The Botanic Garden

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[_Her playful seahorse._ l. 277. Described form an antique gem.]

VIII. "NYMPHS! whose fair eyes with vivid lustres glow
For human weal, and melt at human woe;
Late as YOU floated on your silver shells,
300 Sorrowing and slow by DERWENT'S willowy dells;
Where by tall groves his foamy flood he steers
Through ponderous arches o'er impetuous wears,
By DERBY'S shadowy towers reflective sweeps,
And gothic grandeur chills his dusky deeps;
305 You pearl'd with Pity's drops his velvet sides,
Sigh'd in his gales, and murmur'd in his tides,
Waved o'er his fringed brink a deeper gloom,
And bow'd his alders o'er MILCENA'S tomb.

[_O'er Milcena's tomb_. l. 308. In memory of Mrs. French, a lady who to
many other elegant accomplishments added a proficiency in botany and
natural history.]

"Oft with sweet voice She led her infant-train,
310 Printing with graceful step his spangled plain,
Explored his twinkling swarms, that swim or fly,
And mark'd his florets with botanic eye.--
"Sweet bud of Spring! how frail thy transient bloom,
"Fine film," she cried, "of Nature's fairest loom!
315 "Soon Beauty fades upon its damask throne!"--
--Unconscious of the worm, that mined her own!--
--Pale are those lips, where soft caresses hung,
Wan the warm cheek, and mute the tender tongue,
Cold rests that feeling heart on Derwent's shore,
320 And those love-lighted eye-balls roll no more!

--HERE her sad Consort, stealing through the gloom
Of
Hangs in mute anguish o'er the scutcheon'd hearse,
Or graves with trembling style the votive verse.

325 "Sexton! oh, lay beneath this sacred shrine,
When Time's cold hand shall close my aching eyes,
Oh, gently lay this wearied earth of mine,
Where wrap'd in night my loved MILCENA lies.

"So shall with purer joy my spirit move,
330 When the last trumpet thrills the caves of Death,
Catch the first whispers of my waking love,
And drink with holy kiss her kindling breath.

"The spotless Fair, with blush ethereal warm,
Shall hail with sweeter smile returning day,
335 Rise from her marble bed a brighter form,
And win on buoyant step her airy way.

"Shall bend approved, where beckoning hosts invite,
On clouds of silver her adoring knee,
Approach with Seraphim the throne of light,
340 --And BEAUTY plead with angel-tongue for Me!"

IX. "YOUR virgin trains on BRINDLEY'S cradle smiled,
And nursed with fairy-love the unletter'd child,
Spread round his pillow all your secret spells,
Pierced all your springs, and open'd all your wells.--
345 As now on grass, with glossy folds reveal'd,
Glides the bright serpent, now in flowers conceal'd;
Far shine the scales, that gild his sinuous back,
And lucid undulations mark his track;
So with strong arm immortal BRINDLEY leads
350 His long canals, and parts the velvet meads;
Winding in lucid lines, the watery mass
Mines the firm rock, or loads the deep morass,
With rising locks a thousand hills alarms,
Flings o'er a thousand streams its silver arms,
355 Feeds the long vale, the nodding woodland laves,
And Plenty, Arts, and Commerce freight the waves.
--NYMPHS! who erewhile round BRINDLEY'S early bier
On show-white bosoms shower'd the incessant tear,
Adorn his tomb!--oh, raise the marble bust,
360 Proclaim his honours, and protect his dust!
With urns inverted, round the sacred shrine
Their ozier wreaths let weeping Naiads twine;
While on the top MECHANIC GENIUS stands,
Counts the fleet waves, and balances the lands.

[_On Brindley's cradle smiled_. l. 341. The life of Mr. Brindley, whose
great abilities in the construction of canal navigation were called
forth by the patronage of the Duke of Bridgwater, may be read in Dr.
Kippis's Biographia Britannica, the excellence of his genius is visible
in every part of this island. He died at Turnhurst in Staffordshire in
1772, and ought to have a monument in the cathedral church at
Lichfield.]

365 X. "NYMPHS! YOU first taught to pierce the secret caves
Of humid earth, and lift her ponderous waves;
Bade with quick stroke the sliding piston bear
The viewless columns of incumbent air;--
Press'd by the incumbent air the floods below,
370 Through opening valves in foaming torrents flow,
Foot after foot with lessen'd impulse move,
And rising seek the vacancy above.--
So when the Mother, bending o'er his charms,
Clasps her fair nurseling in delighted arms;
375 Throws the thin kerchief from her neck of snow,
And half unveils the pearly orbs below;
With sparkling eye the blameless Plunderer owns
Her soft embraces, and endearing tones,
Seeks the salubrious fount with opening lips,
380 Spreads his inquiring hands, and smiles, and sips.

[_Lift her ponderous waves_. l. 366. The invention of the pump is of
very antient date, being ascribed to one Ctesebes an Athenian, whence it
was called by the Latins machina Ctesebiana; but it was long before it
was known that the ascent of the piston lifted the superincumbent column
of the atmosphere, and that then the pressure of the surrounding air on
the surface of the well below forced the water up into the vacuum, and
that on that account in the common lifting pump the water would rise
only about thirty-five feet, as the weight of such a column of water was
in general an equipoise to the surrounding atmosphere. The foamy
appearance of water, when the pressure of the air over it is diminished,
is owing to the expansion and escape of the air previously dissolved by
it, or existing in its pores. When a child first sucks it only presses
or champs the teat, as observed by the great Harvey, but afterwards it
learns to make an incipient vacuum in its mouth, and acts by removing
the pressure of the atmosphere from the nipple, like a pump.]

"CONNUBIAL FAIR! whom no fond transport warms
To lull your infant in maternal arms;
Who, bless'd in vain with tumid bosoms, hear
His tender wailings with unfeeling ear;
385 The soothing kiss and milky rill deny
To the sweet pouting lip, and glistening eye!--
Ah! what avails the cradle's damask roof,
The eider bolster, and embroider'd woof!--
Oft hears the gilded couch unpity'd plains,
390 And many a tear the tassel'd cushion stains!
No voice so sweet attunes his cares to rest,
So soft no pillow, as his Mother's breast!--
--Thus charm'd to sweet repose, when twilight hours
Shed their soft influence on celestial bowers,
395 The Cherub, Innocence, with smile divine
Shuts his white wings, and sleeps on Beauty's shrine.

[_Ah! what avails_. l. 387. From an elegant little poem of Mr.
Jerningham's intitled Il Latte, exhorting ladies to nurse their own
children.]

XI. "From dome to dome when flames infuriate climb,
Sweep the long street, invest the tower sublime;
Gild the tall vanes amid the astonish'd night,
400 And reddening heaven returns the sanguine light;
While with vast strides and bristling hair aloof
Pale Danger glides along the falling roof;
And Giant Terror howling in amaze
Moves his dark limbs across the lurid blaze.
405 NYMPHS! you first taught the gelid wave to rise
Hurl'd in resplendent arches to the skies;
In iron cells condensed the airy spring,
And imp'd the torrent with unfailing wing;
--On the fierce flames the shower impetuous falls,
410 And sudden darkness shrouds the shatter'd walls;
Steam, smoak, and dust in blended volumes roll,
And Night and Silence repossess the Pole.--

[_Hurl'd in resplendent arches_. l. 406. The addition of an air-cell to
machines for raising water to extinguish fire was first introduced by
Mr. Newsham of London, and is now applied to similar engines for washing
wall-trees in gardens, and to all kinds of forcing pumps, and might be
applied with advantage to lifting pumps where the water is brought from
a great distance horizontally. Another kind of machine was invented by
one Greyl, in which a vessel of water was every way dispersed by the
explosion of gun-powder lodging in the centre of it, and lighted by an
adapted match; from this idea Mr. Godfrey proposed a water-bomb of
similar construction. Dr. Hales to prevent the spreading of fire
proposed to cover the floors and stairs of the adjoining houses with
earth; Mr. Hartley proposed to prevent houses from taking fire by
covering the cieling with thin iron-plates, and Lord Mahon by a bed of
coarse mortar or plaister between the cieling and floor above it. May
not this age of chemical science discover some method of injecting or
soaking timber with lime-water and afterwards with vitriolic acid, and
thus fill its pores with alabaster? or of penetrating it with siliceous
matter, by processes similar to those of Bergman and Achard? See
Cronstadt's Mineral. 2d. edit. Vol. I. p. 222.]

"Where were ye, NYMPHS! in those disasterous hours,
Which wrap'd in flames AUGUSTA'S sinking towers?
415 Why did ye linger in your wells and groves,
When sad WOODMASON mourn'd her infant loves?
When thy fair Daughters with unheeded screams,
Ill-fated MOLESWORTH! call'd the loitering streams?--
The trembling Nymph on bloodless fingers hung
420 Eyes from the tottering wall the distant throng,
With ceaseless shrieks her sleeping friends alarms,
Drops with singed hair into her lover's arms.--
The illumin'd Mother seeks with footsteps fleet,
Where hangs the safe balcony o'er the street,
425 Wrap'd in her sheet her youngest hope suspends,
And panting lowers it to her tiptoe friends;
Again she hurries on affection's wings,
And now a third, and now a fourth, she brings;
Safe all her babes, she smooths her horrent brow,
430 And bursts through bickering flames, unscorch'd, below.
So, by her Son arraign'd, with feet unshod
O'er burning bars indignant Emma trod.

[Footnote: _Woodmason, Molesworth_. l. 416. The histories of these
unfortunate families may be seen in the Annual Register, or in the
Gentleman's Magazine.]

"E'en on the day when Youth with Beauty wed,
The flames surprized them in their nuptial bed;--
435 Seen at the opening sash with bosom bare,
With wringing hands, and dark dishevel'd hair,
The blushing Beauty with disorder'd charms
Round her fond lover winds her ivory arms;
Beat, as they clasp, their throbbing hearts with fear,
440 And many a kiss is mix'd with many a tear;--
Ah me! in vain the labouring engines pour
Round their pale limbs the ineffectual shower!--
--Then crash'd the floor, while shrinking crouds retire,
And Love and Virtue sunk amid the fire!--
445 With piercing screams afflicted strangers mourn,
And their white ashes mingle in their urn.

XII. "PELLUCID FORMS! whose crystal bosoms show
The shine of welfare, or the shade of woe;
Who with soft lips salute returning Spring,
450 And hail the Zephyr quivering on his wing;
Or watch, untired, the wintery clouds, and share
With streaming eyes my vegetable care;
Go, shove the dim mist from the mountain's brow,
Chase the white fog, which floods the vale below;
455 Melt the thick snows, that linger on the lands,
And catch the hailstones in your little hands;
Guard the coy blossom from the pelting shower,
And dash the rimy spangles from the bower;
From each chill leaf the silvery drops repel,
460 And close the timorous floret's golden bell.

[_Shove the dim mist_. l. 453. See note on l. 20 of this Canto.]

[_Catch the hail-stones_. l. 456. See note on l. 15 of this Canto.]

[_From each chill leaf_. l. 459. The upper side of the leaf is the organ
of vegetable respiration, as explained in the additional notes, No.
XXXVII, hence the leaf is liable to injury from much moisture on this
surface, and is destroyed by being smeared with oil, in these respects
resembling the lungs of animals or the spiracula of insects. To prevent
these injuries some leaves repel the dew-drops from their upper surfaces
as those of cabbages; other vegetables close the upper surfaces of their
leaves together in the night or in wet weather, as the sensitive plant;
others only hang their leaves downwards so as to shoot the wet from
them, as kidney-beans, and many trees. See note on l. 18 of this Canto.]

[_Golden bell_. l. 460. There are muscles placed about the footstalks of
the leaves or leaflets of many plants, for the purpose of closing their
upper surfaces together, or of bending them down so as to shoot off the
showers or dew-drops, as mentioned in the preceeding note. The claws of
the petals or of the divisions of the calyx of many flowers are
furnished in a similar manner with muscles, which are exerted to open or
close the corol and calyx of the flower as in tragopogon, anemone. This
action of opening and closing the leaves or flowers does not appear to
be produced simply by _irritation_ on the muscles themselves, but by the
connection of those muscles with a _sensitive_ sensorium or brain
existing in each individual bud or flower. 1st. Because many flowers
close from the defect of stimulus, not by the excess of it, as by
darkness, which is the absence of the stimulus of light; or by cold,
which is the absence of the stimulus of heat. Now the defect of heat, or
the absence of food, or of drink, affects our _sensations_, which had
been previously accustomed to a greater quantity of them; but a muscle
cannot be said to be stimulated into action by a defect of stimulus. 2.
Because the muscles around the footstalks of the subdivisions of the
leaves of the sensitive plant are exerted when any injury is offered to
the other extremity of the leaf, and some of the stamens of the flowers
of the class Syngenesia contract themselves when others are irritated.
See note on Chondrilla, Vol. II. of this work.

From this circumstance the contraction of the muscles of vegetables
seems to depend on a disagreeable _sensation_ in some distant part, and
not on the _irritation_ of the muscles themselves. Thus when a particle
of dust stimulates the ball of the eye, the eye-lids are instantly
closed, and when too much light pains the retina, the muscles of the
iris contract its aperture, and this not by any connection or consent of
the nerves of those parts, but as an effort to prevent or to remove a
disagreeable sensation, which evinces that vegetables are endued with
sensation, or that each bud has a common sensorium, and is furnished
with a brain or a central place where its nerves were connected.]

"So should young SYMPATHY, in female form,
Climb the tall rock, spectatress of the storm;
Life's sinking wrecks with secret sighs deplore,
And bleed for others' woes, Herself on shore;
465 To friendless Virtue, gasping on the strand,
Bare her warm heart, her virgin arms expand,
Charm with kind looks, with tender accents cheer,
And pour the sweet consolatory tear;
Grief's cureless wounds with lenient balms asswage,
470 Or prop with firmer staff the steps of Age;
The lifted arm of mute Despair arrest,
And snatch the dagger pointed to his breast;
Or lull to slumber Envy's haggard mien,
And rob her quiver'd shafts with hand unseen.
475 --Sound, NYMPHS OF HELICON! the trump of Fame,
And teach Hibernian echoes JONES'S name;
Bind round her polish'd brow the civic bay,
And drag the fair Philanthropist to day.--
So from secluded springs, and secret caves,
480 Her Liffy pours his bright meandering waves,
Cools the parch'd vale, the sultry mead divides,
And towns and temples star his shadowy sides.

[_Jones's name_. l. 476. A young lady who devotes a great part of an
ample fortune to well chosen acts of secret charity.]

XIII. "CALL YOUR light legions, tread the swampy heath,
Pierce with sharp spades the tremulous peat beneath;
485 With colters bright the rushy sward bisect,
And in new veins the gushing rills direct;--
So flowers shall rise in purple light array'd,
And blossom'd orchards stretch their silver shade;
Admiring glebes their amber ears unfold,
490 And Labour sleep amid the waving gold.

"Thus when young HERCULES with firm disdain
Braved the soft smiles of Pleasure's harlot train;
To valiant toils his forceful limbs assign'd,
And gave to Virtue all his mighty mind,
495 Fierce ACHELOUS rush'd from mountain-caves,
O'er sad Etolia pour'd his wasteful waves,
O'er lowing vales and bleating pastures roll'd,
Swept her red vineyards, and her glebes of gold,
Mined all her towns, uptore her rooted woods,
500 And Famine danced upon the shining floods.
The youthful Hero seized his curled crest,
And dash'd with lifted club the watery Pest;
With waving arm the billowy tumult quell'd,
And to his course the bellowing Fiend repell'd.

[_Fierce Achelous_. l. 495. The river Achelous deluged Etolia, by one of
its branches or arms, which in the antient languages are called horns,
and produced famine throughout a great tract of country, this was
represented in hieroglyphic emblems by the winding course of a serpent
and the roaring of a bull with large horns. Hercules, or the emblem of
strength, strangled the serpent, and tore off one horn from the bull;
that is, he stopped and turned the course of one arm of the river, and
restored plenty to the country. Whence the antient emblem of the horn of
plenty. Dict. par M. Danet.]

505 "Then to a Snake the finny Demon turn'd
His lengthen'd form, with scales of silver burn'd;
Lash'd with restless sweep his dragon-train,
And shot meandering o'er the affrighted plain.
The Hero-God, with giant fingers clasp'd
510 Firm round his neck, the hissing monster grasp'd;
With starting eyes, wide throat, and gaping teeth,
Curl his redundant folds, and writhe in death.

"And now a Bull, amid the flying throng
The grisly Demon foam'd, and roar'd along;
515 With silver hoofs the flowery meadows spurn'd,
Roll'd his red eye, his threatening antlers turn'd.
Dragg'd down to earth, the Warrior's victor-hands
Press'd his deep dewlap on the imprinted sands;
Then with quick bound his bended knee he fix'd
520 High on his neck, the branching horns betwixt,
Strain'd his strong arms, his sinewy shoulders bent,
And from his curled brow the twisted terror rent.
--Pleased Fawns and Nymphs with dancing step applaud,
And hang their chaplets round the resting God;
525 Link their soft hands, and rear with pausing toil
The golden trophy on the furrow'd soil;
Fill with ripe fruits, with wreathed flowers adorn,
And give to PLENTY her prolific horn.

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

XIV. "On Spring's fair lap, CERULEAN SISTERS! pour
530 From airy urns the sun-illumined shower,
Feed with the dulcet drops my tender broods,
Mellifluous flowers, and aromatic buds;
Hang from each bending grass and horrent thorn
The tremulous pearl, that glitters to the morn;
535 Or where cold dews their secret channels lave,
And Earth's dark chambers hide the stagnant wave,
O, pierce, YE NYMPHS! her marble veins, and lead
Her gushing fountains to the thirsty mead;
Wide o'er the shining vales, and trickling hills
540 Spread the bright treasure in a thousand rills.
So shall my peopled realms of Leaf and Flower
Exult, inebriate with the genial shower;
Dip their long tresses from the mossy brink,
With tufted roots the glassy currents drink;
545 Shade your cool mansions from meridian beams,
And view their waving honours in your streams.

[_Spread the bright treasure_. l. 540. The practice of flooding lands
long in use in China has been but lately introduced into this country.
Besides the supplying water to the herbage in dryer seasons, it seems to
defend it from frost in the early part of the year, and thus doubly
advances the vegetation. The waters which rise from springs passing
through marl or limestone are replete with calcareous earth, and when
thrown over morasses they deposit this earth and incrust or consolidate
the morass. This kind of earth is deposited in great quantity from the
springs at Matlock bath, and supplies the soft porous limestone of which
the houses and walls are there constructed; and has formed the whole
bank for near a mile on that side of the Derwent on which they stand.

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Argument of the Fourth Canto._

Address to the Sylphs. I. Trade-winds. Monsoons. N.E. and S.W. winds.
Land and sea breezes. Irregular winds. 9. II. Production of vital air
from oxygene and light. The marriage of Cupid and Psyche. 25. III. 1.
Syroc. Simoom. Tornado. 63. 2. Fog. Contagion. Story of Thyrsis and
Aegle. Love and Death. 79. IV. 1. Barometer. Air-pump. 127. 2. Air-
balloon of Mongulfier. Death of Rozier. Icarus. 143. V. Discoveries of
Dr. Priestley. Evolutions and combinations of pure air. Rape of
Proserpine. 165. VI. Sea-balloons, or houses constructed to move under
the sea. Death of Mr. Day. Of Mr. Spalding. Of Captain Pierce and his
Daughters. 195. VII. Sylphs of music. Cecelia singing. Cupid with a lyre
riding upon a lion. 233. VIII. Destruction of Senacherib's army by a
pestilential wind. Shadow of Death. 263. IX. 1. Wish to possess the
secret of changing the course of the winds. 305. 2. Monster devouring
air subdued by Mr. Kirwan. 321. X. 1. Seeds suspended in their pods.
Stars discovered by Mr. Herschel. Destruction and resuscitation of all
things. 351. 2. Seeds within seeds, and bulbs within bulbs. Picture on
the retina of the eye. Concentric strata of the earth. The great seed.
381. 3. The root, pith, lobes, plume, calyx, coral, sap, blood, leaves
respire and absorb light. The crocodile in its egg. 409. XI. Opening of
the flower. The petals, style, anthers, prolific dust. Transmutation of
the silkworm. 441. XII. 1. Leaf-buds changed into flower-buds by
wounding the bark, or strangulating a part of the branch. 461. 2.
Ingrafting. Aaron's rod pullulates. 477. XIII. 1. Insects on trees.
Humming-bird alarmed by the spider-like apearance of Cyprepedia. 491. 2.
Diseases of vegetables. Scratch on unnealed glass. 511. XIV. 1. Tender
flowers. Amaryllis, fritillary, erythrina, mimosa, cerea. 523. 2. Vines.
Oranges. Diana's trees. Kew garden. The royal family. 541. XV. Offering
to Hygeia. 587. Departure of the Goddess. 629.

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