Volume Ii Part 7 (1/2)

[About twenty letters, ten cyphers, and seven crotches, represent by their numerous combinations all our ideas and sensations! the musical characters are probably arrived at their perfection, unless emphasis, and tone, and swell could be expressed, as well as note and time. Charles the Twelfth of Sweden had a design to have introduced a numeration by squares, instead of by decimation, which might have served the purposes of philosophy better than the present mode, which is said to be of Arabic invention. The alphabet is yet in a very imperfect state; perhaps seventeen letters could express all the simple sounds in the European languages. In China they have not yet learned to divide their words into syllables, and are thence necessitated to employ many thousand characters; it is said above eighty thousand. It is to be wished, in this ingenious age, that the European nations would accord to reform our alphabet.]

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; 125 Weighs with nice ear the vowel, liquid, surd, And breaks in syllables the volant word.

Then forms _the next_ upon the marshal'd plain In deepening ranks his dexterous cypher-train; And counts, as wheel the decimating bands, 130 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.

135 Pleased round her cane-wove throne, the applauding crowd Clap'd their rude hands, their swarthy foreheads bow'd; With loud acclaim ”a present G.o.d!” they cry'd, ”A present G.o.d!” rebellowing sh.o.r.es reply'd-- Then peal'd at intervals with mingled swell 140 The echoing harp, shrill clarion, horn, and sh.e.l.l; 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; 145 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, 150 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.

155 So now DELANY forms her mimic bowers, Her paper foliage, and her silken flowers;

[_So now Delany_. l. 155. Mrs. Delany has finished nine hundred and seventy accurate and elegant representations of different vegetables with the parts of their flowers, fructification, &c. according with the cla.s.sification of Linneus, in what she terms paper-mosaic. She began this work at the age of 74, when her sight would no longer serve her to paint, in which she much excelled; between her age of 74 and 82, at which time her eyes quite failed her, she executed the curious Hortus ficcus above-mentioned, which I suppose contains a greater number of plants than were ever before drawn from the life by any one person. Her method consisted in placing the leaves of each plant with the petals, and all the other parts of the flowers, on coloured paper, and cutting them with scissars accurately to the natural size and form, and then parting them on a dark ground; the effect of which is wonderful, and their accuracy less liable to fallacy than drawings. She is at this time (1788) in her 89th year, with all the powers of a fine understanding still unimpaired.

I am informed another very ingenious lady, Mrs. North, is constructing a similar Hortus ficcus, or Paper-garden; which she executes on a ground of vellum with such elegant taste and scientific accuracy, that it cannot fail to become a work of inestimable value.]

Her virgin train the tender scissars ply, Vein the green leaf, the purple petal dye: Round wiry stems the flaxen tendril bends, 160 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 h.o.a.ry wing, And eyes with wonder all the blooms of spring.

165 The gentle LAPSANA, NYMPHaeA fair, And bright CALENDULA with golden hair,

[_Lapsana, Nymphaea alba, Calendula_. l. 165. And many other flowers close and open their petals at certain hours of the day; and thus const.i.tute what Linneus calls the Horologe, or Watch of Flora. He enumerates 46 flowers, which possess this kind of sensibility. I shall mention a few of them with their respective hours of rising and setting, as Linneus terms them. He divides them first into _meteoric_ flowers, which less accurately observe the hour of unfolding, but are expanded sooner or later, according to the cloudiness, moisture, or pressure of the atmosphere. 2d. _Tropical_ flowers open in the morning and close before evening every day; but the hour of the expanding becomes earlier or later, at the length of the day increases or decreases. 3dly. _aequinoctial_ flowers, which open at a certain and exact hour of the day, and for the most part close at another determinate hour.

Hence the Horologe or Watch of Flora is formed from numerous plants, of which the following are those most common in this country. Leontodon taraxac.u.m, Dandelion, opens at 5--6, closes at 8--9. Hieracium pilosella, mouse-ear hawkweed, opens at 8, closes at 2. Sonchus laevis, smooth Sow-thistle, at 5 and at 11--12. Lactuca sativa, cultivated Lettice, at 7 and jo. Tragopogon luteum, yellow Goatsbeard, at 3--5 and at 9--10.

Lapsana, nipplewort, at 5--6 and at 10--1. Nymphaea alba, white water lily, at 7 and 5. Papaver nudicaule, naked poppy, at 5 and at 7.

Hemerecallis fulva, tawny Day-lily, at 5 and at 7--8. Convolvulus, at 5--6. Malva, Mallow, at 9--10, and at 1. Arenarea purpurea, purple Sandwort, at 9--10, and at 2--3. Anagallis, pimpernel, at 7--8. Portulaca hortensis, garden Purilain, at 9--10, and at 11--12. Dianthus prolifer, proliferous Pink, at 8 and at 1. Cich.o.r.eum, Succory, at 4--5.

Hypochiaeris, at 6--7, and at 4--5. Crepis at 4--5, and at 10--II.

Picris, at 4--5, and at 12. Calendula field, at 9, and at 3. Calendula African, at 7, and at 3--4.

As these observations were probably made in the botanic gardens at Upsal, they must require further attention to suit them to our climate. See Stillingfleet Calendar of Flora.]

Watch with nice eye the Earth's diurnal way, Marking her solar and sidereal day, Her slow nutation, and her varying clime, 170 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; 175 On spiral bra.s.s 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 180 A Serpent twines his scaly length in gold; And brightly pencil'd on the enamel'd sphere Live the fair trophies of the pa.s.sing year.

--Here _Time's_ huge fingers grasp his giant-mace, And dash proud Superst.i.tion from her base, 185 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 c.u.mberous wreck; And, slowly purpling o'er the mighty waste, 190 Plant the fair growths of Science and of Taste.

While each light _Moment_, as it dances by With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye, Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kiss, The callow nestlings of domestic Bliss.

195 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 sh.e.l.l, 200 The snow-white rose, or lily's virgin bell, The fair h.e.l.lEBORAS 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.

205 --Ere while how chang'd!--in dim suffusion lies The glance divine, that lighten'd in their eyes;