antient and
modern concerning the production of pearls. Mr. Reaumur thinks they are
formed like the hard concretions in many land animals as stones of the
bladder, gallstones, and bezoar, and hence concludes them to be a
disease of the fish, but there seems to be a stricter analogy between
these and the calcareous productions found in crab-fish called crab's
eyes, which are formed near the stomach of the animal, and constitute a
reservoir of calcareous matter against the renovation of the shell, at
which time they are re-dissolved and deposited for that purpose. As the
internal part of the shell of the pearl oyster or muscle consists of
mother-pearl which is a similar material to the pearl and as the animal
has annually occasion to enlarge his shell there is reason to suspect the
loose pearls are similar reservoirs of the pearly matter for that
purpose.]
85 3. "YOUR myriad trains o'er stagnant ocean's 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.
You stay the flying bark, conceal'd beneath,
90 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.
95 --'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;
Springs o'er the fear-froze crew with Harpy-claws,
100 Down his deep den the whirling vessel draws;
Churns with his bloody mouth the dread repast,
The booming waters murmuring o'er the mast.
[_Or with fine films_. l. 87. See additional notes, No. XXIX.]
[_Where living rocks_. l. 90. The immense and dangerous rocks built by
the swarms of coral infects which rise almost perpendicularly in the
southern ocean like walls are described in Cook's voyages, a point of
one of these rocks broke off and stuck in the hole which it had made in
the bottom of one of his ships, which would otherwise have perished by
the admission of water. The numerous lime-stone rocks which consist of a
congeries of the cells of these animals and which constitute a great
part of the solid earth shew their prodigious multiplication in all ages
of the world. Specimens of these rocks are to be seen in the Lime-works
at Linsel near Newport in Shropshire, in Coal-brook Dale, and in many
parts of the Peak of Derbyshire. The insect has been well described by
M. Peyssonnel, Ellis, and others. Phil. Trans. Vol. XLVII. L. LII. and
LVII.]
[_Meet fell Teredo_. l. 91. See additional notes, No. XXX.]
[_Turn the broad helm_. l 93. See additional notes, No. XXXI.]
III. "Where with chill frown enormous ALPS alarms
A thousand realms, horizon'd in his arms;
105 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,
110 His roofs of chrystal, and his glasy 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,
115 Seek through unfathom'd snows their devious track,
Heave the vast spars, the ribbed granites crack,
Rush into day, in foamy torrents shine,
And swell the imperial Danube or the Rhine.--
Or feed the murmuring TIBER, as he laves
120 His realms inglorious with diminish'd waves,
Hears his lorn Forum sound with Eunuch-strains,
Sees dancing slaves insult his martial plains;
Parts with chill stream the dim religious bower,
Time-mouldered bastion, and dismantled tower;
125 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.
[_Where round dark craggs_. l. 113. See additional notes, No. XXXII.]
[_Heave the vast spars_. l. 116. Water in descending down elevated
situations if the outlet for it below is not sufficient for its emission
acts with a force equal to the height of the column, as is seen in an
experimental machine called the philosophical bellows, in which a few
pints of water are made to raise many hundred pounds. To this cause is
to be ascribed many large promontories of ice being occasionally thrown
down from the glaciers; rocks have likewise been thrown from the sides
of mountains by the same cause, and large portions of earth have been
removed many hundred yards from their situations at the foot of
mountains. On inspecting the locomotion of about thirty acres of earth
with a small house near Bilder's Bridge in Shropshire, about twenty
years ago, from the foot of a mountain towards the river, I well
remember it bore all the marks of having been thus lifted up, pushed
away, and as it were crumpled into ridges, by a column of water
contained in the mountain.
From water being thus confined in high columns between the strata of
mountainous countries it has often happened that when wells or
perforations have been made into the earth, that springs have arisen
much above the surface of the new well. When the new bridge was building
at Dublin Mr. G. Semple found a spring in the bed of the river where he
meant to lay the foundation of a pierre, which, by fixing iron pipes
into it, he raised many feet. Treatise on Building in Water, by G.
Semple. From having observed a valley north-west of St. Alkmond's well
near Derby, at the head of which that spring of water once probably
existed, and by its current formed the valley, (but which in after times
found its way out in its present situation,) I suspect that St.
Alkmond's well might by building round it be raised high enough to
supply many streets in Derby with spring-water which are now only
supplied with river-water. See an account of an artificial spring of
water, Phil. Trans. Vol. LXXV. p. 1.
In making a well at Sheerness the water rose 300 feet above its source
in the well. Phil. Trans. Vol. LXXIV. And at Hartford in Connecticut
there is a well which was dug seventy feet deep before water was found,
then in boring an augur-hole through a rock the water rose so fast as to
make it difficult to keep it dry by pumps till they could blow the hole
larger by gunpowder, which was no sooner accomplished than it filled and
run over, and has been a brook for near a century. Travels through
America. Lond. 1789. Lane.]
IV. "Sailing in air, when dark MONSOON inshrouds
130 His tropic mountains in a night of clouds;
Or drawn by whirlwinds from the Line returns,
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.
135 NYMPHS! YOU from cliff to cliff attendant guide
In headlong cataracts the impetuous tide;
Or lead o'er wastes of Abyssinian sands
The bright expanse to EGYPT'S shower-less lands.
--Her long canals the sacred waters fill,
140 And edge with silver every peopled hill;
Gigantic SPHINX in circling waves admire;
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.
[_Dark monsoon inshrouds_. l. 129. When from any peculiar situations of
land in respect to sea the tropic becomes more heated, when the sun is
vertical over it, than the line, the periodical winds called monsoons
are produced, and these are attended by rainy seasons; for as the air at
the tropic is now more heated than at the line it ascends by decrease of
its specific gravity, and floods of air rush in both from the South West
and North East, and these being one warmer than the other the rain is
precipitated by their mixture as observed by Dr. Hutton. See additional
notes, No. XXV. All late travellers have ascribed the rise of the Nile
to the monsoons which deluge Nubia and Abyssinia with rain. The whirling
of the ascending air was even seen by Mr. Bruce in Abyssinia; he says,
"every morning a small cloud began to whirl round, and presently after
the whole heavens became covered with clouds," by this vortex of
ascending air the N.E. winds and the S.W. winds, which flow in to supply
the place of the ascending column, became mixed more rapidly and
deposited their rain in greater abundance.
Mr. Volney observes that the time of the rising of the Nile commences
about the 19th of June, and that Abyssinia and the adjacent parts of
Africa are deluged with rain in May, June, and July, and produce a mass
of water which is three months in draining off. The Abbe Le Pluche
observes that as Sirius, or the dog-star, rose at the time of the
commencement of the flood its rising was watched by the astronomers, and
notice given of the approach of inundation by hanging the figure of
Anubis, which was that of a man with a dog's head, upon all their
temples. Histoire de Ciel.]
[Illustration: Fertilization of Egypt.]
[_Egypt's shower-less lands_. l. 138. There seem to be two situations
which may be conceived to be exempted from rain falling upon them, one
where the constant trade-winds meet beneath the line, for here two
regions of warm air are mixed together, and thence do not seem to have
any cause to precipitate their vapour; and the other is, where the winds
are brought from colder climates and become warmer by their contact with
the earth of a warmer one. Thus Lower Egypt is a flat country warmed by
the sun more than the higher lands of one side of it, and than the
Mediterranean on the other; and hence the winds which blow over it
acquire greater warmth, which ever way they come, than they possessed
before, and in consequence have a tendency to acquire and not to part
with their vapour like the north-east winds of this country. There is
said to be a narrow spot upon the coast of Peru where rain seldom
occurs, at the same time according to Ulloa on the mountainous regions
of the Andes beyond there is almost perpetual rain. For the wind blows
uniformly upon this hot part of the coast of Peru, but no cause of
devaporation occurs till it begins to ascend the mountainous Andes, and
then its own expansion produces cold sufficient to condense its vapour.]
145 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
150 Fell GIESAR roar'd, and struggling shook the ground;
Pour'd from red nostrils, with her scalding breath,
A boiling deluge o'er the blasted heath;
And, wide in air, in misty volumes hurl'd
Contagious atoms o'er the alarmed world;
155 NYMPHS! YOUR bold myriads broke the infernal spell,
And crush'd the Sorceress in her flinty cell.
[_Fell Giesar roar'd_. l. 150. The boiling column of water at Giesar in
Iceland was nineteen feet in diameter, and sometimes rose to the height
of ninety-two feet. On cooling it deposited a siliceous matter or
chalcedony forming a bason round its base. The heat of this water before
it rose out of the earth could not be ascertained, as water looses all
its heat above 212 (as soon as it is at liberty to expand) by the
exhalation of a part, but the flinty bason which is deposited from it
shews that water with great degrees of heat will dissolve siliceous
matter. Van Troil's Letters on Iceland. Since the above account in the
year 1780 this part of Iceland has been destroyed by an earthquake or
covered with lava, which was probably effected by the force of aqueous
steam, a greater quantity of water falling on the subterraneous fires
than could escape by the antient outlets and generating an increased
quantity of vapour. For the dispersion of contagious vapours from
volcanos see an account of the Harmattan in the notes on Chunda, Vol. II.]
2. "Where with soft fires in unextinguish'd urns,
Cauldron'd in rock, innocuous Lava burns;
On the bright lake YOUR gelid hands distil
160 In pearly mowers 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.
165 --So in green vales amid her mountains bleak
BUXTONIA smiles, the Goddess-Nymyh of Peak;
Deep in warm waves, and pebbly baths she dwells,
And calls HYGEIA to her sainted wells.
[_Buxtonia smiles_. l. 166. Some arguments are mentioned in the note on
Fucus Vol. II. to shew that the warm springs of this country do not
arise from the decomposition of pyrites near the surface of the earth,
but that they are produced by steam rising up the fissures of the
mountains from great depths, owing to water falling on subterraneous
fires, and that this steam is condensed between the strata of the
incumbent mountains and collected into springs. For further proofs on
this subject the reader is referred to a Letter from Dr. Darwin in Mr.
Pilkington's View of Derbyshire, Vol I. p. 256.]
"Hither in sportive bands bright DEVON leads
170 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;
175 --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,
180 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.
185 --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,
190 And dew-drops glitter on their necks of snow;
Round each fair Nymph her dropping mantle clings,
And Loves emerging shake their showery wings.
[_And sob, their blue eyes_. l. 184. The bath at Buxton being of 82
degrees of heat is called a warm bath, and is so compared with common
spring-water which possesses but 48 degrees of heat, but is nevertheless
a cold bath compared to the heat of the body which is 98. On going into
this bath there is therefore always a chill perceived at the first
immersion, but after having been in it a minute the chill ceases and a
sensation of warmth succeeds though the body continues to be immersed in
the water. The cause of this curious phenomenon is to be looked for in
the laws of animal sensation and not from any properties of heat. When a
person goes from clear day-light into an obscure room for a while it
appears gloomy, which gloom however in a little time ceases, and the
deficiency of light becomes no longer perceived. This is not solely
owing to the enlargement of the iris of the eye, since that is performed
in an instant, but to this law of sensation, that when a less stimulus
is applied (within certain bounds) the sensibility increases. Thus at
going into a bath as much colder than the body as that of Buxton, the
diminution of heat on the skin is at first perceived, but in about a
minute the sensibility to heat increases and the nerves of the skin are
equally excited by the lessened stimulus. The sensation of warmth at
emerging from a cold-bath, and the pain called the hot-ach, after the
hands have been immersed in snow, depend on the same principle, viz. the
increased sensibility of the skin after having been previously exposed
to a stimulus less than usual.]
"Here oft her LORD surveys the rude domain,
Fair arts of Greece triumphant in his train;
195 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,
200 And Health and Beauty crown the laughing waste.
[_Here oft her Lord_. l. 193. Alluding to the magnificent and beautiful
crescent, and superb stables lately erected at Buxton for the
accomodation of the company by the Duke of Devonshire; and to the
plantations with which he has decorated the surrounding mountains.]
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.
205 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,
210 And Ocean's hundred arms infold the earth.
[_And to pure air_. l. 204. Until very lately water was esteemed a
simple element, nor are all the most celebrated chemists of Europe yet
converts to the new opinion of its decomposition. Mr. Lavoisier and
others of the French school have most ingeniously endeavoured to shew
that water consists of pure air, called by them oxygene, and of
inflammable air, called hydrogene, with as much of the matter of heat,
or calorique, as is necessary to preserve them in the form of gas. Gas
is distinguished from steam by its preserving its elasticity under the
pressure of the atmosphere, and in the greatest degrees of cold yet
known. The history of the progress of this great discovery is detailed
in the Memoires of the Royal Academy for 1781, and the experimental
proofs of it are delivered in Lavoisier's Elements of Chemistry. The
results of which are that water consists of eighty-five parts by weight
of oxygene, and fifteen parts by weight of hydrogene, with a sufficient
quantity of Calorique. Not only numerous chemical phenomena, but many
atmospherical and vegetable facts receive clear and beautiful
elucidation from this important analysis. In the atmosphere inflammable
air is probably perpetually uniting with vital air and producing
moisture which descends in dews and showers, while the growth of
vegetables by the assistance of light is perpetually again decomposing
the water they imbibe from the earth, and while they retain the
inflammable air for the formation of oils, wax, honey, resin, &c. they
give up the vital air to replenish the atmosphere.]
"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;
215 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,
220 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.
225 --Glad ZEPHYR leads the train, 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 wreathes of flowers array'd,
230 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 through every chink.
235 --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,
240 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.
245 --Pierced on his throne the slarting 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,
250 "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,
255 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;
Etherial Warmth expands his brooding wing,
260 And in still showers descends the genial Spring.
[_And steer'd by love_. l. 222. The younger love, or Cupid, the son of
Venus, owes his existence and his attributes to much later times than
the Eros, or divine love, mentioned in Canto I. since the former is no
where mentioned by Homer, though so many apt opportunities of
introducing him occur in the works of that immortal bard. Bacon.]
[_And in still showers._ l. 260. The allegorical interpretation of the
very antient mythology which supposes Jupiter to represent the superior
part of the atmosphere or ether, and Juno the inferior air, and that the
conjunction of these two produces vernal showers, as alluded to in
Virgil's Georgics, is so analogous to the present important discovery of
the production of water from pure air, or oxygene, and inflammable air,
or hydrogene, (which from its greater levity probably resides over the
former,) that one should be tempted to believe that the very antient
chemists of Egypt had discovered the composition of water, and thus
represented it in their hieroglyphic figures before the invention of
letters.
In the passage of Virgil Jupiter is called ether, and descends in
prolific showers on the bosom of Juno, whence the spring succeeds and
all nature rejoices.
Tum pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus Aether
Conjugis in gremium laetae descendit, et omnes
Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, faetus.
Virg. Georg. Lib. II. l. 325.]
VII. "NYMPHS OF AQUATIC TASTE! whose placid smile
Breathes sweet enchantment o'er BRITANNIA'S isle;
Whose sportive touch in showers resplendent flings
Her lucid cataracts, and her bubbling springs;
265 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,
270 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;
275 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,
280 Or listening librates on unmoving fins.
The Nymph emerging mounts her scaly seat,
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,
285 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
290 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;
295 The Moon transported stays her bright career,
And maddening Stars shoot headlong from the sphere.
[_Her playful seahorse._ l. 277. Described form an antique gem.]
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,
300 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;
305 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.
[_O'er Milcena's tomb_. l. 308. In memory of Mrs. French, a lady who to
many other elegant accomplishments added a proficiency in botany and
natural history.]
"Oft with sweet voice She led her infant-train,
310 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!
315 "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,
320 And those love-lighted eye-balls roll no more!
--HERE her sad Consort, stealing through the gloom
Of
Hangs in mute anguish o'er the scutcheon'd hearse,
Or graves with trembling style the votive verse.
325 "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.
"So shall with purer joy my spirit move,
330 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,
335 Rise from her marble bed a brighter form,
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,
340 --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.--
345 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;
So with strong arm immortal BRINDLEY leads
350 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,
355 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 show-white bosoms shower'd the incessant tear,
Adorn his tomb!--oh, raise the marble bust,
360 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.
[_On Brindley's cradle smiled_. l. 341. The life of Mr. Brindley, whose
great abilities in the construction of canal navigation were called
forth by the patronage of the Duke of Bridgwater, may be read in Dr.
Kippis's Biographia Britannica, the excellence of his genius is visible
in every part of this island. He died at Turnhurst in Staffordshire in
1772, and ought to have a monument in the cathedral church at
Lichfield.]
365 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,
370 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;
375 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,
380 Spreads his inquiring hands, and smiles, and sips.
[_Lift her ponderous waves_. l. 366. The invention of the pump is of
very antient date, being ascribed to one Ctesebes an Athenian, whence it
was called by the Latins machina Ctesebiana; but it was long before it
was known that the ascent of the piston lifted the superincumbent column
of the atmosphere, and that then the pressure of the surrounding air on
the surface of the well below forced the water up into the vacuum, and
that on that account in the common lifting pump the water would rise
only about thirty-five feet, as the weight of such a column of water was
in general an equipoise to the surrounding atmosphere. The foamy
appearance of water, when the pressure of the air over it is diminished,
is owing to the expansion and escape of the air previously dissolved by
it, or existing in its pores. When a child first sucks it only presses
or champs the teat, as observed by the great Harvey, but afterwards it
learns to make an incipient vacuum in its mouth, and acts by removing
the pressure of the atmosphere from the nipple, like a pump.]
"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;
385 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,
390 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,
395 The Cherub, Innocence, with smile divine
Shuts his white wings, and sleeps on Beauty's shrine.
[_Ah! what avails_. l. 387. From an elegant little poem of Mr.
Jerningham's intitled Il Latte, exhorting ladies to nurse their own
children.]
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,
400 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.
405 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,
410 And sudden darkness shrouds the shatter'd walls;
Steam, smoak, and dust in blended volumes roll,
And Night and Silence repossess the Pole.--
[_Hurl'd in resplendent arches_. l. 406. The addition of an air-cell to
machines for raising water to extinguish fire was first introduced by
Mr. Newsham of London, and is now applied to similar engines for washing
wall-trees in gardens, and to all kinds of forcing pumps, and might be
applied with advantage to lifting pumps where the water is brought from
a great distance horizontally. Another kind of machine was invented by
one Greyl, in which a vessel of water was every way dispersed by the
explosion of gun-powder lodging in the centre of it, and lighted by an
adapted match; from this idea Mr. Godfrey proposed a water-bomb of
similar construction. Dr. Hales to prevent the spreading of fire
proposed to cover the floors and stairs of the adjoining houses with
earth; Mr. Hartley proposed to prevent houses from taking fire by
covering the cieling with thin iron-plates, and Lord Mahon by a bed of
coarse mortar or plaister between the cieling and floor above it. May
not this age of chemical science discover some method of injecting or
soaking timber with lime-water and afterwards with vitriolic acid, and
thus fill its pores with alabaster? or of penetrating it with siliceous
matter, by processes similar to those of Bergman and Achard? See
Cronstadt's Mineral. 2d. edit. Vol. I. p. 222.]
"Where were ye, NYMPHS! in those disasterous hours,
Which wrap'd in flames AUGUSTA'S sinking towers?
415 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
420 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,
425 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,
430 And bursts through bickering flames, unscorch'd, below.
So, by her Son arraign'd, with feet unshod
O'er burning bars indignant Emma trod.
[Footnote: _Woodmason, Molesworth_. l. 416. The histories of these
unfortunate families may be seen in the Annual Register, or in the
Gentleman's Magazine.]
"E'en on the day when Youth with Beauty wed,
The flames surprized them in their nuptial bed;--
435 Seen at the opening sash with bosom bare,
With wringing hands, and dark dishevel'd hair,
The blushing Beauty with disorder'd charms
Round her fond lover winds her ivory arms;
Beat, as they clasp, their throbbing hearts with fear,
440 And many a kiss is mix'd 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!--
445 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,
450 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;
455 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,
460 And close the timorous floret's golden bell.
[_Shove the dim mist_. l. 453. See note on l. 20 of this Canto.]
[_Catch the hail-stones_. l. 456. See note on l. 15 of this Canto.]
[_From each chill leaf_. l. 459. The upper side of the leaf is the organ
of vegetable respiration, as explained in the additional notes, No.
XXXVII, hence the leaf is liable to injury from much moisture on this
surface, and is destroyed by being smeared with oil, in these respects
resembling the lungs of animals or the spiracula of insects. To prevent
these injuries some leaves repel the dew-drops from their upper surfaces
as those of cabbages; other vegetables close the upper surfaces of their
leaves together in the night or in wet weather, as the sensitive plant;
others only hang their leaves downwards so as to shoot the wet from
them, as kidney-beans, and many trees. See note on l. 18 of this Canto.]
[_Golden bell_. l. 460. There are muscles placed about the footstalks of
the leaves or leaflets of many plants, for the purpose of closing their
upper surfaces together, or of bending them down so as to shoot off the
showers or dew-drops, as mentioned in the preceeding note. The claws of
the petals or of the divisions of the calyx of many flowers are
furnished in a similar manner with muscles, which are exerted to open or
close the corol and calyx of the flower as in tragopogon, anemone. This
action of opening and closing the leaves or flowers does not appear to
be produced simply by _irritation_ on the muscles themselves, but by the
connection of those muscles with a _sensitive_ sensorium or brain
existing in each individual bud or flower. 1st. Because many flowers
close from the defect of stimulus, not by the excess of it, as by
darkness, which is the absence of the stimulus of light; or by cold,
which is the absence of the stimulus of heat. Now the defect of heat, or
the absence of food, or of drink, affects our _sensations_, which had
been previously accustomed to a greater quantity of them; but a muscle
cannot be said to be stimulated into action by a defect of stimulus. 2.
Because the muscles around the footstalks of the subdivisions of the
leaves of the sensitive plant are exerted when any injury is offered to
the other extremity of the leaf, and some of the stamens of the flowers
of the class Syngenesia contract themselves when others are irritated.
See note on Chondrilla, Vol. II. of this work.
From this circumstance the contraction of the muscles of vegetables
seems to depend on a disagreeable _sensation_ in some distant part, and
not on the _irritation_ of the muscles themselves. Thus when a particle
of dust stimulates the ball of the eye, the eye-lids are instantly
closed, and when too much light pains the retina, the muscles of the
iris contract its aperture, and this not by any connection or consent of
the nerves of those parts, but as an effort to prevent or to remove a
disagreeable sensation, which evinces that vegetables are endued with
sensation, or that each bud has a common sensorium, and is furnished
with a brain or a central place where its nerves were connected.]
"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;
465 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,
470 Or prop with firmer staff the steps of Age;
The lifted arm of mute Despair arrest,
And snatch the dagger pointed to his breast;
Or lull to slumber Envy's haggard mien,
And rob her quiver'd shafts with hand unseen.
475 --Sound, NYMPHS OF HELICON! the trump of Fame,
And teach Hibernian echoes JONES'S name;
Bind round her polish'd brow the civic bay,
And drag the fair Philanthropist to day.--
So from secluded springs, and secret caves,
480 Her Liffy pours his bright meandering waves,
Cools the parch'd vale, the sultry mead divides,
And towns and temples star his shadowy sides.
[_Jones's name_. l. 476. A young lady who devotes a great part of an
ample fortune to well chosen acts of secret charity.]
XIII. "CALL YOUR light legions, tread the swampy heath,
Pierce with sharp spades the tremulous peat beneath;
485 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,
490 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,
495 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,
500 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.
[_Fierce Achelous_. l. 495. The river Achelous deluged Etolia, by one of
its branches or arms, which in the antient languages are called horns,
and produced famine throughout a great tract of country, this was
represented in hieroglyphic emblems by the winding course of a serpent
and the roaring of a bull with large horns. Hercules, or the emblem of
strength, strangled the serpent, and tore off one horn from the bull;
that is, he stopped and turned the course of one arm of the river, and
restored plenty to the country. Whence the antient emblem of the horn of
plenty. Dict. par M. Danet.]
505 "Then to a Snake the finny Demon turn'd
His lengthen'd form, with scales of silver burn'd;
Lash'd with restless sweep his dragon-train,
And shot meandering o'er the affrighted plain.
The Hero-God, with giant fingers clasp'd
510 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;
515 With silver hoofs the flowery 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
520 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;
525 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.
[_Dragg'd down to earth_. l. 517. Described from an antique gem.]
XIV. "On Spring's fair lap, CERULEAN SISTERS! pour
530 From airy urns the sun-illumined 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;
535 Or where cold dews their secret channels lave,
And Earth's dark chambers hide the stagnant wave,
O, pierce, YE NYMPHS! her marble veins, and lead
Her gushing fountains to the thirsty mead;
Wide o'er the shining vales, and trickling hills
540 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;
545 Shade your cool mansions from meridian beams,
And view their waving honours in your streams.
[_Spread the bright treasure_. l. 540. The practice of flooding lands
long in use in China has been but lately introduced into this country.
Besides the supplying water to the herbage in dryer seasons, it seems to
defend it from frost in the early part of the year, and thus doubly
advances the vegetation. The waters which rise from springs passing
through marl or limestone are replete with calcareous earth, and when
thrown over morasses they deposit this earth and incrust or consolidate
the morass. This kind of earth is deposited in great quantity from the
springs at Matlock bath, and supplies the soft porous limestone of which
the houses and walls are there constructed; and has formed the whole
bank for near a mile on that side of the Derwent on which they stand.
The water of many springs contains much azotic gas, or phlogistic air,
besides carbonic gas, or fixed air, as that of Buxton and Bath; this
being set at liberty may more readily contribute to the production of
nitre by means of the putrescent matters which it is exposed to by being
spread upon the surface of the land; in the same manner as frequently
turning over heaps of manure facilitates the nitrous process by
imprisoning atmospheric air in the interstices of the putrescent
materials. Water arising by land-floods brings along with it much of the
most soluble parts of the manure from the higher lands to the lower
ones. River-water in its clear state and those springs which are called
soft are less beneficial for the purpose of watering lands, as they
contain less earthy or saline matter; and water from dissolving snow
from its slow solution brings but little earth along with it, as may be
seen by the comparative clearness of the water of snow-floods.]
"Thus where the veins their confluent branches bend,
And milky eddies with the purple blend;
The Chyle's white trunk, diverging from its source,
550 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;
555 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,
560 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;
565 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
570 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.
575 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
580 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;
585 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
590 Hang o'er the gliding steel, and hiss along the ice.
_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. 1.
Syroc. Simoom. Tornado. 63. 2. Fog. Contagion. Story of Thyrsis and
Aegle. Love and Death. 79. IV. 1. Barometer. Air-pump. 127. 2. Air-
balloon of Mongulfier. Death of Rozier. Icarus. 143. V. Discoveries of
Dr. Priestley. Evolutions and combinations of pure air. Rape of
Proserpine. 165. VI. Sea-balloons, or houses constructed to move under
the sea. Death of Mr. Day. Of Mr. Spalding. Of Captain Pierce and his
Daughters. 195. VII. Sylphs of music. Cecelia singing. Cupid with a lyre
riding upon a lion. 233. VIII. Destruction of Senacherib's army by a
pestilential wind. Shadow of Death. 263. IX. 1. Wish to possess the
secret of changing the course of the winds. 305. 2. Monster devouring
air subdued by Mr. Kirwan. 321. X. 1. Seeds suspended in their pods.
Stars discovered by Mr. Herschel. Destruction and resuscitation of all
things. 351. 2. Seeds within seeds, and bulbs within bulbs. Picture on
the retina of the eye. Concentric strata of the earth. The great seed.
381. 3. The root, pith, lobes, plume, calyx, coral, sap, blood, leaves
respire and absorb light. The crocodile in its egg. 409. XI. Opening of
the flower. The petals, style, anthers, prolific dust. Transmutation of
the silkworm. 441. XII. 1. Leaf-buds changed into flower-buds by
wounding the bark, or strangulating a part of the branch. 461. 2.
Ingrafting. Aaron's rod pullulates. 477. XIII. 1. Insects on trees.
Humming-bird alarmed by the spider-like apearance of Cyprepedia. 491. 2.
Diseases of vegetables. Scratch on unnealed glass. 511. XIV. 1. Tender
flowers. Amaryllis, fritillary, erythrina, mimosa, cerea. 523. 2. Vines.
Oranges. Diana's trees. Kew garden. The royal family. 541. XV. Offering
to Hygeia. 587. Departure of the Goddess. 629.
THE
ECONOMY OF VEGETATION.