The Botanic Garden Volume I Part 10

185 --High o'er the chequer'd vault with transient glow Bright l.u.s.tres dart, as dash the waves below; And Echo's sweet responsive voice prolongs The dulcet tumult of their silver tongues.-- O'er their flush'd cheeks uncurling tresses flow, 190 And dew-drops glitter on their necks of snow; Round each fair Nymph her dropping mantle clings, And Loves emerging shake their showery wings.

[_And sob, their blue eyes_. l. 184. The bath at Buxton being of 82 degrees of heat is called a warm bath, and is so compared with common spring-water which possesses but 48 degrees of heat, but is nevertheless a cold bath compared to the heat of the body which is 98. On going into this bath there is therefore always a chill perceived at the first immersion, but after having been in it a minute the chill ceases and a sensation of warmth succeeds though the body continues to be immersed in the water. The cause of this curious phenomenon is to be looked for in the laws of animal sensation and not from any properties of heat. When a person goes from clear day-light into an obscure room for a while it appears gloomy, which gloom however in a little time ceases, and the deficiency of light becomes no longer perceived. This is not solely owing to the enlargement of the iris of the eye, since that is performed in an instant, but to this law of sensation, that when a less stimulus is applied (within certain bounds) the sensibility increases. Thus at going into a bath as much colder than the body as that of Buxton, the diminution of heat on the skin is at first perceived, but in about a minute the sensibility to heat increases and the nerves of the skin are equally excited by the lessened stimulus. The sensation of warmth at emerging from a cold-bath, and the pain called the hot-ach, after the hands have been immersed in snow, depend on the same principle, viz. the increased sensibility of the skin after having been previously exposed to a stimulus less than usual.]

"Here oft her LORD surveys the rude domain, Fair arts of Greece triumphant in his train; 195 LO! as he steps, the column'd pile ascends, The blue roof closes, or the crescent bends; New woods aspiring clothe their hills with green, Smooth slope the lawns, the grey rock peeps between; Relenting Nature gives her hand to Taste, 200 And Health and Beauty crown the laughing waste.

[_Here oft her Lord_. l. 193. Alluding to the magnificent and beautiful crescent, and superb stables lately erected at Buxton for the accomodation of the company by the Duke of Devons.h.i.+re; and to the plantations with which he has decorated the surrounding mountains.]

VI. "NYMPHS! YOUR bright squadrons watch with chemic eyes The cold-elastic vapours, as they rise; With playful force arrest them as they pa.s.s, And to _pure_ AIR betroth the _flaming_ GAS.

205 Round their translucent forms at once they fling Their rapturous arms, with silver bosoms cling; In fleecy clouds their fluttering wings extend, Or from the skies in lucid showers descend; Whence rills and rivers owe their secret birth, 210 And Ocean's hundred arms infold the earth.

[_And to pure air_. l. 204. Until very lately water was esteemed a simple element, nor are all the most celebrated chemists of Europe yet converts to the new opinion of its decomposition. Mr. Lavoisier and others of the French school have most ingeniously endeavoured to shew that water consists of pure air, called by them oxygene, and of inflammable air, called hydrogene, with as much of the matter of heat, or calorique, as is necessary to preserve them in the form of gas. Gas is distinguished from steam by its preserving its elasticity under the pressure of the atmosphere, and in the greatest degrees of cold yet known. The history of the progress of this great discovery is detailed in the Memoires of the Royal Academy for 1781, and the experimental proofs of it are delivered in Lavoisier's Elements of Chemistry. The results of which are that water consists of eighty-five parts by weight of oxygene, and fifteen parts by weight of hydrogene, with a sufficient quant.i.ty of Calorique. Not only numerous chemical phenomena, but many atmospherical and vegetable facts receive clear and beautiful elucidation from this important a.n.a.lysis. In the atmosphere inflammable air is probably perpetually uniting with vital air and producing moisture which descends in dews and showers, while the growth of vegetables by the a.s.sistance of light is perpetually again decomposing the water they imbibe from the earth, and while they retain the inflammable air for the formation of oils, wax, honey, resin, &c. they give up the vital air to replenish the atmosphere.]

"So, robed by Beauty's Queen, with softer charms SATURNIA woo'd the Thunderer to her arms; O'er her fair limbs a veil of light she spread, And bound a starry diadem on her head; 215 Long braids of pearl her golden tresses grac'd, And the charm'd CESTUS sparkled round her waist.

--Raised o'er the woof, by Beauty's hand inwrought, Breathes the soft Sigh, and glows the enamour'd Thought; Vows on light wings succeed, and quiver'd Wiles, 220 a.s.suasive Accents, and seductive Smiles.

--Slow rolls the Cyprian car in purple pride, And, steer'd by LOVE, ascends admiring Ide; Climbs the green slopes, the nodding woods pervades, Burns round the rocks, or gleams amid the shades.

225 --Glad ZEPHYR leads the train, and waves above The barbed darts, and blazing torch of Love; Reverts his smiling face, and pausing flings Soft showers of roses from aurelian wings.

Delighted Fawns, in wreathes of flowers array'd, 230 With tiptoe Wood-Boys beat the chequer'd glade; Alarmed Naiads, rising into air, Lift o'er their silver urns their leafy hair; Each to her oak the bashful Dryads shrink, And azure eyes are seen through every c.h.i.n.k.

235 --LOVE culls a flaming shaft of broadest wing, And rests the fork upon the quivering string; Points his arch eye aloft, with fingers strong Draws to his curled ear the silken thong; Loud tw.a.n.gs the steel, the golden arrow flies, 240 Trails a long line of l.u.s.tre through the skies; "'Tis done!" he shouts, "the mighty Monarch feels!"

And with loud laughter shakes the silver wheels; Bends o'er the car, and whirling, as it moves, His loosen'd bowstring, drives the rising doves.

245 --Pierced on his throne the slarting Thunderer turns, Melts with soft sighs, with kindling rapture burns; Clasps her fair hand, and eyes in fond amaze The bright Intruder with enamour'd gaze.

"And leaves my G.o.ddess, like a blooming bride, 250 "The fanes of Argos for the rocks of Ide?

"Her gorgeous palaces, and amaranth bowers, "For cliff-top'd mountains, and aerial towers?"

He said; and, leading from her ivory seat The blus.h.i.+ng Beauty to his lone retreat, 255 Curtain'd with night the couch imperial shrouds, And rests the crimson cus.h.i.+ons upon clouds.-- Earth feels the grateful influence from above, Sighs the soft Air, and Ocean murmurs love; Etherial Warmth expands his brooding wing, 260 And in still showers descends the genial Spring.

[_And steer'd by love_. l. 222. The younger love, or Cupid, the son of Venus, owes his existence and his attributes to much later times than the Eros, or divine love, mentioned in Canto I. since the former is no where mentioned by Homer, though so many apt opportunities of introducing him occur in the works of that immortal bard. Bacon.]

[_And in still showers._ l. 260. The allegorical interpretation of the very antient mythology which supposes Jupiter to represent the superior part of the atmosphere or ether, and Juno the inferior air, and that the conjunction of these two produces vernal showers, as alluded to in Virgil's Georgics, is so a.n.a.logous to the present important discovery of the production of water from pure air, or oxygene, and inflammable air, or hydrogene, (which from its greater levity probably resides over the former,) that one should be tempted to believe that the very antient chemists of Egypt had discovered the composition of water, and thus represented it in their hieroglyphic figures before the invention of letters.

In the pa.s.sage of Virgil Jupiter is called ether, and descends in prolific showers on the bosom of Juno, whence the spring succeeds and all nature rejoices.

Tum pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus Aether Conjugis in gremium laetae descendit, et omnes Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, faetus.

Virg. Georg. Lib. II. l. 325.]

VII. "NYMPHS OF AQUATIC TASTE! whose placid smile Breathes sweet enchantment o'er BRITANNIA'S isle; Whose sportive touch in showers resplendent flings Her lucid cataracts, and her bubbling springs; 265 Through peopled vales the liquid silver guides, And swells in bright expanse her freighted tides.

YOU with nice ear, in tiptoe trains, pervade Dim walks of morn or evening's silent shade; Join the lone Nightingale, her woods among, 270 And roll your rills symphonious to her song; Through fount-full dells, and wave-worn valleys move, And tune their echoing waterfalls to love; Or catch, attentive to the distant roar, The pausing murmurs of the das.h.i.+ng sh.o.r.e; 275 Or, as aloud she pours her liquid strain, Pursue the NEREID on the twilight main.

--Her playful Sea-horse woos her soft commands, Turns his quick ears, his webbed claws expands, His watery way with waving volutes wins, 280 Or listening librates on unmoving fins.

The Nymph emerging mounts her scaly seat, Hangs o'er his glossy sides her silver feet, With snow-white hands her arching veil detains, Gives to his slimy lips the slacken'd reins, 285 Lifts to the star of Eve her eye serene, And chaunts the birth of Beauty's radiant Queen.-- O'er her fair brow her pearly comb unfurls Her beryl locks, and parts the waving curls, Each tangled braid with glistening teeth unbinds 290 And with the floating treasure musks the winds.-- Thrill'd by the dulcet accents, as she sings, The rippling wave in widening circles rings; Night's shadowy forms along the margin gleam With pointed ears, or dance upon the stream; 295 The Moon transported stays her bright career, And maddening Stars shoot headlong from the sphere.

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

VIII. "NYMPHS! whose fair eyes with vivid l.u.s.tres glow For human weal, and melt at human woe; Late as YOU floated on your silver sh.e.l.ls, 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 sh.o.r.e, 320 And those love-lighted eye-b.a.l.l.s roll no more!

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

325 "s.e.xton! 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 gra.s.s, with glossy folds reveal'd, Glides the bright serpent, now in flowers conceal'd; Far s.h.i.+ne the scales, that gild his sinuous back, And lucid undulations mark his track; So with strong arm immortal BRINDLEY leads 350 His long ca.n.a.ls, and parts the velvet meads; Winding in lucid lines, the watery ma.s.s Mines the firm rock, or loads the deep mora.s.s, 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 ca.n.a.l 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 Staffords.h.i.+re 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 inc.u.mbent air;-- Press'd by the inc.u.mbent 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 superinc.u.mbent 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 ta.s.sel'd cus.h.i.+on 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 int.i.tled 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 was.h.i.+ng 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. G.o.dfrey 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 coa.r.s.e 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.]