Part 5 (1/2)

Awhile they sit, from higher cares released, And pleased partake the intellectual feast.

Of good and ill they spoke, effect and cause, Celestial agencies, and Nature's laws.

So when angelic Forms to Syria sent Sat in the cedar shade by ABRAHAM'S tent; A s.p.a.cious bowl the admiring Patriarch fills With dulcet water from the scanty rills; 450 Sweet fruits and kernels gathers from his h.o.a.rd, With milk and b.u.t.ter piles the plenteous board; While on the heated hearth his Consort bakes Fine flour well kneaded in unleaven'd cakes.

The Guests ethereal quaff the lucid flood, Smile on their hosts, and taste terrestrial food; And while from seraph-lips sweet converse springs, Lave their fair feet, and close their silver wings.

END OF CANTO II.

ORIGIN OF SOCIETY.

CANTO III.

PROGRESS OF THE MIND.

CONTENTS.

I. Urania and the Muse converse 1. Progress of the Mind 42. II. The Four sensorial powers of Irritation, Sensation, Volition, and a.s.sociation 55. Some finer senses given to Brutes 93. And Armour 108.

Finer Organ of Touch given to Man 121. Whence clear ideas of Form 125.

Vision is the Language of the Touch 131. Magic Lantern 139. Surprise, Novelty, Curiosity 145. Pa.s.sions, Vices 149. Philanthropy 159. Shrine of Virtue 160. III. Ideal Beauty from the Female Bosom 163. Eros the G.o.d of Sentimental Love 177. Young Dione idolized by Eros 186. Third chain of Society 206. IV. Ideal Beauty from curved Lines 207. Taste for the Beautiful 222. Taste for the Sublime 223. For poetic Melancholy 231. For Tragedy 241. For artless Nature 247. The Genius of Taste 259. V. The Senses easily form and repeat ideas 269. Imitation from clear ideas 279. The Senses imitate each other 293. In dancing 295. In drawing naked Nymphs 299. In Architecture, as at St. Peter's at Rome 303. Mimickry 319. VI. Natural Language from imitation 335.

Language of Quails, c.o.c.ks, Lions, Boxers 343. Pantomime Action 357.

Verbal Language from Imitation and a.s.sociation 363. Symbols of ideas 371. Gigantic form of Time 385. Wings of Hermes 391. VII. Recollection from clear ideas 395. Reason and Volition 401. Arts of the Wasp, Bee, Spider, Wren, Silk-Worm 411. Volition concerned about Means or Causes 435. Man distinguished by Language, by using Tools, labouring for Money, praying to the Deity 438. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil 445. VIII. Emotions from Imitation 461. The Seraph; Sympathy 467.

Christian Morality the great bond of Society 483-496.

CANTO III.

PROGRESS OF THE MIND.

I. Now rose, adorn'd with Beauty's brightest hues, The graceful HIEROPHANT, and winged MUSE; Onward they step around the stately piles, O'er porcelain floors, through laqueated ailes, Eye Nature's lofty and her lowly seats, Her gorgeous palaces, and green retreats, Pervade her labyrinths with unerring tread, And leave for future guests a guiding thread.

First with fond gaze blue fields of air they sweep, Or pierce the briny chambers of the deep; 10 Earth's burning line, and icy poles explore, Her fertile surface, and her caves of ore; Or mark how Oxygen with Azote-Gas Plays round the globe in one aerial ma.s.s, Or fused with Hydrogen in ceaseless flow Forms the wide waves, which foam and roll below.

[Footnote: _How Oxygen_, l. 13. The atmosphere which surrounds us, is composed of twenty-seven parts of oxygen gas and seventy-three of azote or nitrogen gas, which are simply diffused together, but which, when combined, become nitrous acid. Water consists of eighty-six parts oxygen, and fourteen parts of hydrogen or inflammable air, in a state of combination. It is also probable, that much oxygen enters the composition of gla.s.s; as those materials which promote vitrification, contain so much of it, as minium and manganese; and that gla.s.s is hence a solid acid in the temperature of our atmosphere, as water is a fluid one.]

Next with illumined hands through prisms bright Pleased they untwist the sevenfold threads of light; Or, bent in pencils by the lens, convey To one bright point the silver hairs of Day. 20 Then mark how two electric streams conspire To form the resinous and vitreous fire; Beneath the waves the fierce Gymnotus arm, And give Torpedo his benumbing charm; Or, through Galvanic chain-work as they pa.s.s, Convert the kindling water into gas.

[Footnote: _Two electric streams_, l. 21. It is the opinion of some philosophers, that the electric ether consists of two kinds of fluids diffused together or combined; which are commonly known by the terms of positive and negative electricity, but are by these electricians called vitreous and resinous electricity. The electric shocks given by the torpedo and by the gymnotus, are supposed to be similar to those of the Galvanic pile, as they are produced in water.

Which water is decomposed by the Galvanic pile and converted into oxygen and hydrogen gas; see Additional Note XII.

The magnetic ether may also be supposed to consist of two fluids, one of which attracts the needle, and the other repels it; and, perhaps, chemical affinities, and gravitation itself, may consist of two kinds of ether surrounding the particles of bodies, and may thence attract at one distance and repel at another; as appears when two insulated electrised b.a.l.l.s are approached to each other, or when two small globules of mercury are pressed together.]

How at the poles opposing Ethers dwell, Attract the quivering needle, or repel.

How Gravitation by immortal laws Surrounding matter to a centre draws; 30 How Heat, pervading oceans, airs, and lands, With force uncheck'd the mighty ma.s.s expands; And last how born in elemental strife Beam'd the first spark, and lighten'd into Life.

Now in sweet tones the inquiring Muse express'd Her ardent wish; and thus the Fair address'd.

”Priestess of Nature! whose exploring sight Pierces the realms of Chaos and of Night; Of s.p.a.ce unmeasured marks the first and last, Of endless time the present, future, past; 40 Immortal Guide! O, now with accents kind Give to my ear the progress of the Mind.