[THE BOTANIC GARDEN. PART II. THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.]

THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.

CANTO I.

DESCEND, ye hovering Sylphs! aerial Quires,
 And sweep with little hands your silver lyres;
 With fairy footsteps print your grassy rings,
 Ye Gnomes! accordant to the tinkling strings;
 While in soft notes I tune to oaten reed
 Gay hopes, and amorous sorrows of the mead. —
 From giant Oaks, that wave their branches dark,
 To the dwarf Moss, that clings upon their bark,
 What Beaux and Beauties crowd the gaudy groves,
 And woo and win their vegetable Loves. 
How Snowdrops cold, and blue-eyed Harebels blend
 Their tender tears, as o'er the stream they bend;
 The lovesick Violet, and the Primrose pale
 Bow their sweet heads, and whisper to the gale;
 With secret sighs the Virgin Lily droops,
 And jealous Cowslips hang their tawny cups. 
How the young Rose in beauty's damask pride
 Drinks the warm blushes of his bashful bride;
 With honey'd lips enamour'd Woodbines meet,
 Clasp with fond arms, and mix their kisses sweet. —

Stay thy soft-murmuring waters, gentle Rill;
 Hush, whispering Winds, ye rustling Leaves, be still;
 Rest, silver Butterflies, your quivering wings;
 Alight, ye Beetles, from your airy rings;
 Ye painted Moths, your gold-eyed plumage furl,
 Bow your wide horns, your spiral trunks uncurl;
 Glitter, ye Glow-worms, on your mossy beds;
 Descend, ye Spiders, on your lengthen'd threads;
 Slide here, ye horned Snails, with varnish'd shells;
 Ye Bee-nymphs, listen in your waxen cells! —

BOTANIC MUSE! who in this latter age
 Led by your airy hand the Swedish sage,
 Bad his keen eye your secret haunts explore
 On dewy dell, high wood, and winding shore;
 Say on each leaf how tiny Graces dwell;
 How laugh the Pleasures in a blossom's bell;
 How insect Loves arise on cobweb wings,
 Aim their light shafts, and point their little stings. 

 "First the tall CANNA lifts his curled brow
 Erect to heaven, and plights his nuptial vow;
 The virtuous pair, in milder regions born,
 Dread the rude blast of Autumn's icy morn;
 Round the chill fair he folds his crimson vest,
 And clasps the timorous beauty to his breast. 

Thy love, CALLITRICHE, two Virgins share,
 Smit with thy starry eye and radiant hair; —
 On the green margin sits the youth, and laves
 His floating train of tresses in the waves;
 Sees his fair features paint the streams that pass,
 And bends for ever o'er the watery glass. 

Two brother swains, of COLLIN'S gentle name,
 The same their features, and their forms the same,
 With rival love for fair COLLINIA sigh,
 Knit the dark brow, and roll the unsteady eye. 
With sweet concern the pitying beauty mourns,
 And sooths with smiles the jealous pair by turns. 
Sweet blooms GENISTA in the myrtle shade,
 And ten fond brothers woo the haughty maid. 

Two knights before thy fragrant altar bend,
 Adored MELISSA! and two squires attend. 
MEADIA's soft chains five suppliant beaux confess,
 And hand in hand the laughing belle address;
 Alike to all, she bows with wanton air,
 Rolls her dark eye, and waves her golden hair. 

Woo'd with long care, CURCUMA cold and shy
 Meets her fond husband with averted eye:
 Four beardless youths the obdurate beauty move
 With soft attentions of Platonic love. 

With vain desires the pensive ALCEA burns,
 And, like sad ELOISA, loves and mourns. 
The freckled IRIS owns a fiercer flame,
 And three unjealous husbands wed the dame. 
CUPRESSUS dark disdains his dusky bride,
 One dome contains them, but two beds divide. 
The proud OSYRIS flies his angry fair,
 Two houses hold the fashionable pair. 

With strange deformity PLANTAGO treads,
 A Monster-birth! and lifts his hundred heads;
 Yet with soft love a gentle belle he charms,
 And clasps the beauty in his hundred arms. 
So hapless DESDEMONA, fair and young,
 Won by OTHELLO'S captivating tongue,
 Sigh'd o'er each strange and piteous tale, distress'd,
 And sunk enamour'd on his sooty breast. 

Two gentle shepherds and their sister-wives
 With thee, ANTHOXA! lead ambrosial lives;
 Where the wide heath in purple pride extends,
 And scatter'd furze its golden lustre blends,
 Closed in a green recess, unenvy'd lot! 
The blue smoak rises from their turf-built cot;
 Bosom'd in fragrance blush their infant train,
 Eye the warm sun, or drink the silver rain. 

The fair OSMUNDA seeks the silent dell,
 The ivy canopy, and dripping cell;
 There hid in shades clandestine rites approves,
 Till the green progeny betrays her loves. 

With charms despotic fair CHONDRILLA reigns
 O'er the soft hearts of five fraternal swains;
 If sighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn;
 And, if she smiles, with rival raptures burn. 
So, tun'd in unison, Eolian Lyre! 
Sounds in sweet symphony thy kindred wire;
 Now, gently swept by Zephyr's vernal wings,
 Sink in soft cadence the love-sick strings;
 And now with mingling chords, and voices higher,
 Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir. 

Five sister-nymphs to join Diana's train
 With thee, fair LYCHNIS! vow, — but vow in vain;
 Beneath one roof resides the virgin band,
 Flies the fond swain, and scorns his offer'd hand;
 But when soft hours on breezy pinions move,
 And smiling May attunes her lute to love,
 Each wanton beauty, trick'd in all her grace,
 Shakes the bright dew-drops from her blushing face;
 In gay undress displays her rival charms,
 And calls her wondering lovers to her arms. 

When the young Hours amid her tangled hair
 Wove the fresh rose-bud, and the lily fair,
 Proud GLORIOSA led three chosen swains,
 The blushing captives of her virgin chains. —
 — When Time's rude hand a bark of wrinkles spread
 Round her weak limbs, and silver'd o'er her head,
 Three other youths her riper years engage,
 The flatter'd victims of her wily age. 

So, in her wane of beauty, NINON WON
 With fatal smiles her gay unconscious son. —
 Clasp'd in his arms she own'd a mother's name, —
 "Desist, rash youth! restrain your impious flame,
"First on that bed your infant-form was press'd,
 "Born by my throes, and nurtured at my breast. " —
 Back as from death he sprung, with wild amaze
 Fierce on the fair he fix'd his ardent gaze;
 Dropp'd on one knee, his frantic arms outspread,
 And stole a guilty glance toward the bed;
 Then breath'd from quivering lips a whisper'd vow,
 And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow;
 "Thus, thus!" he cried, and plung'd the furious dart,
 And life and love gush'd mingled from his heart. 

The fell SILENE and her sisters fair,
 Skill'd in destruction, spread the viscous snare. 

The harlot-band ten lofty bravoes screen,
 And frowning guard the magic nets unseen. —
 Haste, glittering nations, tenants of the air,
 Oh, steer from hence your viewless course afar! 
If with soft words, sweet blushes, nods, and smiles,
 The three dread Syrens lure you to their toils,
 Limed by their art in vain you point your stings,
 In vain the efforts of your whirring wings! —
 Go, seek your gilded mates and infant hives,
 Nor taste the honey purchas'd with your lives! 

When heaven's high vault condensing clouds deform,
 Fair AMARYLLIS flies the incumbent storm,
 Seeks with unsteady step the shelter'd vale,
 And turns her blushing beauties from the gale. —
 Six rival youths, with soft concern impress'd,
 Calm all her fears, and charm her cares to rest. —
 So shines at eve the sun-illumin'd fane,
 Lifts its bright cross, and waves its golden vane;
 From every breeze the polish'd axle turns,
 And high in air the dancing meteor burns. 

Four of the giant brood with ILEX stand,
 Each grasps a thousand arrows in his hand;
 A thousand steely points on every scale
 Form the bright terrors of his bristly male. —
 So arm'd, immortal Moore uncharm'd the spell,
 And slew the wily dragon of the well. —
 Sudden with rage their injur'd bosoms burn,
 Retort the insult, or the wound return;
 Unwrong'd, as gentle as the breeze that sweeps
 The unbending harvests or undimpled deeps,
 They guard, the Kings of Needwood's wide domains,
 Their sister-wives and fair infantine trains;
 Lead the lone pilgrim through the trackless glade,
 Or guide in leafy wilds the wand'ring maid. 

So WRIGHT'S bold pencil from Vesuvio's hight
 Hurls his red lavas to the troubled night;
 From Calpè starts the intolerable flash,
 Skies burst in flames, and blazing oceans dash; —
 Or bids in sweet repose his shades recede,
 Winds the still vale, and slopes the velvet mead;
 On the pale stream expiring Zephyrs sink,
 And Moonlight sleeps upon its hoary brink. 

Gigantic Nymph! the fair KLEINHOVIA reigns,
 The grace and terror of Orixa's plains;
 O'er her warm cheek the blush of beauty swims,
 And nerves Herculean bend her sinewy limbs;
 With frolic eye she views the affrighted throng,
 And shakes the meadows, as she towers along,
 With playful violence displays her charms,
 And bears her trembling lovers in her arms. 
So fair THALESTRIS shook her plumy crest,
 And bound in rigid mail her jutting breast;
 Poised her long lance amid the walks of war,
 And Beauty thunder'd from Bellona's car;
 Greece arm'd in vain, her captive heroes wove
 The chains of conquest with the wreaths of love. 

When o'er the cultured lawns and dreary wastes
 Retiring Autumn flings her howling blasts,
 Bends in tumultuous waves the struggling woods,
 And showers their leafy honours on the floods,
 In withering heaps collects the flowery spoil,
 And each chill insect sinks beneath the soil;
 Quick flies fair TULIPA the loud alarms,
 And folds her infant closer in her arms;
 In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies,
 And waits the courtship of serener skies. —
 So, six cold moons, the Dormouse charm'd to rest,
 Indulgent Sleep! beneath thy eider breast,
 In fields of Fancy climbs the kernel'd groves,
 Or shares the golden harvest with his loves. —
 But bright from earth amid the troubled air
 Ascends fair COLCHICA with radiant hair,
 Warms the cold bosom of the hoary year,
 And lights with Beauty's blaze the dusky sphere. 
Three blushing Maids the intrepid Nymph attend,
 And six gay Youths, enamour'd train! defend. 
So shines with silver guards the Georgian star,
 And drives on Night's blue arch his glittering car;
 Hangs o'er the billowy clouds his lucid form,
 Wades through the mist, and dances in the storm. 

GREAT HELIANTHUS guides o'er twilight plains
 In gay solemnity his Dervise-trains;
 Marshall'd in fives each gaudy band proceeds,
 Each gaudy band a plumed Lady leads;
 With zealous step he climbs the upland lawn,
 And bows in homage to the rising dawn;
 Imbibes with eagle-eye the golden ray,
 And watches, as it moves, the orb of day. 

Queen of the marsh, imperial DROSERA treads
 Rush-fringed banks, and moss-embroider'd beds;
 Redundant folds of glossy silk surround
 Her slender waist, and trail upon the ground;
 Five sister-nymphs collect with graceful ease,
 Or spread the floating purple to the breeze;
 And five fair youths with duteous love comply
 With each soft mandate of her moving eye. 
As with sweet grace her snowy neck she bows,
 A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows;
 Bright shines the silver halo, as she turns;
 And, as she steps, the living lustre burns. 

Fair LONICERA prints the dewy lawn,
 And decks with brighter blush the vermil dawn;
 Winds round the shadowy rocks, and pansied vales,
 And scents with sweeter breath the summer-gales;
 With artless grace and native ease she charms,
 And bears the Horn of Plenty in her arms. 
Five rival Swains their tender cares unfold,
 And watch with eye askance the treasured gold. 

Where rears huge Tenerif his azure crest,
 Aspiring DRABA builds her eagle nest;
 Her pendant eyry icy caves surround,
 Where erst Volcanos min'd the rocky ground. 
Pleased round the Fair four rival Lords ascend
 The shaggy steeps, two menial youths attend. 
High in the setting ray the beauty stands,
 And her tall shadow waves on distant lands. 

Stay, bright inhabitant of air, alight,
 Ambitious VISCA, from thy eagle-flight! —
 — Scorning the sordid soil, aloft she springs,
 Shakes her white plume, and claps her golden wings;
 High o'er the fields of boundless ether roves,
 And seeks amid the clouds her soaring loves! 

Stretch'd on her mossy couch, in trackless deeps,
 Queen of the coral groves, ZOSTERA sleeps;
 The silvery sea-weed matted round her bed,
 And distant surges murmuring o'er her head. —
 High in the flood her azure dome ascends,
 The crystal arch on crystal columns bends;
 Roof'd with translucent shell the turrets blaze,
 And far in ocean dart their colour'd rays;
 O'er the white floor successive shadows move,
 As rise and break the ruffled waves above. —
 Around the nymph her mermaid-trains repair,
 And weave with orient pearl her radiant hair;
 With rapid fins she cleaves the watery way,
 Shoots like a silver meteor up to day;
 Sounds a loud conch, convokes a scaly band,
 Her sea-born lovers, and ascends the strand. 

E'en round the pole the flames of Love aspire,
 And icy bosoms feel the secret fire! —
 Cradled in snow and fann'd by arctic air
 Shines, gentle BAROMETZ! thy golden hair;
 Rooted in earth each cloven hoof descends,
 And round and round her flexile neck she bends;
 Crops the grey coral moss, and hoary thyme,
 Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime;
 Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam,
 Or seems to bleat, a Vegetable Lamb. 
— So, warm and buoyant in his oily mail,
 Gambols on seas of ice the unwieldy Whale;
 Wide-waving fins round floating islands urge
 His bulk gigantic through the troubled surge;
 With hideous yawn the flying shoals He seeks,
 Or clasps with fringe of horn his massy cheeks;
 Lifts o'er the tossing wave his nostrils bare,
 And spouts pellucid columns into air;
 The silvery arches catch the setting beams,
 And transient rainbows tremble o'er the streams. 

Weak with nice sense, the chaste MIMOSA stands,
 From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands;
 Oft as light clouds o'er-pass the Summer-glade,
 Alarm'd she trembles at the moving shade;
 And feels, alive through all her tender form,
 The whisper'd murmurs of the gathering storm;
 Shuts her sweet eye-lids to approaching night;
 And hails with freshen'd charms the rising light. 
Veil'd, with gay decency and modest pride,
 Slow to the mosque she moves, an eastern bride;
 There her soft vows unceasing love record,
 Queen of the bright seraglio of her Lord. —
 So sinks or rises with the changeful hour
 The liquid silver in its glassy tower. 
So turns the needle to the pole it loves,
 With fine librations quivering as it moves. 

All wan and shivering in the leafless glade
 The sad ANEMONE reclined her head;
 Grief on her cheeks had paled the roseate hue,
 And her sweet eye-lids dropp'd with pearly dew. 
— "See, from bright regions, borne on odorous gales
 The Swallow, herald of the summer, sails;
 "Breathe, gentle AIR! from cherub-lips impart
"Thy balmy influence to my anguish'd heart;
 "Thou, whose soft voice calls forth the tender blooms,
"Whose pencil paints them, and whose breath perfumes;
 "O chase the Fiend of Frost, with leaden mace
"Who seals in death-like sleep my hapless race;
 "Melt his hard heart, release his iron hand,
"And give my ivory petals to expand. 
 "So may each bud, that decks the brow of spring,
"Shed all its incense on thy wafting wing! "—

To her fond prayer propitious Zephyr yields,
 Sweeps on his sliding shell through azure fields,
 O'er her fair mansion waves his whispering wand,
 And gives her ivory petals to expand;
 Gives with new life her filial train to rise,
 And hail with kindling smiles the genial skies. 
So shines the Nymph in beauty's blushing pride,
 When Zephyr wafts her deep calash aside;
 Tears with rude kiss her bosom's gauzy veil,
 And flings the fluttering kerchief to the gale. 
So bright, the folding canopy undrawn,
 Glides the gilt Landau o'er the velvet lawn,
 Of beaux and belles displays the glittering throng;
 And soft airs fan them, as they roll along. 

Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow
 O'er Conway, listening to the surge below;
 Retiring LICHEN climbs the topmost stone,
 And 'mid the airy ocean dwells alone. —
 Bright shine the stars unnumber'd o'er her head,
 And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed;
 While round the rifted rocks hoarse whirlwinds breathe,
 And dark with thunder sail the clouds beneath. —
 The steepy path her plighted swain pursues,
 And tracks her light step o'er th' imprinted dews,
 Delighted Hymen gives his torch to blaze,
 Winds round the craggs, and lights the mazy ways;
 Sheds o'er their secret vows his influence chaste,
 And decks with roses the admiring waste. 

High in the front of heaven when Sirius glares,
 And o'er Britannia shakes his fiery hairs;
 When no soft shower descends, no dew distills,
 Her wave-worn channels dry, and mute her rills;
 When droops the sickening herb, the blossom fades,
 And parch'd earth gapes beneath the withering glades. 
— With languid step fair DYPSACA retreats;
 "Fall gentle dews!" the fainting nymph repeats;
 Seeks the low dell, and in the sultry shade
 Invokes in vain the Naiads to her aid. —
 Four silvan youths in crystal goblets bear
 The untasted treasure to the grateful fair;
 Pleased from their hands with modest grace she sips,
 And the cool wave reflects her coral lips. 

With nice selection modest RUBIA blends,
 Her vermil dyes, and o'er the cauldron bends;
 Warm 'mid the rising steam the Beauty glows,
 As blushes in a mist the dewy rose. 

With chemic art four favour'd youths aloof
 Stain the white fleece, or stretch the tinted woof;
 O'er Age's cheek the warmth of youth diffuse,
 Or deck the pale-eyed nymph in roseate hues. 
So when MEDEA to exulting Greece
 From plunder'd COLCHIS bore the golden fleece;
 On the loud shore a magic pile she rais'd,
 The cauldron bubbled, and the faggots blaz'd; —
 Pleased on the boiling wave old AESON swims,
 And feels new vigour stretch his swelling limbs;
 Through his thrill'd nerves forgotten ardors dart,
 And warmer eddies circle round his heart;
 With softer fires his kindling eye-balls glow,
 And darker tresses wanton round his brow. 

As dash the waves on India's breezy strand,
 Her flush'd cheek press'd upon her lily hand,
 VALLISNER sits, up-turns her tearful eyes,
 Calls her lost lover, and upbraids the skies;
 For him she breathes the silent sight, forlorn,
 Each setting-day; for him each rising morn. —
 "Bright orbs, that light you high etherial plain,
"Or bathe your radiant tresses in the main;
 "Pale moon, that silver'st o'er night's sable brow; —
"For ye were witness to his parting vow! —
 "Ye shelving rocks, dark waves, and sounding shore, —
"Ye echoed sweet the tender words he swore! —
 "Can stars or seas the sails of love retain? 
"O guide my wanderer to my arms again! "—

Her buoyant skiff intrepid ULVA guides,
 And seeks her Lord amid the trackless tides;
 Her secret vows the Cyprian Queen approves,
 And hovering halcyons guard her inftant-loves;
 Each in his floating cradle round they throng,
 And dimpling Ocean bears the fleet along. —
 Thus o'er the waves, which gently bend and swell,
 Fair GALATEA steers her silver shell;
 Her playful Dolphins stretch the silken rein,
 Hear her sweet voice, and glide along the main. 
As round the wild meandering coast she moves
 By gushing rills, rude cliffs, and nodding groves;
 Each by her pine the Wood-nymphs wave their locks,
 And wondering Naiads peep amid the rocks;
 Pleased trains of Mermaids rise from coral cells,
 Admiring Tritons found their twisted shells;
 Charm'd o'er the car pursuing Cupids sweep,
 Their snow-white pinions twinkling in the deep;
 And, as the lustre of her eye she turns,
 Soft sighs the Gale, and amorous Ocean burns. 

On DOVE'S green brink the fair TREMELLA stood,
 And view'd her playful image in the flood;
 To each rude rock, lone dell, and echoing grove
 Sung the sweet sorrows of her secret love. 
 "Oh, stay! — return!" — along the sounding shore
 Cry'd the sad Naiads, — she return'd no more! —
 Now girt with clouds the sullen Evening frown'd,
 And withering Eurus swept along the ground;
 The misty moon withdrew her horned light,
 And sunk with Hesper in the skirt of night;
 No dim electric streams, (the northern dawn,)
 With meek effulgence quiver'd o'er the lawn;
 No star benignant shot one transient ray
 To guide or light the wanderer on her way. 
Round the dark craggs the murmuring whirlwinds blow,
 Woods groan above, and waters roar below;
 As o'er the steeps with pausing foot she moves,
 The pitying Dryads shriek amid their groves;
 She flies, — she stops, — she pants — she looks behind,
 And hears a demon howl in every wind. 
— As the bleak blast unfurls her fluttering vest,
 Cold beats the snow upon her shuddering breast;
 Through her numb'd limbs the chill sensations dart,
 And the keen ice-bolt trembles at her heart;
 "I sink, I fall! oh, help me, help!" she cries,
 Her stiffening tongue the unfinish'd sound denies;
 Tear after tear adown her cheek succeeds,
 And pearls of ice bestrew the glittering meads;
 Congealing snows her lingering feet surround,
 Arrest her flight, and root her to the ground;
 With suppliant arms she pours the silent prayer;
 Her suppliant arms hang crystal in the air;
 Pellucid films her shivering neck o'erspread,
 Seal her mute lips, and silver o'er her head,
 Veil her pale bosom, glaze her lifted hands,
 And shrined in ice the beauteous statue stands
 — DOVE'S azure nymphs on each revolving year
 For fair TREMELLA shed the tender tear;
 With rush-wove crowns in sad procession move,
 And sound the sorrowing shell to hapless love. " 

Here paused the MUSE, — across the darken'd pole
 Sail the dim clouds, the echoing thunders roll;
 The trembling Wood-nymphs, as the tempest lowers,
 Lead the gay Goddess to their inmost bowers;
 Hang the mute lyre the laurel shade beneath,
 And round her temples bind the myrtle wreath. 
— Now the light swallow with her airy brood
 Skims the green meadow, and the dimpled flood;
 Loud shrieks the lone thrush from his leafless thorn,
 Th' alarmed beetle sounds his bugle horn;
 Each pendant spider winds with singers sine
 His ravel'd clue, and climbs along the line;
 Gay Gnomes in glittering circles stand aloof
 Beneath a spreading mushroom's fretted roof;
 Swift bees returning seek their waxen cells,
 And Sylphs cling quivering in the lily's bells. 
Through the still air descend the genials showers,
 And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flowers. 

INTERLUDE.

Bookseller.

Poet.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.

CANTO II.

AGAIN the Goddess strikes the golden lyre,
 And tunes to wilder notes the warbling wire;
 With soft suspended step Attention moves,
 And Silence hovers o'er the listening groves;
 Orb within orb the charmed audience throng,
 And the green vault reverberates the song. 

 "Breathe soft, ye Gales!" the fair CARLINA cries,
 "Bear on broad wings your Votress to the skies. 
"How sweetly mutable yon orient hues,
 "As Morn's fair hand her opening roses strews;
"How bright, when Iris blending many a ray
 "Binds in embroider'd wreath the brow of Day;
"Soft, when the pendant Moon with lustres pale
 "O'er heaven's blue arch unsurls her milky veil;
"While from the north long threads of silver light
 "Dart on swift shuttles o'er the tissued night! 
Breathe soft, ye Zephyrs! hear my fervent sighs,
"Bear on broad wings your Votress to the skies! "—
 — Plume over plume in long divergent lines
 On whale-bone ribs the fair Mechanic joins;
 Inlays with eider down the silken strings,
 And weaves in wide expanse Daedalian wings;
 Round her bold sons the waving pennons binds,
 And walks with angel-step upon the winds. 

So on the shoreless air the intrepid Gaul
 Launch'd the vast concave of his bouyant ball. —
 Journeying on high, the silken castle glides
 Bright as a meteor through the azure tides;
 O'er towns and towers and temples wins its way,
 Or mounts sublime, and gilds the vault of day. 
Silent with upturn'd eyes unbreathing crowds
 Pursue the floating wonder to the clouds;
 And, flush'd with transport or benumb'd with fear,
 Watch, as it rises, the diminish'd sphere. 
— Now less and less! — and now a speck is seen! —
 And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between! —
 With bended knees, raised arms, and suppliant brow
 To every shrine with mingled cries they vow. —
 "Save Him, ye Saints! who o'er the good preside;
"Bear Him, ye Winds! ye Stars benignant! guide. 
— The calm Philosopher in ether sails,
 Views broader stars, and breathes in purer gales;
 Sees, like a map, in many a waving line
 Round Earth's blue plains her lucid waters shine;
 Sees at his feet the forky lightnings glow,
 And hears innocuous thunders roar below. 
— Rise, great MONGOLFIER! urge thy venturous flight
 High o'er the Moon's pale ice-reflected light;
 High o'er the pearly Star, whose beamy horn
 Hangs in the east, gay harbinger of morn;
 Leave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing,
 Jove's silver guards, and Saturn's dusky ring;
 Leave the fair beams, which, issuing from afar,
 Play with new lustres round the Georgian star;
 Shun with strong oars the Sun's attractive throne,
 The sparkling zodiack, and the milky zone;
 Where headlong Comets with increasing force
 Through other systems bend their blazing course, —
 For thee Cassiope her chair withdraws,
 For thee the Bear retracts his shaggy paws;
 High o'er the North thy golden orb shall roll,
 And blaze eternal round the wondering pole. 
So Argo, rising from the southern main,
 Lights with new stars the blue etherial plain;
 With favoring beams the mariner protects,
 And the bold course, which first it steer'd, directs. 

Inventress of the Woof, fair LINA flings
 The flying shuttle through the dancing strings;
 Inlays the broider'd west with flowery dyes,
 Quick beat the reeds, the pedals fall and rise;
 Slow from the beam the lengths of warp unwind,
 And dance and nod the massy weights behind. —
 Taught by her labours, from the fertile soil
 Immortal ISIS clothed the banks of Nile;
 And fair ARACHNE with her rival loom
 Found undeserved a melancholy doom. —
 Five Sister-nymphs with dewy fingers twine
 The beamy flax, and stretch the fibre-line;
 Quick eddying threads from rapid spindles reel,
 Or whirl with beaten foot the dizzy wheel. 
— Charm'd round the busy Fair five shepherds press,
 Praise the nice texture of their snowy dress,
 Admire the Artists, and the art approve,
 And tell with honey'd words the tale of love. 

So now, where Derwent rolls his dusky floods
 Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods,
 The Nymph, GOSSYPIA, treads the velvet sod,
 And warms with rosy smiles the watery God;
 His ponderous oars to slender spindles turns,
 And pours o'er massy wheels his foamy urns;
 With playful charms her hoary lover wins,
 And wields his trident, — while the Monarch spins. 
— First with nice eye emerging Naiads cull
 From leathery pods the vegetable wool;
 With wiry teeth revolving cards releas
 The tanged knots, and smooth the ravell'd fleece;
 Next moves the iron-hand with fingers fine,
 Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line;
 Slow, with soft lips, the whirling Can acquires
 The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires;
 With quicken'd pace successive rollers move,
 And these retain, and those extend the rove;
 Then fly the spoles, the rapid axles glow; —
 And slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below. 
PAPYRA, throned upon the banks of Nile,
 Spread her smooth leaf, and waved her silver style. 
— The storied pyramid, the laurel'd bust,
 The trophy'd arch had crumbled into dust;
 The sacred symbol, and the epic song,
 (Unknown the character, forgot the tongue,)
 With each unconquer'd chief, or sainted maid,
 Sunk undistinguish'd in Oblivion's shade,
 Sad o'er the scatter'd ruins Genius sgh'd,
 And infant Arts but learn'd to lisp and died. 
Till to astonish'd realms PAPYRA taught
 To paint in mystic colours Sound and Thought. 
With Wisdom's voice to print the page sublime,
 And mark in adamant the steps of Time. 
— Three favour'd youths her soft attention share,
 The fond disciples of the studious fair,
 Hear her sweet voice, the golden process prove;
 Gaze, as they learn; and, as they listen, love. 
The first from Alpha to Omega joins
 The letter'd tribes along the level lines;
 Weighs with nice ear the vowel, liquid, surd,
 And breaks in syllables the volant word. 
Then forms the next upon the marsal'd plain
 In deepening ranks his dexterous cypher-train;
 And counts, as wheel the decimating bands,
 The dews of Aegypt, or Arabia's sands. 
And then the third on four concordant lines
 Prints the lone crotchet, and the quaver joins;
 Marks the gay trill, the solemn pause inscribes,
 And parts with bars the undulating tribes. 
Pleased round her cane-wove throne, the applauding crowd
 Clap'd their rude hands, their swarthy foreheads bow'd;
 With loud acclaim "a present God!" they cry'd,
 "A present God!" rebellowing shores reply'd, —
 Then peal'd at intervals with mingled swell
 The echoing harp, shill clarion, horn, and shell;
 While Bards ecstatic, bending o'er the lyre,
 Struck deeper chords, and wing'd the song with fire,
 Then mark'd Astronomers with keener eyes
 The Moon's refulgent journey through the skies;
 Watch'd the swift Comets urge their blazing cars,
 And weigh'd the Sun with his revolving Stars. 
High raised the Chemists their Hermetic wands,
 (And changing forms obey'd their waving hands,)
 Her treasur'd gold from Earth's deep chambers tore,
 Or fused and harden'd her chalybeate ore. 
All with bent knee from fair PAPYRA claim
 Wove by her hands the wreath of deathless fame. 
— Exulting Genius crown'd his darling child,
 The young Arts clasp'd her knees, and Virtue smiled. 
So now DELANY forms her mimic bowers,
 Her paper soliage, and her silken flowers;
 Her virgin train the tender scissars ply,
 Vein the green leaf, the purple petal dye:
 Round wiry stems the flaxen tendril bends,
 Moss creeps below, and waxen fruit impends. 
Cold Winter views amid his realms of snow
 DELANY'S vegetable statues blow;
 Smooths his stern brow, delays his hoary wing,
 And eyes with wonder all the blooms of spring. 

The gentle LAPSANA, NYMPHAEA fair,
 And bright CALENDULA with golden hair,
 Watch with nice eye the Earth's diurnal way,
 Marking her solar and sidereal day,
 Her slow nutation, and her varying clime,
 And trace with mimic art the march of Time;
 Round his light foot a magic chain they fling,
 And count the quick vibrations of his wing. —
 First in its brazen cell reluctant roll'd
 Bends the dark spring in many a steely fold;
 On spiral brass is stretch'd the wiry thong,
 Tooth urges tooth, and wheel drives wheel along;
 In diamond eyes the polish'd axles flow,
 Smooth slides the hand, the ballance pants below. 
Round the white circlet in relievo bold
 A Serpent twines his scaly length in gold;
 And brightly pencil'd on the enamel'd sphere
 Live the fair trophies of the passing year. 
— Here Time's huge fingers grasp his giant-mace,
 And dash proud Superstition from her base,
 Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, and shed
 The crumbling fragments round her guilty head. 
There the gay Hours, whom wreaths of roses deck,
 Lead their young trains amid the cumberous wreck;
 And, slowly purpling o'er the mighty waste,
 Plant the fair growths of Science and of Taste. 
While each light Moment, as it dances by
 With feathery soot and pleasure-twinkling eye,
 Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kiss,
 The callow nestlings of domestic Bliss. 

As yon gay clouds, which canopy the skies,
 Change their thin forms, and lose their lucid dyes;
 So the soft bloom of Beauty's vernal charms
 Fades in our eyes, and withers in our arms. 
— Bright as the silvery plume, or pearly shell,
 The snow-white rose, or lily's virgin bell,
 The fair HELLEBORAS attractive shone,
 Warm'd every Sage, and every Shepherd won. —
 Round the gay sisters press the enamour'd bands,
 And seek with soft solicitude their hands. 
— Ere while how chang'd! — in dim suffusion lies
 The glance divine, that lighten'd in their eyes;
 Cold are those lips, where smiles seductive hung,
 And the weak accents linger on their tongue;
 Each roseat feature fades to livid green, —
 — Disgust with face averted shuts the scene. 

So from his gorgeous throne, which awed the world,
 The mighty Monarch of the east was hurl'd,
 To dwell with brutes beneath the midnight storm,
 By Heaven's just vengeance changed in mind and form. 
— Prone to the earth He bends his brow superb,
 Crops the young floret and the bladed herb;
 Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy side
 Of slow Euphrates laps the muddy tide. 
Long eagle plumes his arching neck invest,
 Steal round his arms, and clasp his sharpen'd breast;
 Dark brinded hairs in bristling ranks, behind,
 Rise o'er his back, and rustle in the wind,
 Clothe his lank sides, his shrivel'd limbs surround,
 And human hands with talons print the ground. 
Silent in shining troops the Courtier-throng
 Pursue their monarch as he crawls along;
 E'en Beauty pleads in vain with smiles and tears,
 Nor Flattery's self can pierce his pendant ears. 

Two Sister-Nymphs to Ganges' flowery brink
 Bend their light steps, the lucid water drink,
 Wind through the dewy rice, and nodding canes,
 (As eight black Eunuchs guard the sacred plains),
 With playful malice watch the scaly brood,
 And shower the inebriate berries on the flood. —
 Stay in your crystal chambers, silver tribes! 
Turn your bright eyes, and shun the dangerous bribes;
 The tramel'd net with less destruction sweeps
 Your curling shallows, and your azure deeps;
 With less deceit, the gilded fly beneath,
 Lurks the fell hook unseen, — to taste is death! —
 — Dim your slow eyes, and dull your pearly coat,
 Drunk on the waves your languid forms shall float,
 On useless fins in giddy circles play,
 And Herons and Otters seize you for their prey. —

So, when the Saint from Padua's graceless land
 In silent anguish sought the barren strand,
 High on the shatter'd beech sublime He stood,
 Still'd with his waving arm the babbling flood;
 "To Man's dull ear," He cry'd, "I call in vain,
 Hear me, ye scaly tenants of the main!" —
 Misshapen Seals approach in circling flocks,
 In dusky mail the Tortoise climbs the rocks,
 Torpedoes, Sharks, Rays, Porpus, Dolphins, pour
 Their twinkling squadrons round the glittering shore;
 With tangled fins, behind, huge Phocae glide,
 And Whales and Grampi swell the distant tide. 
Then kneel'd the hoary Seer, to heaven address'd
 His siery eyes, and smote his sounding brest;
 "Bless ye the Lord!" with thundering voice he cry'd,
 "Bless ye the Lord!" the bending shores reply'd;
 The winds and waters caught the sacred word,
 And mingling echoes shouted "Bless the Lord!" 
The listening shoals the quick contagion feel. 
Pant on the floods, inebriate with their zeal,
 Ope their wide jaws, and bow their slimy heads,
 And dash with frantic sins their foamy beds. 

Sopha'd on silk, amid her charm-built towers,
 Her meads of asphodel, and amaranth bowers,
 Where Sleep and Silence guard the soft abodes,
 In sullen apathy PAPAVER nods. 
Faint o'er her couch in scintillating streams
 Pass the thin forms of Fancy and of Dreams;
 Froze by inchantment on the velvet ground
 Fair youths and beauteous ladies glitter round;
 On crystal pedestals they seem to sigh,
 Bend the meek knee, and lift the imploring eye. 
— And now the Sorceress bares her shrivel'd hand,
 And circles thrice in air her ebon wand;
 Flush'd with new life descending statues talk,
 The pliant marble softening as they walk;
 With deeper sobs reviving lovers breathe,
 Fair bosoms rise and soft hearts pant beneath;
 With warmer lips relenting damsels speak,
 And kindling blushes tinge the Parian cheek;
 To viewless lutes aërial voices sing,
 And hovering Loves are heard on rustling wing. 
— She waves her wand again! — fresh horrors seize
 Their stiffening limbs, their vital currents freeze;
 By each cold nymph her marble lover lies,
 And iron slumbers seal their glassy eyes. 
So with his dread Caduceus HERMES led
 From the dark regions of the imprison'd dead,
 Or drove in silent shoals the lingering train
 To Night's dull shore, and PLUTO'S dreary reign. 

So with her waving pencil CREWE commands
 The realms of Taste, and Fancy's fairy lands;
 Calls up with magic voice the shapes, that sleep
 In earth's dark bosom, or unfathom'd deep;
 That shrined in air on viewless wings aspire,
 Or blazing bathe in elemental fire. 
As with nice touch her plaistic hand she moves,
 Rise the fine forms of Beauties, Graces, Loves;
 Kneel to the fair Inchantress, smile or sigh,
 And fade or flourish, as she turns her eye. 

Fair CISTA, rival of the rosy dawn,
 Call'd her light choir, and trod the dewy lawn;
 Hail'd with rude melody the new-born May,
 As cradled yet in April's lap she lay. 

I.

 "Born in yon blaze of orient sky,
"Sweet MAY! thy radiant form unfold;
 "Unclose thy blue voluptuous eye,
"And wave thy shadowy locks of gold,

II.

 "For Thee the fragrant zephyrs blow,
"For Thee descends the sunny shower;
 "The rills in softer murmurs flow,
"And brighter blossoms gem the bower. 

III.

 "Light Graces dress'd in flowery wreaths
"And tiptoe Joys their hands combine;
 "And Love his sweet contagion breathes,
"And laughing dances round thy shrine. 

IV.

 "Warm with new life the glittering throngs
"On quivering fin and rustling wing
 "Delighted join their votive songs,
"And hail thee, GODDESS OF THE SPRING. " 

O'er the green brinks of Severn's oozy bed,
 In changeful rings, her sprightly troop She led;
 PAN tripp'd before, where Eudness shades the mead,
 And blew with glowing lip his sevenfold reed;
 Emerging Naiads swell'd the jocund strain,
 And aped with mimic step the dancing train. —
 "I faint, I fall!" — at noon the Beauty cried,
 "Weep o'er my tomb, ye Nymphs!" — and sunk and died. 
— Thus, when white Winter o'er the shivering clime
 Drives the still snow, or showers the silver rime;
 As the lone shepherd o'er the dazzling rocks
 Prints his steep step, and guides his vagrant flocks;
 Views the green holly veil'd in network nice,
 Her vermil clusters twinkling in the ice;
 Admires the lucid vales, and slumbering floods,
 Fantastic cataracts, and crystal woods,
 Transparent towns, with seas of milk between,
 And eyes with transport the refulgent scene: —
 If breaks the sunshine o'er the spangled trees,
 Or flits on tepid wing the western breeze,
 In liquid dews descends the transient glare,
 And all the glittering pageant melts in air. 

Where Andes hides his cloud-wreath'd crest in snow,
 And roots his base on burning sands below;
 CINCHONA, fairest of Peruvian maids,
 To Health's bright Goddess in the breezy glades
 On Quito's temperate plain an altar rear'd,
 Trill'd the loud hymn, the solemn prayer preferr'd:
 Each balmy bud she cull'd, and honey'd flower,
 And hung with fragrant wreaths the sacred bower;
 Each pearly sea the search'd, and sparkling mine,
 And piled their treasures on the gorgeous shrine;
 Her suppliant voice for sickening Loxa raised,
 Sweet breath'd the gale, and bright the censor blazed. 
— "Divine HYGEIA! on thy votaries bend
"Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend! 
 "While streaming o'er the night with baleful glare
"The star of Autumn rays his misty hair;
 "Fierce from his fens the Giant AGUE springs,
"And wrapp'd in fogs descends on vampire wings;
 "Before, with shuddering limbs cold Tremor reels,
"And Fever's burning nostril dogs his heels;
 "Loud claps the grinning Fiend his iron hands,
"Stamps with his marble feet, and shouts along the lands;
 "Withers the damask cheek, unnerves the strong,
"And drives with scorpion-lash the shrieking throng. 
 "Oh, Goddess! on thy kneeling votaries bend
"Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend! "
— HYGEIA, leaning from the blest abodes,
 The crystal mansions of the immortal gods,
 Saw the fad Nymph uplift her dewy eyes,
 Spread her white arms, and breathe her fervid sighs;
 Call'd to her fair associates, Youth, and Joy,
 And shot all-radiant through the glittering sky;
 Loose waved behind her golden train of hair,
 Her sapphire mantle swam diffus'd in air. —
 O'er the grey matted moss, and pansied sod,
 With step sublime the glowing Goddess trod,
 Gilt with her beamy eye the conscious shade,
 And with her smile celestial bless'd the maid. 
"Come to my arms, "with seraph voice she cries,
"Thy vows are heard, benignant Nymph! arise;
 "Where yon aspiring trunks fantastic wreath
"Their mingled roots, and drink the rill beneath,
 "Yield to the biting axe thy sacred wood,
"And strew the bitter foliage on the flood. " 
In silent homage bow'd the blushing maid, —
 Five youths athletic hasten to her aid,
 O'er the scar'd hills re-echoing strokes resound,
 And headlong forests thunder on the ground. 
Round the dark roots, rent bark, and shatter'd boughs,
 From ocherous beds the swelling fountain flows;
 With streams austere its winding margin laves,
 And pours from vale to vale its dusky waves. 
— As the pale squadrons, bending o'er the brink,
 View with a sigh their alter'd forms, and drink;
 Slow-ebbing life with refluent crimson breaks
 O'er their wan lips, and paints their haggard cheeks;
 Through each fine nerve rekindling transports dart,
 Light the quick eye, and swell the exulting heart. 
— Thus ISRAEL's heaven-taught chief o'er trackless sands
 Led to the sultry rock his murmuring bands. 
Bright o'er his brows the forky radiance blazed,
 And high in air the rod divine He raised. —
 Wide yawns the cliff! — amid the thirsty throng
 Rush the redundant waves, and shine along;
 With gourds and shells and helmets press the bands,
 Ope their parch'd lips, and spread their eager hands,
 Snatch their pale infants to the exuberant shower,
 Kneel on the shatter'd rock, and bless the Almighty Power,

Bolster'd with down, amid a thousand wants,
 Pale Dropsy rears his bloated form, and pants;
 "Quench me, ye cool pellucid rills!" he cries,
 Wets his parch'd tongue, and rolls his hollow eyes,
 So bends tormented TANTALUS to drink,
 While from his lips the refluent waters shrink;
 Again the rising stream his bosom laves,
 And Thirst consumes him 'mid circumfluent waves. 
— Divine HYGEIA, from the bending sky
 Descending, listens to his piercing cry;
 Assumes bright DIGITALIS' dress and air,
 Her ruby cheek, white neck, and raven hair;
 Four youths protect her from the circling throng,
 And like the Nymph the Goddess steps along. —
 — O'er Him She waves her serpent-wreathed wand,
 Cheers with her voice, and raises with her hand,
 Warms with rekindling bloom his visage wan,
 And charms the shapeless monster into man. 

So when Contagion with mephitic breath
 And wither'd Famine urged the work of death;
 Marseilles' good Bishop, London's generous Mayor,
 With food and faith, with medicine and with prayer,
 Raised the weak head and stayed the parting sigh,
 Or with new life relumed the swimming eye. —
 — And now, PHILANTHROPY! thy rays divine
 Dart round the globe from Zembla to the Line;
 O'er each dark prison plays the cheering light,
 Like northern lustres o'er the vault of night. —
 From realm to realm, with cross or crescent crown'd,
 Where'er Mankind and Misery are found,
 O'er burning sands, deep waves, or wilds of snow,
 Thy HOWARD journeying seeks the house of woe. 
Down many a winding step to dungeons dank,
 Where anguish wails aloud, and fetters clank;
 To caves bestrew'd with many a mouldering bone,
 And cells, whose echoes only learn to groan;
 Where no kind bars a whispering friend disclose,
 No sunbeam enters, and no zephyr blows,
 HE treads, inemulous of fame or wealth,
 Profuse of toil, and prodigal of health;
 With soft assuasive eloquence expands
 Power's rigid heart, and opes his clenching hands;
 Leads stern-ey'd Justice to the dark domains,
 If not to sever, to relax the chains;
 Or guides awaken'd Mercy through the gloom,
 And shews the prison, sister to the tomb! —
 Gives to her babes the self-devoted wife,
 To her fond husband liberty and life! —
 — The Spirits of the Good, who bend from high
 Wide o'er these earthly scenes their partial eye,
 When first, array'd in VIRTUE's purest robe,
 They saw her HOWARD traversing the globe;
 Saw round his brows her sun-like Glory blaze
 In arrowy circles of unwearied rays;
 Mistook a Mortal for an Angel-Guest,
 And ask'd what Seraph-foot the earth imprest. 
— Onward he moves! — Disease and Death retire,
 And murmuring Demons hate him, and admire. " 

Here paused the Goddess, — on HYGEIA's shrine
 Obsequious Gnomes repose the lyre divine;
 Descending Sylphs relax the trembling strings,
 And catch the rain-drops on their shadowy wings. 
— And now her vase a modest Naiad fills
 With liquid crystal from her pebbly rills;
 Piles the dry cedar round her silver urn,
 (Bright climbs the blaze, the crackling faggots burn),
 Culls the green herb of China's envy'd bowers,
 In gaudy cups the steamy treasure pours;
 And, sweetly-smiling, on her bended knee
 Presents the fragrant quintessence of Tea. 

INTERLUDE II.

Bookseller.

Poet.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.

CANTO III.

AND now the Goddess sounds her silver shell,
 And shakes with deeper tones the inchanted dell;
 Pale, round her grassy throne, bedew'd with tears,
 Flit the thin forms of Sorrows, and of Fears;
 Soft Sighs responsive whisper to the chords,
 And Indignations half-unsheath their swords. 

 "Thrice round the grave CIRCAEA prints her tread,
 And chaunts the numbers, which disturb the dead;
 Shakes o'er the holy earth her sable plume,
 Waves her dread wand, and strikes the echoing tomb!
 — Pale shoot the stars across the troubled night,
 The timorous moon withholds her conscious light;
 Shrill scream the famish'd bats, and shivering owls,
 And loud and long the dog of midnight howls! —
 — Then yawns the bursting ground! — two imps obscene
 Rise on broad wings, and hail the baleful queen;
 Each with dire grin salutes the potent wand,
 And leads the sorceress with his sooty hand;
 Onward they glide, where sheds the sickly yew
 O'er many a mouldering bone its nightly dew;
 The ponderous portals of the church unbar, —
 Hoarse on their hinge the ponderous portals jar;
 As through the colour'd glass the moon-beam falls,
 Huge shapeless spectres quiver on the walls;
 Low murmurs creep along the hollow ground,
 And to each step the pealing ailes resound;
 By glimmering lamps, protecting saints among,
 The shrines all tremble as they pass along,
 O'er the still choir with hideous laugh they move,
 (Fiends yell below, and angels weep above!) 
Their impious march to God's high altar bend,
 With feet impure the sacred steps ascend;
 With wine unbless'd the holy chalice stain,
 Assume the mitre, and the cope profane;
 To heaven their eyes in mock devotion throw,
 And to the cross with horrid mummery bow;
 Adjure by mimic rites the powers above,
 And plite alternate their Satanic love. 

Avaunt, ye Vulgar! from her sacred groves
 With maniac step the Pythian LAURA moves;
 Full of the God her labouring bosom sighs,
 Foam on her lips, and fury in her eyes,
 Strong writhe her limbs, her wild dishevell'd hair
 Starts from her laurel-wreath, and swims in air. —
 While twenty Priests the gorgeous shrine surround
 Cinctur'd with ephods, and with garlands crown'd,
 Contending hosts and trembling nations wait
 The firm immutable behests of Fate;
 — She speaks in thunder from her golden throne
 With words unwill'd, and wisdom not her own. 

So on his NIGHTMARE through the evening fog
 Flits the squab Fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog;
 Seeks some love-wilder'd Maid with sleep oppress'd,
 Alights, and grinning sits upon her breast. 
— Such as of late amid the murky sky
 Was mark'd by FUSELI's poetic eye;
 Whose daring tints, with SHAKESPEAR's happiest grace,
 Gave to the airy phantom form and place —
 Back o'er her pillow sinks her blushing head,
 Her snow-white limbs hang helpless from the bed;
 While with quick sighs, and suffocative breath,
 Her interrupted heart-pulse swims in death. 
— Then shrieks of captured towns, and widows' tears,
 Pale lovers stretch'd upon their blood-stain'd biers,
 The headlong precipice that thwarts her flight,
 The trackless desert, the cold starless night,
 And stern-eye'd Murderer with his knife behind,
 In dread succession agonize her mind. 
O'er her fair limbs convulsive tremors fleet,
 Start in her hands, and struggle in her feet;
 In vain to scream with quivering lips she tries,
 And strains in palsy'd lids her tremulous eyes;
 In vain she wills to run, fly, swim, walk, creep;
 The WILL presides not in the bower of SLEEP. 
— On her fair bosom sits the Demon-Ape
 Erect, and balances his bloated shape;
 Rolls in their marble orbs his Gorgon-eyes,
 And drinks with leathern ears her tender cries. 

Arm'd with her ivory beak, and talon-hands,
 Descending FICA dives into the sands;
 Chamber'd in earth with cold oblivion lies;
 Nor heeds, ye Suitor-train, your amorous sighs;
 Erewhile with renovated beauty blooms,
 Mounts into air, and moves her leafy plumes. 
— Where HAMPS and MANIFOLD, their cliffs among,
 Each in his flinty channel winds along;
 With lucid lines the dusky Moor divides,
 Hurrying to intermix their sister tides. 
Where still their silver-bosom'd Nymphs abhor,
 The blood-smear'd mansion of gigantic THOR, —
 — Erst, fires volcanic in the marble womb
 Of cloud-wrapp'd WETTON raised the massy dome;
 Rocks rear'd on rocks in huge disjointed piles
 Form the tall turrets, and the lengthen'd ailes;
 Broad ponderous piers sustain the roof, and wide
 Branch the vast rain-bow ribs from side to side. 
While from above descends in milky streams
 One scanty pencil of illusive beams,
 Suspended crags and gaping gulphs illumes,
 And gilds the horrors of the deepen'd glooms. 
— Here oft the Naiads, as they chanced to play
 Near the dread Fane on THOR's returning day,
 Saw from red altars streams of guiltless blood
 Stain their green reed-beds, and pollute their flood;
 Heard dying babes in wicker prisons wail,
 And shrieks of matrons thrill the affrighted Gale;
 While from dark caves infernal Echoes mock,
 And Fiends triumphant shout from every rock!
 — So still the Nymphs emerging lift in air
 Their snow-white shoulders and their azure hair;
 Sail with sweet grace the dimpling streams along,
 Listening the Shepherd's or the Miner's song;
 But, when afar they view the giant-cave,
 On timorous fins they circle on the wave,
 With streaming eyes and throbbing hearts recoil,
 Plunge their fair forms, and dive beneath the soil. —
 Closed round their heads reluctant eddies sink,
 And wider rings successive dash the brink. —
 Three thousand steps in sparry clefts they stray,
 Or seek through sullen mines their gloomy way;
 On beds of Lava sleep in coral cells,
 Or sigh o'er jasper fish, and agate shells. 
Till, where famed ILAM leads his boiling floods
 Through flowery meadows and impending woods,
 Pleased with light spring they leave the dreary night,
 And 'mid circumfluent surges rise to light;
 Shake their bright locks, the widening vale pursue,
 Their sea-green mantles fringed with pearly dew;
 In playful groups by towering THORP they move,
 Bound o'er the foaming wears, and rush into the Dove. 

With fierce distracted eye IMPATIENS stands,
 Swells her pale cheeks, and brandishes her hands,
 With rage and hate the astonish'd groves alarms,
 And hurls her infants from her frantic arms. 
— So when MEDAEA left her native soil
 Unaw'd by danger, unsubdued by toil;
 Her weeping sire and beckoning friends withstood,
 And launch'd enamour'd on the boiling flood;
 One ruddy boy her gentle lips caress'd,
 And one fair girl was pillow'd on her breast
 While high in air the golden treasure burns,
 And Love and Glory guide the prow by turns. 
But, when Thessalia's inauspicious plain
 Received the matron-heroine from the main;
 While horns of triumph found, and altars burn,
 And shouting nations hail their Chief's return;
 Aghast, She saw new deck'd the nuptial bed,
 And proud CREUSA to the temple led;
 Saw her in JASON's mercenary arms
 Deride her virtues, and insult her charms;
 Saw her dear babes from fame and empire torn,
 In foreign realms deserted and forlorn;
 Her love rejected, and her vengeance braved,
 By Him her beauties won, her virtues saved. —
 With stern regard she eyed the traitor-king,
 And felt, Ingratitude! thy keenest sting;
 "Nor Heaven," She cried, "nor Earth, nor Hell can hold
"A Heart abandon'd to the thirst of Gold! " 
Stamp'd with wild foot, and shook her horrent brow,
 And call'd the furies from their dens below. 
— Slow out of earth, before the festive crowds,
 On wheels of fire, amid a night of clouds,
 Drawn by fierce fiends arose a magic car,
 Received the Queen, and hovering flamed in air. —
 As with raised hands the suppliant traitors kneel
 And fear the vengeance they deserve to feel,
 Thrice with parch'd lips her guiltless babes she presr'd,
 And thrice she clasp'd them to her tortur'd breast;
 Awhile with white uplifted eyes she stood,
 Then plung'd her trembling poniards in their blood. 
"Go, kiss your sire! go, share the bridal mirth! " 
She cry'd, and hurl'd their quivering limbs on earth. 
Rebellowing thunders rock the marble towers,
 And red-tongued lightnings shoot their arrowy showers;
 Earth yawns! — the crashing ruin sinks! — o'er all
 Death with black hands extends his mighty Pall;
 Their mingling gore the Fiends of Vengeance quaff,
 And Hell receives them with convulsive laugh. 
Round the vex'd isles where fierce tornados roar,
 Or tropic breezes sooth the sultry shore;
 What time the eve her gauze pellucid spreads
 O'er the dim flowers, and veils the misty meads;
 Slow, o'er the twilight sands or leafy walks,
 With gloomy dignity DICTAMNA stalks;
 In sulphurous eddies round the weird dame
 Plays the light gas, or kindles into flame. 
If rests the traveller his weary head,
 Grim MANCINELLA haunts the mossy bed,
 Brews her black hebenon, and, stealing near. 
Pours the curst venom in his tortured ear. —
 Wide o'er the mad'ning throng URTICA slings
 Her barbed shafts, and darts her poison'd stings. 
And fell LOBELIA's suffocating breath
 Loads the dank pinion of the gale with death. 
— With fear and hate they blast the affrighted groves,
 Yet own with tender care their kindred Loves! —

So, where PALMIRA 'mid her wasted plains,
 Her shatter'd aqueducts, and prostrate fanes,
 (As the bright orb of breezy midnight pours
 Long threads of silver through her gaping towers,
 O'er mouldering tombs, and tottering columns gleams,
 And frosts her deserts with diffusive beams),
 Sad o'er the mighty wreck in silence bends,
 Lifts her wet eyes, her tremulous hands extends. —
 If from lone cliffs a bursting rill expands
 Its transient course, and sinks into the sands;
 O'er the moist rock the fell Hyaena prowls,
 The Leopard hisses, and the Panther growls;
 On quivering wing the famish'd Vulture screams,
 Dips his dry beak, and sweeps the gushing streams;
 With foamy jaws, beneath, and sanguine tongue,
 Laps the lean Wolf, and pants, and runs along;
 Stern stalks the Lion, on the rustling brinks
 Hears the dread Snake, and trembles as he drinks;
 Quick darts the scaly Monster o'er the plain,
 Fold after fold, his undulating train;
 And, bending o'er the lake his crested brow,
 Starts at the Crocodile, that gapes below. 

Where seas of glass with gay reflections smile
 Round the green coasts of Java's palmy isle;
 A spacious plain extends its upland scene,
 Rocks rise on rocks, and fountains gush between;
 Soft zephyrs blow, eternal summers reign,
 And showers prolific bless the soil, — in vain!
 — No spicy nutmeg scents the vernal gales,
 Nor towering plaintain shades the mid-day vales;
 No grassy mantle hides the fable hills,
 No flowery chaplet crowns the trickling rills;
 Nor tufted moss, nor leathery lichen creeps
 In russet tapestry o'er the crumbling steeps. 
— No step retreating, on the sand impress'd,
 Invites the visit of a second guest;
 No refluent fin the unpeopled stream divides,
 No revolant pinion cleaves the airy tides;
 Nor handed moles, nor beaked worms return,
 That mining pass the irremeable bourn. —
 Fierce in dread silence on the blasted heath
 Fell UPAS sits, the HYDRA-TREE of death. 
Lo! from one root, the envenom'd soil below,
 A thousand vegetative serpents grow;
 In shining rays the scaly monster spreads
 O'er ten square leagues his far-diverging heads;
 Or in one trunk entwists his tangled form,
 Looks o'er the clouds, and hisses in the storm. 
Steep'd in fell poison, as his sharp teeth part,
 A thousand tongues in quick vibration dart;
 Snatch the proud Eagle towering o'er the heath,
 Or pounce the Lion, as he stalks beneath;
 Or strew, as marshall'd hosts contend in vain,
 With human skeletons the whiten'd plain. 
— Chain'd at his root two scion-demons dwell,
 Breathe the faint hiss, or try the shriller yell;
 Rise, fluttering in the air on callow wings,
 And aim at insect-prey their little stings. 
So Time's strong arms with sweeping scythe erase
 Art's cumberous works, and empires, from their base;
 While each young Hour its sickle fine employs,
 And crops the sweet buds of domestic joys! 

With blushes bright as morn fair ORCHIS charms,
 And lulls her infant in her fondling arms;
 Soft plays Affection round her bosom's throne,
 And guards his life, forgetful of her own. 

So wings the wounded Deer her headlong flight,
 Pierced by some ambush'd archer of the night,
 Shoots to the woodlands with her bounding fawn,
 And drops of blood bedew the conscious lawn;
 There hid in shades she shuns the cheerful day,
 Hangs o'er her young, and weeps her life away. 

So stood Eliza on the wood-crown'd height,
 O'er Minden's plain, spectatress of the fight,
 Sought with bold eye amid the bloody strife
 Her dearer self, the partner of her life;
 From hill to hill the rushing host pursued,
 And view'd his banner, or believed she view'd. 
Pleased with the distant roar, with quicker tread
 Fast by his hand one lisping boy she led;
 And one fair girl amid the loud alarm
 Slept on her kerchief, cradled by her arm;
 While round her brows bright beams of Honour dart,
 And Love's warm eddies circle round her heart. 
— Near and more near the intrepid Beauty press'd,
 Saw through the driving smoke his dancing crest,
 Heard the exulting shout, "they run! they run!" 
 "Great GOD!" she cried, "He's safe! the battle's won!"
 — A ball now hisses through the airy tides,
 (Some Fury wing'd it, and some Demon guides!) 
Parts the fine locks, her graceful head that deck,
 Wounds her fair ear, and sinks into her neck;
 The red stream, issuing from her azure veins,
 Dyes her white veil, her ivory bosom stains. —
 — "Ah me!" she cried, and, sinking on the ground,
 Kiss'd her dear babes, regardless of the wound;
 "Oh, cease not yet to beat, thou Vital Urn! 
"Wait, gushing Life, oh, wait my Love's return! —
 "Hoarse barks the wolf, the vulture screams from far! —
"The angel, Pity, shuns the walks of war! —
 "Oh, spare ye War-hounds, spare their tender age! —
"On me, on me, "she cried," exhaust your rage! "—
 Then with weak arms her weeping babes caress'd,
 And sighing bid them in her blood-stain'd vest. 

From tent to tent the impatient warrior flies,
 Fear in his heart, and frenzy in his eyes;
 Eliza's name along the camp he calls,
 Eliza echoes through the canvas walls;
 Quick through the murmuring gloom his footsteps tread,
 O'er groaning heaps, the dying and the dead,
 Vault o'er the plain, and in the tangled wood,
 Lo! dead Eliza weltering in her blood! —
 — Soon hears his listening son the welcome sounds,
 With open arms and sparkling eyes he bounds: —
 "Speak low," he cries, and gives his little hand,
 "Eliza sleeps upon the dew-cold sand;
"Poor weeping Babe with bloody fingers press'd,
 "And tried with pouting lips her milkless breast;
"Alas! we both with cold and hunger quake —
 "Why do you weep? — Mama will soon awake. "
 — "She'll wake no more!" the hopeless mourner cried,
 Upturn'd his eyes, and clasp'd his hands, and sigh'd;
 Stretch'd on the ground awhile entranc'd he lay,
 And pres'd warm kisses on the lifeless clay;
 And then unsprung with wild convulsive start,
 And all the Father kindled in his heart;
 "Oh, Heavens!" he cried, "my first rash vow forgive! 
These bind to earth, for these I pray to live!" —
 Round his chill babes he wrapp'd his crimson vest,
 And clasp'd them sobbing to his aching breast. 

Two Harlot-Nymphs, the fair CUSCUTAS, please
 With labour'd negligence, and studied ease;
 In the meek garb of modest worth disguised,
 The eye averted, and the smile chastised,
 With sly approach they spread their dangerous charms,
 And round their victim wind their wiry arms. 
So by Scamander when LAOCOON stood,
 Where Troy's proud turrets glitter'd in the flood,
 Raised high his arm, and with prophetic call
 To shrinking realms announced her fatal fall;
 Whirl'd his fierce spear with more than mortal force,
 And pierced the thick ribs of the echoing horse;
 Two Serpent-forms incumbent on the main,
 Lashing the white waves with redundant train,
 Arch'd their blue necks, and shook their towering crests,
 And plough'd their foamy way with speckled breasts;
 Then darting fierce amid the affrighted throngs,
 Roll'd their red eyes, and shot their forked tongues. —
 — Two daring Youths to guard the hoary sire
 Thwart their dread progress, and provoke their ire. 
Round fire and sons the scaly monsters roll'd,
 Ring above ring, in many a tangled fold,
 Close and more close their writhing limbs surround,
 And fix with foamy teeth the envenom'd wound. 
— With brow upturn'd to heaven the holy Sage
 In silent agony sustains their rage;
 While each fond Youth, in vain, with piercing cries
 Bends on the tortured Sire his dying eyes. 

 "Drink deep, sweet youths," seductive VITIS cries,
 The maudlin tear-drop glittering in her eyes;
 Green leaves and purple clusters crown her head,
 And the tall Thyrsus stays her tottering tread. 
— Five hapless swains with soft assuasive smiles
 The harlot meshes in her deathful toils;
 "Drink deep," she carols, as she waves in air
 The mantling goblet, "and forget your care. " —
 O'er the dread feast malignant Chemia scowls,
 And mingles poison in the nectar'd bowls;
 Fell Gout peeps grinning through the flimsy scene,
 And bloated Dropsy pants behind unseen;
 Wrapp'd in his robe white Lepra hides his stains,
 And silent Frenzy writhing bites his chains. 

So when PROMETHEUS braved the Thunderer's ire,
 Stole from his blazing throne etherial fire,
 And, lantern'd in his breast, from realms of day
 Bore the bright treasure to his Man of clay; —
 High on cold Caucasus by VULCAN bound,
 The lean impatient Vulture fluttering round,
 His writhing limbs in vain he twists and strains
 To break or loose the adamantine chains. 
The gluttonous bird, exulting in his pangs,
 Tears his swoln liver with remorseless fangs. 

The gentle CYCLAMEN with dewy eye
 Breathes o'er her lifeless babe the parting sigh;
 And, bending low to earth, with pious hands
 Inhumes her dear Departed in the sands. 
 "Sweet Nursling! withering in thy tender hour,
 Oh, sleep," She cries, "and rise a fairer flower!"
 — So when the Plague o'er London's gasping crowds
 Shook her dank wing, and steer'd her murky clouds;
 When o'er the friendless bier no rites were read,
 No dirge slow-chanted, and no pall out-spread;
 While Death and Night piled up the naked throng,
 And Silence drove their ebon cars along;
 Six lovely daughters, and their father, swept
 To the throng'd grave CLEONE saw, and wept;
 Her tender mind, with meek Religion fraught,
 Drank all-resigned Affliction's bitter draught;
 Alive and listening to the whisper'd groan
 Of others' woes, unconscious of her own! —
 One smiling boy, her last sweet hope, she warms
 Hushed on her bosom, circled in her arms, —
 Daughter of woe! ere morn, in vain caress'd,
 Clung the cold Babe upon thy milkless breast,
 With feeble cries thy last sad aid required,
 Stretch'd its stiff limbs, and on thy lap expired! —
 — Long with wide eye-lids on her Child she gazed,
 And long to heaven their tearless orbs she raised;
 Then with quick foot and throbbing heart she found
 Where Chartreuse open'd deep his holy ground;
 Bore her last treasure through the midnight gloom,
 And kneeling dropp'd it in the mighty tomb;
 "I follow next!" the frantic mourner said,
 And living plunged amid the festering dead. 

Where vast Ontario rolls his brineless tides,
 And feeds the trackless forests on his sides,
 Fair CASSIA trembling hears the howling woods,
 And trusts her tawny children to the floods. —
 Cinctured with gold while ten fond brothers stand,
 And guard the beauty on her native land,
 Soft breathes the gale, the current gently moves,
 And bears to Norway's coasts her infant-loves. 
— So the sad mother at the noon of night
 From bloody Memphis stole her silent flight;
 Wrapp'd her dear babe beneath her folded vest,
 And clasp'd the treasure to her throbbing breast,
 With soothing whispers hushed its feeble cry,
 Pressed the soft kiss, and breathed the secret sigh. —
 — With dauntless step she seeks the winding shore,
 Hears unappall'd the glimmering torrents roar;
 With Paper-flags a floating cradle weaves,
 And hides the smiling boy in Lotus-leaves;
 Gives her white bosom to his eager lips,
 The salt tears mingling with the milk he sips;
 Waits on the reed-crown'd brink with pious guile,
 And trusts the scaly monsters of the Nile. —
 — Erewhile majestic from his lone abode,
 Embassador of Heaven, the Prophet trod;
 Wrench'd the red Scourge from proud Oppression's hands,
 And broke, curst Slavery! thy iron bands. 
Hark! heard ye not that piercing cry,
 Which shook the waves and rent the sky! —
 E'en now, e'en now, on yonder Western shores
 Weeps pale Despair, and writhing Anguish roars:
 E'en now in Afric's groves with hideous yell
 Fierce SLAVERY stalks, and slips the dogs of hell;
 From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound,
 And sable nations tremble at the sound! —
 — YE BANDS OF SENATORS! whose suffrage sways
 Britannia's realms, whom either Ind obeys;
 Who right the injured, and reward the brave,
 Stretch your strong arm, for ye have power to save! 
Throned in the vaulted heart, his dread resort,
 Inexorable CONSCIENCE holds his court. 
With still small voice the plots of Guilt alarms,
 Bares his mask'd brow, his lifted hand disarms;
 But, wrapp'd in night with terrors all his own,
 He speaks in thunder, when the deed is done. 
Hear him, ye Senates! hear this truth sublime,
 "HE, WHO ALLOWS OPPRESSION, SHARES THE CRIME." 

No radiant pearl, which crested Fortune wears,
 No gem, that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears,
 Not the bright stars, which Night's blue arch adorn,
 Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn,
 Shine with such lustre as the tear, that breaks
 For other's woe down Virtue's manly cheeks. " 

Here ceased the MUSE, and dropp'd her tuneful shell,
 Tumultuous woes her panting bosom swell,
 O'er her flush'd cheek her gauzy veil she throws,
 Folds her white arms, and bends her laurel'd brows;
 For human guilt awhile the Goddess sighs,
 And human sorrows dim celestial eyes. 

INTERLUDE III.

Bookseller.

Poet.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

B.

P.

THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.

CANTO IV.

NOW the broad Sun his golden orb unshrouds,
 Flames in the west, and paints the parted clouds;
 O'er heaven's wide arch refracted lustres flow,
 And bend in air the many-colour'd bow. —
 — The tuneful Goddess on the glowing sky
 Fix'd in mute extacy her glistening eye;
 And then her lute to sweeter tones she strung,
 And swell'd with softer chords the Paphian song. 
Long ailes of Oaks return'd the silver sound,
 And amorous Echoes talk'd along the ground;
 Pleas'd Lichfield listen'd from her sacred bowers,
 Bow'd her tall groves, and shook her stately towers. 

 "Nymph! not for thee the radiant day returns,
 Nymph! not for thee the golden solstice burns,
 Refulgent CEREA! — at the dusky hour
 She seeks with pensive step the mountain-bower,
 Bright as the blush of rising morn, and warms
 The dull cold eye of Midnight with her charms. 
There to the skies she lifts her pencill'd brows,
 Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows;
 Eyes the white zenyth; counts the suns, that roll
 Their distant fires, and blaze around the Pole;
 Or marks where Jove directs his glittering car
 O'er Heaven's blue vault, — Herself a brighter star. 
— There as soft Zephyrs sweep with pausing airs
 Thy snowy neck, and part thy shadowy hairs,
 Sweet Maid of Night! to Cynthia's sober beams
 Glows thy warm cheek, thy polish'd bosom gleams. 
In crowds around thee gaze the admiring swains,
 And guard in silence the enchanted plains;
 Drop the still tear, or breathe the impassion'd sigh,
 And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye. 
Thus, when old Needwood's hoary scenes the Night
 Paints with blue shadow, and with milky light;
 Where MUNDY pour'd, the listening nymphs among,
 Loud to the echoing vales his parting song;
 With measured step the Fairy Sovereign treads,
 Shakes her high plume, and glitters o'er the meads;
 Round each green holly leads her sportive train,
 And little footsteps mark the circled plain;
 Each haunted rill with silver voices rings,
 And Night's sweet bird in livelier accents sings. 

Ere the bright star, which leads the morning sky,
 Hangs o'er the blushing east his diamond eye,
 The chaste TROPAEO leaves her secret bed;
 A saint-like glory trembles round her head;
 Eight watchful swains along the lawns of night
 With amorous steps pursue the virgin light;
 O'er her fair form the electric lustre plays,
 And cold she moves amid the lambent blaze. 
So shines the glow-fly, when the sun retires,
 And gems the night-air with phosphoric fires;
 Thus o'er the marsh aërial lights betray,
 And charm the unwary wanderer from his way. 
So when thy King, Assyria, fierce and proud,
 Three human victims to his idol vow'd;
 Rear'd a vast pyre before the golden shrine
 Of sulphurous coal, and pitch-exsuding pine; —
 — Loud roar the flames, the iron nostrils breathe,
 And the huge bellows pant and heave beneath;
 Bright and more bright the blazing deluge flows,
 And white with seven-fold heat the furnace glows. 
And now the Monarch fix'd with dread surprize
 Deep in the burning vault his dazzled eyes. 
 "Lo! Three unbound amid the frightful glare,
"Unscorch'd their sandals, and unsing'd their hair! 
 "And now a fourth with seraph-beauty bright
"Descends, accosts them, and outshines the light! 
 "Fierce flames innocuous, as they step, retire! 
"And slow they move amid a world of fire! " 
He spoke, — to Heaven his arms repentant spread,
 And kneeling bow'd his gem-incircled head. 

Two Sister-Nymphs, the fair AVENAS, lead
 Their fleecy squadrons on the lawns of Tweed;
 Pass with light step his wave-worn banks along,
 And wake his Echoes with their silver tongue;
 Or touch the reed, as gentle Love inspires,
 In notes accordant to their chaste desires. 

I.

 "Sweet ECHO! sleeps thy vocal shell,
"Where this high arch o'erhangs the dell;
 "While Tweed with sun-reflecting streams
"Chequers thy rocks with dancing beams? 

II.

 "Here may no clamours harsh intrude,
"No brawling hound or clarion rude;
 "Here no fell beast of midnight prowl,
"And teach thy tortured cliffs to howl! 

III.

 "Be thine to pour these vales along
"Some artless Shepherd's evening song;
 "While Night's sweet bird, from yon high spray
"Responsive, listens to his lay

IV.

 "And if, like me, some love-lorn maid
"Should sing her sorrows to thy shade,
 "Oh, sooth her breast, ye rocks around! 
"With softest sympathy of sound. " 

From ozier bowers the brooding Halcyons peep,
 The Swans pursuing cleave the glassy deep,
 On hovering wings the wondering Reed-larks play,
 And silent Bitterns listen to the lay. —
 Three shepherd-swains beneath the beechen shades
 Twine rival garlands for the tuneful maids;
 On each smooth bark the mystic love-knot frame,
 Or on white sands inscribe the favour'd name. 

From Time's remotest dawn where China brings
 In proud succession all her Patriot-Kings;
 O'er desert-sands, deep gulfs, and hills sublime,
 Extends her massy wall from clime to clime;
 With bells and dragons crests her Pagod-bowers,
 Her silken palaces, and porcelain towers;
 With long canals a thousand nations laves;
 Plants all her wilds, and peoples all her waves;
 Slow treads fair CANNABIS the breezy strand,
 The distaff streams dishevell'd in her hand;
 Now to the left her ivory neck inclines,
 And leads in Paphian curves its azure lines;
 Dark waves the fringed lid, the warm cheek glows,
 And the fair ear the parting locks disclose;
 Now to the right with airy sweep she bends,
 Quick join the threads, the dancing spole depends. 
— Five Swains attracted guard the Nymph, by turns
 Her grace inchants them, and her beauty burns;
 To each She bows with sweet assuasive smile,
 Hears his soft vows, and turns her spole the while. 

So when with light and shade, concordant strife! 
Stern CLOTHO weaves the chequer'd thread of life;
 Hour after hour the growing line extends,
 The cradle and the coffin bound its ends;
 Soft cords of silk the whirling spoles reveal,
 If smiling Fortune turn the giddy wheel;
 But if sweet Love with baby-fingers twines,
 And wets with dewy lips the lengthening lines,
 Skein after skein celestial tints unfold,
 And all the silken tissue shines with gold. 

Warm with sweet blushes bright GALANTHA glows,
 And prints with frolic step the melting snows;
 O'er silent floods, white hills, and glittering meads
 Six rival swains the playful beauty leads,
 Chides with her dulcet voice the tardy Spring,
 Bids slumbering Zephyr stretch his folded wing,
 Wakes the hoarse Cuckoo in his gloomy cave,
 And calls the wondering Dormouse from his grave,
 Bids the mute Redbreast cheer the budding grove,
 And plaintive Ringdove tune her notes to love. 

Spring! with thy own sweet smile, and tunesul tongue,
 Delighted BELLIS calls her infant throng. 
Each on his reed astride, the Cherub-train
 Watch her kind looks, and circle o'er the plain;
 Now with young wonder touch the sliding snail,
 Admire his eye-tipp'd horns, and painted mail;
 Chase with quick step, and eager arms outspread,
 The pausing Butterfly from mead to mead;
 Or twine green oziers with the fragrant gale,
 The azure harebel, and the primrose pale,
 Join hand in hand, and in procession gay
 Adorn with votive wreaths the shrine of May. 
— So moves the Goddess to the Idalian groves,
 And leads her gold-hair'd family of Loves. 
These, from the flaming furnace, strong and bold
 Pour the red steel into the sandy mould;
 On tinkling anvils (with Vulcanian art),
 Turn with hot tongs, and forge the dreadful dart;
 The barbed head on whirling jaspers grind,
 And dip the point in poison for the mind;
 Each polish'd shaft with snow-white plumage wing,
 Or strain the bow reluctant to its string. 
Those on light pinion twine with busy hands,
 Or stretch from bough to bough the flowery bands;
 Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high,
 Or catch in silken nets the gilded fly;
 Call the young Zephyrs to their fragrant bowers,
 And stay with kisses sweet the Vernal Hours. 

Where, as proud Masson rises rude and bleak,
 And with mishapen turrets crests the Peak,
 Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath,
 And o'er scar'd Derwent bends his flinty teeth;
 Deep in wide caves below the dangerous soil
 Blue sulphurs flame, imprison'd waters boil. 
Impetuous steams in spiral colums rise
 Through rifted rocks, impatient for the skies;
 Or o'er bright seas of bubbling lavas blow,
 As heave and toss the billowy fires below;
 Condensed on high, in wandering rills they glide
 From Masson's dome, and burst his sparry side;
 Round his grey towers, and down his fringed walls,
 From cliff to cliff, the liquid treasure falls;
 In beds of stalactite, bright ores among,
 O'er corals, shells, and crystals, winds along;
 Crusts the green mosses, and the tangled wood,
 And sparkling plunges to its parent flood. 
— O'er the warm wave a smiling youth presides,
 Attunes its murmurs, its meanders guides,
 (The blooming FUCUS), in her sparry coves
 To amorous Echo sings his secret loves,
 Bathes his fair forehead in the misty stream,
 And with sweet breath perfumes the rising steam,
 — So, erst, an Angel o'er Bethesda's springs,
 Each morn descending, shook his dewy wings;
 And as his bright tranflucent form He laves,
 Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves. 

Amphibious Nymph, from Nile's prolific bed
 Emerging TRAPA lifts her pearly head;
 Fair glows her virgin cheek and modest breast,
 A panoply of scales deforms the rest;
 Her quivering fins and panting gills she hides,
 But spreads her silver arms upon the tides;
 Slow as she sails, her ivory neck she laves,
 And shakes her golden tresses o'er the waves. 
Charm'd round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide
 Four Nereid-forms, or shoot along the tide;
 Now all as one they rise with frolic spring,
 And beat the wondering air on humid wing;
 Now all descending plunge beneath the main,
 And lash the foam with undulating train;
 Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance,
 In air and ocean weave the mazy dance;
 Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes,
 And twinkle to the sun with ever-changing dyes. 

Where Andes, crested with volcanic beams,
 Sheds a long line of light on Plata's streams;
 Opes all his springs, unlocks his golden caves,
 And feeds and freights the immeasurable waves;
 Delighted OCYMA at twilight hours
 Calls her light car, and leaves the sultry bowers; —
 Love's rising ray, and Youth's seductive dye,
 Bloom'd on her cheek, and brighten'd in her eye;
 Chaste, pure, and white, a zone of silver graced
 Her tender breast, as white, as pure, as chaste; —
 By four fond swains in playful circles drawn,
 On glowing wheels she tracks the moon-bright lawn,
 Mounts the rude cliff, unveils her blushing charms,
 And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms. 
Emerged from ocean springs the vaporous air,
 Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair,
 Incrusts her beamy form with films saline,
 And Beauty blazes through the crystal shrine. —
 So with pellucid studs the ice-flower gems
 Her rimy foliage, and her candied stems. 
So from his glassy horns, and pearly eyes,
 The diamond-beetle darts a thousand dyes;
 Mounts with enamel'd wings the vesper gale,
 And wheeling shines in adamantine mail
 Thus when loud thunders o'er Gomorrah burst,
 And heaving earthquakes shook his realms accurst,
 An Angel-guest led forth the trembling Fair
 With shadowy hand, and warn'd the guiltless pair;
 "Haste from these lands of sin, ye Righteous! fly,
"Speed the quick step, nor turn the lingering eye! "—
 — Such the command, as fabling Bards indite,
 When Orpheus charm'd the grisly King of Night;
 Sooth'd the pale phantoms with his plaintive lay,
 And led the fair Assurgent into day. —
 Wide yawn'd the earth, the fiery tempest flash'd,
 And towns and towers in one vast ruin crash'd; —
 Onward they move, — loud horror roars behind,
 And shrieks of Anguish bellow in the wind. 
With many a sob, amid a thousand fears,
 The beauteous wanderer pours her gushing tears;
 Each soft connection rends her troubled breast,
 — She turns, unconscious of the stern behest! —
"I faint! — I fall! — ah, me! — sensations chill
 "Shoot through my bones, my shuddering bosom thrill! 
"I freeze! I freeze! just Heaven regards my fault,
 "Numbs my cold limbs, and hardens into salt! —
"Not yet, not yet, your dying Love resign! —
 "This last, last kiss receive! — no longer thine!" —
 She said, and ceased, — her stiffen'd form He press'd,
 And strain'd the briny column to his breast;
 Printed with quivering lips the lifeless snow,
 And wept, and gazed the monument of woe. —
 So when Aeneas through the flames of Troy
 Bore his pale fire, and led his lovely boy;
 With loitering step the fair Creusa stay'd,
 And Death involved her in eternal shade. —
 — Oft the lone Pilgrim, that his road forsakes,
 Marks the wide ruins, and the sulphur'd lakes;
 On mouldering piles amid asphaltic mud
 Hears the hoarse bittern, where Gomorrah stood;
 Recalls the unhappy Pair with lifted eye,
 Leans on the crystal tomb, and breathes the silent sigh. 

With net-wove sash and glittering gorget dress'd,
 And scarlet robe lapell'd upon her breast,
 Stern ARA frowns, the measured march assumes,
 Trails her long lance, and nods her shadowy plumes;
 While Love's soft beams illume her treacherous eyes,
 And Beauty lightens through the thin disguise. 
So erst, when HERCULES, untamed by toil,
 Own'd the soft power of DEJANIRA's smile; —
 His lion-spoils the laughing Fair demands,
 And gives the distaff to his awkward hands;
 O'er her white neck the bristly mane she throws,
 And binds the gaping whiskers on her brows;
 Plaits round her slender waist the shaggy vest,
 And clasps the velvet paws across her breast. 
Next with soft hands the knotted club she rears,
 Heaves up from earth, and on her shoulder bears. 
Onward with loftier step the Beauty treads,
 And trails the brinded ermine o'er the meads;
 Wolves, bears, and bards, forsake the affrighted groves,
 And grinning Satyrs tremble, as she moves. 

CARYO's sweet smile DIANTHUS proud admires,
 And gazing burns with unallow'd desires;
 With sighs and sorrows her compassion moves,
 And wins the damsel to illicit loves. 
The Monster-offspring heirs the father's pride,
 Mask'd in the damask beauties of the bride. 
So, when the Nightingale in eastern bowers
 On quivering pinion woos the Queen of flowers;
 Inhales her fragrance, as he hangs in air,
 And melts with melody the blushing fair;
 Half-rose, half-bird, a beauteous Monster springs,
 Waves his thin leaves, and claps his glossy wings;
 Long horrent thorns his mossy legs surround,
 And tendril-talons root him to the ground;
 Green films of rind his wrinkled neck o'espread,
 And crimson petals crest his curled head;
 Soft-warbling beaks in each bright blossom move,
 And vocal Rosebuds thrill the enchanted grove! —
 Admiring Evening stays her beamy star,
 And still Night listens from his ebon car;
 While on white wings descending Houries throng,
 And drink the floods of odour and of song. 

When from his golden urn the Solstice pours
 O'er Afric's sable sons the sultry hours;
 When not a gale flits o'er her tawny hills,
 Save where the dry Harmattan breathes and kills;
 When stretch'd in dust her gasping panthers lie,
 And writh'd in foamy folds her serpents die;
 Indignant Atlas mourns his leafless woods,
 And Gambia trembles for his sinking floods;
 Contagion stalks along the briny sand,
 And Ocean rolls his sickening shoals to land. 
— Fair CHUNDA smiles amid the burning waste,
 Her brow unturban'd, and her zone unbrac'd;
 Ten brother-youths with light umbrella's shade,
 Or fan with busy hands the panting maid;
 Loose wave her locks, disclosing, as they break,
 The rising bosom and averted cheek;
 Clasp'd round her ivory neck with studs of gold
 Flows her thin vest in many a gauzy fold;
 O'er her light limbs the dim transparence plays,
 And the fair form, it seems to hide, betrays. 

Where leads the northern Star his lucid train
 High o'er the snow-clad earth, and icy main,
 With milky light the white horizon streams,
 And to the moon each sparkling mountain gleams. —
 Slow o'er the printed snows with silent walk
 Huge shaggy forms across the twilight stalk;
 And ever and anon with hideous sound
 Burst the thick ribs of ice, and thunder round. —
 There, as old Winter flaps his hoary wing,
 And lingering leaves his empire to the Spring,
 Pierced with quick shafts of silver-shooting light
 Fly in dark troops the dazzled imps of night. —

 "Awake, my Love!" enamour'd MUSCHUS cries
 "Stretch thy fair limbs, refulgent Maid! arise;
"Ope thy sweet eye-lids to the rising ray,
 "And hail with ruby lips returning day. 
"Down the white hills dissolving torrents pour,
 "Green springs the turf, and purple blows the flower;
"His torpid wing the Rail exulting tries,
 "Mounts the soft gale, and wantons in the skies;
"Rise, let us mark how bloom the awaken'd groves,
 "And 'mid the banks of roses hide our loves." 

Night's tinsel beams on smooth Lock-lomond dance,
 Impatient AEGA views the bright expanse; —
 In vain her eyes the passing floods explore,
 Wave after wave rolls freightless to the shore. 
— Now dim amid the distant foam she spies
 A rising speck, — "'tis he! 'tis he!" she cries;
 As with firm arms he beats the streams aside,
 And cleaves with rising chest the tossing tide,
 With bended knee she prints the humid sands,
 Up-turns her glistening eyes, and spreads her hands;
 — "'Tis he, 'tis he! — My Lord, my life, my love! —
"Slumber, ye winds; ye billows, cease to move! 
 "Beneath his arms your buoyant plumage spread,
"Ye Swans! ye Halcyons! hover round his head! "—
 — With eager step the boiling surf she braves,
 And meets her refluent lover in the waves;
 Loose o'er the flood her azure mantle swims,
 And the clear stream betrays her snowy limbs. 

So on her sea-girt tower fair HERO stood
 At parting day, and mark'd the dashing flood;
 While high in air, the glimmering rocks above,
 Shone the bright lamp, the pilot-star of Love. 
— With robe outspread the wavering flame behind
 She kneels, and guards it from the shifting wind;
 Breathes to her Goddess all her vows, and guides
 Her bold LEANDER o'er the dusky tides;
 Wrings his wet hair, his briny bosom warms,
 And clasps her panting lover in her arms. 

Deep, in wide caverns and their shadowy ailes,
 Daughter of Earth, the chaste TRUFFELIA smiles;
 On silvery beds, of soft asbestus wove,
 Meets her Gnome-husband, and avows her love. 
— High o'er her couch impending diamonds blaze,
 And branching gold the crystal roof inlays;
 With verdant light the modest emeralds glow,
 Blue sapphires glare, and rubies blush, below;
 Light piers of lazuli the dome surround,
 And pictured mochoes tesselate the ground;
 In glittering threads along reflective walls
 The warm rill murmuring twinkles, as it falls;
 Now sink the Eolian strings, and now they swell,
 And Echoes woo in every vaulted cell;
 While on white wings delighted Cupids play,
 Shake their bright lamps, and shed celestial day. 

Closed in an azure fig by fairy spells,
 Bosom'd in down, fair CAPRI-FICA dwells; —
 So sleeps in silence the Curculio, shut
 In the dark chambers of the cavern'd nut,
 Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted shell,
 And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell. 
So the pleased Linnet in the moss-wove nest,
 Waked into life beneath its parent's breast,
 Chirps in the gaping shell, bursts forth erelong,
 Shakes its new plumes, and tries its tender song. —
 — And now the talisman she strikes, that charms
 Her husband-Sylph, — and calls him to her arms. —
 Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord bestrides,
 With cobweb reins the flying courser guides,
 From crystal steeps of viewless ether springs,
 Cleaves the soft air on still expanded wings;
 Darts like a sunbeam o'er the boundless wave,
 And seeks the beauty in her secret cave. 
So with quick impulse through all nature's frame
 Shoots the electric air its subtle flame. 
So turns the impatient needle to the pole,
 Tho' mountains rise between, and oceans roll. 

Where round the Orcades white torrents roar,
 Scooping with ceaseless rage the incumbent shore,
 Wide o'er the deep a dusky cavern bends
 Its marble arms, and high in air impends;
 Basaltic piers the ponderous roof sustain,
 And steep their massy sandals in the main;
 Round the dim walls, and through the whispering ailes
 Hoarse breathes the wind, the glittering water boils. 
Here the charm'd BYSSUS with his blooming bride
 Spreads his green sails, and braves the foaming tide;
 The star of Venus gilds the twilight wave,
 And lights her votaries to the secret cave;
 Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed,
 And each coy sea-maid hides her blushing head. 

Where cool'd by rills, and curtain'd round by woods,
 Slopes the green dell to meet the briny floods,
 The sparkling noon-beams trembling on the tide,
 The PROTEUS-LOVER woos his playful bride,
 To win the fair he tries a thousand forms,
 Basks on the sands, or gambols in the storms. 
A Dolphin now, his scaly sides he laves,
 And bears the sportive damsel on the waves;
 She strikes the cymbal as he moves along,
 And wondering Ocean listens to the song. 
— And now a spotted Pard the lover stalks,
 Plays round her steps, and guards her favour'd walks;
 As with white teeth he prints her hand, caress'd,
 And lays his velvet paw upon her breast,
 O'er his round face her snowy fingers strain
 The silken knots, and fit the ribbon-rein. 
— And now a Swan, he spreads his plumy sails,
 And proudly glides before the fanning gales;
 Pleas'd on the flowery brink with graceful hand
 She waves her floating lover to the land;
 Bright shines his sinuous neck, with crimson beak
 He prints fond kisses on her glowing cheek,
 Spreads his broad wings, elates his ebon crest,
 And clasps the beauty to his downy breast. 

A hundred virgins join a hundred swains,
 And fond ADONIS leads the sprightly trains;
 Pair after pair, along his sacred groves
 To Hymen's fane the bright procession moves;
 Each smiling youth a myrtle garland shades,
 And wreaths of roses veil the blushing maids;
 Light joys on twinkling feet attend the throng,
 Weave the gay dance, or raise the frolic song;
 — Thick, as they pass, exulting Cupids fling
 Promiscuous arrows from the sounding string;
 On wings of gossamer soft Whispers fly,
 And the fly Glance steals side-long from the eye. 
— As round his shrine the gaudy circles bow,
 And seal with muttering lips the faithless vow,
 Licentious Hymen joins their mingled hands,
 And loosely twines the meretricious bands. —
 Thus where pleased VENUS, in the southern main,
 Sheds all her smiles on Otaheite's plain,
 Wide o'er the isle her silken net she draws,
 And the Loves laugh at all, but Nature's laws. " 

Here ceased the Goddess, — o'er the silent srings
 Applauding Zephyrs swept their fluttering wings;
 Enraptur'd Sylphs arose in murmuring crowds
 To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds;
 Each Gnome reluctant sought his earthy cell,
 And each bright Floret clos'd her velvet bell. 
Then, on soft tiptoe, NIGHT approaching near
 Hung o'er the tuneless lyre his sable ear;
 Gem'd with bright stars the still etherial plain,
 And bad his Nightingales repeat the strain.