Volume I Part 11 (2/2)

--Pleased Fawns and Nymphs with dancing step applaud, And hang their chaplets round the resting G.o.d; 525 Link their soft hands, and rear with pausing toil The golden trophy on the furrow'd soil; Fill with ripe fruits, with wreathed flowers adorn, And give to PLENTY her prolific horn.

[_Dragg'd down to earth_. l. 517. Described from an antique gem.]

XIV. ”On Spring's fair lap, CERULEAN SISTERS! pour 530 From airy urns the sun-illumined shower, Feed with the dulcet drops my tender broods, Mellifluous flowers, and aromatic buds; Hang from each bending gra.s.s and horrent thorn The tremulous pearl, that glitters to the morn; 535 Or where cold dews their secret channels lave, And Earth's dark chambers hide the stagnant wave, O, pierce, YE NYMPHS! her marble veins, and lead Her gus.h.i.+ng fountains to the thirsty mead; Wide o'er the s.h.i.+ning vales, and trickling hills 540 Spread the bright treasure in a thousand rills.

So shall my peopled realms of Leaf and Flower Exult, inebriate with the genial shower; Dip their long tresses from the mossy brink, With tufted roots the gla.s.sy currents drink; 545 Shade your cool mansions from meridian beams, And view their waving honours in your streams.

[_Spread the bright treasure_. l. 540. The practice of flooding lands long in use in China has been but lately introduced into this country.

Besides the supplying water to the herbage in dryer seasons, it seems to defend it from frost in the early part of the year, and thus doubly advances the vegetation. The waters which rise from springs pa.s.sing through marl or limestone are replete with calcareous earth, and when thrown over mora.s.ses they deposit this earth and incrust or consolidate the mora.s.s. This kind of earth is deposited in great quant.i.ty from the springs at Matlock bath, and supplies the soft porous limestone of which the houses and walls are there constructed; and has formed the whole bank for near a mile on that side of the Derwent on which they stand.

The water of many springs contains much azotic gas, or phlogistic air, besides carbonic gas, or fixed air, as that of Buxton and Bath; this being set at liberty may more readily contribute to the production of nitre by means of the putrescent matters which it is exposed to by being spread upon the surface of the land; in the same manner as frequently turning over heaps of manure facilitates the nitrous process by imprisoning atmospheric air in the interstices of the putrescent materials. Water arising by land-floods brings along with it much of the most soluble parts of the manure from the higher lands to the lower ones. River-water in its clear state and those springs which are called soft are less beneficial for the purpose of watering lands, as they contain less earthy or saline matter; and water from dissolving snow from its slow solution brings but little earth along with it, as may be seen by the comparative clearness of the water of snow-floods.]

”Thus where the veins their confluent branches bend, And milky eddies with the purple blend; The Chyle's white trunk, diverging from its source, 550 Seeks through the vital ma.s.s its s.h.i.+ning course; O'er each red cell, and tissued membrane spreads In living net-work all its branching threads; Maze within maze its tortuous path pursues, Winds into glands, inextricable clues; 555 Steals through the stomach's velvet sides, and sips The silver surges with a thousand lips; Fills each fine pore, pervades each slender hair, And drinks salubrious dew-drops from the air.

”Thus when to kneel in Mecca's awful gloom, 560 Or press with pious kiss Medina's tomb, League after league, through many a lingering day, Steer the swart Caravans their sultry way; O'er sandy wastes on gasping camels toil, Or print with pilgrim-steps the burning soil; 565 If from lone rocks a sparkling rill descend, O'er the green brink the kneeling nations bend, Bathe the parch'd lip, and cool the feverish tongue, And the clear lake reflects the mingled throng.”

The G.o.ddess paused,--the listening bands awhile 570 Still seem to hear, and dwell upon her smile; Then with soft murmur sweep in lucid trains Down the green slopes, and o'er the pebbly plains, To each bright stream on silver sandals glide, Reflective fountain, and tumultuous tide.

575 So shoot the Spider-broods at breezy dawn Their glittering net-work o'er the autumnal lawn; From blade to blade connect with cordage fine The unbending gra.s.s, and live along the line; Or bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell 580 With feet repulsive on the dimpling well.

So when the North congeals his watery ma.s.s, Piles high his snows, and floors his seas with gla.s.s; While many a Month, unknown to warmer rays, Marks its slow chronicle by lunar days; 585 Stout youths and ruddy damsels, sportive train, Leave the white soil, and rush upon the main; From isle to isle the moon-bright squadrons stray, And win in easy curves their graceful way; On step alternate borne, with balance nice 590 Hang o'er the gliding steel, and hiss along the ice.

_Argument of the Fourth Canto._

Address to the Sylphs. I. Trade-winds. Monsoons. N.E. and S.W. winds.

Land and sea breezes. Irregular winds. 9. II. Production of vital air from oxygene and light. The marriage of Cupid and Psyche. 25. III. 1.

Syroc. Simoom. Tornado. 63. 2. Fog. Contagion. Story of Thyrsis and Aegle. Love and Death. 79. IV. 1. Barometer. Air-pump. 127. 2. Air- balloon of Mongulfier. Death of Rozier. Icarus. 143. V. Discoveries of Dr. Priestley. Evolutions and combinations of pure air. Rape of Proserpine. 165. VI. Sea-balloons, or houses constructed to move under the sea. Death of Mr. Day. Of Mr. Spalding. Of Captain Pierce and his Daughters. 195. VII. Sylphs of music. Cecelia singing. Cupid with a lyre riding upon a lion. 233. VIII. Destruction of Senacherib's army by a pestilential wind. Shadow of Death. 263. IX. 1. Wish to possess the secret of changing the course of the winds. 305. 2. Monster devouring air subdued by Mr. Kirwan. 321. X. 1. Seeds suspended in their pods.

Stars discovered by Mr. Herschel. Destruction and resuscitation of all things. 351. 2. Seeds within seeds, and bulbs within bulbs. Picture on the retina of the eye. Concentric strata of the earth. The great seed.

381. 3. The root, pith, lobes, plume, calyx, coral, sap, blood, leaves respire and absorb light. The crocodile in its egg. 409. XI. Opening of the flower. The petals, style, anthers, prolific dust. Trans.m.u.tation of the silkworm. 441. XII. 1. Leaf-buds changed into flower-buds by wounding the bark, or strangulating a part of the branch. 461. 2.

Ingrafting. Aaron's rod pullulates. 477. XIII. 1. Insects on trees.

Humming-bird alarmed by the spider-like apearance of Cyprepedia. 491. 2.

Diseases of vegetables. Scratch on unnealed gla.s.s. 511. XIV. 1. Tender flowers. Amaryllis, fritillary, erythrina, mimosa, cerea. 523. 2. Vines.

Oranges. Diana's trees. Kew garden. The royal family. 541. XV. Offering to Hygeia. 587. Departure of the G.o.ddess. 629.

THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION.

CANTO IV.

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