EX LIBRIS, GRAY’S COURT. Section 1 Shelf ^ r.\> il**' , ' ''■??. .i ■^' ^ ’ i; ■ ' r., p '•’^ 7, Pi. Vi , Pi " ■- «?..V-.t-^".'*;:. :v'.-, ' * itff <■* ^v<*-. ss-i, •f.-. • -r-wi.r/ .^i-'.tf'i. •'■•- vf^.y-.'^.! 4- " ' v- * a'^.1 M ' fS>'V >% - .-i-*/ r ^ ^ ■*' i ^ •3^1 ■ ^ _ ^..,*' ^V!.'.;’'?Ws ■• «. < -v ~ ., <.A- V' , ■»'!. 1.^ ■■r, "^ Is '-;«-;V.N , i ' f P\ “ ''^ ■■■•.y,i-':;,;n'. •••.a; ^ •y*iy WpM S-J •'.L. • V ^■ . -v,' wA'- 'fi:-,^f<-:-^'t^.'. '■,'- V •• : P.t* W • ■ i. .■!^V:.';-Sj;vt,»'v| '•; * 2?'’ .y'.-:''^‘4-M''-2&4 . ' ■ i.v. , m;.. V tT**' •i rOUND BY POTTER & SON S.YORK « Jmu- 1 J.Jo/tnfon S^^/Uuls ('/iiirc/i Ylinl . THE BOTANIC GARDEN, A POEM. IN TWO PARTS. PART I. CONTAINING O V THE ECONOMY OF VEGETATION. FART II. THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. WITH PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES. THE FOURTH EDITION. LON DON : IHINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUl’s CHURCH-YARD. 1799 - BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY CHESTNUT lilLL, iMASS. Al" THE BOTANIC GARDEN. PART II. CONTAINING THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS, A POEM. WITH PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES. ViVUNT IN VeNEREM FRONDES J NEMUS OMNE PER ALTUM Felix arbor amatj nut^nt a,d mutua Palm/E F.EDERA, POPULEO SUSPIRAT PoPULUS ICTU, Ex Platani Platanis, Alnoque assibilat Alnus. Cl.aud. epith. PREFACE. T JXNEUS has divided the vegetable world into 24 Claffes ; thefe Claffes into about 120 Orders ; thefe Orders contain about 2000 Families, or Ge- nera ; and thefe Families about 20,000 Species ; befides the innumerable Varieties, which the ac- cidents of climate or cultivation have added to thefe Species. The Claffes are diftln^uiflied from each other in this ingenious fyftem, by the number, fituation, adhefion, or reciprocal proportion of the males ia each flower. The Orders, in many of thefe Claffes, are diflinguifhcd by the number, or other circum- ftances of the females. The Families, or Genera, are charafterized by the analogy of all the parts of the flower or fruftifleation. The Species are diftinguifhed by the foliage of the plant ; and the A 2 IV PREFACE. Varieties by any accidental circuniftance of colour, tafiie, or odour; the feeds of thefe do not always produce plants fimilar to the parent ; as in our nu- merous fruitrtrees and garden flowers; which are propagated by grafts or layers. The firft eleven Claffes include the plants, In whofe flowers both the fexes reflde; and in which the Males or Stamens are neither united, nor un- equal in height when at maturity; and are there- fore diflinguiflied from each other Amply by the number of males In each flower, as is feen in the annexed Plate, copied from the Didionnaire Bo- tanlque of M. Bullt ard, in which the numbers of each diviAon refer to the Botanic Claffes. CLASS I. One Male, Monaiuhia ; includes the plants which, poflefs but one Stamen in each \ flower. II. Two Males, Dtandrla, Two Stamens. III. Three Males, Three Stamens. IV. Four Males, Tetrandna. Four Stamens. Y, Five Males, Fentandr'ia. Five Stamens, VI. Sfx Males, Hcxandna, Six Stamens. Seven Sta- • VII. Seven Males, Heptandrla. mens. VIII. Eight Males, Otiandna, Eight Sta- mens. IX. Nine Males, Kuncandria, Nine Sta- mens. X. Ten Males, Decandna. Ten Stamens. XL Twelve Males, Dodccandna. Twelve Stamens. The next two Claffes are diftlngulflied not only by the number of equal and difunited males, as in the above eleven Claffes, but require an additional clrcumftance to be attended to, viz, whether the males or ftamens be fituated on the calyx, or not. XII. Tw^enty Males, Icofandria. Twenty Stamens inferted on the calyx or flowxr-cup ; as « is wxll fcen in the laft Figure of No. xii. in the an- nexed Plate. XIII. Many Males, Folyandria, From 50 to 100 Stamens, which do not adhere to the ca- lyx ; as is well feen in the firft Figure of No. xiii. in the annexed Plate. r VI PREFACE. In the next two Claffcs, not only the number of ftamcns are to be obferved, but the reciprocal proportions in refped: to height. XiV. Two Powders, Pour Sta- mens, of which two are lower than the other two; as is feen in the two hrft Figures of No. xiv. XV. Four Powers, Tetradynaniia. Six Sta- mens ; of which four are taller, and the two lower ones oppofite to each other ; as is feen in the third Figure of the upper row in No. xv. The five fubfequent Clafles are diftinguilhed not by the number of the males, or ftamens, but by their union or adhefion, either by their anthers, or filaments, or to the female or piflil. XVI. One Brotherhood, Ma- ny Stamens united by their filaments into one company ; as in the fecond Figure below of No. xvi. XVII. Two Brotherhoods, Diadclplua, Many Stamens united by their filaments into two companies : as in the uppermofl Pfig. No. xvii. XVIII. Many Brotherhoods, PolyadeJphia. Many Stamens united by their filaments into three or more companies, as in No. xvili. PREFACE. • • vn XIX. Confederate Males, Ma- ny Stamens united by their anthers ; as in the firft and fecond Figures, No. xix. XX. Feminine Males, Gynajidria, Many Stamens attached to the piftil. The next three ClaiTes confifl: of plants, whofe flowers contain but one of the fexes ; or if fome of them contain both fexes, there are other flowers accompanying them of but one fex. XXL One House, Monxeia. Male- flowers and female flowers feparatc, but on the fame plant. XXII. Two Houses, Diceda. Male flowers and female flowers feparate on different plants. XXIII. Polygamy, Polygamm, Male and fe- male flowers on one or more plants, which have at the fame time flowers of both fexes. The lafh Clafs contains the plants whofe flowers are not difcernible. XXIV. Clandestine Marriage, Crypto- gamla. The Orders of the firft thirteen Claffes are A4 Vlll PREFACE. founded on the number of Females, or Piftils, and diftlnguiilied by the names, OiSiE FeMx^le, Mg?io* gyma. Two Females, Digyyiia, Three PT* MALES, Tngynui, &c. as is feen in No. i. which re- presents a plant of one male, one female ; and in thcfirH: figure of No. xi. which reprefents a flower with twelve males, and three females ; (for, where the piftils have no apparent ftyles, the fum- mits, or ftigmas, are to be numbered) and in the firft figure of No. xii. which reprefents a flower with twenty males and many females ; and in the iaft Figure of the fame No. which has twenty males and one female ; and in No. xiii. wdiich re- prefents a flower with many males and many fe- males. The Clafs of Twm Pow’^ers is divided into two natural Orders ; into fuch as have their feeds naked at the bottom of the calyx, or flower-cup ; and fuch as have their feeds covered ; as is feen in No. xlv. Fig. 3. and 5. The Clafs of Four Powers is divided alfo into two Orders ; in one of thefe the feeds arc inclofed IX I PREFACE. la a fillculc, as in SJicpherd's-pnrfe. No. xv. Fig. 5. In the other they are inclofcd in a fillque, as in W'all-Jiower. Fig. 4. In all the other Claffes, excepting the Claffes Confederate Males, and Clandeftinc Marriage, as the charadler of each Clafs is diftingulfhed by the fituations of the males ; the charafter of the Orders is marked by the numbers of them. In I the Clafs One Brotherhood, No. xvi. Fig. 3. the Order of ten males is rcprefented. And in the Clafs Two Brotherhoods, No. xvli. Fig. 2. the Order ten males is rcprefented. In the Clafs Confederate Males, the Orders are chiefly diftinguiflied by the fertility or barrennefs of the florets of the difk, or ray of the compound flower. And in the Clafs of Clandestine Marriage, the four Orders are termed Ferns, Mosses, Flags, and Fungusses. The Orders are again divided Into Genera, or Families, I PREFACE. Families, which are all natural aflbclatlons, and are deferibed from the general refemblances of the parts of fru(d:lfication, in refpebl to their number, form, fituatlon, and reciprocal proportion. Thcfc are the Calyx, or Flower-cup, as fecn in No. iv. Fig. I. No. X. Pag. I. and 3, No. xiv. Pdg. i, 2,, 3, 4. Second, the Corol, or Bloffom, as fecn in No. i, il. &c. Third, the Males or Stamens, as in No. Iv. Fig. I. and No. vili. Fig. i. Fourth, the Females, or Piflils, as in No. i. No. xii. Fig. i. No. xiv. Fig. 3. No. XV. E'lg. 3. Fifth, the Pericarp or Fruit- veffcl, as No. xv. Fig. 4, 5. No..xvii. Fig. 3. Sixth, the Seeds. The liluftrious author of the Sexual Syftem of Botany, in his preface to his account of the Natu- ral Orders, ingenloufly imagines, that one plant of each Natural Order was created in the begin- ning ; and that the Intermarriages of thcfc pro- duced one plant of every Genus, or Family : and that the intermarriages of thefe Generic, or Family plants, produced all the fpecies : and laftly, that the intermarriages of the individuals of the Spe- cies produced the Varieties. la PREFACE. XI 111 the following Poem, the name or number of the Clafs or Order of each plant Is printed In italics; as Two brother fwains One Houfe contains them and the word fecref' cx- preffes the Clafs of Clandeftlne Marriage. j The Pi^cader, who wiflies to become further ac- quainted with this delightful field of fcience, is advifed to ftudy the works of the Great Mafter, and is apprized that they are exactly and literally tranflated into Englifli, by a Society at Lich- field, In four Volumes 06tavo. To the SYSTEM OF VEGETABLES^ Is prefixed a copious explanation of all the Terms ufed in Botany, tranflated from a thefis of Dr. El MS GREEN, with the plates and references from, the Phllofophia Botanlca of Linneus. * The STSTEM OF VEGETABLES tranflated from the Syjlema Vcgetabilium, in two Vols. is fold by Leigh and SoTHEBY, Fork Street, Covent-Garden: Price eighteen Shil- lings, in Boards, XU PREFACE. To the FAMILIES OF PLANTS is pre- fixed a Catalogue of the names of plants^ and other Botanic Terms, carefully accented, to Eievv their proper pronunciation ; a work of great la- bour, and which was much wanted, not only by beginners, but by proficients in Botany. ^ rhe FAMILIES OF PLANTS tranjlatcd from the Genera Plantarum, in two Vols. by Johnson, St. Pauli Church Tardy Loiulon: Price fixteen Shillings, in Boards. # ♦ . XMll Xl\ XM XX I XXlll XMI XXI\ XXll r P R O E M. Gentle Reader, Lo, here a Camera Obscura is prefented to thy view, in which are lights and fliades dancing on a whited canvas, and magnified into apparent llfed — if thou art perfectly at leifure for fuch trivial amufement, walk in, and view the wonders of my Inch anted Garden. r Whereas P. Ovidius Naso, a great Nccro- mancer in the famous Court of Augustus 1 C^sar, did by art poetic tranfmute Men, Wo- men, and even Gods and Goddefibs, into Trees and Flowers ; I have undertaken by fimilar art to reftore fome of them to their original ani- mality, after having remained prlfoners fo long in their refpeftive vegetable manfions; and have 1 ( xvl ) here exhibited them before thee. Which thou may’ft contemplate as diverfe little pictures fuf- pended over the chimney of a Lady’s dreffing room, conne5ied only hy a Jllght feJloojL of rlhhofis. And which, though thou may’ft not be ac- quainted with the originals, may amufe thee by the beauty of their perfons, their graceful atti- tudes, or the brilliancy of their drefs. -Farewell, THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. CANTO I. Descend, ye hovering Sylphs ! aerial Quires, And fweep with little hands your filver lyres ; With fairy footfteps print your grafiy rings. Ye Gnomes ! accordant to the tinkling firings : While in foft notes I tune to oaten reed Gay hopes, and amorous forrows of the mead. — From giant Oaks, that wave their branches dark. To the dwarf Mofs that clings upon their bark. What Beaux and Beauties crowd the gaudy groves, And woo and win their vegetable Loves. lo Vegetable Loves. 1. lo. Llnneus, the celebrated Swedilh na- Part II. B LOVES OF Canto L How Snowdrops cold, and blue-eyed Harebels ^ ( blend Their tender tears, as oVr the ftream they bend ; The lovx-fick Violet, and the Primrofe pale, Bow their fweet heads, and whifper to the gale ; With fecrct fighs the Virgin Hily droops, And jealous Cowllips hang their taw'nycups. How' the young Rofe in beauty’s damalk pride' Drinks the warm bluihes of his bafhful bride ; With honey’d Ups enamour’d Woodbines meet, Clafp with fond arms, and mix their klffes fwCCt. 20 Stay thy foft murmuring w^aters, gentle Rill; Hulh, wfoifpcring Winds; ye ruftling Leaves, be ftili ; Reft, lilver Butterflies, your quivering wings; Alight, yc Beetles, from your airy ring's; turalift, hag demonftrated, that all flowers contain families of males or females, or both ; and on their marriages has' con- flrudlcd his invaluable fyftem of Botany. GaNTO I; THE PLANTS. 3 Ye painted Moths> yoiir gold-eyed plumage furl, Bow your wide horns, your fpiral trunks uncurl ; Glitter, ye Glow-worms, on your mofly beds; Dcfcendj ye Spiders, on your lengthened threads ; Slide here, ye horned Snails, with varnifh’d fliells; Ye Bee-nymphs, liften in your waxen cells 1 30 BOTANIC MUSE! who in this latter age Led by your airy hand the Swedifh fage. Bade his keen eye your fecret haunts explore On dewy dell, high wood, and winding diore ; Say on each leaf how tiny Graces dwell ; How laugh the Pleafures in a bloflbm’s bell ; How infe6l Loves arife on cobweb wings. Aim their light fhafts, and point their little flings. Firfl the tall Canna lifts his curled brow Erecfl to heaven, and plights his nuptial vow ; 40 I Canna. 1 . 39. Cane, or fitdian Reed. One male and one B 3 4 LOVES OF Canto L The virtuous pair, in milder regions born. Dread the rude blaft of Autumn’s icy morn ; Round the chill fair he folds his crimfon veft. And clafps the timorous beauty to his breaft. Thy love, Callitriche, Virgins fliare, Smit w^ith thy ftarry eye and radiant hair ; — On the green margin fits the youth, and laves His floating train of trefles in the waves ; Sees his fair features paint the ftreams that pafs. And bends for ever o’er the watery glafs. 50 ♦ female inhabit each flower. It is brought from between the tropics to our hot-houfes, and bears a beautiful crimfon flower ; the feeds arc ufed as fliot by the Indians, and are ftrung for prayer-beads in fome Catholic countries. Callitnche. 1 . 45. Fine-hair, Stargrafs. One male and two females inhabit each flower. The upper leaves grow in form of a flar, whence it is called Stcilaria Aquatlca by Ray and others ; its Items and leaves float far on the water, and are often fo matted together, as to bear a perfon walking on them. The male fometimes lives in a feparate flower. Canto 1. T H'E PLANTS. 5 Two brother fwalns, of Collin’s gentle name. The fame their features, and their forms the fame. With rival love for fair Collinia figh. Knit the dark brow, and roll the unfteady eye. With fweet concern the pitying beauty mourns, And fooths with fmiles the jealous pair by turns. Sweet blooms Genista in the myrtle fliade. And ten fond brothers woo the haughty maid. CoUinfoma. 1 . 51. Two males one female. I have lately obferved a very fingular circumftance in this flower ; the two males fland widely diverging from each other, and the female bends herfelf into conta6t firft with one of them, and after fome time leaves this and applies herfelf to the other. It is probable one of the anthers may be mature before the otlier. See note on Gloriofa, and Genifla. The females in Nigella, devil in the bufli, are verv tall compared to tlie males; and bending over in a circle to them, give the flower fome refemblance to a regal crown. The fem.ale of the Epilobium Auguftifolium, rofe bay willow herb, bends down amongfl: the males for feveral days, and becomes upright again when impregnated. Genijla. 1 . 57. Dyer’s broom. Ten males and one female inhabit this flower. The males are generally united at the B 3 6 LOVES OF Canto L Two knights before thy fragrant altar bend. Adored Melissa ! and fwo fquires attend. — 6o bottom in two fets, whence Linneus has named the clafs “ two brotherhoods.” In the Genilla, however, they are united in but one fet. The flowers of this clafs are called papilionaceous, from their refemblance to a butterfly, as the pea-blofTom. In the Spar- tium Scoparium, or common broom, I have lately obferved a curious circumftance, the males orftamens arc in two fets, one fet rifing a quarter of an inch above the other; the upper fet docs not arrive at their maturity fo foon as the lower, and the fligma, or head of the female, is produced amongfi; the upper or imma- ture fet ; but as foon as the piflil grows tall enough to burft open the keel-leaf, or hood of the flower, it bends itfclf round in an inflant, like a French horn, and inferts its head, or higma, amongft the lower or mature fet of males. The piflil, or female, continues to grow in length ; and in a few days the ftigma ar- rives again amongft the upper fet, by thQtime they become ma- ture. This wonderful contrivance is readily feen by opening the keel-leaf of the flowers of broom before they burft fpontaneoufiy. See note on CoHinfonia, Glorlofa, Draba. MeliJJa, 1. 6o. Balm. In each flow’d* there are four males amd one female ; two of the males ftand higher than the other two; whence the name of the clafs two powers.” I have ob- ferved in the Ballota, and others of this clafs, that the two lower • ftamens, or males, become mature before the two higher. Af- ter they have fhed their duft, they turn thcmfelves away out- w ■t / 7 p : -I i-Wi i<-.' *'r ;afr- V a Jf * r,* XV . . 1 *^ # t V f3 ? >■ V. / /'f ■v:vl 1 Zt- ¥ ^ '.k fir)^ Canto L T HE P L N T S. 7 Mead! A^s foft chains jfe/^ fuppliant bcaiix confcfs. And hand in hand the laughing belle addrefs ; wards, and the piftrl, or female, continvjjng to grow a little taller, is applied to the upper flamens. See Glorioia and Ge- nifta. All the plants of this clafs, which have naked llx^ds, are aro- matic. The Marum and Nepeta are particularly delightful to cats ; no other brute animals^ feem delighted with any odours but thofe of their food or prey. Mcadta. 1. 6i. Dodecatheon, American Cowflip. Five males and one female. The males, or anthers, touch each other. The uncommon beauty of this flower occafloned Linneus to give it a name fignifying the twelve heathen gods; and Dr. Mead to affix his own name to it. The piftil is much longer than the flamens, hence the flower- (talks have their elegant bend, that the ftigma may hang downwards to receive the fecundating dull of the anthers. And the petals are fo beautifully turned back to prevent the rain or dew-drops from Hiding down and wafhing off this duft prematurely , and at the fame time expofing it to the light and air. As foon as the feeds are formed, it eredls all the flower-ftalks to prevent them from falling out, and thus lofes the beauty of its figure. Is this a mechanical efle6l, or docs it indi- cate a vegetable florge to preferve its oflJspring ? See note on Ilex, and Gloriofa. In the Meadia, the Borago, Cyclamen, Solanum, and many others, the filaments are very ffiort compared with the flyle. 8 LOVES OF Canto I. Alike to all, flie bows with wanton air, Rolls her dark eye, and waves her golden hair. Woo’d with long care. Curcuma, cold and fhy. Meets her fond hnfoand with averted eye : Hence it became neceflary, ift, to furniHi the ftamens with long anthers. 2(1. To lengthen and bend the peduncle or flower-ftalk, that the flower might hang downwards. 3d. To reflect the pe- tals. 4th. To erecSl thefe peduncles when the germ was fccun- dated. We may rcafon upon this by obferving, that all this ap- paratus might have been fpared, if tlie filaments alone had grown longer ; and that thence in thefe flowers that the filaments are the moll: unchangeable parts; and that thence their comparative length, in refpe 61 : to the ftyle, would afford a mofl; permanent mark of their generic charaeffer. Curcuma. 1 . 65. Turmeric. One male and one female in- habit this flower ; but there are befides four imperfe 61 : males, or filaments without anthers upon them, called by Linneus eu- nuchs. The flax of our country has ten filaments, and but five of them are terminated with anthers ; the Portugal flax has ten perfedt males or flamens; the Verbena of our country has four males ; that of Sweden has but two ; the genus Albuca, the Bignonia Catalpa, Gratiola, and hemlock leaved Geranium, have only half their filaments crowned with anthers. In like manner the florets, which form the rays of the flowers of the 3 Canto I. THE PLANTS. 9 Four bcardlefs youths the obdurate beauty move With foft attentions of Platonic love. order fruflraneons polygamy of the clafs fyngenefia, or confede- rate males, as the fun-flower, are furniflied with a flvle only, and no ftigma : and are thence barren. There is alfo a flyle without a ftigma in the whole order dioscia gynandria ; the male flowers of which are thence barren. The Opulus is another plant, which contains fome unprolific flowers. In like manner fome tribes of infects have males, females, and neuters among them ; as bees, wafps, ants. There is a curious circumftance belonging to the clafs of in- fe6ts which have two wings, or diptera, analogous to the rudi- ments of ftamens above deferibed ; viz. two little knobs are found placed each on a ftalk or peduncle, generally under a little arched fcale ; which appear to be rudiments of hinder wings, and are called by Linneus halteres, or poifers, a term of his introduc- tion. A. T. Bladh. Amaen, Acad. V. 7. Other animals have marks of having in a long procefs of time undergone changes in fome parts of their bodies, which may, have been effedted to ac- commodate them to new ways of procuring their food. The exiftence of teats on the breafts of male animals, and which are generally replete wdth a thin kind of milk at their nativity, is a wonderful inftance of this kind. Perhaps all the produdlions of nature are in their progrefs to greater perfedlion ? an idea countenanced by the modern difeoveries and dedudlions concern- ing the progreflive formation of the folid parts of tlie terra- iO LOVES OF Canto L With vain defires the penlivc Alcea buivis, And^ like fad Eloisa, loves and mourns-. 70 li/ queous gIobe> and confonant to the dignity of the Creator of all things. Alcea,. I. 69. Flore pleno. Double hollyhock. The double flowers, fo much admired by the horifts, arc termed by the ho-* t tanift vegetable monfters; in Tome of thefe the petals are mul- tiplied three or four times, but without excluding the ftamens, hence they produce feme feeds, as Campanula and Stramoncum ; but in others the petals become fo numerous as totally to ex~ dude the hamens or males; as Caltba, Peonia, and Alcea; thefe produce no feeds, and are termed eunuclrs. Philof. Botar?, No. 150. Thefe vegetable monflers are formed in many ways; ift. By the multiplication of the petals and the exclufion of the necla- ries, as in larkfpur. 2d. By the multiplication of tlie nedaries and exclufion of the petals, as in columbine. 3d. In fame flowers growing in cymes, the wheel-firape flowers in the margin are multiplied to the exclufion of the bell-lhape flowers in the centre, as in gelder-rofc. 4th. By the elongation of the florets in the centre. Inflances of both tliefe are found in daify and feverfew ; for other kinds of vegetable monfters, fee Plantago, The peiiantli is not changed in double flowers, hence tlie genus or family may be often difeovered by the calyx, as in He- patica, Ranunculus, Alcea. In thofe flowers, which have many petals, tlie loweft ferics of the petals remains unchanged in re- 6 Canto I. THE PLANTS. n The freckled Iris owns a fiercer flame, And three unjealous hufbands wed the dame, » CuPRESSUS dark dlfdalns his dnlky bride, One dome contains thern, but two beds divide, fpe£I to number; hence the natural number of the petals is eafily clifcovered. As in poppies, rofes, and Nigella, or devil in a bulh. Phil. 3ot. p. 128. Irh, 1 . 71. Flower de Luce. Three males, one female. Some of the fpecies have a beautifully freckled flower ; the large fligma or head of the female covers the three males, counterfeit- ing a petal with its divifions. CupreJJiis. 1 . 73. Cyprefs. One houfe. Tlie males live in feparate flowers, but on the fame plant. The males of fome of thefe plants, which are in feparate flowers from the females, have an elaflic membrane; which difperfes their dufc to a confiderable diflance, when the anthers burft open. "I'his duff, on a flue day, may often be feen like a cloud hanging round the common nettle. The males and females of all the cone bearing plants are in feparate flowers, either on the fame or on different plants ; they produce refins, and many of them are fuppofcd to fupply the mofl; durable timber: what is called Venice-turpentine is obtained from the larch by wounding the bark about two feet from the ground, and catching it as it exfudcs ; Sandarach is procured from common juniper ; and incenfe from a juniper with yellow fruit. The unperiihable chefls, which contain tlic Egyptian mummies, were of Cyprefs; and the Cedar, with 12 LOVES OF Canto I. The proud Osyris flies his angry fair. Two houfes hold the fafliionable pair. With ftrange deformity Plantago treads, A monfcer-birth ! and lifts his hundred heads; which black-lead pencils are covered, is not liable to be eaten by worms. See Miln’s Bot. Di61;. art. coniferse. The gates of’ St. Peter’s church at Rome, which had lahed from the time of Conftantine to tliat of Pope Eugene the fourth, tliat is to fay, eleven hundred years, were of Cyprefs, and had in that time fuf- fered no decay. According to Thucydides, the Athenians bu- ried the bodies of their heroes in coffins of Cyprefs, as being net fubje61: to decay. ‘ A fimilar durability has alfo been aferibed to Cedar. Thus Horace, fperamus carm 'ina fingi PoJJe I'lnencla cedro la-vi fervanda cuprejjo. 0/^;yis. 1 . 75 . Two lioufes. The males and females are on different plants. There are many inftances on record, vvliere fe- male plants have been impregnated at very great diftance from their male; the duff difcliarged from the anthers is very light, fmall, and copious, fo that it may fpread very wide in the atmo- fphere, and be carried to tlie diflant pidils, without the fuppo- fition of any particular attraction ; thefe plants refemble fomc infe6ts, as the ants, and cochineal infedt, of which the males have wings, but not the female. Plantago, 1. 77 . Rofea. Rofe-Plantain. In this vegetable Canto 1. THE PLANTS. 13 Yet with foft love a gentle belle he charms. And clafps the beauty, in his hundred arms. 80 So haplefs Desdemona, fair and young, Won by Othello’s captivating tongue. Sigh’d o’er each ftrange and piteous tale, diftrefs’d. And funk enamour’d on his footy breaft. Two gentle flicphcrds and their fifter-w ives ( With thee, Antiioxa ! lead ambrofial lives; monfter the bra6les, or divifions of the fpike, become wonder- fully enlarged; and are converted into leaves. The chaffy fcales of the calyx in Xeranthemum, and in a fpecies of Dianthus, and the glume in fome alpine graffes, and the fcales of the ament in the Salix Rofea, rofe willow, grow into leaves ; and produce other kinds of monfters. The double flowers become monflers by the multiplication of their petals or nedlaries. See note on Alcea. Jnthoxanthum. 1. 85. Vernal grafs. Two males, two females. The other graffes have three m.alesand two females. The flowers of this grafs give the fragrant feent to hay. I am Informed it is frequently viviparous, that is, that it bears fometimes roots or bulbs inftead of feeds, which after a time drop off and ftrike root into the ground. This clrcumflance is faid to obtain in many 14 LOVES OF Canto L Where the wide heath in purple pride extends, And fcatter’d furze its golden luftre blends, Clofed in a green recefs, unenvy’d lot ! The blue fmoak rifes from their turf- built cot; 90 Bofom’d in fragrance blufh their infant train. Eye the warm fun, or drink the filver rain. The fair Osmund A feeks the filent dell. The ivy canopy, and dripping cell ; » of tlie alpine graffes, whofe feeds are perpetually devoured by fmall birds. The Fefluca Dumetorum,fefcucgrafsof the buHie^, produces bulbs from the flieaths of Its ftraw. The Allium Ma- gicum, or magical onion, produces onions on its head inftead of feeds. The Polygonum Viviparum, viviparous bilfort, rifes about a foot high, with a beautiful fpike of flowers, which are fucceed- ed by buds or bulbs, which fall off and take root. There is a bufli frequently feen on birch-trees, like a bird’s nefl, which feems to be a fimilar attempt of nature to produce another tree ; which falling ofl', might take root in fpongy ground. There is an inflance of this double mode of produ6lioii in the animal kingdom, which is equally extraordinary, the fame fpe- cies of Aphis is viviparous in fummer, and oviparous in autumn. A. T. Bladh. Amaen. Acad. V. y. Ofmunda. I. 93. This plant grows on moifl: rocks ; the parts Camto L THE PLANTS. 15 There hid in fhades clandejlim rites approves, Till the green progeny betrays her loves. I With charms defpotic fair Ciioxdrilla reigns O'er the foft hearts of jive fraternal fwalns ; If fighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn ; And, if file fmiles, with rival raptures burn. 100 oFlts flower or its feeds are fcarce difcernlble ; whence Linneus has given the name of clandefline marriage to this clafs. The younger plants are of a beautiful vivid green. Chondrilla. !. 97. Of the clafs Confederate Males. The numerous florets, which conftitute the difk of the flowers in this clafs, contain in ekh five males furrounding one female, which are conne6led at top, whence the name of the clafs. An Italian writer, in a difeourfe on the irritability of flowers, aflerts, that if the top of the floret be touched, all the filaments which fupport the cylindrical anther will contradl themfelves, and that by thus raifing or deprefling the anther the whole of the prolific auft is colledled on the ftigma. He adds, that if one filament be touch * fid after it is feparated from the floret, that It will contradi like the mufcular fibres of animal bodies ; his experiments were tried on the Centaurea Calcitrapoides, and on artichokes, and globe- tl)iflles. Difeourfe on the irritability of plants. Dodfley. LOVES OF Canto I. V.16 So, tun’d in unlfon, Eollan Lyre ! Sounds in fweet fymphof\y thy kindred wire ; Now, gently fwept by Zephyr’s vernal wings. Sink in foft cadences the love-fick firings ; And now with mingling chords, and voices higher. Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir. Five fifter-nymphs to join Diana’s train With thee, fair Lychnis 1 vow, — but vow in vain ; Beneath one roof refides the virgin band. Flies the fond fwain, and fcorns his offer’d hand ; But when foft hours on breezy pinions move, 1 1 1 And fmiling May attunes her lute to love, ^ Lvchnh, 1 . 108. Ten males and five females. The flowers whicli contain the five females, and thofe which contain the ten males, arc found on different plants; and often at a great dif- tance from each other. Five of the ten males arrive at their ma- turity fome days before the other five, as may be fcen by opening the corol before it naturally expands itfelf. When the females arrive at their maturity, they rife above the petals, as if looking abroad for' their diftant hufbands; tlie fcarlet ones contribute much to the beauty of our meadows in May and June, .’» ■ •e Canto 1 . THE PLANTS. 17 \ t Each wanton beauty, trick’d in all her grace, Shakes the bright dew-drops from her blufliing face ; In gay undrefs difplays her rival charms. And calls her wondering lovers to her arms. I V 9 When the young Hours amid her tangled hair Wove the frefh rofe-bud, and the lily fair. Proud Gloriosa led three chofen fwalns. The blufliing captives of her virgin chains. — 120 Gloriofa, 1 . 119. Superba. Six males, one female. The petals of this beautiful flower witli three of the ftamens, whicli are firft mature, ftancl up in apparent fliforcler ; and, the piflil bends at nearly a right angle to Infert its ftigma amongfl: them. In a few days, as thefe' decline, the other three flamens bend over, and approach the piflil. In the Fritillaria Perfica, the fix ftamens are of equal lengths, and the anthers lie at a diflance from the piflil, and three alternate ones approach firfl ; and, when tliefe decline, the other three approach : in the Lithium Salicaria, (which has twelve males and one female) a beautiful red flower, which grows on the banks of rivers, fix of the males arrive at maturity, and furround the female fome time before the other fix ; when thefe decline, tlie otlier fix rife up, Part II. C t LOVES OF Canto L tS — When Time’s rude hand a bark of wrinkles fpread Round her weak limbs, and filver’d o’er her head. Three other youths her riper years engage, The flatter’d viftims of her wily age. So, in her wane of beauty, Ninon won With fatal fmiles her gay unconfcious fon. — Clafp’d in his arms fhe own’d a mother’s name, — • Defift, rafh youth ! rcftrain your impious flame, Firfl: on that bed your infant form was prefs’d. Born by my throes, and nurtured at my breaft.” Back as from death he fprung, with wild amaze Fierce on the fair he fix’d his ardent gaze ; 132 and fupply their places. Several otlier flowers have in a fimi- lar manner two fets of flamens of different ages, as Adoxa, Lychnis, Saxifraga. See Geniffa. Perhaps a difference in the time of their maturity obtains in all thefe flowers, which have numerous ffamens. In the Kalmia the ten ffamens lie round the pift il like the radii of a wheel ; and each anther is concealed in a nich of the corol to protedf it from cold and moiffure ; thefe anthers rife feparately from their niches, and approach the piflil for a time, and then recede to their former fituations. Canto T. THE PLANTS. 19 Dropp’d on one knee, his frantic arms outfprcad, And ftole a guilty glance toward the bed ; Then breath’d from quivering lips a whifper’d vow, And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow ; “ Thus, thus !” he cried, and plung’d the furious dart. And life and love gufh’d mingled from his heart. The fell Silene, and her fillers fair, 139 Skill’d in deftrudlion, fpread the vifcous fnare, Silene. 1. 139. Catchfly. Three females and ten males In- habit each flower ; the vifcous material, which furrounds the llalks under the flowers of this plant, and of the Cucubalus Otites, is a curious contrivance to prevent various infe6ls from plundering the honey, or devouring the feed. In the Dionasa Mufcipula there is a flill more wonderful contrivance to pre- vent the depredations of infedls : the leaves are armed with long tcetli, like the antennae of infe£ls, and lie fpread upon the ground round the flem ; and are fo irritable, that when an in- fe£l: creeps upon them, they fold up, and crufli or pierce it to death. The lafl; profeflbr Linneus, in his Supplementum Plan- tarum, gives the following account of the Arum Mufeivorum. The flower has the fmell of carrion ; by which the flies are in- vited to lay their eggs in the chamber of the flower, but in vain endeavour to efcape, being prevented by the hairs pointing in- c 2 < so L O V E S O F Canto L The harlot-band ten lofty bravoes fcreen, And, frowning, guard the magic nets unfeen. Hafte, glittering nations, tenants of the air. Oh, fleer from hence your viewlefs courfe afar ! If with foft words, fweet bluflies, nods, and fmiles, The three dread Syrens lure you to their toils. Limed by their art, in vain you point your flings. In vain the efforts of your whirring wings! — Go, fcek your gilded mates and infant hives, 149 Nor tafle the honey purchas’d with your lives ! When heaven’s high vault condenflng clouds deform. Fair Amaryllis flics the incumbent florm, Wards; and thus perllh in the flower, whence its name of fly- eater. P. 41 1 . In the DypEcus is another contrivance for this purpofe, a bafon of water is placed round each joint of the flem. In the Drofera is another kind of fly-trap. See Dypfacus and Drofera ; the flowers of Silene and Cucubalus are clofed all day, but are open and give an agreeable odour in the night. See Ccrea. See additional notes at the end of the poem. Amaryllis, 1 . 152. Formoflflfima. Mofl: beautiful Amaryl- » Canto L THE PLANTS. 21 Seeks with unfteady ftep the flicker’d vale, And turns her blufhing beauties from the gale. — Us. Six males, one female. Some of the bell-flowers dole their apertures at night, or in rainy or cold weather, as the con- volvulus, and thus proted their included ftamens and piflils. Other bell-flowers hang their apertures downwards, as many of the lilies ; in thofe the piflil, when at maturity, is longer than the flamens; and by this pendant attitude of the bell, when the anthers burfl:, their dufl; falls on the fligma ; and thefe are at the fame time flieltered as with an umbrella from rain and' dews. But, as a free expofure to the air is neceflary for their fecunda- tion, the flyle and filaments in many of thefe flowers continue to grow longer after the bell is open, and hang down below its rim. In otliers, as in the Martagon, the bell is deeply divided, and the divifions are refleded upwards, that they may not pre- vent the accefs of air, and at the fame time aflbrd fome fhelter from perpendicular rain or dew. Other bell flowers, as the He- merocallis and Amaryllis, have their bells nodding only, as it were, or hanging obliquely towards the horizon ; which, as their Perns are ilender, turn like a weathercock from the wind, and thus very efledually preferve their inclofed ftamens and anthers from the rain and cold. Many of thefe flowers, both before and after their feafon of fecundation, ered their heads perpen- dicular to the horizon, like the Meadia, which cannot be ex- plained from mere mechanifm. The Amaryllis Formofifllmr; is a flower of the laft-mentioned kind, and affords an agreeable example of art in the vegetable economy, i. The piflil is of great length compared with the 22 LOVES OF Canto L Six rival youths, with foft concern imprefs’d. Calm all her fears, and charm her cares to reft. — So Ihines at eve the fun-illumin’d fane. Lifts its bright crofs, and waves its golden vane ; From every breeze the polifli’d axle turns. And high in air the dancing meteor burns. 1 6o Four of the giant brood with Ilex ftand. Each grafps a thoufand arrows in his hand; flamens ; and this I fuppofe to have been the mofl: unchange- able part of the flower, as in Meadia, which fee. 2. To coun- teradb this circumftance, the pitlil and flamens are made to de- cline downwards, that the prolific dufl; might fall from the an- thers on the fliigma. 3. To produce this efi'e 61 :, and to fccure it when produced, the corol is lacerated, contrary to what oc- curs in other flowers of this genus, and the lowefl: divifion with the two next lowefl: ones are wrapped clofely over the fl:yle and filaments, binding them forcibly down lower towards the horizon than the ufual inclination of the bell in this genus, and thus confiitutes a mofl; elegant flower. There is another contrivance for this purpofe in the Hemerocallis Flava : the long piflil often is bent fomewhat like the capital letter N, with defign to flrorten it, and thus to bring the fligma amongfl the anthers. Ilex. 1 . 1 61. Holly. Four males, four females. Ma ry Canto I. THE PLANTS. 23 A thoufand fteely points on every fcale Form the bright terrors of his briftly mail. — plants, like many animals, are furniflied with arms for their protedbon; thefe are either aculei, prickles, as in rofe and bar- berry, which are formed from the outer bark of the plant ; or fpin^, thorns, as in hawthorn, which are an elongation of the wood, and hence more difficult to be torn off than the former ; or ffimuli, flings, as in the nettles, which are armed with a ve- nomous fluid for the annoyance of naked animals. The fhrubs and trees, which have prickles or thorns, are grateful food to many animals, as goofeberry and gorfe ; and would be quickly devoured, if not thus armed ; the flings feem a protedlion againfl fome kinds of infedls, as well as the naked mouths of quadru- ■peds. Many plants lofe their thorns by cultivation, as wild ani- mals lofe their ferocity ; and fome of them their horns. A cu- rious circumflance attends the large hollies in Needvvood forefl ; they are armed with thorny leaves about eight feet high, and have fmooth leaves above, as if they were confcious that horfes and cattle could not reach their upper branches. See note on Meadia, and on Mancinella. The numerous clumps of hollies in Necdwood forefl ferve as land- marks to diredl the travellers acrofs it in various diredlions; and as a fhelter to the deer and cattle in winter ; and in fcarce feafons fupply them with much food. For when the upper branches, which arc without pric- kles, are cut down, the deer crop the leaves and peel off the bark. The bird-lime made from the bark of hollies feems to be C 4 24 LOVES OF Canto I. So arm’d, immortal Moore uiicharm’d the fpell. And flew the wily dragon of the well. — , Sudden with rage their injur d bofoms burn. Retort the infult, or the wound return ; Unwrong d, as gentle as the breeze that fweeps The unbending harveflis or undimpled deeps, 170 They guard, the Kings of Needwood’s wide do- mains, Their fifter-wives and fair infantine trains ; Lead the lone pilgrim through the tracklcfs glade. Or guide in leafy wilds the wandering maid. So Wright’s bold pencil from Vefuvio’s bight Hurls his red lavas to the troubled night ; I a very I'lmilar material to the elaftic giun, or Indian rubber, as it is called. There is a fofhle elaftic bitumen found at Matlock in Deibylhire, whiph much relcmbles thefe fubflances in its elafticity and inflammability. The thorns of the Mimofa Cor- nigera refemble cow’s horns in appearance as well as in ufe. Syilem of Vegetables, p. 782. Hurls ht 5 red lavas. 1. 176. Alluding to the grand paintings of the eruptions of Vcfuvius, and of the dcflrudlion of the Canto I. THE PLANTS. 25 From Calpe ftarts the intolerable flafli. Skies burft in flames, and blazing oceans dafli ; — I Or bids in fweet repofe his fliades recede^ Winds the ftill vale, and flopes the velvet mead ; On the pale flream expiring Zephyrs fink, 181 And Moonlight fleeps upon its hoary brink. Gigantic Nymph! the fair Klei^’iiovia reigns, The grace and terror of Orixa’s plains ; Spani/li vcflels before Gibraltar ; and to the beautiful landfcape$ \ and moonlight feenes, by Mr. Wright of Derby, Klcinhovia. 1 . 183. In this clafs the males In each flower are fupported by the female. The name of the clafs may be tranflated ‘‘ Viragoes,” or “ Feminine Males.” The largefl: tree perhaps in the world is of the fame natural order as Kleinhovla ; it is the Adanfonia, or Ethiopian Sour- gourd, or African Calabafl:i-tree. Mr. Adanfon fays the diame- ter of the trunk frequently exceeds 25 feet, and the horizon- tal branches are from 45 to 55 feet long, and fo large that each branch is equal to the largefl; trees of Europe. The breadth of the top is from 120 to 150 feet ; and one of the roots bared only in part by the wafliing away of the earth from the river, near 26 LOVES OF Canto 1. O’er her warm cheek the blufli of beauty fwlms. And nerves Herculean bend her fincwy limbs; With frolic eye fne views the affrighted throng. And fliakes the meadows as flie towers along; With playful violence difplays her charms. And bears her trembling lovers in her arms. 190 So fair Thalestris fhook her plumy creft. And bound in rigid mail her jutting breaft; Poifed her long lance amid the walks of war. And Beauty thunder’d from Bellona’s car ; Greece arm’d in vain, her captive heroes wove The chains of conqueft with the wreaths of love. When o’er the cultured lawns and dreary waftes Retiring Autumn flings her howling blafls. Bends in tumultuous waves the ftruggling woods. And fhowers their leafy honours on the floods, In withering heaps collects the flowery fpoil, j’oi And each chill infeft finks beneath the foil ; whieh it grew, meafured no feet long; and yet tliefe ftupen- dous trees never exceed 70 feet in height. Voyage to Senegal. Canto T. 27 THE PLANTS. Quick flies fair Tulip a the loud alarms, And folds her infant clofer in her arms ; In fome lone cave, fecure pavilion, lies, ' And waits the courtfliip of ferener fkles. — "TuHpa. 1.203, Tulip. What Is in common language called a bulbous-root, is by Linneus termed the Hybernacle, or Winter- lodge of the young plant. As thefe bulbs in every refpedt re- femble buds, except in their being produced under ground, and include the leaves and flower in miniature, which are to be ex- panded in the enfuing fpring. By cautioufly cutting in winter through the concentric coats of a tulip-root, longitudinally from the top to the bafe, and taking them off fucceffively, the whole flower of the next fummer’s tulip is beautifully feen by the naked eye, with its petals, piftil, and flamens ; the flowers exifl in other bulbs, in the fame manner, as in Hyacinths, but the individual flowers of thefe being lefs, they are not fo cafily dif- fedled, or fo confpicuous to the naked eye. In the feeds of the Nymphaea Nelumbo, the leaves of the plant are feen fo difli n6f ly, that Mr. Ferber found out by them to what plant the feeds belonged. Amaen. Acad. V. vi. No. 1 20. He fays that Mariotte firfl: obferved the future flower and foli- age in the bulb of a Tulip ; and adds, that it is pleafant to fee in the buds of the Hepatica and Pedicularis hirfuta, yet lying in the earth ; and in the gems of Daphne Mezereon ; and at the bafe of Ofmunda Lunaria, a peifedl plant of the future year complete in all its parts. Ibid. 28 LOVES OF Canto L So, fix cold moons, the Dormoufe charm’d to reft. Indulgent Sleep ! beneath thy elder breaft. In fields of Fancy climbs the kernel’d groves. Or fliares the golden harveft with his loves. — 210 Then bright from earth amid the troubled Iky Afcends fair Colchica with radiant eye. Colchiciim auiumnalc. I. 2i2. Autumnal Meadow-fatirori^ Six males, tlirce females. Tlic germ Is buried within the root, which thus feems to conflitute a part of the flower. Families of Plants, p. 242. Thefe Angular flowers appear in the au- tumn without any leaves, whence in fome countries they are called Naked Ladies : In the March following the green leaves fpring up, and In April the feed- veifcl rifes from the ground ; the feeds ripen in May, contrary to the ufual habits of vegetables, which flower in the fpring, and ripen their feeds in the autumn. Miller’s Di6t. The juice of the root of this plant is fo acrid as to produce violent efle6ls on the human conftitution, which allb prevents it from being eaten by fubterranean infebls, and thus guards the feed-veflcl during the wdnter. The defoliation of deciduous trees is announced by the flowering of the Colchi- cum ; of thefe the afli is the laft that puts forth its leaves, and the firfl; that lofes them. Phil. Bot. p. 275. The Hamamelis, Witch Hazel, is another plant which flowers in autumn ; when the leaves fall oflF, the flowers come out in cluflers from the joints of the branches, and in Virginia Canto T. THE PLANTS. 29 Warms the cold bofom of the hoary year, And lights with Beauty’s blaze the dullcy fpherc. T^hree bluililng Maids the Intrepid Nymph attend, And Jix gay Youths, enamour’d train ! defend. / So fhincs with fdver guards the Georgian ftar. And drives on Night’s blue arch his glittering car; Hangs o’er the blllow^y clouds his lucid form, Wades through the mlft, and dances In the ftorm. GreatHelianthus guides o’er twilight plains In gay folcmnity his Dervlfc-trcilns ; ripen their feed In the enfulng fprlng ; but In this country their feeds feldom ripen. Lin. Spec. Plant. Miller’s Di6l. Helianthus. 1 . 221. Sun flower. The numerous florets which conflitute the difk of this flower, contain In each five males furrounding one female, the five flamens have their an- thers connedled at top, whence the name of the clafs “ confe- derate males;” fee note on Chondrilla. The fun-flower fol- lows the courfe of the fun by nutation, not by twifling its flem. (Hales veg. flat.) Other plants, when they are confined in a room, turn the flilnlng furface of their leaves, and bend their whole branches to the light. See Mlmofa. 3 I 30 LOVESOF Canto 1 . MarfhaU’d in jffves each gaudy band proceeds. Each gaudy band a plumed Lady leads ; With zealous ftep he climbs the upland lawn, And bows in homage to the rifing dawn ; Imbibes with eagle eye the golden ray, And watches, as it moves, the orb of day. 1358 V Queen of the marfh imperial Dr os era treads Rulli-frlnGfcd banks, and- mofs-embroider’d beds ; O A plumed Lady leads. 1 . 224. The feeds of many plants of this clafs are furnilhecl with a plume, by which admirable me- chanifm they are diffeminated by the winds far from their pa- . rent hem, and look like a fhuttlecock, as they fly. Other feeds are diffeminated by animals; of thefc fome attach themfelves to their hair or feathers by a gluten, as milletoe ; others by hooks, as cleavers, burdock, hounds-tongue , and others arc fwallowed whole for the fake of the fruit, and voided uninjured, as the hawthorn, juniper, and fome graffes. Other feeds again dif- perfe themfelves by means of an elaftic feed-veffel, as Oats, Ge- ranium, and Impatiens ; and the feeds of aquatic plants, and of thofe which grow on the banks of rivers, are carried many miles by the currents, into which they fall. Sec Impatiens. Zoffera, Caffia. Carlina. Drofera. 1 . 229. Sun-dew. Five males, five females. The 4 Canto I. THE PLANTS. 3 ^ Redundant folds of glofly filk furround Her (lender waift, and trail upon the ground ; Five (ifter-nymphs colled: with graceful eafe. Or fpread the floating purple to the breeze ; And Jive fair youths with duteous love comply With each foft mandate of her moving eye. As with fwxet grace her fnowy neck flie bows, A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows ; • # leaves of this maifh-plant are purple, and have a fringe very un- like other vegetable produdlions. And, which is curious, at the point of every thread of this eredl fringe ftands a pellucid drop of mucilage, refemhling an earl’s coronet. This mucus is a fecre- tion from certain glands, and like the vifeous material round the flower-ftalks of Silene (catchfly) prevents fmall infe6ts from in- fefting the leaves. As the ear-wax in animals feems to be in part defigned to prevent fleas and other infedls from getting into their ears. See Silene. Mr. Wheatly, an eminent furgeon in Cateaton-fl;reet, London, obferved thefe leaves to bend upwards when an infeefl fettled on them, like the leaves of the Mufei- pula Veneris, and pointing all their globules of mucus to the centre, that they completely intangled and deflroyed it. M, Brouflfonet, in the Mem. de I’Acad. des Sciences for the year 1784, p. 61 Sf after having deferibed the motion of the Dionaea, adds, that a fimilar appearance has been obferved in the leaves of two fpecies of Drofera. I t 32 LOVESOF Canto L Bright fhiiies the filver halo, as fhe turns ; And, as flie ftcps, the living luftre burns. 540 Fair Lonicera prints the dewy lawii. And decks with brighter blufh the vermil dawn ; Lonicera, 1. 241. Capvl folium, Honeyfuckle. Five males, one female. Nature has in many flowers ufed a wonderful ap- paratus to guard the nedlary or honey gland from infedfs. In the honeyfuckle the petal terminates in a long tube like a cor- nucopiae, or horn of plenty ; and the honey is produced at the bottom of it. Ill Aconitum, monks-hood, the nediiaries ftand upright like two horns covered with a hood, which abounds with fuch acrid matter that no infedls penetrate it. In Helleborus, hellebore, the many nedlaries are placed in a circle like little pit- chers, and add mucli to the beauty of the flower. In the co- lumbine, Aquilegia, tlie ne61;ary is imagined to be like the neck and body of a bird, and the two petals Handing upon each flde to reprefent wings; whence its name of columbine, as if refem- bling a nefl; of young pigeons fluttering whilfl; their parent feeds them. The importance of the ne61ary in tlie economy of vege- tation is explained at large in the notes on part the firfl:. ' Many infedh are provided witli a long and pliant probofeisfor the purpofe of acquiring this grateful food, as a variety of bees, moths, and butterflies : but the Sphinx Convolvuli, or unicorn moth, is furniflied with the mofl; remarkable probofeis in this climate. It carries it rolled up in concentric circles under its Canto 1 . THE PLANTS. 33 Winds round the fhadowyrocks^ and paneled vales^ And feents with fweeter breath the fummer-gales^ With artlefs grace and native eafe flie charms, And bears the horn of plenty in her arms. Five rival Swains their tender cares unfold. And watch with eye afkance the treafured gold. chin, and occafionally extends It to above three Inches In length. This trunk conhfts of joints and mufcles, and feems to have more verfatlle movements than the trunk of the elephant ; and near its termination is fplit into two capillary tubes. The ex- cellence of this contrivance for robbing the flowers of their honey, keeps this beautiful infeft fat and bulky ; though it flies only in the evening, when the flowers have clofed their petals, and are thence more difficult of accefs ; and at the fame time the bril- liant colours of the moth contribute to Its fafety, by making it miflaken by the late fleeping birds for the flower it refls on. Befides thefe there is a curious contrivance attending the Ophrys, commonly called the Bee-orchis, and the Fly-orchis, with fome kinds of the Delphinium, called Bee larkfpurs, ta preferve their honey ; in thefe the ne6lary and petals refemble in form and colour the infedfs which plunder them ; and thus it may be fuppofed, they often efcape thefe hourly robbers, by hav- ing the appearance of being pre-occupied. See note on Rubia^ and Conferva Polymorpha, and on Epidendrum. Part II. D 34 LOVES OF Canto L Where rears huge Tenerif his azure creft, Afpiring Dr aba builds her eagle neft ; 250 Her pendant eyry icy caves furround. Where erft Volcanoes mined the rocky ground. Pleafed round the Fair four rival Lords afeend The fhaggy fteeps^ two menial youths attend. High in the fettlng ray the beauty Hands, And her tall fhadow waves on dlftant lands, Draha: 1 . 2^0. Alpina. Alpine Whitlovv-grafs. One fe- male and fix males. Four of thefe males (land above the other two; whence the name of the clafs “ four powers.’^ I have obferved in feveral plants of this clafs, that the two lower males arife, in a few days after the opening of the flower, to the fame lieight as the other four, not being mature as foon asvthc higher ones. See note on Gloriofa. All the plants of this clafs poflefs fimilar virtues; they are termed acrid and antifcorbutic in their raw flate, as muflard, watercrefs ; when cultivated and boiled, they become a mild wholeforae food, as cabbage, turnep. There was formerly a Volcano on the Peak of Tenerif, which became extindb about the year 1684. Philof. Tranf. In many excavations of the mountain, much below the fummit, there is now found abundance of ice at all feafons. Tench’s Expedition to Botany Bay, p. I2. Are thefe congelations in confequence of the daily folution of the hoar-froft, which is produced on the fummit during the night ? Canto I. T'H E PLANTS. 35 Oh, ftay, bright habitant of air, alight, Celeftial Vise a, from thy angel-hight ! — Scorning the fordid foil, aloft llie fprings, Shakes her white plume, and claps her golden wings ; ' 5 bo High o’er the fields of bound! efs ether roves. And feeks amid the clouds her foaring loves ! Stretch’d on her mofly couch, in tracklefs deeps, Queen of the coral groves, Zoster A fleeps ; Vifeum. 1. 258. Mifleto. Twohoufes. This plant never grows upon the ground ; the foliage is yellow, and the berries milk-' white ; the berries are fo vifeous, as to ferve for bird-lime ; and when they fall, adhere to the branches of the tree, on which the plant grows, and flrike root into its bark, or are carried to dif- tant trees by birds. The Tillandfia, or wild pine, grows on other trees, like the Mifletoe, but takes little or no noui idiment from them, having large buckets in its leaves to coIle 61 ;and retain the rain water. See note on Dypfacus. The mofies, which grow on the bark of trees, take much nourifhment from them ; hence t it is obferved that trees, which are annually cleared from mofs by a brulh, grow nearly fw'ice as fafl:. (Phil. TranfaiSl.) In the cyder countries the peafants brufli their apple-trees annually. See Epldendrum. Zojlera, 1. 264. Grafs-wrack. Clafs, Feminine Males, Or- D 3 Canto L 36 ■ LOVESOF The filvery fca-weed matted round her bed, And diftant furges murmuring o’er her head. — High in the flood her azure dome afcends. The cryftal arch on cryftal columns bends ; der, many IVIales. It grows at the bottom of the fea, and rlfing to the furface when in flower, covers many leagues; and is driven at length to the fhore. During its time of floating on the fea, numberlefs ani r^ls live on the under furface of it ; and being fpecifically lighter than the fea-water, or being repelled by it, have legs placed as it were on their backs for the purpofe of walking under it. As the Scyllosa. See Barbut’s Genera Ver* mium. It feems necelfary that the marriages of plants fliould be celebrated in the open air, either becaufe the powder of the anther, or the mucilage on the ftigma, or the refervoir of honey might receive injury from the water. Mr. Needham obferved, that in the ripe dull of every flower, examined by the micro- fcope, fome veficles are perceived, from which a fluid had efcap- ed ; and that thofe,' which ftill retain it, explode if they be wet- ted, like an eolipile fuddenly expofed to a flrong heat. Thefc obfervations have been verified by Spallanzani and others. Hence rainy feafons make a fcarcity of grain, or hinder its fecundity, by burfling the pollen before it arrives at the moift ftigma of the flower. Spallanzani’s Diflertations, v. ii. p. 321. Thus the flowers of the male Vallifneria are produced under water, and when ripe detach themfelves from the plant, and rifing to the furface are wafted by the air to the female flowers. See Val- lifncria. I- f Canto I. THE PLANTS. 37 Roof d with tranflucent fliell the turrets blaze. And far in ocean dart their colour’d rays ; 570 O’er the white floor fucceflive fliadow^s move. As rife and break the ruffled waves above. — Around the nymph her mermaid-trains repair. And weave with orient pearl her radiant hair; With rapid fins flie cleaves the w^atery way. Shoots like a filver meteor up to day; Sounds a loud conch, convokes a fcaly band. Her fea-born lovers, and afeends the flrand. » E’en round the pole the flames of Love afpire. And icy bofoms feel the fecrei Are ! — 580 Cradled in fnow and fann’d by ar( 5 llc air Shines, gentle Barometz ! thy golden hair; Barometz. 1 . 282. Polypodluin Barometz. Tartarian Lamb. Clandeftine Marriage. Thisfpeciesof Fern is a native of China, with a decumbent root, thick, and every where covered -with the moll; foft and denfe wool, intenfely yellow. Lin. Spec. Plant. This curious flem is fometimes pufhed, out of the ground in its horizontal fituation by fome of the inferior branches of the root, fo as to give it fome refemblance to a Lamb handing on four legs ; and has been faid to deftroy all other plants in its vi- ' D 3 I Canto I. t LOVES OF Rooted in earth each cloven hoof defeends. And round and round her flexile neck flie bends ; ciiiitv. Sir Hans Sloane deferihes it under the name of Tartarian Lamb, and has given a print of it. Phiiof.Tranf. abridged, v. ii, p. 646. but tihnks feme art had been ufed to give it an animal appearance. Dr. Hunter, in liis edition of the Terra of Evelyn, has given a more curious print of it, much refembling a flieep. '^I'he down is ufed in India externally for (lopping hemorrhages, and is called golden mofs. The thick downy clothing of fome vegetables feems defigncd to protedl them from the injuries of cold, like the wool of ani- mals. Thofe bodies, which arc bad condudlors of ele 61 ricity, are alfo had conduclors of heat, as glafs, wax, air. Hence either of tire two former of thefc may he melted by the flame of a blow- pipe .very near the fingers which hold it without burning them ; and the lail, by being confined oh the furface of animal bodies, in the interfiices of their fur or wool, prevents the efcape of their natural warmth ; to which fltould be added, that the hairs them- felves are imperfedl condudlors. The fat or oil of whales, and other northern animals, feems defigned for the fame purpofe of preventing the tod fudden efcape of the heat of the body in cold climates. Snow protecSls vegetables wliich are covered by it from cold, both becaufe it is a bad condu6lor of heat itfelf, and con- tains much air in its pores. If a piece of camphor be immerfed in a fnow-ball, except one extremity of it, on fetting fire to this, as the fnow melts, the water becomes abforbed into the fur- rounding fnow by capillary attrafilion ; on this account, when living animals are buried in fnow, they are not moiflcned by it; 0 I Canto I. THE PLANTS. 39 Crops the gray coral mofs, and hoary thyme, Or laps with rofy tongue the melting rime. Eyes with mute tendernefs her diflant dam, Or fee ms to bleat, a Vegetable Lamb. — So, warm and buoyant in his oily ir^ail. Gambols on feas of ice the unwieldy Whale ; 290 Wide waving fins round floating iflands urge His bulk gigantic through the troubled furge ; With hideous yawn the flying flioals he feeks. Or clafps w ith fringe of horn his maffy cheeks ; Eifts o’er the tofling wave his noftrils bare. And fpouts pellucid columns into air ; The filvery arches catch the fetting beams, % And tranfient rainbows tremble o’er the ftreams. Weak with nice fenfe the chafte Mimosa ftands, . From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands ; ^oo but the cavity enlarges as thefnow cllflblves, affording them both a drv and warm liabitation. Mimofa, 1. 299. The fenfitive plant. Of the clafs Polygamy, D 4 40 •LOVES OF Canto I. Oft as light clouds o’erpafs the fummer-glade. Alarm’d flie trembles at the moving fhadc ; one houfe. Natnralifts have not explained the immediate canTc of the collapfing of the fenfitive plant; the leaves meet and clofe in the night during the deep of the plant, or when expoled to much cold in the day-time, in the fame manner as when they are afFefled by external violence, folding their upper furfaces to- gether, and in part over each other like fcales or tiles, fo as to expofe as little of the upper furface as may be to the air; but do not indeed collapfe quite fo far, fince I have found, when touch- ed in the night during their deep, they fall dill farther ; efpe- « daily when touched on the foot-dalks between the dems and the leadets, which feems to be their mod fenfitive or irritable part. Now, as their fituation after being expofed to external violence refembles their deep, but with a greater degree of collapfe, may it not be owing to a numbnefs or paralyfis confequent to too violent irritation, like the faintings of animals from pain or fa- tigue? I kept a fenfitive plant in a dark room till fome hours after day-break ; its leaves and leaf-dalks were collapfed as in its mod profound deep, and on expofing it to the liglit, above ’ twenty minutes paded betore the plant was thoroughly awake and had quite expanded itfelf. During the night the upper or fmoother furfaces of the leaves are appreded together; tliis would feem to fhew that the odice of this furface of the leaf was to_ expofe the duids of the plant to the light as well as to the air. See note on Helianthus. Many dowers clofe up their petals dur-’ ing the night. See ngte on vegetable refpiration in Part I, Canto I. the plants. 41 And feels, alive through all her tender form, The whlfper’d murmurs of the gathering ftorm ; Shuts her fvveet eye-lids to approaching night. And hails with freflien’d charms the rifing light. Veil’d, with gay decency and modeit pride, I Slow to the mofque file moves, an eaftern bride ; There her foft vows unceafing love record. Queen of the bright feragllo of her lord. — 310 So finks or rifes with the changeful hour The liquid hlver in its glaffy tower. So turns the needle to the pole it loves. With fine llbrations quivering, as it moves. All wan and fhlvering in the leafiefs glade The fad Anemone reclin’d her head; Anemone. 1 . 316. Many males, many females. Pliny fays this flower never opens its petals but when the wind bloAVs; whence its name: it has properly no calyx, hut two or three lets ©f petals, three in each fet, which are folded over the ftamens and piflil in a Angular and beautiful manner, and differs alfotroin ranunculus in not having a melliferous pore on the claw of each petal. f 42 LOVESOF ^ Canto L Grief on her cheeks had paled the rofeate hue. And her fweet eje-iids dropp’d with pearly dew, — See, from bright regions, born on odorous gales The Swallow^ herald of the fiimmer, falls ; 330 ’The Sivallozv. 1 . 320. There is a wonderful conformily be- tween tlie vegetation of fome plants, and the arrival of cer- ' tain birds of paffage. Linneus obferves that the wood anemone blows in Sweden on the arrival of the fwallow; and the marfli mary-gold, Caltha, when the cuckoo fings. Near the fame co- incidence was obferved in England by Stillingfieet. The word Coceux in Greek fignifies both a young fig and a cuckoo, which is fuppofed to liave arifen from the coincidence of their appear- ance in Greece. Perhaps a iiinilar coincidence ot appearance in fome part of Afia gave occafion to the flory of the love of the rofe and nightingale, fo much celebrated by the eaflern poets. Sec Dianthus. The times however of the appearance of vegetables in the fpring feem occafionally to be influenced by their acquir- ed habits, as well as by their fenfibility to heat : for the roots of potatoes, onions, &c. will germinate with much lefs heat in the fpring than in the autumn ; as is ealily obfervable where thefc roots are flored for ufe ; and lienee malt is heft made in the fpring. 2d. Ehe grains and roots brougiit from more fouthern latitudes germinate here fooner than thofe which are brought from more northern ones, owing to their acquired habits. For- 4 Canto L THE PLANTS. 43 Brea^the, gentle Air ! from cherub '■lips impart Thy balmy influence to my anguifli’d heart ; (lycc on Agriculture, ed. It was obferved by one of the fcho- lars of Linneus, that the apple trees fent from hence to New England hloiTomed for a few years too eai Iv for that cii mate, and bore no fruit ; but afterwards learnt to accommodate themfelves to their new fituation. (Kalin’s Travels- ) 4th. 1 he parts of ani- mals become more fenfible to heat after having been previoufly expofed to cold, as our hands glow on coming into the houfe after having held fnow in them ; this feem.s to happen to vege- tables ; for vines in grape-houfes, which have been expofed to the winter’s cold, will become forwarder and more vigorous than thofe which have been kept during the winter m the houfe. (Kennedy on Gardening.) This accounts for the very rapid vegetation in the northern latitudes after the folution of the fnows. The increafe of the irritability of plants in refpedf to heat, af- ter having been previoufly expofed to cold, is farther illuflrated by an experiment of Dr. Walker’s. He cut apertures into a birch-tree at different heights ; and on the 26th of March fome of thefe apertures bled, or oozed with the fap-juice, when the thermometer was at 39 ; which fame apertures did not bleed on the 13th of March, when the thermometer was at 44. The reafon of tliis I apprehend was, becaufe on the night of the 25th the thermometer was as low as 34; whereas on the night of the 12th it was at 41 ; though the ingenious author aferibes it to another caufe. Tranf. of the Royal Soc. of Edinburgh, y. I. p. 19. 44 LOVES OF Canto I. Thou, whofe foft voice calls forth the tender blooms, Whofe pencil paints them, and whofe breath perfumes ; Oh chafe th.e Fiend of Froft, with leaden mace Who feals in death-like deep mj haplefs race; Melt his hard heart, releafe his iron hand. And give my ivory petals to expand. So may each bud, that decks the brow of fpring, 329 Shed all its incenfe on thy wafting wing !” — To her fond prayer propitious Zephyr yields. Sweeps on his hiding Ihell through azure fields, O er her fair manfion waves his whifperlng wand. And gives her ivory petals to expand ! Gives with new life her filial train to rife. And hall with kindling fmiles the genial fkles. So fhlnes the Nymph in beauty’s bluhiing pride. When Zephyr wafts her deep calafli afide. Tears with rude klfs her bofom’s gauzy veil. And flings the fluttering kerchief to the gale. 340 Canto I. THE PLANTS. 45 So bright, the folding canopy undrawn, Glides the gilt Landau o’er the velvet lawn. Of beaux and belles difplays the glittering throng And foft airs fan them, as they roll along. Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow O’er Conway, llflening to the furge below ; Retiring Lichen climbs the topmoft ftone. And drinks the aerial folltude alone. — 348 Bright fhine the ftars unnumber’d o'er her head. And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed ; While round the rifted rocks hoarfe whirlwinds breathe. And dark with thunder fail the clouds beneath . — Lichen. I. 347. Calcareum. Liver-wort. Clandefline Mar- riage. This plant is the firfl that vegetates on naked rocks, covering them with a kind of tapcllry, and draws its nourilh- inent perhaps chiefly from the air ; after it periflies, earth enough is left for other moflfes to root themfelves ; and after fome ages a foil is produced fufficient for the growth of more fucculent and large vegetables. In this manner perhaps the wliole earth has been gradually covered with vegetation, after it was raifed out of the primeval ocean by fubterraneous fires. LOVES O F Canto I. The fteepy path her plighted fwain purfues. And tracks her light ftep o’er the imprinted dews ; Delighted Hymen gives his torch to blaze. Winds round the craggs, and lights the mazy ways; Sheds o’er their fecret vows his influence chaflic. And decks with rofes the admiring wafte. High in the front of heaven when Sirius glares. And o’er Britannia fliakes his fiery hairs : 360 When no foft fhower defcends, no dew diflills, Her wave-worn channels dry, and luute her rills; When droops the fiickenlng herb, the blofiTom fades. And parch’d earth gapes beneath the withering With languid ftep fair Dypsaca retreats. Fall, gentle dews !” the fainting nymph repeats, Dypfacus. 1 . 365. Teafel. One female, and four males. There is a cup around every joint of the ftem of this plant, which contains from a fpoonful to half a pint of water ; and ferves both for the nutriment of the plant in dry feafons, and to Canto T. THE PLANTS. 47 Seeks the low dell, and in the fultry fliade Invokes in vain the Naiads to her aid. — 'Four fylvan youths in cryftal goblets bear The untaficd treafure to the grateful fair; 370 Pleafed from their hands with modeft grace file fips, And the cool wave refledls her coral lips. prevent infedLS from creeping up to devour its feed. Sec Si- lene. The Tillandfia, or wild pine, of the Weft Indies has every leaf terminated near the ftalk with a hollow bucket, which contains from half a pint to a quart of water. Dampier’s Voy- age to Campeachy. Dr. Sloane mentions one kind of aloe fur- nifhed with leaves, which, like the w^ild pine and Banana, hold water; and thence afford neceflary refreftiment to travellers in hot countries. Nepenthes has a bucket for the fame purpofc at the end of every leaf. Burm. Zeyl. 42. ly. Silphium perfoliatum has a cup round every joint to referve water after rain. It rifes during the fummer twelve or fourteen feet high on a {lender ftem, which is fquare, and thus is ftronger to refill: the winds than if it had been made round with the fame quantity of materials. The moft curious plant of this kind is the Sarracenia pur- purea, which refembles the Nymphcea, an aquatic plant, but catches fo much water in its feftile cup-like leaves, as to enable LOVES OF Canto L 48^ With nice feleftion modeft Rubia blends I Her vermll dyes, and o’er the cauldron bends ; it to live on land, a wonderful provifion of nature ! Syftem. Plant, a Reichard. Vol. II. p. 577. Ruhia, 1 - 373- Madder. Four males and one female. This plant is cultivated in very large quantities for dying red. If mixed with the food of young pigs or chickens, it colours their bones red. If they are fed alternate fortnights, with a mixture bf ma lder, and with their ufual food alone, their bones will con- fiilof concentric circles of white and red. Belchicr. Phil. Tranf. 1736. Animals fed with madder for the purpofe of thefe expe- riments were found upon difre6lion to have thinner gall. Com- ment. de rebus. Lipfiae. This circumftance is worth farther attention. The colouring materials of vegetables, like thofe which ferve the purpofe of tanning, varni filing, and the various medical purpofes, do not feem efTential to the life of the plant j but feem given it as a defence againfl the depredations of infe£ls or otlier animals, to whom thefe materials are naufeous or dele- terious. The colours of infe6ls and many fmaller animals con- tribute to conceal them from the larger ones which prey upon them. Caterpillars which feed on leaves are generally green ; and earth-worms the colour of the earth which they inhabit j butterflies which frequent flowers are coloured like them ; fmali birds which frequent hedges have greenifli backs like the leavesy and light coloured bellies like the fky, and are hence lefs vifible; I Canto I. THE PLANTS. , 49 Warm mid the rlfing fteam the Beauty glows, As bluflies in a mift the dewy role. With chemic art four favour’d youths aloof Stain the white fleece, or ftretch the tinted woof ; O’er Age’s cheek the warmth of youth difFufe, ' Or deck the pale-ey’d nymph in rofeate hues. So when Medea to exulting Greece 381 From plunder’d Colchis bore the golden fleece; On the loud fhore a magic pile flie rais’d, The cauldron bubbled, and the faggots blaz’d ; to the hiwk, who paffes under them or over them. Thofe birds wliich are much ainongft flowers, as the goldfinch, (Fringilla Carduelis) are furnilhed with vivid colours. The lark, par- tridge, hare, are the colour of dry vegetables, or earth on which they refl:. And frogs vary their colour with the mud of the flreams which they frequent ; and thofe which live on trees are green. Fifli, which are generally fufpended in water, and fwal- lows, which are generally fufpended in air, have their backs the colour of the diflant ground, and their bellies of the Iky. ' In tlie colder climates many of thefe become white during the ex- iflence of the fnows. Hence there is apparent defign in the co- lours of animals, whilft thofe of vegkables feem confequent t© the other properties of tlie materials which poflefs them. Part II. E ] . O V E S OF €anto I. PIcafcd on the boiling wave old -®soN fwims, And feels new vigour ftretch his fwclling limbs ; Through his thrill’d nerves forgotten ardors dart, And warmer eddies circle round his heart ; With fofter fires his kindling eye-balls glow. And darker trefles wanton round his brow. 390 r leafed on the boiling wave, 1 . 385. The llory of ^fon be- coming young, from the medicated bath of Medea, feems to have been intended to teach the efficacy of warm bathing In re- tarding the progrefs of old age. The words relaxation and brac- ings which are generally thought expreffive of the effedts of Warm and cold bathing, are mechanical terms, properly applied to drums or firings ; but are only metaphors when applied to the efFe6ls of cold or warm bathing on animal bodies. The im- mediate caufe of old age feems to rehde in the Inirritability of the finer vefTels or parts of our fyflem ; hence thefe ceafe to a£l, and collapfe, or become horny or bony. The warm bath is pecu- liarly adapted to prevent thefe circumflances by Its increafmg our irritability, and by moiflening and foftening the fkin, and the extremities of the liner vefTels, which terminate in it. To thofe who arc paft the meridian of life, and have dry fkins, and begin to be emaciated, the warm bath, for half an hour twice 2 week, I believe to be eminently ferviceable in retarding the ad- vances of age. 6 Canto I. THE PLANTS. 5 ^ ' Where Java’s ifle, horizon’d with the floods, Lifts to the Ikies her canopy of woods ; Pleafed Epidendra. climbs the waving pines, And high in heaven the intrepid beauty fliines. Gives to the tropic breeze her radiant hair. Drinks the bright fliower, and feeds upon the air. Her brood delighted ftretch their callow wings, As polfed aloft their pendent cradle fwlngs. Eye the warm fun, the fpicy zephyr breathe. And gaze unenvious on the world beneath, 400 As dafli the waves on India’s breezy flrand, Her flufh’d cheek prefs’d upon her lily hand. ’Epldendrum Jlos aerls, 1 . 393. Of the clafs of gynandria, or feminine males. This parafite plant is found in Java, and is fald to live on air without taking root in the trees on which it grows; and its flowers refemble fpiders. Syfl.Veg. a Reichard. Vol. IV. p. 35. By this curious fimilitude the bees and butter- flies are fuppofed to be deterred from plundering the nedlaricsi See Vifea. LOVES OF Canto 1 . 52 Vallisxer fits, up-turns her tearful eyes. Calls her loft lover, and upbraids the fkles ; For him llie breathes the filent ftgh, forlorn. Each fctting day ; for him each riling morn. — Bright orbs, that light yon high ethereal plain. Or bathe your radiant treffes in the main ; Pale moon, that filvePft o’er night’s fable brow; — For ye were witnefs to his parting vow ! 410 Ye flielving rocks, dark waves, and founding fhore, — Ye echoed fweet the tender words he fwore ! — » VaUifnerta. I. 403. This extraordinary plant is of the clafs Two Houfes. It is found in the Eaft Indies, in Norway, and various parts of Italy. Lin. Spec. Plant. They have their roots at the bottom of the Rhone ; the flowers of the female plant float on the furface of the water, and are furnifhed with an elaf- 'tic fpiral ftalk, which extends or contra 61 :s as the water rifes and falls ; this rife or fall, from the rapid defeent of the river, and the mountain torrents which flow into it, often amounts to many feet in a few hours. The flowers of the male plant are produc- ed under water, and as foon as their farina, or dull:, is mature, I Canto 1. THE PLANTS. 53 Can ftars or feas the fails of love retain ? O guide my wanderer to my arms again !” I Her buoyant fkiff intrepid Ulva guides. And feeks her Lord amid the tracklefs tides ; they detach themfelves from the plant, and rife to the furface, continue to flouri(h, and are wafted by the air, or borne by the currents to the female flowers. In this refembling thofe tribes of infedls, where the males at certain feafons acquire wings, but not the females, as ants. Coccus, Lampyris, Phalaena, Brumata, Lichanella. Thefe male flowers are in fuch numbers, though very minute, as frequently to cover the lurface of the river to confiderabie extent. See Families of Plants, tranflatcd from Linneus, p. 677. Ulva. 1.415. Clandefline marriage. This kind of fea- weed is buoyed up by bladders of air, which are formed in the dupli- catures of its leaves, and forms immenfe floating fields of vege- tation ; the young ones, branching out from the larger ones, and borne on fimilar little air-veflels. It is allb found in the warm baths of Patavla, where the leaves are formed into curious cells or labyrinths for the purpofe of floating on the water. See Ulva labyrinthi-formis Lin. Spec. Plant. The air con- tained in thefe cells was found by Dr. Prieflley to be fometimes purer than common air, and fometimes lefs pure ; the air blad- ders of fifli feem to be fimilar organs, and ferve to render then\ E3 54 * LOVES OF Canto I. w Her fecret vows the Cyprian Queen approves. And hovering Halcyons guard her infant-loves ; buoyant in the water. In fome of thefe, as in the Cod and Had- dock, a red membrane, confiding of a great number of leaves or duplicatures, is found within the air-bag, which probably fe- cretes this air from the blood of the animal. (Monro. Phyfiol. of Filh, p. 28.) ,To determine whether this air, when firft feparated from the blood of the animal or plant, be dcphlogifti- cated air, is worthy inquiry. The bladder-fena (Colutea) and bladder-nut (Staphylaea) have their feed-veffels diftended with air ; the Ketmia has the upper joint of the dem immediately under the receptacle of the flower much didended with air ; thefe feem to be analogous to the air-veffel at the broad end of the egg, and may probably become lefs pure as the feed ripens ; fome, which I tried, had the purity of the furrounding atmo- fphere. The air at the broad end of the egg is probably an organ ferving the purpofe of refpiration to the young chick, fome of whofe veffels are fpread upon it like a placenta, or permeate it. Many are of opinion that even the placenta of the human fetus, and cotyledons of quadrupeds, are refpiratory organs rather than nutritious ones. The air in the hollow dems of grades, and of fome umbelli- ferous plants, bears analogy to the air in the quills, and in fome of the bones of birds ; fupplying the place of the pith, which flirivels up after it has performed its office of protruding the young dem or feaihe;-. Some of thefe cavities of the bones arc faid to communicate witli the lungs in birds. Phil. Tranf. Canto 1, 55 THE PLANTS. Each in his floating cradle round they throng, And dimpling Ocean bears the fleet along. — 4:20 Thus o’er the waves, which fwell, and Fair Galatea fleers her filver fhell ; Her playful Dolphins flretch the filken rein. Hear her fweet voice, and glide along the main. As round the wild meandring coafl fhe moves By gufhing rills, rude cliffs, and nodding groves ; The Air-bladders of fifli are nicely adapted to their intended purpofe ; for though tliey render them buoyant near the furface without the labour of ufing their fins, yet, when they reft at greater depths, they are no inconvenience, ns the increafed prefl- ure of the water condenfes tlie air which they contain into lefs fpace. Thus, if a cork or bladder of air was immerfed a very great depth in the ocean, it would be fo much comprefted, as to become fpecifically as heavy as the water, and would remain there. It is probable the unfortunate Mr. Da v, who was drown- ed in a diving-ftiip of his own conftru6lion, mifearried from not attending to this circumftance : it is probable the quantity of air he took down with him, if he defeended much lower than he expeiSled, was condenfed Into fo fmall a fpace as not to render the Ihip buoyant when he endeavoured to afeend. Canto 1 . 56 LOVES' OF ' Each by her pine the Wood-nymphs wave their locks. And wondering Naiads peep amid the rocks ! Pleafed trains of Mermaids rife from coral cells ; Admiring Tritons found their twiftcd fliclls ; 43Q Charm’d o’er the car purfuing Cupids fweep. Their fnow-white pinions twinkling in the deep ; And, as the luftre of her eye fhe turns, Soft fighs the Gale, and amorous Ocean burns. On Dove’s green brink the fair Them ell a flood. And view’d her playful image in the flood ; ^frcmella. I.435. Clandefline marriage. I have frequently ob- ferved funguffes of this Genus on old rails and on the ground to be- come a tranfparent jelly, after they had been frozen in autumnal mornings; which is a curious, property, and diftinguifhes them from fome other vegetable mucilage ; for I have obferved that the palle, made by boiling wheat-flour in water, ceafes to be ad- hefive after having been frozen. I fufpedled that the Tremella Nofloc, or ftar-gelly, alfo had been thus produced ; but have fince been well informed, that the Tremella Nofloc is a mucilage Canto I, THE PLANTS. 57 To each rude rock, lone dell, and echoing grove Sung the fweet forrows of her fecret love. 438 voided by Herons after they have eaten frogs ; hence it has the appearance of having been preffed through a hole ; and limbs of frogs are faid fometimes to be found amongll; it ; it is always feen upon plains, or by the fides of water, places which Herons ge- nerally frequent. Some of the funguffes are fo acrid, that a drop of their juice blifters the tongue ; others intoxicate thofe who eat them. The Ojfliacks in Siberia ufe them for the latter purpofe ; one fungus of the fpecics Agaricus Mufearum, eaten raw, or the deco6lion of three of them, produces intoxication for 12 or 16 hours. Hif- tory of Ruffia, V. I. Nichols. 1780. As all acrid plants become lefs fo, if expofed to a boiling heat, it is probable the common inuflrroom may fometimes difngree from not being fufficiently ftewed. The Oftiacks blifter their ll^in by a fungus found o|i Birch-trees ; and ufe the Agaricus offein. for Soap'. Ib. There was a difpute whether the funguffes 'iliould be clafTed in the animal or vegetable department. Their animal tafte in cookery, and their animal fmell when burnt, together with their tendency to putrefa£lion, infomuch that the Phallus impudicus has gained the name of flink-horn ; and laftly, their growing and continuing healthy without light, as the Licoperdon tuber or truffle, and the fungus vinofus or mucor in dark cellars, and the efculent mufhrooms on beds covered thick with ftraw, - would feem to fflew that they approach towards the animals, or make a kind of ifthmus conne6ling the two mighty kingdoms of ^nimal and of vegetable nature. 5 ^ LOVES OF Canto L Oh, flay! — return!” — along the founding fhore % Cry’d the fad Naiads, — fhe return’d no more ! — Now girt with clouds the fiillen Evening frown’d. And withering Eurus fwept along the ground ; The mifty moon withdrew her horned light, And funk with Hefper in the Ikirt of night ; No dim elc(5lric ftreams, (the northern dawn) With meek effulgence quiver’d o’er the lawn ; No ftar benignant fhot one tranlient ray To guide or light the wanderer on her way. Round the dark crags the murmuring whirlwinds blow, 449 Woods groan above, and waters roar below; As o’er the fteeps with paufing foot flic moves. The pitying Dryads lliriek amid their groves. I She flies — flie flops — fhe pants — flie looks behind, And hears a demon howl in every wdnd. — As the bleak blafl unfurls her fluttering vefl. Cold beats the fnow upon her fliuddering breafl ; Through her numb’d limbs the chill fenfatlons dart. And the keen ice-bolt trembles at her heart. Canto 1. THE PLANTS. 59 ** 1 fink, I fall! oh, help me, help!” flie cries. Her ftiffening tongue the unfinifh’d found denies; Tear after tear adown her cheek fucceeds, 461 \ And pearls of ice beftrew the glittering meads ; Congealing fnows her lingering feet furround, Arrefi: her flight, and root her to the ground ; With fuppliant arms file pours the filent prayer ; Her fuppliant arms hang cryfi;al in the air ; Pellucid films her fhivering neck o’erfpread, Seal her mute lips, and filver o’er her head ; Veil her pale bofom, glaze her lifted hands, • 469 And fiirined in ice the beauteous ftatue {lands. — Dove’s azure nymphs on each revolving year For fair Tremella filed the tender tear; With rufii-wove crowns in fad proceflion move. And found the forrowing fhell to haplcfs love.” Here paufed the Muse, — acrofs the darken’d pole. Sail the dim clouds, the echoing thunders roll ; The trembling Wood-nymphs, as the tempefl: lowers, Lead the gay goddefs to their inmofi: bowers; 478 6o LOVES, &:c. Canto I. Hang the mute lyre the laurel fliade beneath. And round her temples bind the myrtle wreath. -^Now the light fwallow with her airy brood Skims the green meadow, and the dimpled flood; Loud fhrieks the lone thrulh from his leaflefs thorn, Th’ alarmed beetle founds his bugle horn ; Each pendant fpider winds with fingers fine His ravel’d clue, and climbs along the line ; Gay Gnomes in glittering circles ftand aloof Beneath a fpreading mufliroom’s fretted roof ; Swift bees returning feek their waxen cells, 489 And Sylphs cling quivering in the lily’s bells. Through the ftill air defcend the genial fhowers. And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flowers. I . ( 6i ) f I INTERLUDE. f BookfeJler, YoURverfes, Mr. Botanift, confifl: of pure defcrtptlon, I hope there is fenfe in the notes. Foet» I am only a flower-painter, or occa- fionally attempt a 1 audit ip ; and leave the hu- i man figure with the fubjed;s of hiftory to abler artifls. B, It is well to know what fubjedts arc wdthin the limits of your pencil ; many have failed of fuccefs from the want of this felf-know- ledge. But pray tell me, what is the efTential difference between Poetry and Profe ? is it folely the melody or meafure of the language ? P, I think not folely ; for fome profe has its melody ; and even meafure. And good verfes, 62 JN TERLUDE. / ^ well fpoken in a language unknown to the hearer, arc not eafily to be diftlnguifhed from good profc. Is it the fublimity, beauty, or novelty of the fentiments ? P. Not fo ;• for fublime fentiments are often better exprefled in profe. Thus when War- wick, in one of the plays of Shakefpear, is left wounded on the field after the lofs of the battle, and his friend fays to him, O, could you but fly 1” what can be more fiiblime than his anfwer. Why then, I would not fly.” No meafiire of verfe, I imagine, could add dignity to this fenti- ment. And it would be eafy to feleft examples of the beautiful or new from profe writers, which, I fuppofe, no mcafurc of verfe could improve. P. In what then confifts the elTential differ- ence between Poetry and Profe ? P. Next to the meafure of the language, the principal dlftinftion appears to me to confift in INTERLUDE. 63 this : that Poetry admits of but few words ex- \ preffive of very abftraftcd ideas, whereas Profe I abounds with them. And as our ideas derived' from vlfiblc objefts are more dlftlndl than thofe derived from the objedis of our other fenfcs, the words expreffive of thefc ideas belonging to vlfion make up the principal part of poetic language. That is, the Poet writes principally to the eye, f I the Profe-wrlter ufes more abftrafted terms. Mr. ! Pope has written a bad verfe in the Windfor Foreft : And Kennct fwift for iilver Eels renown dr The word renown’d does not prefent the idea of a vlfible object to the mind, and is thence pro-' falc. But change this line thus : And Kennet fwift, where filver Graylings play,'^ and it becomes poetry, bccaufe the feenery is then brought before the eye. B. This may be done in profe. 64 - INTERLUDE. P, And when it is done in a hngle word, it animates the profe ; fo it is more agreeable to read in Mr. Gibbon’s Hiftory, Germany was at this time over-Jliadowed with 'extenfive forefts ; than Germany was at this time full of extenfive forefts.” But where this mode of expreflion oc- curs too frequently, the profe approaches to poe- try; and in graver works, where we expert to be inftru6led rather than amufed, it becomes tedious and impertinent. Some parts of Mr. Burke’s eloquent orations become intricate and enervated by fuperfluity of poetic ornament ; which quan- tity of ornament would have been agreeable in a poem, where much ornament is expected. I B. Is then the office of Poetry only to amufe? P. The Mufes are young Ladies ; we expedt to fee them drellcd ; though not like fome mo- dern beauties, with fo much 2 :auze and feather, that the Lady herfelf is the leaft part of her.” There arc ho wever didactic pieces of poetry, which are much admired, as the Georgies of Virgil, Ma- fon’s Englifli Garden, Hay ley’s Epiltlcs ; never- INTERLUDE. 65 tlielefs Science is Left delivered in Profe, as its mode' of reafoning is from ftrider analogies than metaphors or fimilies. ' B. Do not Perfonifications and Allegories dif- \ tinguifli Poetry ? P. Thefe are other arts of bringing objefls before the eye; or of expreffing fentlments in the language of vifion ; and are indeed better fulted to the pen than the pencil. B. That is ftrange, when you have juft fald they are ufed to bring their objedls before the eye. P. In poetry the perfonlfication or allegoric figure is generally indlftlnd:, and therefore does not ftrlke us fo forcibly as to make us attend to its improbability; but in painting, the figures being all much more dlftlndl, their Improbability be- comes apparent, and feizcs our attention to it. Thus the perfon of Concealment Is very indif- tindl, and therefore does not compel us to attend P.artII. F 66 INTERLUDE. to its improbability, in the following beautiful lines of Shakcfpear : She never told her love ; But let Concealment, like a worm i’ th’ bud. Feed on her damalk cheek.” — But in thefe lines below^ the perfon of Ileafon ob- trudes itfclf into our company, and becomes dif- agreeable by its diftinftnefs, and confequent im- probability : To Reafon I flew, and intreated her aid, W ho paufed on my cafe, and each circumftance weigh’d; Then gravely reply’d in return to my prayer, T1 uit Hebe was fairefl: of all that were fiir. That’s a truth, rcply’d I, I’ve no need to be taught, I came to you, Reafon, to find out a fault, if that’s all, fays Reafon, return as you came, To find fault with Hebe would forfeit my name.” Allegoric figures are on this account in general lefs manageable in painting and in ftatuary than In poetry; and can feldom be introduced in the two former arts in company with natural figures, as Is evident from the ridiculous cfFed; of many INTERLUDE. 67 of the paintings of Rubens in the Luxemburgh gallery; and for this reafon, becaufe their impro- bability becomes more ftriking, when there are the figures of real perfons by their fide to com- pare them with. Mrs. Angelica Kauffman, well apprifed of this circumftance, has introduced no mortal figures amongif her Cupids and her Graces. And the great Roubiliac, in his unrivalled monument of Time and Fame ftruggling for the trophy of Ge- neral Wade, has only hung up a medallion of the head of the hero of the piece. There are, how- ever, fome allegoric figures, which we have fb often heard defcribed or feen delineated, that we almoft forget that they do not exlft in common life ; and thence view them without aftonifhment; as the figures of the heathen mythology, of angels, devils, death, and time; and almoft believe them to be realities, even when they are mixed with re- prefentations of the natural forms of man. Whence I conclude, that a certain degree of probability is neceffary to prevent us from revolting with dlf- tafte from unnatural images ; unlefs we are others F '> 68 INTERLUDE. wife fo much interefted in the contemplation of them as not to perceive their improbability. B. Is this reafoning about degrees of proba- bility juft? — When Sir Jofhua Reynolds, who is unequalled both in the theory and practice of his art, and who is a great mafter of the pen as well as the pencil, has afterted in a difeourfe delivered to the Royal Academy, December 1 1, 1786, that the higher ftyles of painting, like the higher kinds ot the Drama, do not aim at any thing like deception ; or have any expeeftation that the fpeftators ft:iould think the events there repre- fented are really paffing before them.” And he then accufes Mr. Fielding of bad judgment, when he attempts to compliment Mr. Garrick in one of his novels, by introducing an Ignorant man, mlftaking the reprefentation of a feene in Hamlet for a reality ; and thinks, becaufe he was an igno- rant man, he was lefs liable to make fuch a mlf- take. P. It is a mctaphyfical queftion, and requires more attention than Sir Jofhua has beftowed upon • INTERLUDE. 69 it. — You will allow that we are perfectly deceived in our dreams : and that even in our waking re- veries, we are often fo much abforbed in the con- templation of what pafles in our imaginations, that for a while we do not attend to the lapfe of time or to our own locality; and thus fuffer a fimllar kind of deception, as in our dreams. That is, we believe things prefent before our eyes, which are not fo. There are two clrcumftances which contribute to this complete deception in our dreams. Firft, becaufe in fleep the organs of fenfe are clofed or inert, and hence the trains of ideas aflbciated in our imaginations are never interrupted or diflevered by the irritations of external objedls, and cannot therefore be contrafted with our fenfations. On this account, though we are affected with a va- riety of paflions in our dreams, as anger, love, joy, yet we never experience furprife. — For furprife is only produced when any external irritations fud- denly obtrude thcmfelves, and diffcver our palTing trains of ideas. F 3 70 INTERLUDE. Secondly, bccaufc In fleep there is a total fuf- penfion of our voluntary power, both over the mufcles of our bodies, and the ideas of our minds; for we neither walk about, nor reafon in com- plete fleep. Hence, as the trains of our Ideas are palling in our imaginations in dreams, we cannot compare them with our previous knowledge of things, as we do in our waking hours ; for this is a voluntary exertion, and thus we cannot per- ceive their incongruity. Thus wc are deprived in fleep of the only two means by which wc can dlftingulfh the trains •of ideas palling in our imaginations, from thofc excited by our fenfations; and are led by their vivacity to believe them to belong to the latter. For the vivacity of thefe trains of ideas, palTing in the imagination, is greatly increafed by the .caufes above- mentioned; that is, by their not being dlfturbed or dllTevered either by the ap- pulfes of external bodies, as in furprife ; or by our voluntary exertions in comparing them with our previous knowledge of things, as in reafoning upon them. B. Now to apply. P. When by the art of the Painter or Poet a train of ideas is fuggefted to our Imaginations, which interefts us fo much by the pain or plea- fure it affords, that we ceafe to attend to the ir- ritations of common external objedls, and ceafe alfo to ufe any voluntary efforts to compare thefc interefling trains of ideas with our previous know- ledge of things, a complete reverie is produced ; during which time, however fliort, if it be but for a moment, the objedls themfelves appear to cxift before us. This, I think, has been called by an ingenious critic, the ideal prefence” of fucli objedls. (Elements of Crltlcifm by Lord Karnes.) And in refpedl to the compliment intended by Mr. Fielding to Mr. Garrick, it would feem that an ignorant Ruftic at the play of Hamlet, who has fome previous belief in the appearance of Ghofts, would fooner be liable to fall into a re- verie, and continue in it longer, than one who pofTeffed more knowledge of the real nature of things, and had a greater facility of exercifmg his reafon. F 4 72 INTERLUDE. J5. It muft require great art in the Painter or Poet to produce this kind of deception ? P. The matter muft be interefting from its fublimity, beauty, or novelty ; this is the feien- tific part ; and the art conhfts in bringing thefc diftinftiy before the eye, fo as to produce (as above mentioned) the ideal prefence of the object, in which the great Shakefpear particularly excels. B, Then it is not of any confequence whe- ther the reprefentations correfpond with nature ? P. Not if they fo much intereft the reader or fpe^lator as to induce the reverie above deferibed. Nature may be feen in the market-place, or at the card-table ; but we expeft fomething more than this in the play-houfe or pifture-room. The farther the artlft recedes from nature, the greater novelty he is likely to produce ; if he rifes above nature, he produces the fublime ; and beauty is probably a feleftion and new combination of her moft agreeable parts. Yourfelf will be fenfible of the truth of this dodrine, by recollefting over in 73 - t INTERLUDE. your mind the works of three of our celebrated artlfts. Sir Jofhua Reynolds has introduced fub- limity even into his portraits ; we admire the re- prefentation of perfons, wdiofe reality we fhonld have paffed by unnoticed. Mrs. Angelica Kauff- man attradls our eyes with beauty, which I fup- pofe no where exifts ; certainly few Grecian faces are feen in this country. And the daring pencil of Fufeli tranfports us beyond the boundaries of nature, and ravifhes us with the charm of the moft interefting novelty. And Shakefpear, who excels in all thefe together, fo far captivates the fpedlator, as to make him unmindful of every kind of violation of Time, Place, or Exiftence. As at the firft appearance of the Ghofl: of Hamlet, % his ear muft be dull as the fat weed which roots Itfelf on Lethe’s brink,” who can attend to the improbability of the exhibition. So in many feenes of the Tempeft we perpetually bc^ lieve the adtlon paffing before our eyes, and re- lapfe with fomewhat of dlftafte into common life at the intervals of the reprefentation. JB. I fuppofe a poet of lefs ability would find 74 INTERLUDE. fuch great machinery dlfRcult and cumberfome to manage ? P. Juft fo, we lliould be fliocked at the ap- parent improbabilities. As in the gardens of a Sicilian nobleman, deferibed in Mr. Brydone’s and in Mr. Swinburn’s travels, there are faid to be fix hundred ftatues of Imaginary monfters, which fo difguft the fpedlators, that the ftate had once a ferious defign of deftroying them ; and yet the very improbable monfters in Ovid’s Metamor- phofes have entertained the world for many cen- ' turies. P. The monfters in your Botanic Garden, I hope, are of the latter kind ? P. The candid reader muft determine. THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. CANTO ir. Again the Goddefs ftrlkes the golden lyre. And tunes to wilder notes the warbling wire ; With foft fufpended ftep Attention moves, t And Silence hovers o’er the liftening groves ; Orb within orb the charmed audience throng, And the green vault reverberates the fong. / Breathe foft, ye Gales !” the fair Carlhsta cries. Bear on broad wings your Votrefs to the Ikies. / Carllna. 1. 7 . Carline Thiflic. Of the clafs Confederate .7 I. O V E S OF Canto IL 76 How fweetly mutable yon orient hues, 9 As Morn’s fair hand her opening rofes ftrews ; How bright, when Iris blending many a ray, Binds in embroider’d wreath the brow of Day ; Males. The feeds of this and of many other plants of the fame clafs are furniihed with a plume, by which admirable me- chanifm they perform long aerial journies, croffing lakes and de- ferts, and are thus diffeminated far from the original plant, and have much the appearance of a Shuttlecock as they fly. The wings are of different conftrudlion, fome being like a divergent tuft of hairs, others are branched like feathers, fome are elevated fiom the crown of the feed by a {lender foot-ftalk, which gives them a very elegant appearance, others fit immediately on the crown of the feed. Nature has many other curious vegetable contrivances for the difperfion of feeds: fee note on Hclianthus. But perhaps none of them has more the appearance of defign than the admirable apparatus of Tillandfia for this purpofe. This plant grows on the branches of trees, like the mifleto, and never on the ground ; the feeds are furnifhed with many long threads on their crowns ; which, as they are driven forwards by the winds, wrap round the arms of trees, and thus hold them faft till they vegetate. This is very analogous to the migration of Spiders on the goffa- mer, who are faid to attach themfelves to the end of a long thread, and rife thus to the tops of trees or buildings, as the ac- cidental breezes carry them. 4 / Canto 11 . THE PLANTS. 77 Soft, when the pendant Moon with luftres pale O’er heav’n’s blue arch unfurls her milky veil ; While from the north long threads of fdvcr “ light Dart on fwift fnuttles o’er the tilTued night ! Breathe foft, ye Zephyrs ! hear my fervent fighs, Bear on broad wings your Vo t refs to the fkies !” « — Plume over plume in long divergent lines On whale-bone ribs the fair Mechanic joins ; 50 Inlays with cider down the filken ftrings, And weaves in wide expanfe D^dalian wings ; Round her bold fons the waving pennons binds, And walks with angel-ftcp upon the wdnds. So on the fliorelcfs air the intrepid Gaul Launch’d the vaft concave of his buoyant ball,— Journeying on high, the filken caftle glides Bright as a meteor through the azure tides ; ^8 LOVES OF Canto II. O’er towns, and towers, and temples, wins it’s way,' Or mounts fublime, and gilds the vault of day. 30 Silent with upturn’d eyes unbreathing crowds Purfue the floating wonder to the clouds ; And, flufli’d with tranfport or benumb’d with fear. Watch, as it rifes, the dimlnifli’d fphcrc. t — Now lefs and lefs — and now a fpeck is feen; — And now^ the fleeting rack obtrudes between ! With bended knees, raifed arms, and fuppliant brows, To every flirine they breathe their mingled vows. Save him, ye Saints! who o’er the good prcfide ; Bear him, ye Winds ! ye Stars benignant ! guide.” 40 — The calm Philofophcr in ether falls. Views broader ftars, and breathes in purer gales ; Sees, like a map, in many a waving line Round Earth’s blue plains her lucid waters fliine; Canto II. THE PLANTS. 79 Sees at his feet the forky lightnings glow. And hears innocuous thunders roar below. — Rife, great Mongolfier ! urge thy venturous flight High o’er the Moon’s pale ice-reflefted light ; High o’er the pearly Star, whofe beamy horn Hangs in the call:, gay harbinger of morn ; 50 lycave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing, Jove’s filver guards, and Saturn’s cryft’al ring; Leave the fair beams, which, ifluing from afar, Play with new luftres round the Georgian ftar ; Shun with ftrong oars the Sun’s attractive throne, /• The fparkling Zodiac, and the milky zone ; Where headlong Comets with increafing force Thro’ other iyfiiems bend their blazing courfe. — F'or thee Calliope her chair withdraws. For thee the Bear retraces his fhaggy paws ; 60 For thee the Bear. 1 . 60. Tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens Scorpius. Virg. Georg. 1 . i. 34. A new ftar appeared in Caf- fiope’s chair in 1572. Herfehei’s ConftruCtion of the Heavens. Phil. Trard'. V. 73. p. 255 . 8o LOVES OF Canto IL High o’er the North thy golden orb lliall roll. And blaze eternal round the wondering pole. So Argo, rifing from the fouthern main, Lights with new ftars the blue ethereal plain ; A With favouring beams the mariner protects. And the bold courfe, which firft it fleer’d, di- re6ls. i Inventrefs of the Woof, fair Lina flings The dying fhuttle through the dancing firings ; Inlays the broider d weft with flowery dyes, Quick beat the reeds, the pedals fall and rife ; 70 Slow from the beam the lengths of warp unwind, And dance and nod the mafly weights behind. — Linum. 1 . 67. Flax. Five males and five females. It was firft found on the banks of the Nile. The Linum Lufilani- cum, or Portugal flax, lias ten males ; fee tlie note on Curcuma. Ifis was faid to invent fpinning and weaving: mankind before that time were clothed with the fkins of animals. The fable of Arachne was to compliment this new art of fpinning and weaving, fuppofed to furpafs in finenefs the web of the Spider. Canto II. THE PLANTS. 8i Taught by her labours, from the fertile foil Immortal Isis clothed the banks of Nile ; And fair Arachne with her rival loom Found undeferved a melancholy doom. — * Five Sifter-nymphs with dewy fingers twine The beamy flax, and ftretch the fibre-line ; Quick eddying threads from rapid Ipindles reel, « Or whirl with beating foot the dizzy wheel. 8o — Charm’d round the buly Fair Jive fhepherds prefs, Praife the nice texture of their fnowy drefs. Admire the Artifts, and the art approve. And tell with honey’d words the tale of love. So now, where Derwent rolls his dufky floods Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods, The Nymph, Gossypia, treads the velvet fod. And warms with roly fmiles the watery God ; GojJypia. 1 . 87. Goffypium. The cotton plant. On the river Derwent, near Matlock, in Derbyfhire, Sir Richarit Part II. G I S2 LOVESOF Canto II. His ponderous oars to Ilender fpindles turns. And pours o’er mafly wheels his foamy urns ; 90 Arkwright has erecled his curious and magnificent machi- nery for fpinning cotton, which had been in vain attempted by many ingenious artifis before him. The cottom*wool is firfl: picked from the pods and feeds by women. It is then carded by cylindrical cards^ which move againft each other, with dif- ferent velocities. It is taken from thefe by an iron hand or comb, which has a motion fimilar to that of fcratching, and takes the wooloiF the cards longitudinally in refpedf to the fibres or ftaple, producing a continued line laofely cohering, called the Rove or Roving. This Rove, yet very loofely twilled, is then received or drawn into a whirling cannijier, and is rolled by the centrifugal force in fpiral lines within it, being yet too tender for the fpindle. It is then paffed between tzvo pairs of rollers-, the fecond pair moving fafler than the firfl elongate the thread with greater equality than can be done by the hand; and it is then twilled on fpoles or bobbins. The great fertility of the Cotton-plant in thefe fine flexile threads, while thofe from Flax, Hemp, and Nettles, or from the bark of the Mulberry-tree, require a previous putrefadlion of the parenchymatous fubflance, and much mechanical labour, and afterwards bleaching, renders this plant of great importance to the world. And fince Sir Richard Arkwright’s ingenious machine has not only greatly abbreviated and fimplified the la- bour and art of carding and fpinning the Cotton-wool, but per- forms both thefe circumflances hotter than can be done by hand, / Canto II. THE PLANTS. 83 With playful charms her hoary lover wins. And Wields his trident, — while the Monarch Ipins. — Firft with nice eye emerging Naiads cull From leathery pods the vegetable wool ; With wiry teeth revolving cards releafe The tangled knots, and fmooth the ravcll’d fleece; Next moves the Iron hand with Angers fine. Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line ; Slow, with foft lips, the whirling Can acquires The tender flkeins, and wraps in rifing fpires; 100 With quicken’d pace fuccejjive rollers move. And thefe retain, and thofe extend the rove ; ' it is probable that the clothing of this fmall feed will become the principal clothing of mankind ; though animal wool and filk may be preferable in colder climates, as they are more imperfedt condudbors of heat, and are thence a warmer clothing. Emerging Naiads. 1 . 93. earn circum Milefia vellera Nymph2e Carpebant, hyali faturo fucata colore. Vir. Georg. IV. 3^4. G i Canto IL 84 LOVES OF Then fly the fpoles, the rapid axles glow. And flowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below. Papyra, throned upon the banks of Nile, Spread her fmooth leaf, and waved her filver ft vie, Cyperus^ Papyrus. 1 . 105. Three males, one female. The leaf of this plant was firh; ufed for paper, whence the word paper-, and leaf, or folium, for a fold of a book. Afterwards the bark ofa fpecies of mulberry was ufed ; whence liber fignifies a book, and the bark of a tree. Before the invention of letters mankind may be fald to have been perpetually in their infancy, as the arts of one age or country generally died with their inven- tors. Whence arofe the policy, which flill continues in Hin- doflan, of obliging the fon to pradlife the profelTion of his father. After the difeovery of letters, the fa6ls of Aflronomy and Che- miftry became recorded in written language, tliough tlie antlent hieroglyphic characters for the planets and metals continue in ufe at this day. The antiquity of the invention of inufic, of aftronomical obfervations, and the manufacture of Gold and Iron, are recorded in Scripture. About twenty letters, ten cypliers, and feven crotchets, repre- fent by their numerous combinations all our ideas and fenfa- tions ! the mufical characters are probably arrived at their per- Canto II. THE PLANTS. 85 — ^The ftorled pyramid, the laurel’ d buft. The trophy’d arch had crumbled into duft; The facred fymbol, and the epic fong, (Unknown the character, forgot the tongue,) 1 10 With each unconquer’d chief, or fainted maid. Sunk undiftinguiflied in oblivion’s fhade. Sad o’er the fcatter’d ruins Genius figh’d, And infant Arts but 1 earn’d to lifp and died. Till to afton idl’d realms Papyra taught To paint in myftic colours Sound and Thought. fc6lion, unlefs emphafis, and tone, and fvvell, could be exprefled, as well as note and time. Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden, had a dehgn to have introduced a numeration by fqiiares, inflead of by decimation, which might have ferved the purpofes of philo- fophy better than the prefent mode, which is faid to be of Arabic invention. The alphabet is yet in a very imperfed flate ; per- haps feventeen letters could exprefs all the fimple founds in the European languages. In China they Have not yet learned to divide their words into fyllahles, and are thence necefTitated to employ many thou land charadfers ; it is faid above eighty thou- fand. It is to be wlflied, in this ingenious age, that the Euro- pean nations would accord to reform our alphabet. G 3 86 LOVES OF Canto II. With Wifdom’s voice to print the page fub- limc. And mark in adamant the fteps of Time, — Three favour’d youths her foft attention fhare. The fond difciples of the ftudious Fair, izo Flear her fweet voice, the golden procefs prove ; Gaze, as they learn ; and, as they liften, love. The jirji from Alpha to Omega joins The letter’d tribes along the level lines ; Weighs with nice ear the vowel, liquid, furd. And breaks in fyllables the volant word. Then forms the next upon the marfhal’d plain In deepening ranks his dexterous cypher-train ; And counts, as wheel the decimating bands. The dews of ^Egypt, or Arabia’s fands. 130 And then the third on four concordant lines Prints the lone crotchet, and the quaver joins ; Marks the gay trill, the folemn paufe inferibes. And parts with bars the undulating tribes. THE PLANTS. Canto II. T H E P L A N T S. 87', Pleafed round her cane-wove throne, the applaud- ing crowd Clapp’d their rude hands, their fwarthy foreheads bow’d ; With loud acclaim a prefent God!” they cry’d, A prefent God!” rebellowing fhores reply’d. — Then peal’d at intervals wdth mingled fwell 139 The echoing harp, hirlll clarion, horn, and fhell ; While Bards ecftatlc, bending o’er the lyre. Struck deeper chords, and wing’d the fong with fire. Then mark’d Aflronomers with keener eyes The Moon’s refulgent journey through the Ikies: Watch’d the fwift Comets urge their blazing cars. And weigh’d the Sun with his revolving Stars. High ralfed the Chymifts their Hermetic wands, (And changing forms obey’d their waving hands,) Her treafured Gold from Earth’s deep chambers tore, Or fufed and harden’d her chalybeate ore. 15a G 4 S8 LOVES OF Canto 1L All with bent knee from fair Papyra claim Wove by her hands the wreath of deathlefs fame. —Exulting Genius crown’d his darling child. The young arts clafp’d her knees, and Virtue fmiled. So now Delany forms her mimic bowers. Her paper foliage, and her filken flowers ; So now Delany, 1 . 155. Mrs. Delany has fini/hed nine hun- dred and feventy accurate and elegant reprefentations of different vegetables with the parts of their flowers, frudfificatlon, SiC. ac- cording with the claffification of Linneus, in what fhe terms paper mofaic. She began this work at the age of 74, when her fight would no longer ferve her to paint, in which fhe much excelled: between her age of 74 and 82, at which time her eyes quite failed her, file executed the curious Hortus ficcus above mentioned, which 1 fuppofe contains a greater number of plants than were ever before drawn from the life by any one perfon. Her method confided 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 feiflars accurately to the natural fize and form, and then pafling them on a dark ground ; the effedl of which is wonderful, and their accuracy lefs liable to fallacy than drawings. She is at this time (1788) in her 89th Canto 11 . THE PLANTS. 89 Her virgin train the tender fciffars ply. Vein the green leaf, the purple petal dye : Round wiry ftems the flaxen tendril bends, Mofs creeps below, and waxen fruit impends. 1 60 Cold Winter views amid his realms of fnow Delany’s vegetable tlatues blow ; Smooths his tlern brow, delays his hoary wing. And eyes with wonder all the blooms of fprlng. The gentle Lapsana, Nymph^a fair. And bright Calendula with golden hair. year, with all the powers of a fine underfiandlng ftill unimpair^ ed. I am informed another very ingenious lady, Mrs. North, is conftrudhng a fimllar Hortus ficcus, or Paper-garden ; which file executes on a ground of vellum with fuch elegant tafie and fcientific accuracy, that it cannot fail to become a work of in- eftimable value. Lapfana^ Nympho'a alha, Calendula. 1 . 165. And many other flowers clofe and open their petals at certain hours of the day ; and thus conflitute what Linneus calls the Horologe, or Watch of Flora. He enumerates 46 flowers, which poflTefs this kind of fenfibility. I fliall mention a few of them with their re- fpe 61 :ive hours of rifing and fetting, as Linneus terms them. He 90 LOVES OF Canto IL Watch with nice eye the Earth’s diurnal way. Marking her folar and fidereal day, divides them into meteoric flowers, which lefs accurately obferve the hour of unfolding, but are expanded fooner or later, accord- ing to the cloudinefs, moiflure, or preflure of the atmofphere. 2d. Tropical flowers open in the morning and clofe before evening every day ; but the hour of the expanding becomes earlier or later, as the length of the day increafes or decreafes. fldly. jTqulnodlal flowers, which open at a certain and exa6i: hour of the day, and for the moft part clofe at another determinate liour. \ Hence the Horologe or Watch of Flora is formed from nu- merous plants, of which the following are thofe mofl: common in this country. Leontodon taraxacum, Dandelion, opens at 5 — 6, ciofes at 8 — 9. Hieracium pilofella, moufe-ear hawk- weed, opens at 8, ciofes at 2. Sonchus Isevis, fmooth Sow- thiftle, at 5 and at 11 — 12. La6luca fativa, cultivated Lettice, at 7 and 10. Tragopogon luteum, yellow Goatfbeard, at 3 — 5 and at 9 — lO. Lapfana, nipplewort, at 5 — 6 and at 10 — i. f Nymphsea alba, white water lily, at 7 and 3. Papaver nudi- caule, naked poppy, at 5 and at 7. Hemerocallis fulva, tawny Day-lily, at 5 and at 7 — 8. Convolvulus, at 5 — 6. Malva, Mallow, at 9 — 10 and at i. Arenaria purpurea, purple Sand- w^ort, at 9 — 10 and at 2 — 3. Anagallis, pimpernel, at 7 — 8. Portulaca hortenfis, garden Purflaln, at 9 — 10, and at ii — 12. Dianthus prolifer, proliferous Pink, at 8 and at i. Cichoreum, Succory, at 4 — 5. Hypochaeris, at 6—7, and at 4 — 5. Crepis, Canto II. THE PLANTS. Her flow nutation, and her varying clime, 169 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. — Firft in its brazen cell reluctant roll’d Bends the dark fprlng in many a fleely fold. On fplral brafs is ftretch’d the wiry thong Tooth urges tooth, and wheel drives wheel along; In diamond-eyes the pollfh’d axles flow. Smooth hides the hand, the balance pants below. Round the white circlet in relievo bold, A Serpent twines his fcaly length in gold ; 1 80 And brightly pencll’d on the enamel’d fphere Live the fair trophies of the palling year. — Here Times huge fingers grafp his giant mace, And dafh proud Superftltion from her bafe ; at 4 — 5, and at 10 — ii. Plcris, at 4 — 5, and at 12. Calen- dula field, at 9, and at 3. Calendula African, at 7, and at 3 “ 4 * As thefe obfervations were probably made in the botanic gar- dens at Upfal, they mufl require farther attention to fuit them to our climate. See Stillingfieet’s Calendar of Flora. LOVES OF Canto IL ^2 Rend her ftrong towers and gorgeous fanes, and filed The crumbling fragments round her guilty head. There the gay Hours, whom wreaths of rofes deck. Lead their young trains amid the cumberouswreck. And, flowly purpling o’er the mighty wafte, 189 Plant the fair growths of Science and of Tafte. While each light Moment, as it dances by With feathery foot and pleafure-twinkling eye. Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kifs. The callow nefllings of domeftic Blifs. As yon gay clouds, which canopy the fkies. Change their thin forms, and lofe their lucid dyes ; So the foft bloom of beauty’s vernal charms Fades in our eyes, and withers in our arms. — Bright as the filvery plume, or pearly fliell. The fnow-white rofe, or lily’s virgin bell, 500 The fair Helleboras attradlive fhone. Warm’d every Sage, and every Shepherd won. — Hclkhorus. 1 . 201. Many males, many females. The Cakto II. THE PLANTS. 93 Round the gay filters prefs the enamour d hajidsy And feek with foft folicltude their hands. — Erewhile how chang’d ! — in dim fuffufion lies The glance divine, that lighten’d in their eyes; Cold are thofe lips, where fmiles feduilive hung. And the wxak accents linger on their tongue ; Each rofeate feature fades to livid green — — Difgufl: with face averted Ihuts the fcene. 210 So from his gorgeous throne, which awed the world. The mighty Monarch of Affyria hurl’d, Helleborus niger, or Chrlftmas rofe, has a large beautiful white flower, adorned with a circle of tubular two lipp’d nedfaries. After impregnation the flower undergoes a remarkable change, tlie neilaries drop off, but tlie white corol remains, and gradu- ally becomes quite green. This curious metamorphofe of the corol, v,?hen the ne6laries fall off, feems to fliew that the white juices of the corol were before carried to the ne6laries, for the purpofe of producing honey ; becaufe when thefe ne6laries fall off, no more of the white juice is fecreted in the corol, but it be- comes green, and degenerates into a calyx. See note on Loni- cera. The ne61ary of the Tropseolum, garden nallurtion, is a coloured horn growing from the calyx. LOVES OF Canto IL 94 ' Sojourn’d with brutes beneath the midnight ftorm. Changed by avenging Heaven in mind and form. — Prone to the earth He bends his brow fuperb, . Crops the young floret and the bladed herb; Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy fide Of flow Euphrates laps the muddy tide. Long eagle plumes his arching neck Inveft, 519 Steal round his arms, and clafp his fliarpen’d breaft; Dark brlnded hairs, in briftling ranks, behind, lilfe o’er his back, and ruflle in the wind ; Clothe his lank fides, his flirlvel’d limbs furround, And human hands with talons print the ground. Silent in fhlnlng troops the Courtier-throng Purfue their monarch, as he crawls along ; E’en Beauty pleads in vain with fmlles and tears, / Nor Flattery’s felf can pierce his pendant ears. Two Sifter-Nymphs to Ganges’ flow^ery brink Bend their light fteps, the lucid water drink, 230' Two Sijler-Kymphs, 1. 229. Menifpermiunj Cocculus. Indian Canto IL THE PLANTS. 95 Wind through the dewy rice, and nodding canes, (As eight black Eunuchs guard the facred plains). With playful malice watch the fcaly brood. And fhower the inebriate berries on the flood. — Stay In your cryftal chambers, filver tribes ! Turn your bright eyes, and fliun the dangerous bribes ; The trameird net with lefs deftrucflion fwecps Your curling fliallows, and your azure deeps; With lefs deceit, the gilded fly beneath,, 239 Lurks the fell hook unfeen, — to tafte is death ! — Dim your flow eyes, and dull your pearly coat, Drunk on the waves your languid forms fliall float. On ufelefs flns in giddy circles play. And Herons and Otters fcize you for their prey. — - berry. Two houles, twelve males. In the female flower there are two flyles and eight filaments without anthers on their fum- mits ; which are called by Linneus eunuchs. See the note on Curcuma. The berry intoxicates fifli. Saint Anthony'^of Padua, when the people refuted to hear him, preached to the filh, and converted them. Addifon’s Travels in Italy. 96 LOVESOF Canto 1L So, when the Saint from Padua’s gracelefs land In filent anguifli fought the barren ftrand. High on the fhatter’d beech fublime He flood. Still' d with his waving arm the babbling flood ; To Man’s dull ear/’ He crj’d, I call in vain, Hear me, ye fcaly tenants of the main !” — Milhapen Seals approach in circling flocks, 551 In dufky mail the Tortoife climbs the rocks. Torpedoes, Sharks, Rays, Porpus, Dolphins, pour Their twinklingfquadrons round the glittering fhore; With tangled fins, behind, huge Phocae glide, s And Whales and Grampl fwell the dlflant tide. Then kneel’d the hoary Seer, to Heav’n addrefs’d His fiery eyes, and fmote his founding breafl; N Blefs ye the Lord,” with thundering voice he cry’d, 359 Blefs ye the Lord!” the bending fhores reply’d; The winds and waters caught the facred word, And mingling echoes fhouted Blefs the Lord!” The liftenlng fhoals the quick contagion feel. Pant on the floods, inebriate wdth their zeal, 3 Canto IT. THE PLANTS. 97 Opc their wide jaws, and bow their filmy heads. And dafli wltli frantic fins their foamy beds. Sopha’d on filk, amid her charm-built towers, Her meads of afphodel, and amaranth bowers. Where Sleep and Silence guard the foft abodes. In fuller! apathy Pa paver nods. P'alnt o’er her couch In fclntlllatlng ftreams Pafs the thin forms of P'ancy and of Dreams ; \ Papaver, 1. 270 . Poppy. Klany males, many females. The plants of this clafs are almofl all of them poifonous; the hnefl opium is procured by wounding the heads of large pop- pies with a tlrree-edged knife, and tying mufcle-fliells to them to catch the drops. In fmall quantities it exhilarates the mind, raifes the pafTions, and invigorates the body : in large ones it is fucceeded by intoxication, languor, ftupor, and death. It is cuftomary in India for a meilenger to travel above a hundred miles without reft or food, except an appropriated bit of opium for himfelf, and a larger one for his horfe at certain flages. The emaciated and decrepid appearance, with the ridiculous and idiotic geftures, of the opium-eaters in ConHantinople is well deferibed in the Memoirs of Baron de Tott, Part 1L H Canto II. ^8 L O V E S O F Froze by inchantment on the velvet ground, Fair youths and beauteous ladies glitter round ; On cryftal pedeftals they feem to figh, Bend the meek knee, and lift the imploring eye. — And now the Sorcerefs bares her flirivcl’d / hand, And circles thrice in air her ebon w^and ; Flufh’d with new^ life defeending ftatnes talk, The pliant marble foftening as they walk ; 280 With deeper fobs reviving lovers breathe. Fair bofoms rife, and foft hearts pant beneath ; V’ With warmer lips relenting damfels fpcak. And kindling bluflics tinge the Parian check ; To vlcwlefs lutes aerial voices fing. And hovering loves are heard on ruftling wdng. — She w^aves her wand again! — frefh horrors leizc Their ftlffcnlng limbs, their vital currents freeze; fBy each cold nymph her marble lover lies, '!A?id iron flumbers feal their glaffy eyes. 2 go . . . V V- -Mr So with his dread Caduceus Heumes led .?■- From the dark regions of the imprifon’d detid, 3 Canto II. THE PLANTS. 99 Or drove In filent fhoals the lingering train To Night’s dull Ihore, and Pluto’s dreary reign. So \\dth her waving pencil Crewe commands The realms of Tafte, and Fancy’s fairy lands; Calls up with magic voice the drapes, that fleep In earth’s dark bofom, or unfathom’d deep ; That fhrlned in air on viewlefs wings afplre, Or blazing bathe In elemental fire. 300 As with nice touch her plaftic hand die moves. Rife the fine forms of Beauties, Graces, Loves; Kneel to the fair Inchantrels, fmile or fio-h. And fade or dourlfh, as die turns her eye. Fair CisTA, rival of the roly dawn, Call’d her light choir, and trod the dewy lawn ; f So with her waving pencil. 1. 295. Alluding to the many- beautiful paintings by Mifs Emma Crewe, to whom the au- thor is indebted for the very elegant Frontifpiece, where Flora, at play with Cupid, is loading him with garden-tools. * S. Cijtui lahdaniferus. 1 . 305. Many males, one female. The H 3 Hail’d with rude melody the new-born May, As cradled yet in April’s lap flie lay. 1 . Born in yon blaze of orient fky, j Sweet May! thy radiant form unfold, 310 petals of this beautiful and fragrant flirub, as well as of the QEnothera, tree-primrofe, and others, continue expanded but a few hours, falling off about noon, or foon after, in hot wea- ther. The moft beautiful flowers of tlie CaClus grandiflorus (fee Cerea) are of equally fliort duration, but liave their exift- ence in the night. And the flowers of the Hibifeus trionuin arc laid to continue but a Tingle hour. "I'he courtlhip between the males and females in thefe flowers might be ealily watclied ; the males are faid to approach and recede trom the females alternately. The flowers of the Hibifeus fmenfis, mutable rofe, live in the A\'eil; Indies, their native climate, but one day ; but have tliis remarkable property, they are white at their iirfl: expanlion, then change to deep red, and become purple as they decay. The gum or refin of this fragrant vegetable is colle61;ed from extenfivc underwoods of it in the Kail; by a fingular contrivance. Long leathern thongs are tied to poles and cords, and drawn over the tops of thelc Ihrubs about noon ; which thus colledf the dull of the anthers, which adheres to the leather, and is occa- honally feraped oft. Thus in fome degree is the manner imi- tated, in wdiich the bee colledts on his thighs and lee's the fame t material for the conftrndlion of his combs, Canto IL THE PLANTS. loi Unclofc thy blue voluptuous eye, And wave thy fliadowy locks of gold. II. For Thee the fragrant zephyrs blow, For Thee defeends the funny fliower ; The rills in fofter murmurs flow. And brighter bloffoms gem the bower. III. Light Graces drefs’d in flowery wreaths. And tiptoe Joys their hands combine ; And Love his fvveet contagion breathes. And laughing dances round thy flirine. 3:50 IV. « Warm with new life the glittering throngs On quivering fin and ruftling wdng Delighted join their votive fongs. And hail thee. Goddess of the Spring.” ✓ o’er the green brinks of Severn’s oozy bed. In changeful rings, her fprightly troops She led ; H 3 102 LOVES OF Canto IL Pan tripp’d before, where Eudnefs fliades the mead. And blew with glowing lip his fevenfold reed ; Emerging Naiads fwell’d the jocund ftrain, And aped with mimic ftep the dancing train. — 330 1 faint, I fall !” — at noon the Beauty cried. Weep o’er my tomb, ye Nymphs!” — and funk i and died. • — Thus, when white Winter o’er the Ihivering clime Drives the ftlll fnow, or fliowers the fiver rime ; As the lone fhepherd o’er the dazzling rocks Prints his fteep ftep, and guides his vagrant flocks; Views the green holly veil’d in net-work nice, Her vermil clufters twinkling in tlie ice ; Admires the lucid vales, and flumbering floods, Sufpended catarafts, and cryftal woods, 340 Tranfparcnt towns, with feas of milk between. And eyes with tranfport the refulgent feene : Sevenfold reed. 1 . 328. The fevenfold reed, with which Pan is frequently deferibed, feems to indicate, that he was the in- ventor of the mufical gamut. Canto IT. THE PLANTS. 103 If breaks the funfhine o’er the fpangled trees. Or flits on tepid wing the wxftern breeze, In liquid dews defcends the tranfient glare. And all the glittering pageant melts in air. Where Andes hides his cloud- wreath’d creft in fnow’, And roots his bafe on burning fands below ; CiNCHo^^A, faireft of Peruvian maids. To Health’s bright Goddefs in the breezy glades On Quito’s temperate plain an altar rear’d, 351 Trill’d the loud hymn, the folemn prayer pre- ferr’d : Each balmy bud flie cull’d, and honey’d flower. And hung with fragrant wreaths the facred bower; Cinchona. 1 . 349. Peruvian bark-tree. Five males, and one female. Several of thefe trees were felled for other pur- pofes into a lake, when an epidemic fever of a very mortal kind prevailed at Loxa in Peru, and the woodmen, accidentally drinking the water, were cured ; and thus were difeovered the virtues of this famous drug. IC4 L O V E S O F Canto II. Each pearly fea fhe fearch’d, and fparkling mine. And piled their treafures on the gorgeous fhrine ; Her fuppliant voice for fickening Loxa raifed, ✓ Sweet breath’d the gale, and bright the cenfor blazed. — Divine Hygeia ! on thy votaries bend Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend! 360 While ftreaming o’er the night w^ith baleful glare The ftar of Autumn rays his mifty hair ; % Fierce from his fens the Giant Ague fprings. And wrapp’d in fogs defccnds on vampire wings; Before, with Ihuddering limbs cold Tremor reels. And Fever’s burning noftril dogs his heels ; Loud claps the grinning Fiend his iron hands. Stamps with black hoof, and fhouts along the lands; Withers the damalh check, unnerves the ftrong. And drives with fcorpion-lalh the fhrleking throng. 370 Canto II. THE PLANTS. 105 Oh, Goddcfs! on thy kneeling votaries bend Thy angel-looks, oh, hear 11s, and defend!” — Hy GEiA, leaning from the blcft abodes. The cryllal manfions of the immortal gods. Saw the fad Nymph uplitt her dewy eyes. Spread her white arms, and breathe her fervid fighs ; Call’d to her fair ailbciates. Youth and Joy, And fhot all radiant through the glittering Iky ; Loofe waved behind her golden train of hair. Her fapphirc mantle fwam diffufed in air. — 380 O’er the grey matted mofs, and panfied fod. With ftep fublime the glowing Goddefs trod. Gilt with her beamy eye the confeious fliade. And with her fmile celeftial blefs’d the maid. Come to my arms, with feraph voice fhe ‘‘ cries. Thy vows are heard, benignant Nymph! arife ; Where yon afpiring trunks fantaftic wreath Their mingled roots, and drink the rill bc- neath, LOVES OF Canto IT. io6 Yield to the biting axe thy facred wood. And ftrew the bitter foliage on the flood.” 390 In filent homage bow’d the blufliing maid, — 'Five youths athletic haften to her aid, ' O’er the fear’d hills re-echoing flrokes refound. And headlong forefts thunder on the ground. Round the dark roots, rent bark, and fliatter’d boughs, From ocherous beds the fwelllng fountain flows ; With ftreams auftere its winding margin laves. And pours from vale to vale its dufky waves. . — As the pale fquadrons, bending o’er the brink. View with a figh their alter’d forms, and drink ; Slow -ebbing life with refluent crimfon breaks O’er their wan lips, andpaints their haggard cheeks : Through each fine nerve rekindling tranfports dart, 403 Light the quick eye, and fwell the exulting heart. — Thus Israel’s heav’n-taught chief o’er track- lefs fands Led to the fultry rock his murmuring bands. Canto II. THE PLANTS. Bright o’er his brows the forky radiance blazed. And high in air the rod divine He raifed. — Wide yawns the cliff! — amid the thirfty throng Rufli the redundant waves, and fliine along ; With gourds, and fliells, and helmets, prefs the bands, 411 Ope their parch’d lips, and fpread their eager hands. Snatch their pale infants to the exuberant fliower, Kneel on the fliatter’d rock, and blefs the Al- mighty Power. Bolfler’d with down, amid a thoufand wants, Pale Dropfy rears his bloated form, and pants ; Quench me, ye cool pellucid rills 1 ” he cries. Wets his parch’d tongue, and rolls his hollow eyes. So bends tormented Tantalus to drink. While from his lips the refluent waters fhrink ; ' Again the rifing if ream his bofom laves, 451 And Thirfl: confumes him ’mid circumfluent waves. — Divine Hygeia, from the bending Iky Dcfcending, liftens to his piercing cry; io8 LOVES OF Canto H. Affumes bright Digitalis’ drcfs and air. Her ruby cheek, white neck, and raven hair ; Digitalis. I. 425. Of tlie clafs Two Powers. Four malesi one female. Foxglove. Tlie effe6l of this plant in that kind of Dropfy, which is termed anafarca, where the legs and thighs are much fvvelled, attended with great difficulty of breathing, is truly afloniffiing. In the afeites accompanied with anafarca of people paft the meridian of life, it will alfo fometimes fucceed. The method of adminiilering it requires fome caution, as it is liable, in greater dofes, to induce very violent and debilitating fickncfs, which continues onfe or two days, during which time the dropfical colleclion, however, difappears. One large fpoon- fill, or half an ounce, of the following deco6Iion, given twice a day, will generally fucceed in a few days. But in more robull people, one large fpoonful every two hours, till four fpoonfuls are taken, or till licknefs occurs, will evacuate the dropfical iwellings with greater certainty, but is liable to operate more violently. Boil four ounces of the frefh leaves of purple Fox- glove (which leaves may be had at all fcafons of the year) from two pints of water to twelve ounces ; add to the llraincd liquor, while yet warm, three ounces of redified fpirlt of wine. A theory of the effects of this medicine, with many fuccefsful cafes, may be feen in a pamphlet, called “ Experiments on Mucilagi- nous and Purulent Matter,” publiflicd by Dr.Darwin,in 1780. ^old by Cadell, London. Canto IL THE PLANTS. 109 Four youths proteJ.JohwaTi.t9fF:[ult C/urrch 'lard . tip. > Canto III. THE PLANTS. 127 The headlong precipice that thwarts her flight. The tracklefs defert, the cold ftarlefs night. And ftern-eye’d Murderer with his knife behind. In dread fucceffion agonize her mind. O’er her fair limbs convulfive tremors fleet, Start in her hands, and flruggle in her feet; 70 In vain to fcream with quivering lips flie tries, And ftrains in palfy’d lids her tremulous eyes; In vain Ihe wills to run, fly, fwim, walk, creep ; The Will prefides not in the bower of Sleep. ‘The Will prejidcs not. 1 . 74. Sleep confifls in the abolition of all voluntary power, both over our mufcular motions and our ideas ; for we neither walk nor reafon in fleep. But at the fame time, many of our mufcular motions, and many of our ideas continue to be excited into a£l;ion in confequence of inter- nal irritations and of internal fenfations ; for the heart and arte- ries continue to bea^ and we experience variety of palTions, and even hunger and third: in our dreams. Hence I conclude, that our nerves of fenfe are not torpid or inert during deep ; but that they are only precluded from the perception of external ob- jedls, by their external organs being rendered unfit to tranfmit to them the appulfes of external bodies, during the fufpenfion of the power of volition ; thus the eyelids are clofed in fleep, and 1 fuppofe the tympanum of the ear is not flretched, becaufe they 128 LOVES OF Canto IIL — On her fair bofom fits the Demon- Ape Eredl, and balances his bloated fhape ; Rolls in their marble orbs his Gorgon-eyes, And drinks with leathern ears her tender cries. * Arm’d with her ivory beak, and talon-hands, Defcending Fica dives into the fands ; 8o \ are deprived of the voluntary exertions of the mufcles appro- priated to thefe purpofes ; and it is probable fomething fimilar happens to the external apparatus of our other organs of fenfe, which may render them unfit for their office of perception dur- ing fleep : for milk put into the mouths of fleeping babes occa- fions them to fwallow and fuck ; and, if the eyelid is a little opened in the day-light by the exertions of difturbed fleep, the perfon dreams of being much dazzled. See firfl; Interlude. When there arifes in fleep a painful defire to exert the volun- tary motions, it is called the Nightmare or Incubus. When the fleep becomes fo imperfe6l that fome mufcular motions obey this exertion of defire, people have walked about, and even per- formed fome domeftic offices in fleep ; one of thefe fleep- walkers I have frequently feen ; once Ihe fmelt of a tube-rofe, and fung, and drank a difli of tea in this ftate ; her awaking was always attended with prodigious furprife, and even fear ; this difeafe had daily periods, and feemed to be of the epileptic kind. Ficus indica, 1. 8o. Indian Fig-tree. Of the clafs Polygamy. 129 Canto III. THE PLANTS. Chamber’d in earth with cold oblivion lies ; Nor heeds, ye Suitor-traiUy your amorous fighs ; Erewhile with renovated beauty blooms. Mounts into air, and moves her leafy plumes. — ^Where Hamps and Manifold, their cliffs among. Each In his flinty channel winds along ; With lucid lines the dufky moor divides. Hurrying to intermix their After tides. 88 Where ftlll their filver-bofom’d Nymphs abhor. The blood-fmear’d manfion of gigantic Tfior, — Th is large tree fifes with oppofite branches on all fides, with long egged leaves; each branch emits a flender flexile depending appendage from its fummit like a cord, which roots into the earth and fifes again. Sloan. Hid. of Jamaica. Lin. Spec. Plant. See Capri-ficus. Gigantic Thor. 1 . 90. Near the village of Wetton, a mile or two above Dove-Dale, near Alhburn in Derbyfhire, there is a fpacious cavern about the middle of the afcent of the mountain, which dill retains the name of Thor’s houfe; below it is an ex- tenfive and romantic common, where the rivers Harhps and Manifold fmk into the earth, and rife again in llam gardens, the Part IL K 130 LOVES OF Canto III. — Erft, fires volcanic in the marble womb Of cloud-wrapp’dWETTON raifed the mafiy dome; feat of John Port, Efq. about three miles below. Where thefc rivers rife again there are impreffions refembling Filh, which ap- pear to be of Jafper bedded in Limeftone. Calcareous Spars, Shells converted into a kind of Agate, corallines in Marble, ores of Lead, Copper, and Zinc, and many flrata of .Flint, or Chert, and of Toad hone, or Lava, abound in this part of the country. The Druids are faid to have offered human facrifices inclofed in wicker idols to Thor. Thurfday had its name from this Deity. The broken appearance of the furface of many parts of this country ; with the Swallows, as they arc called, or bafons on fome of the mountains, like volcanic Craters, where the rain- water finks into the earth ; and the numerous large hones, which fecra to have been thrown over the land by volcanic explofions; as well as the great maffes of Toadhone or Lava; evince the exiftence of violent earthquakes at fomc early period of the world. At this time the channels of thefe fubterraneous rivers feem to have been formed, when a long tra6l of rocks were raifed by the fea flowing in upon the central fires, and thus producing an irre- fiftible explofion of fleam ; and when thefe rocks again fubfided, their parts did not exadly correfpond, but left a long cavity arched over in this operation of nature. The cavities at Caflle- ton and Buxton in Derbyfhire feem to have had a limilar origin, as well as this cavern termed Thor’s houfe. See Mr. Whitc- hurfl s and Dr. Hutton’s Theories of the Earth, I Canto 111 . THE PLANTS. ^31 Rocks rear’d on rocks in huge disjointed piles Form the tall turrets, and the lengthen’d ailes ; Broad ponderous piers fuftain the roof, and wide Branch the vaft rain-bov/ ribs from fide to fide. While from above defeends in milky ftreams One fcanty pencil of illufive beams, Sufpended crags and gaping gulfs illumes, 99 And gilds the horrors of the deepen’d glooms. — Here oft the Naiads, as they chanced to flray Near the dread Fane on Thor’s returning day. Saw from red altars fl;reams of gulltlefs blood Stain their green reed-beds, and pollute their flood ; Heard dying babes in wicker prifons wall. And fhrieks of matrons thrill the affrighted Gale ; While from dark caves Infernal Echoes mock. And Fiends triumphant fiiout from every rock ! — So ftill the Nymphs emerging lift In air 109 Their fnow- white flioulders and their azure hair ; Sail with fweet grace the dimpling flreams along, Liflcning the Shepherd’s or the Miner’s fong ; K LOVES OF Canto IIL 13^ But, when afar they view the giant- cave. On timorous fins they circle on the wave. With ftreaming eyes and throbbing hearts recoil. Plunge their fair forms, and div^e beneath the foil— Clofed round their heads reludlant eddies fink, And wider rings fucceffive dafiii the brink. — Three thoufand fteps in fparry clefts they ftray. Or feek through fullen mines their gloomy w ay ; On beds of Lava fleep in coral cells, I5i Or figh o’er jafper fifli, and agate fhells. Till, where famed Ilam leads his boiling floods Through flowery meadows and impending woods, Pleafed with light fpring they leave the dreary night. And ’mid circumfluent furges rife to light ; Shake their bright locks, the w idening vale purfue. Their fea-green mantles, fringed wdth pearly dew; In playful groups by towering Thorp they move. Bound o’er the foaming wears, and rulh into the Dove. 130 Canto III. THE PLANTS. ^33 With fierce dlfiiradled eye Impatiens ftands. Swells her pale cheeks, and brandiflies her hands, * Impatiens. 1 . 13 1. Touch me not. The feed vefTel confihs of one cell with five divifions ; each of thefe, when the feed is ripe, on being touched, fuddenly folds itfelf into a fpiral form, leaps from the ftalk, and difperfes the feeds to a great difiance by its elafiicity. The capfule of the geranium and the beard of wild oats are twified for a fimilar purpofe, and diflodge their feeds r on wet days, when the ground is befi fitted to receive them. Hence one of thefe, with its adhering capfule or beard fixed on a fiand, ferves the purpofe of an hygrometer, twifiing itfelf more or lefs according to the moifiure of the air. The awn of barley is furnhhed with fiijfF points, which, like tlie teeth Qf a faw, are all turned towards one end of it ; as this long awn lies upon the ground, it extends itfelf in the moifi air of night, and pu files forwards the barley corn, which it adheres to ; in the day it fiiortens as it dries ; and as thefe points prevent it from receding, it draws up its pointed end ; and thus, creeping like a worm, will travel many feet from the parent fiem. That very Ingenious Mechanic Phllofopher, Mr. Edgeworth, once made on this principle a wooden automaton; its back confified of foft Fir-wood, about an inch fquare, and four feet long, made of pieces cut tlie crofs-way in refpedl to the fibres of the wood, and glued together: it had two feet before, and two behind, which fupported the back horizontally ; but were placed with their ex- tremities, which were armed with fiiarp points of iron, bending backwards. Hence, in moifi weather the back lengthened, and 3 I 134 L O V E S O F Canto III. With rage and hate the aftonllli’d groves alarms. And hurls her infants from her frantic arms. — So when Med^v left her native foil. Unaw’d by danger, unfubdued by toil; Her weeping fire and beckoning friends wlthftood, And launch’d enamour’d on the boiling flood ; One ruddy boy her gentle lips carefs’d, And one fair girl was pillowed on her breaft ; 140 While high in air the golden treafure burns. And Love and Glory guide the prow by turns. But, when Theffalia’s inaufpiclous plain Received the matron-heroine from the main ; While horns of triumph found, and altars burn. And fliouting nations hail their Chief’s return ; Aghaft, She faw new- deck’d the nuptial bed, And proud Creusa to the temple led; the two foremoft feet were pufheci forwards; in dry weather the liinder feet were drawn after, as the obliquity of the points of the feet prevented it from receding. And thus, in a month or two, it walked acrofs the room which it inhabited. Miglit not this machine be applied as an Hygrometer to fome meteorological purpofe ? C 'anto hi. THE PLANTS. 135 Saw her in Jason’s mercenary arms Deride her virtues, and infult her charms; 150 Saw her dear babes from fame and empire torn, In foreign realms deferted and forlorn ; Her love rejefted, and her vengeance braved. By Him her beauties won, her virtues faved. — With ftern regard fhe eyed the traitor-king. And felt. Ingratitude ! thy keeneft /ling ; Nor HeaveiT,” flie cried, nor Earth, nor Hell can hold A Heart abandon’d to the thirft of Gold !” Stamp’d with wild foot, and fliook her horrent brow, And call’d the furies from their dens below. 160 — Slow out of earth, before the feftive crowds. On wheels of fire, amid a night of clouds, Drawn by fierce fiends arofe a magic car. Received the Queen, and hovering flam ’d In air. — As with ralfed hands the fuppllant traitors kneel. And fear the vengeance they deferve to feel, K 4 I Canto III. 136 LOVES OF Thrice with parch’d lips her gulltlefs babes flic prefs’d. And thrice fhe clafp’d them to her tortur’d breafl: ; Awhile with white uplifted eyes fhe flood. Then plung’d her trembling poniards in their blood. 1 70 Go, kifs your fire ! go, fliare the bridal mirth !” She cry’d, and hurl’d their quivering limbs on earth. Rebellowing thunders rock the marble towers. And red-tongued lightnings flioot their arrowy fhowers ; Earth yawns I — the cralhlng ruin finks ! — o’er all Death with black hands extends his mighty Pall ; Their mingling gore the Fiends of Vengeance quaff. And Hell receives them with convulflve laugh. Round the vex’d ifles where fierce tornadoes roar. Or tropic breezes footh the fultry fliore ; 180 Canto III. THE PLANTS. 137 What time the eve her gauze pellucid fpreads O’er the dim flowers, and veils the mifliy meads; Slow o’er the twilight fands or leafy walks. With gloomy dignity Dictamna flialks ; Di^amnus, 1 . 184. Fraxliiella. In the (lill evenings of dry feafons this plant emits an inflammable air or gas, and flafhes on the approach of a candle. There are inflances of human crea- tures who have taken fire fpontaneoufly, and been totally con- fumed. Phil. Tranf. The odours of many flowers, fo delightful to our fenfe of fmell, as well as the difagreeable fccnts of others, arc owing to the exhalation of their eflential oils. Thefe effentlal oils have greater or lefs volatility, and are all inflammable ; many of them are poifons to us, as^ thofe of Laurel and Tobacco ; others pofiefs a narcotic quality, as is evinced by the oil of cloves inflantly re- lieving flight tooth-achs ; from oil of cinnamon relieving the hiccup ; and balfam of peru relieving the pain of fome ulcers. They are all deleterious to certain infeds, and hence their ufe in the vegetable economy, being produced in flowers or leaves to proted them from the depredations of their voracious enemies. One of the eflential oils, that of turpentine, is recommended, by M. de ThofTe, for the purpofe of deflroying infeds which infed both vegetables and animals. Having obferved that the trees were attacked by multitudes of fmall infeds of different colours (pucins ou pucerons) which injured their young branches, he deffroyed them all entirely in the following manner: he put o O 1,8 L O V E S O F Canto III. mJ In fulphurous eddies round the weird dame Plays the light gas, or kindles into flame. ^ If refts the traveller his wxary head. Grim Mancinella haunts the mofly bed, into a bowl a few handfuls of earth, on which he poured a fniall quantity of oil of turpentine; he then beat the whole together with a fpatuia, pouring on it water till it became of the confift- cnce of foup ; with this mixture he moiftened the ends of the branches, and both the infects and their eggs were deftroyed, and other infects kept aloof by the feent of the turpentine. He adds, that he deftroyed the fleas of his puppies by once bathing them in warm water impregnated with oil of turpentine. Mem. d’ Agriculture, An. 1787, Tremeft. Printerap. p. 109. I fprinkled fome oil of turpentine, by means of a brufli, on fome branches of a nedtarine tree, which was covered with the aphis; but it killed both the infedt and the branches : a folution of arfe- nic much diluted did the fame. The drops of medicine are fup- plied with refins, balfaras, and elTential oils ; and the tar and pitch, for mechanical purpofes, are produced from thefe vege- table fecretions. ■ Mayicinclla. 1. 188. Hippomane. With the milky juice of this tree the Indians poifon their arrows; the dew-drops which tall from it are fo cauftic as to bllfler the (kin, and produce dan- gerous ulcers ; whence many have found their death by fleeping under its fhadc. Variety of noxious plants abound in all coun- Canto III. THE PLANTS. 139 Brews her black hebenon, and, ftealing near. Pours the curft venom in his tortured ear. — 190 Wide o’er the mad’ning throng Urtica flings Her barbed fliafts, and darts her poifon’d flings. tries ; in our own the deadly night- fliade, lienbane, hounds- tongue, and many others, are fcen in almofl every high road un- touched by animals. Some have alked, what is the ufe of fuch abundance of poifons ? The naufeous or pungent juices of fome vegetables, like the thorns of others, are given them for their de- fence from the depredations of animals ; hence the thorny plants are in general wholefome and agreeable food to granivorous ani- mals. See note on Ilex. The flowers dr petals of plants are perhaps in general more acrid than their leaves ; hence they are much feldomer eaten by infedfs. This feems to have been the ufe of the effential oil in the vegetable economy, as obferved above in the notes on Didlamnus and Ilex. The fragrance of plants is thus a part of their defence. Thefe pungent or naufe- ous juices of vegetables have fupplied the fcience of medicine with its principal materials, fuch as purge, vomit, intoxicate, &c. i Urtlca. 1 . 191. Nettle. The fling has a bag at its bafe, and a perforation near its point, exadtly like the flings of wafps and the teeth of adders ; Hook, IMicrogr. p. 142. Is the fluid con- tained in this bag, and prefTed through the perforation into the wound, made by the point, a cauftic effential oil, or a concen- trated vegetable acid ? The vegetable poifons, like the animal 140 LOVES OF Canto IIL And fell Lobelia’s fufFocating breath Loads the dank pinion of the gale with death, ones, produce more fudden and dangerous efFedl:s, when inflllled into a wound, than when taken into the ftomach ; whence the families of Marfi and Pfilli, in antient Rome, fucked the poifon without injury out of wounds made by vipers, and were fup^ pofed to be indued with fupernatural powers for this purpofe. By the experiments related by Beccaria, it appears that four or five times the quantity, taken by the mouth, had about equal cfFe6ls with that infufed into a wound. The male flowers of the nettle are feparate from the female, and the anthers are feen in fair weather to burft with force, and to difcharge a dufl, which hovers about the plant like a cloud. Lobelia. I. 193. Longiflora. Grows in the Well Indies, and fpreads fuch deleterious exhalations around it, that an oppreflioii of the breaft is felt on approaching it at many feetdlflance when placed in the corner of a room or hot-houfe. Ingenhoufz,Exper. on Air, p. 146. Jacquini hort. botanic. Vindeb. The exhala- tions from ripe fruit or withering leaves are proved much to in- jure the air in which they are confined ; and, it is probable, all thofe vegetables which emit a Prong fcent may do this in a greater or lefs degree, from the Rofe to the Lobelia ; whence the unvvholefomenefs in living perpetually in fuch an atmofphere of perfume as fome people wear about their hair, or carry in their handkerchiefs. Either Boerhave or Dr. Mead have affirmed they were acquainted with a poifonous fluid whofe vapour would Canto III. THE PLANTS. 141 \ < — With fear and hate they blaft the affrighted groves. Yet own with tender care their kindred Loves ! — So, where Palmyra ’mid her wafted plains, Her fliatter’d aquedufts, and proftrate fanes, (As the bright orb of breezy midnight pours igg Long threads of filver through her gaping towers. O’er mouldering tombs, and tottering columns gleams. And frofts her deferts with eJiffufive beams). prefently tleflroy the perfon who fat near it. And It is well known, that the gas from fermenting liquors, or obtained from lime-flone, will deftroy animals immerfed In it, as well as the vapour of the Grotto del Cani near Naples. So, where Palmyra, I. 197. Among the ruins of Palmyra, which are difperfed not only over the plains but even in the de- ferts, there is one fingle colonade above 2600 yards long, the bafes of the Corinthian columns of which exceed the height of a man : and yet this row is only a fmall part of the remains of that one edifice ! Volney’s Travels. 142 LOVES OF Canto III. Sad o’er the mighty wreck in filence bends, Lifts her ,wet eyes, her tremulous hands extends. — If from lone cliffs a burfting rill expands Its tranfient courfe, and finks into the fands ; O’er the moift rock the fell Hycena prowls. The Leopard hiffes, and the Panther growls ; On quivering wing the famifli’d Vulture fcreams. Dips his dry beak, and fvvecps the gufliing ftreams; ^10 With foaming jaws, beneath, and fangulne tongue. Laps the lean Wolf, and pants, and runs along; Stern ftalks the Lion, on the ruftllng brinks Hears the dread Snake, and trembles as he drinks ; Quick darts the fcaly Monfter o’er the plain, s Fold, after fold, his undulating train; And, bending o’er the lake his crefted brow. Starts at the Crocodile, that gapes below. Where feas of glafs with gay refle 6 lions fmlle Hound the green coafts of Java’s palmy ifle ; 550 Canto III. THE ' PLANTS. 143 A fpaclous plain extends its upland fcene. Rocks rife on rocks, and fountains gufh between ; Soft zephyrs blow, eternal fummers reign. And fhowers prolific blefs the foil, — in vain ! — No fpicy nutmeg fcents the vernal gales. Nor towering plaintain fliades the mid-day vales ; No graffy mantle hides the fable hills, No flowery chaplet crowns the trickling rills ; Nor tufted mofs, nor leathery lichen creeps In ruffet tapeftry o’er the crumbling fteeps. 530 — No ftep retreating, on the fand Imprefs’d, Invites the vlfit of a fecond guefl: ; No refluent fin the unpeopled ftream divides, No revolant pinion cleaves the airy tides ; Nor handed moles, nor beaked worms return. That mining pafs the irremeable bourn.-^ — Fierce in dread filence on the blafled heath Fell Upas fits, the Hydra -Tree of death. Upas. 1 . 338. There is a polfon-tree in the iiland of Java, which is faid by its effluvia to have depopulated the country for 144 LOVES OF Canto IIL Lo ; from one root, the envenom’d foil below, A thoufand vegetative ferpents grow ; ^40 / In fliinlng rays the fcaly monfter fpreads O’er ten fquare leagues his far-diverging heads ; Or in one trunk entwifts his tangled form. Looks o’er the clouds, and hilTes in the ftorm. 12 or 14 miles round the place of its growth. It is called, In the Malayan language, Bohun-Upas ; with the juice of It the nioft poifonous arrows are prepared ; and, to gain this, the con- demned criminals are fent to the tree with proper dire6lion both to get the juice and to fecure themfelves from the malignant exhalations of the tree ; and are pardoned If they bring back a certain quantity of the poifon. But by the regillers there kept, not one in four are fald to return. Not only animals of all kinds, both quadrupeds, filh, and birds, but all kinds of vegetables alfo are deflroyed by the effluvia of the noxious tree; fo that, in a diilridl of 12 or 14 miles round it, the face of the earth is quite barren and rocky, intermixed only with the Ikeletons of men and animals, affording a feene of melancholy beyond what poets have deferibed or painters delineated. Two younger trees of its own fpecies are faid to grow near It. See London Magazine for 1784 or 1783. Tranflated from a defcriptlon of the poifon-tree of the ifland of Java, written in Dutch by N. P. Foerfeh. For a further account of it, fee a note at the end of the work. Canto III. THE PLANTS. Steep’d in fell poifon, as his fliarp teeth part, / A thoufand tongues in quick vibration dart ; Snatch the proud Eagle towering o’er the heath. Or pounce the Lion, as he ftalks beneath ; Or ftrew, as marfliall’d hofts contend in vain, With human Ikcletons the whiten’d plain. 250 —Chain’d at his root two felon-demons dvvell. Breathe the faint hlfs, or try the fliriller yell ; Rife, fluttering in the air on callow wings, And aim at Infcd-prey their little ftlngs. So Time’s ftrong arms with fweeplng feythe erafe Art’s cumberous works, and empires, from their bafe : ' While each young Hour its fickle fine employs, And crops the fweet buds of domeftic joys ! With bluflies bright as morn fair Orchis charms. And lulls her infant in her fondling arms ; 560 Orchis, 1. 25 ^. The Orchis morio in the clrCumflance of the Part 11. L , Canto HI. 146 L O V E S O Soft plays AJfe^mi round her bofom’s throne. And guards his life, forgetful of her own. O ^ O parent-root Ihrivelllng up and dying, as the young one increafes, is not only analogous to other tuberous or knobby roots, but alfo to fome bulbous roots, as the tulip. The manner of the pro- du 61 :ion of herbaceous plants from their various perennial roots, feems to want furtlier inveftigation, as their analogy is not yet clearly eftablidied. The caudex, or true root, in the orchis lies above the knob , and from this part the fibrous roots and the new knob are produced. In the tulip the caudex lies below the bulb ; from whence proceed the fibrous roots and the new bulbs ; the root, after it has flowered, dies like the orchis-root ; for the flem of the lafl year’s tulip lies on the outfide, and not in the center of the bulb ; which I am informed does not happen in the three or four firfl years when raifedfrom feed, when it only pro- duces a flem, and flender leaves without flowering. In the tulip- root, diffe^led in the early fpring, juft before it begins to fhoot, a perfect flower is leen in its center ; and between the firft and fecond coat the large next year’s bulb is, I believe,- produced ^ between the fecond and third coat, and between this and the fourth, coat, and perhaps further, other lefs and lefs bulbs are vifible, all adjoining to the caudex at the bottom of the mother bulb ; and which, I am told, require as many years before they t will flower, as the number of the coats with which they are covered. This annual reprodudlion of the tulip-root induces ' fome florifts to believe that tulip-roots never die naturally, as they lofe fo few of them j whereas the hyacinth- roots, I am in- Canto III. THE PLANTS. 147 So wings the wounded Deer her headlong flight. Pierced by fome ambufli’d archer of the night. formed, will not laft above five or fevcn years after they have flowered. The hyacinth-root differs from the tulip-root, as the Item of the laft yearns flower is always found in the center of the root, and the new off-fets arife from the caudex below the bulb, but not beneath any of the concentric coats of the root, except the external one: hence Mr. Eaton, an ingenious florift of Derby, to whom I am indebted for mofl; of the obfervations in this note, concludes, that the hyacinth-root does not perifh annually after it has flowered like the tulip. Mr. Eaton gave me a tulip-root which had been fet too deep in the earth, and the caudex had elongated itfelf near an inch, and the new bulb was formed above the old one, and detached from it, inftead of adhering to its fide. See addit. Notes to Vol. 1 . No. XIV. The caudex of the ranunculus, cultivated by the florifls, lies above the clavy-like root; in this the old root or claws die annu- ally, like the tulip and orchis, and the new claws, which are feeii above the old ones, draw down the caudex lower into the earth. The fame is faid to happen to Scabiofa, or Devil’s bit, and fome other plants, as valerian and greater plantain ; the new fibrous roots rifing round the caudex above the old ones, the inferior end of the root becomes flumped, as if cut off, after the old fibres are decayed, and the caudex is drawn down into the earth by thefe new roots. See Arum and Tulipa. L 5 Canto IIL 148 L O V E S O F Shoots to the woodlands with her bounding fawn, And drops of blood bedew the confclous lawn ; There hid In fhadcs fhe fhuns the cheerful day. Hangs o’er her young, and weeps her life away. I So flood Eliza on the wood’ he cries, and gives his little hand, Eliza fleeps upon the dew-cold fand ; Canto III. THE PLANTS. ^51 Poor weeping babe with bloody fingers profs d, “ And tried with pouting lips her milklefs bread; ; “ Alas ! we both with cold and hunger quake — I Why do you weep ? — Mamma will foon awake.” — '' She’ll wake no more !” the hopelefs mourner cried, Upturn’d his eyes, and clafp’d his hands, and figh’d : 3^^ Stretch’d on the ground awhile entranc’d he lay, And prefs’d warm kllTes on the lifelefs clay; And then upfprung with wild conyulfive ftart, And all the Father kindled in his heart ; Oh, Heavens!” he cried, my firft rafli vow forgive ; Thefe bind to earth, for thefe I pray to live!” — Round his chill babes he wrapp’d his crimfon veft, And clafp’d them fobbing to his aching breaft. I Two Harlot-Nymphs, the fair Cu scut as, pleafe With labour’d negligence, and ftudled eafe ; 330 Cufcuta, 1. Dodder. Four males, two females. This L4 LOVES OF Canto III. 152 In the meek garb of modefl: worth difguifed, The eye averted, and the fmile chaffifed, parafite plant (the feed fplitting without cotyledons) protruded a fpiral body, and not endeavouring to root itfelf in the earth, afcends the vegetables in its vicinity, fpirally W.S. E. or con- trary to the movement of the fun ; and abforbs its nourifhment by vefTels apparently inferted into its fupporters. It bears no leaves, except here and there a fcale, very fmall, membraneous, and clofe under the branch. Lin. Spec. Plant, edit, a Reichard. Vol. I. p. 352. The Rev. T. Martyn, in his elegant letters on botany, adds, that, not content with fupport, where it lays hold, there it draws Its nourifhment; and, at length, in gratitude for all this, ftr^ngles its entertainer. Letter xv. A conteft for air and light obtains throughout the whole vegetable world ; flirubs rife above herbs, and, by precluding the air and light from them, injure or deftroy them ; trees fuffocate or incommode fhrubs; the parafite climbing plants, as Ivy, Clematis, incommode the taller trees ; and other parafites, which exifl without having roots on the ground, as Mifletoe, Tillandfia, Epidendrum, and the mofles and funguffes, incommode them all. Some of the plants with voluble flems afeend other plants fpirally eafl-fouth-weft, as Humulus, Hop, Lonicera, Honey- fuckle, Tamus, black Bryony, Helxine. Others turn their fpiral Aems wefl-fouth-eaft, as Convolvulus, Corn -bind, Phafeolus, Kidney-bean, Bafella, Cynanche, Euphorbia, Eupatorium. The proximate or final caufes of this difference have not been in- vefiigated. Other plants are furniflied with tendrils for the pur- pofe of climbing: if the tendril meets with nothing to lay hold Canto III. THE PLANTS. ^53 With fly approach they fpread their dangerous charms. And round their vlcllm wind their wiry arms, So by Scamander when Lao coon flood. Where Troy’s proud turrets glitter’d in the flood, Raifed high his arm, and with prophetic call To flirinking realms announced her fated fall; Whirl’d his fierce fpear with more than mortal force, 339 And pierced the thick ribs of the echoing horfe; of in its firft revolution, it makes another revolution; and fo on till it wraps itfelf quite up like a cork-ferew : hence, to a care- lefs obferver, it appears to move gradually backwards and for- wards,' being feen fometimes pointing eaftward and fometimes weflward. One of the Indian grafles, Panicum aiborefcens, whole ftem is no thicker than a goofe-quill, rifes as high as the tallell; trees in this conteft for light and air. Spec. Plant, a Rei- chard, Vol. I. p. i5i. The tops of many climbing plants are tender from their quick growth ; and, when deprived of their acrimony by boiling, are an agreeable article of food. The Hop-tops are in common ufe. I have eaten the tops of white Bryony, Bryonia alba, and found them nearly as grateful as Af- paragus, and think this plant might be proiitably cultivated as an early garden-vegetable. The Tamils (called black BryonyJ was lefs agreeable to the take when boiled. See Galanthus. o o 154 LOVES OF Canto 111 . Two Serpent-forms Incumbent on the main, Lafliing the white waves with redundant train. Arch’d their blue necks, and fliook their tower- ing crefts. And plough’d their foamy way with fpeckled breafts ; Then, darting fierce amid the affrighted throngs. Roll’d their red eyes, and fliot their forked tongues. — — Two daring youths to guard the hoary fire. Thwart their dread progrefs, and provoke their ire. Round fire and fons the fcaly monfters roll’d. Ring above ring, in many a tangled fold, 350 Clofe and more clofe their writhing limbs fur- round. And fix with foamy teeth the envenom’d wound. — With brow upturn’d to heaven the holy Sage In filent agony fuftains their rage ; While each fond Youth, in vain, with piercing cries Bends on the tortured Sire his dying eyes. Canto III. THE PLANTS. 155 Drink deep, fwect youths,” fedudilve ViTis cries. The maudlin tear-drop glittering in her eyes ; Green leaves and purple clufters crown her head. And the tallThyrfus flays her tottering tread. 360 — Five haplefs fwains with foft affualive fmiles The harlot mellies in her deathful toils ; Drink deep,” flie carols, as flie waves in air The mantling goblet, and forget your care.” — - O’er the dread feafl malignant Chemla fcowls. And mingles polfon In the neflar’d bowls ; Fitis. 1.357. Vine. Five males, one female. The juice of the ripe grape is a nutritive and agreeable food, confining chiefly of fugar and mucilage. The chemical procefs of fermentation converts this fugar into fpirit ; converts food into poifon ! And it has thus become the curfe of the Chriftian world, producing more than half of our chronical difeafes ; which Mahomet ob- ferved, and forbade the ufe of it to his difciples. The Ara- bians invented dillillation ; and thus by obtaining the fpirit of fermented liquors in a lefs diluted flate, added to itsdefirudllive quality. A Theory of the Diabetes and Dropfy, produced by drinking fermented or fpirituous liquors, is explained in a Trea- fife on the inverted motions of the lymphatic fyftem, publiflicd hy Dr. Darwin, CadclI. 8 Canto III. 156 LOVES OF Fell Gout peeps grinning through the flimfyfcenej And bloated Droply pants behind unfeen ; Wrapp’d in his robe white Lepra hides his ftains. And fdent Frenzy writhing bites his chains. 370 So when Prometheus brav’d the Thunderer’s irc^ Stole from his blazing throne ethereal fire, Frometheus, 1 . 371. The ancient flory of Prometheus, wh© concealed in his bofom the fire he had ftolen, and afterwards had a vulture perpetually gnawing his liver, affords fo apt an al- legory for the effe£ls of drinking fpirltuous liquors, that one fliould^be induced to think the art of diflillatlon, as well asfome other chemical proceffes (fuch as calcining gold), had been known in times of great antiquity, and loft again. The fwal- lowing drams cannot be better reprefented ip hieroglyphic lan- guage than by taking fire into one’s bofom ; and certain it is, that the general effeift of drinking fermentedor fpirltuous liquors is an inflamed, fclrrhous, or paralytic liver, with its various cri- tical or confequential difeafes, as leprous eruptions on the face, gout, dropfy, epilepfy, infanity. It is remarkable, that all the difeafes from drinking fpirituous or fermented liquors are lia- ble to become hereditary, even to the third generation, gradu- ally incrcafing, if the caufe be continued, till the family becomes extindl. Canto HI. THE PLANTS. 157 And> lantern’d In his breaft, from realms of day, Bore the bright treafure to his Man of clay High on cold Caucafus by Vulcan bound. The lean impatient Vulture fluttering round. His writhing limbs in vain he twills and ftralns To break or loofe the adamantine chains. The gluttonous bird, exulting in his pangs. Tears his fwoln liver with remorfelefs fangs. 380 The gentle Cyclamen with dewy eye Breathes o’er her llfelefs babe the parting figh ; V . Cyclamen. ]. i8i. Shevv-bread, or Show -bread. When the feeds are ripe, the ftalk of the flower gradually twifts itfelf fpl- rally downwards, till it touches the ground, and forcibly pene- trating the earth lodges its feeds, which are thought to receive nourilhment from the parent root, as they are faid not to be made to grow in any other fituation. The Trifolium fubtenaneum, fubterraneous trefoil, is ano- ther plant which buries its feeds, the globular head of the feed penetrating the earth; which, however, in this plant may be only an attempt to conceal its feeds from the ravages of birds ; for there is another trefoil, the Trifolium Globofum, or globular woolly-headed trefoil, wLich has a curious manner of conceal- Canto III. 158 LOVES OF And, bending low to earth, with pious hands Inhumes her dear Departed in the fands. Sweet Nurfiing! withering In thy tender hour, ‘‘ Oh, fleep,” fhe cries, and rife a fairer flower!” — So when the Plague o’er London’ sgafping crowds Shook her dank wing, and fleer’d her murky clouds ; When o’er the friendlcfs bier no rites were read, No dirge flow-chaunted, and no pall out-fpread ; While Death andNight piled up the naked throng, And Silence drove their ebon cars along; 393 Six lovely daughters, and dieir father, fwept To the throng’d grave Cleone faw, and wept; \ Her tender mind, with meek Religion fraught. Drank all-refign’d Affliftion’s bitter draught ; Alive and liftening to the whifper’d groan Of other’s woes, unconfeious of her own! — ing its feeds ; the lower florets only have corols, and are fertile ; the upper ones wither into a kind of wool, and, forming a head, compleatly conceal the fertile calyxes, Lin. Spec. Plant. ■ Reich ard. CainTo III. THE PLANTS. 159 One fmllmg boy, her laft fweet hope, file warms Hufli’d on her bofom, circled in her arms. — 400 Daughter of woe ! ere morn, in vain carefs’d. Clung the cold babe upon thy milklefs breaft. With feeble cries thy laft fad aid required, I Stretch’d its ftiff limbs, and on thy lap expired ! — — Long with wide eye-lids on her child fhe gazed. And long to Heaven their tearlefs orbs flie raifed ; Then with quick foot and throbbing heart file found ' Where Chartreufe open’d deep his holy ground ; PFhere Chartreufe. I. 408. During the plague in London, 1665, one pit to receive the dead was dug in the Charter-houfe, 40 feet long, 16 feet wide, and about 20 feet deep ; and in two weeks received 1 114 bodies. During this dreadful calamity there were inftances of mothers carrying their own children to thofe public graves, and of people delirious, or in defpalr from the lofs of tlieir friends, who threw themfelves alive into thefe pits. Journal of the plague-year in 1665, printed for E. Nutt, Royal Exchange. LOVES OF Canto III. i 5 o Bore her laft treafure through the midnight gloom. And kneeling dropp’d it in the mighty tomb ; 410 I follow next!” the frantic mourner faid. And living plung’d amid the feftering dead. Where vaft Ontario rolls his brinelefs tides. And feeds the tracklels forefts on his fides, Fair Cassia trembling hears the howling woods. And trufts her tawny children to the floods. — Rolls his hrinelefs tide. 1 . 413. Some phllofophers have be- lieved that the continent of America was not ralfed out of the great ocean at fo early a period of time as the other continents. One reafon for tliis opinion was, becaufe the great lakes, perhaps nearly as large as the Mediterranean Sea, confift of frefh water. And as the fea-falt feems to have its origin from the dehrutSlioii of vegetable and animal bodies, waflied down by rains, and car- ried by rivers into lakes or feas ; it would feem tliat this fource of fea-falt had not fo long exifted in that country. There is, however, a more fatisfadory way of explaining this circum- flance ; which is, that the American lakes lie above the level of the ocean, and are hence perpetually defalited by the rivers which run through tliem ; which is not the cafe with the Me- diterranean, into which a current from the main ocean perpe- tually palfes. CaJJia. 1 . 415. Ten males, one female. The feeds arc Canto III. THE PLANTS. i6i Cinctured with' gold while ten fond brothers (land. And guard the beauty on her native land, black, the ftamens gold-colour. This Is one of the American fruits, which are annually thrown on the coafls of Norway; and are frequently in fo recent a (late as to vegetate, when pro- perly taken care of. The fruit of the anacardiuin, cafhew-nut ; of cucurblta lagenaria, bottle-gourd ; of the mimofa fcandeiis, cocoons ; of the pifcidia erythrina, log-wood-tree ; and cocoa- nuts are enumerated by Dr.Tonning, (Amien. Acad. 149.) amongft thefe emigrant feeds. The fact is truly wonderful, and cannot be accounted for but by the exiftence of under currents in the depths of the ocean ; or from vortexes of water paffing from one country to another through caverns of the earth. Sir Hans Sloane has oiven an account of four kinds of feeds O which are frequently thrown by the fea upon the coahs of the lllands of the northern parts of Scotland. Phil. Tranf. abridged, Vol. III. p. 540, which feeds are natives of the W eft Indies, and feem to be brought thither by the gulf-ftream defcribed below^ One of tliefe is called, by Sir H. Sloane, Phafeolus maximus pe- rennis, which is often thrown alfo on the coafts of Kerry in Ire- land ; another is called in Jamaica Horfe-eye-bean ; and a third Is called Niker in Jamaica. He adds, that the Lentlcula marina, or Sargofib, grows on the rocks about Jamaica, is carried by the winds and current towards the coafts of Florida, and thence into the North- America ocean, where it lies very thick on the fur- face of the fea. • Thus a rapid current pafles from the gulf of Florida to the Part IL M i62 LOVES OF Canto IIL Soft breathes the gale, the current gently moves. And bears to Norway’s coafts her infant loves. N. E. along the coaft of North-America, known to Teamen by the name of the Gulf-stream. A chart of this was piibli (li- ed by Dr. Franklin in 1768, from the information principally of Capt. Folger. This was confirmed by the ingenious expe- riments of Dr. Blagden, publifhed in 1781, who found that the water of the gulf-fiream was from fix to eleven degrees warmer than the water of the fea through which it ran ; which mufc have been occafioned by its being brought from a. hotter cli- mate. He afcribes the origin of this current to the power of the trade-winds, which, blowing always in the fame dire6lion, carry the waters of the Atlantic ocean to the weftward, till they are flopped by the oppofing continent on the weft of the Gulf of Mexico, and are thus accumulated there, and run down the Gulf of Florida. Philof. Tranf. V. 71, p. 335. Governor Pownal has given an elegant map of this Gulf-ftream, tracing it from the Gulf of Florida northward as far as Cape Sable in Nova Scotia, and then acrofs tlie Atlantic ocean to the coaft of Africa, between the Canary Iflands and Senegal, increafing in breadth, as it runs, till it occupies five or fix degrees of latitude. The Governor llkewife afcribes this current to the force of the protruding the waters weft ward, till they are oppofed by the continent, and accumulated in the Gulf of Mexico. He very ingenioufly obferves, that a great eddy muft be produc- ed in the Atlantic ocean between this Gulf-ftream and the Canto III. THE PLANTS. 163 — So the fad mother at the noon of night 42, i From bloody Memphis ftole her filent flight ; Wrapp’d her dear babe beneath her folded veft, And clafp’d the treafare to her throbbing breaflr. With foothlng whifpers hufli’d its feeble cry, Prefs’d the foft kifs, and breath’d the fecret figh. — ■ — ^With dauntlefs flep flie feeks the winding fhore. Hears unappal’d the glimmering torrents roar ; wefterly current protruded by the tropical winds, and in this eddy are found the immenfe fields of floating vegetables, called Saragofa weeds, and Gulf weeds, and fonie light woods, which circulate in thefe vafl: eddies, or are occafionally driven out of them by the winds. Hydraulic and Nautical Obfervations by Governor Pownal, 1787. Other currents are mentioned by the Governor in this ingenious work, as thofe in the Indian Sea, northward of the line, which are aferibed to the influence of the Monfoons. It is probable, that in procefs of time tlie narrow tract of land on the weft of the Gulf of Mexico, may be worn away by this elevation of water dafhing againft it, by which this immenfe current would ceafe to exlft, and a wonderful change take place in the Gulf of Mexico and Weft-Indian iftands, by the fubftding of the fea, which might probably lay all thofe iftands into one, or join them to the continent. M i64 LOVES OF Canto 111 . With Paper-flags a floating cradle weaves. And hides the fmiling boy in Lotus-leaves ; 430 Gives her white bofom to his eager lips. The falt-tears mingling with the milk he fips ; Waits on the reed-crown d brink with pious guile. And trufts the fcaly monfters of the Nile. — — Ere while majeftic from his lone abode, Embaflador of Heaven, the Prophet trod ; Wrench’d the red fcourge from proud Oppref- fion’s hands. And broke, curft Slavery ! thy iron bands. Hark! heard ye not that piercing cry. Which fliook the waves and rent the 'fky ? — 440 E’en now, e’en now, on yonder W^eftern Ihores Weeps pale Defpair, and writhing Anguifh roars: E’en now In Afric’s groves with hideous yell Fierce Slavery ftalks, and flips the dogs of hell; From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound, And fable nations tremble at the found I Canto III. THE PLANTS. BANDS OF fways Senators! whole fuffrage Britannia’s realms, whom either Ind obeys ; Who right the injured, and reward the brave. Stretch your ftrong arm, for ye have power to favc ! 450 Throned In the vaulted heart, his dread refort, Inexorable Conscience holds his court; With ftill fmall voice the plots of Guilt alarms. Bares his mafk’d brow, his lifted hand dlfarms ; But, wrapp’d in night with terrors all his own. He fpeaks in thunder, w^hen the deed is done. Hear him, ye Senates ! hear this truth fublime. He, who allow^s oppression, shares the CRIME.” No radiant pearl, which crefted Fortune wxars, No 2'cm, that twinkling hangs from Beauty’s ears. Not the bright ftars, which Night’s blue arch adorn, 4 ^ i Nor rifuw funs that gild the vernal morn, M3 Canto IIL i66 LOVES, &c. Shine with fuch luftre as the tear, that flows Down Virtue’s manly cheek for others’ woes.” Here ceafed the Muse, and dropp’d her tunc^ ful fliell. Tumultuous woes her panting bofom fwell, O’er her flufli’d cheek her gauzy veil fhe throw^s. Folds her white arms, and bends her laurel’d brows; f For human guilt awhile the Goddefs fighs. And human forrows dim celeftial eyes. 470 ( > 6 ; ) INTERLUDE III. Bookfeller, POETRY has been called a fifter- art both to Painting and to Mufic ; I wifli to know, what are the particulars of their relation- ■fliip ? . Poet. It has been already obferved, that the prin- cipal part of the language of poetry confifts of thofe words, which are cxpreffive of the ideas, which we originally receive by the organ of fight; and in this it nearly indeed refembles painting; which can exprefs itfelf in no other way, but by exciting the ideas or fenfations belonging to the fenfe of vifion. But befidcs this eifential iimili- tude in the language of the poetic pen and pencil, thefe two fifters refemble each other, if I may fo fay, in many of their habits and manners. The painter, to produce a ftrong effed:, makes a few parts of his pidure large, diftind, and luminous, M 4 / 1 68 INTERLUDE. and keeps the remainder in lhadow, or even be- neath its natural fize and colour, to give eminence to the principal figure. This is fimilar to the com- mon manner of poetic compofition, where the fubordinate characters are kept down, to elevate and give confequence to the hero or heroine of the piece. In the fouth ailc of the cathedral church at Lichfield, there is an antient monument of a re- cumbent figure ; the head and neck of which lie on a roll of matting in a kind of niche or cavern in the wall ; and about five feet diftant horizon- tally in another opening or cavern in the wall arc feen the feet and ankles, with fome folds of gar- ment, lying alfo on a matt ; and though the in- termediate fpace Is a folid ftone-wall, yet the Ima- gination fupplies the deficiency, and the whole figure feems to exlft before our eyes. Does not this refcmble one of the arts both of the painter and the poet ? The former often fliows a mufcular arm amidfl a group of figures, or an impaffioned face ; and, hiding the remainder of the body be- hind other objects, leaves the imagination to com- plete it. The latter, defcriblng a fingle feature or INTERLUDE. 169 attitude In pi6lurefque words, produces before the mind an Image of the whole. I remember feeing a print, In which was re- prefented a flirlvelled hand ftretched through an iron grate, In the ftone floor of a prlfon-yard, to reach at a mefs of porrage, which affected me with more horrid ideas of the diftrefs of the pri- foner in the dungeon below, than could have been perhaps produced by an exhibition of the w^holc perfon. And in the following beautiful fccnery from the Midfummer-night’s Dream, (In which I have taken the liberty to alter the place ot a comma), the defeription of the fwlmmlng ftep and prominent belly bring the whole figure be- fore our eyes with the diftindlncfs of reality. When we have laugh’d to fee the fails conceive, And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind ; Which fhe with pretty and with fwimming gate, Following her womb, (then rich with my young fquirc), Would imitate, and tail upon the land. There is a third fifter-feature, which belongs both to the plff orial and poetic art ; and that is 170 INTERLU^DE. the making fentiments and paffions vlfible, as it were, to the fpeclator ; this is done in both arts by defcribing or pourtraying the efFed:s or changes which thofe fentiments or paffions produce upon the body. At the end of the unaltered play of Lear, there is a beautiful example of poetic paint- ing; the old King is introduced as dying from grief for the lofs of Cordelia ; at this crlfis, Shake- fpear, conceiving the robe of the King to be held together by a clafp, reprefents him as only faying to an attendant courtier in a faint voice, Pray, Sir, undo this button, — thank you. Sir,” and dies. Thus by the art of the poet, the oppreffion at the bofom of the dying King is made vifible, not de^ feribed In words, B, What are the features, in which thefc Sifter-arts do not refemble each other ? P. The ingenious Biffiop Berkeley, in his treatife on Vifion, a work of great ability, has evinced, that the colours which we fee, are only a language fuggefting to our minds the ideas of folidity and extenfion, which we had before re- T INTE RLU-DE. 171 ceived by the fcnfe of touch. Thus when wc view the trunk of a tree, our eye can only acquaint us with the colours or fliades; and from the pre- vious experience of the fcnfe of touch, thefc fug- geft to us the cylindrical form, with the promi- nent or depreffed wTinkles on it. From hence it appears, that there is the ftriftcft analogy between colours and founds; as they are both but lan- guages, ^Adrich do not reprefent their correfpon- dent ideas, but only fugged: them to the mind from the habits or affociations of previous expe- rience. It is therefore reafonable to conclude, that the more artificial arrangements of thefe two languages by the poet and the painter bear a fmii- lar analogy. But in one circumftance the Pen and the Pencil differ widely from each other, and that is the quantity of Time which they can include in their refpeftive reprefentations. The former can un- ravel a long feries of events, which may confti- tute the hiftory of days or years ; while the latter can exhibit only the adions of a moment. The Poet is happier in deferibing fucceffive feenes ; the Painter in reprefenting ftationary ones: both have their advantasces. INTERLUDE. 172 Where the paffions are introduced, as the Poet, on one hand, has the power gradually to prepare the mind of his reader by previous climacteric circumftances; the Painter, on the other hand, can throw ftronger illumination and dlftinctnefs on the principal moment or cataftrophe of the acStlon ; befides the advantage he has in ufing an iiniverfal language, which can be read in an In- fl:ant of time. Thus when a great number of figures are all feen together, fupportlng or con- trafting each other, and contributing to explain or aggrandize the principal effect, we view a picture with agreeable furprlfe, and contemplate it with unceafing admiration. In the reprefentation of the facrlhcc of Jephtha’s Daughter, a print done from a painting of Ant. Coypel, at one glance of the eye we read all the intcrefting paffages of the laft act of a well -written tragedy ; fo much poe- try is there condenfed into a moment of time. B. Will you now oblige me with an account of the rclationfliip betweepn Poetry, and her other filler, Mufic ? V P. In the poetry of our language I don’t INTERLUDE. U3 think we arc to look for any thing analogous to the notes of the gamut : for, except perhaps in a few exclamations or interroeations, we are at liberty to raife or fink our voice an oftave or two at pleafure, without altering the fenfe of the words. Hence, if either poetry or profe be read in melodious tones of voice, as is done in recita- tiv'o, or in chaunting, it muft depend on the fpeaker, not on the writer : for though words may be feledled which are lefs harfli than others, that is, which have fewer fudden flops or abrupt con- fonants amongfl the vowels, or wdth fewer fibl- lant letters, yet this does not conflitute melody, which confifls of agreeable fucceffions of notes referable to the gamut ; or harmony, which con- / fifls of ao;reeablc combinations of them. If the Chinefe language has many w^ords of fimllar arti- culation, which yet fignlfy different ideas, w^hen fpoken in a higher or lowxr mufical note, as fome travellers affirm, it mufl be capable of much finer effed:, in refped to the audible part of poetry, than any language wc are acquainted w ith. There is howxver another affinity, in wliicli poetry and mufic more nearly refemble each other 174 IN TERLUDE. than has generally been underftood, and that Is in their meafure or time. There are but two kinds of time acknowledged in modern mufic, which are called triple time, and common time. The former of thefe is divided by bars, each bar con- taining three crotchets, or a proportional number of their fubdivifions into quavers and femiqua- vers. This kind of time is analogous to the mea- fure of our heroic or iambic verfe. Thus the two following couplets are each of them divided into five bars of triple time, each bar confifting of two crotchets and two quavers ; nor can they be divided into bars analogous to common time with- out the bars interfering with fome of the crotch- ets, fo as to divide them. 3 Soft-warbling beaks | in e^ch hriglit blof J foin move, 4 And VO I cal rofebuds thrill ) the inchanted grove. ] In thefe lines there is a quaver and a crotchet alternately in every bar, except in the laft, in which the in make two femiquavers ; the e is fup- pofed by Grammarians to be cut off, w'hich any one’s ear will readily determine not to be true. 175 INTERLUDE. 3 Life buds or breathes | from Indus to | the poles, 4 And the | vafl; furface kind | les, as it rolls. | In thefe lines there Is a quavxr and a crotchet alternately in the firft bar ; a quaver, two crotch- ets, and a quaver, make the fecond bar. In the third bar there is a quaver, a crotchet, and a reft after the crotchet, that is after the wxrd and two quavers begin the next line. The fourth bar coiififts of quavers and crotchets alternately. In the laft bar tliere is a quaver, and a reft after it, viz. after the word khidles ; and then two quavers and a crotchet. You will clearly perceive the truth of this, if you prick the mufical charafters above mentioned under the verfes. The commo7i time of muficians is divided into bars, each of which contains four crotchets, or a proportional number of their fubdivihon into qua- vers and femiquavers. This kind of mufical time is analogous to the daftyle verfes of our language, the moft popular inftances of which are in Mr. Anftie’s Bath-Guide. In this kind of verfe the bar does not begin till after the firft or fecond f}dlable; and where the verfe is quite complete, 1^6 INTERLUDE. and written hy a good ear, thefe firft lyllables added to the laft complete the bar, exactly in this alfo correfponding with many pieces of mufic ; Yet I if one may guefs by the [ fize of his calf, Sir, 4 He 1 weighs above twenty-three | ftone and a half, Sir. 2 Mailer 1 Mamozet’s head was not | finlfhed fo foon, 4 For it [ took up the barber a 1 whole afternoon. In thefe lines each bar conllfts of a crotchet, two quavers, another crotchet, and two more quavers : which are equal to four crotchets, and, like many bars of common time in mufic, may be fubdivided into two in beating time without dif- turbing the mcafurc. The following verfes from Shenftone belong llkewife to common time : ^ A 1 river or a fea | 4 Was to him a difh | of tea, And a king | clom bread and butter. The firft and fccond bars confift each of a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet. INTERLUDE, 177 The third bar confifts of a quaver, two crotchets, a quaver, a crotchet. The laft bar is not com- plete without adding the letter A, which begins the hrfi; line, and then it confifts of a quaver, a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet, two qimvers. It muft be obferved, that the crotchets in triple time are in general played by muficians flower than thofe of common time, and hence minuets are generally pricked in triple time, and country dances generally in common time. So the verfes above related, which are analogous to triple thne ; are generally read flow^er than thofe analogous to common time ; and are thence generally ufed for graver compcfitions. I fuppofe all the different kinds of verfes to be found in our odes, which have any meafure at all, might be arranged under one or other of thefe two mufical times ; allowing a note or two fometimes to precede the com- mencement of the bar, and occafional refts, as in mufical compofitlons : if this was attended to by thofe who fet poetry to mufic, it is probable the found and fenfe w^ould oftener coincide. Whether thefe mufical times can be applied to the lyric and heroic verfes of the Greek and Latin poets, I do Pakt II. N INTERLUDE. 17S not pretend to determine ; certain it Is, that the dactyle verfe of our language, when it is ended with a double rhime, much refembles the mcafurc of Horner and Virgil, except in the length of the lines. B. Then there is no relatlonflilp between the other two of thefe fifter-ladies. Painting and Mufic ? P. There is at leaft a mathematical relatlon- fliip, or perhaps I ought rather to have faid a mc- taphyfical relationfliip, between them. Sir Ifaac Newton has obferved, that the breadths of the feven primary colours in the Sun’s image refradled by a prifm, are proportional to the feven mufical notes of the gamut, or to the Intervals of the eight founds contained in an oc^fave, that is, pro- portional to the following numbers : Sol. La. Fa. Sol. La. IVIi. Fa.. Sol. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. I _r_ I III 9 16 iO 9 16 q INTERLUDE. 179 Newton’s Optics, Book I. part 2. prop. 3. and 6 , Dr. Smith, in his Harmonics, has an explanatory note upon this happy difcorery, as he terms it, ot Newton. Sect. 4. Art. 7. From this curious coincidence, it has been pro- pofed to produce a luminous mufic, confiftmg ot fucceffions or combinations of colours, analogous to a tunc in refpcct to the proportions above men- tioned. This might be performed by a ftrong light, made by means of Air. Argand’s lamps, paffing through coloured glaffcs, and tailing on a defined part of a wall, with moveable blinds be- fore them, which might communicate with the keys of a harpfichord, and thus produce at the fame time vifible and audible mufic in unifon with each other. The execution of this idea is faid by Air. Guyot to have been attempted by Father Catfel, without much fuccefs. If this fhould be again attempted, there is ano- ther curious coincidence between founds and co- lours, difeovered by Dr. Darwdn, of Shrewfbury, and explained in a paper on what he calls Ocular N 3 INTERLU'DE. 180 Spe5ira, in the Philofophical Tranfa^llons, VoL LXXVI. which might much facilitate the execu- tion of it. In this trcatife the Doctor has demon- ftrated, that we fee certain colours, not only with greater eafc and difiilndlncfs, but with relief and pleafure, after having for fomc time contemplated other certain colours ; as green after red, or red after green ; orange after blue, or blue after orange; yellow after violet, or violet after yellow. This, he fliews, arlfes from the ocular fpedlnim of the t colour lalf viewed coinciding with the irritation ot the colour now under contemplation. Now as the plcafurc we receive from the fenfatlon of me- lodious notes, independent of the previous alToci- ‘ atlons of agreeable ideas with them, muft arlfe from our hearing fome proportions of founds after others more eafily, dlftln6{:ly, or agreeably ; and as there is a coincidence between the proportions of the primary colours, and the primary founds, if they may be fo called ; he argues, that the fame laws muft govern the fenfations of both. In this clrcumftance, therefore, confifts the fifterhood of Mufic and Painting ; and hence they claim a right I INTERLUDE. i8i to borrow metaphors from each other ; muficians I to fpeak of the brilliancy of founds, and the light and fliade of a concerto ; and painters of the har- mony of colours, and the tone of a pidlure. Thus it is not quite fo abfurd, as was imagined, when the blind man aiked if the colour fcarlet was like the found of a trumpet. As the coincidence or oppofition of thefe ocular fpe^r a, (or colours w^hich remain in the eye after we have for fome time contemplated a luminous objedf) are more eafily and more accurately afcertained, now their laws have been inveftlgated by Dr. Darwin, than the reltdis of evanefcent founds upon the ear ; it is to be wifhed that fome ingenious mulician would O further cultivate this curious field of fcience : for if vifible mufic can be agreeably produced, it would be more eafy to add fentiment to it by re- prefentations of groves and Cupids, and fleeplng nymphs amid the changing colours, than is com- monly done by the words of audible mufic ? B, You mentioned the greater length of the verfes of Homer and Virgil. Had not thefe poets N 3 INTERLUDE. i8-2 great advantage in the fuperlority of their lan- guages compared to our own ? P. It is probable, that the introdudlion of phi- lofophy into a country muft gradually affcdl the language of it ; as philofophy converfcs in more appropriated and abftradled terms ; and thus by degrees eradicates the abundance of metaphor, which is ufed in the more early ages of focicty. Otherwife, though the Greek compound words have more vowels in proportion to their coufo- nants than the Englilli ones, yet the modes of compounding them arc lefs general ; as may be fecn by variety of inftanccs given in the preface of the Tranflators, prefixed to the System of Vege- ta hles by the Lichfield Society; which happy property of our ow n language rendered that tranf- latlon of Llnneus as expreffivc and as concife, per- haps more fo than the original. And in one refpeeb, I believe, the Englifla lan- guage ferves the purpofe of poetry better than the antlent ones, I mean in the greater cafe of pro- ducing perfonifications ; for as our nouns have in INTERLUDE. ^^3 general no genders affixed to them in profe-com- pofitlons, and In the habits of converfation^ they become eafily perfonlficd only by the addition of a mafeuline or feminine pronoun^ as. Pale Melancholy lits, and round her throws A death-like lilcnce, and a chead repofe. Pope's AheJarch And fecondly, as rnoft of our nouns have the arti- cle a or the prefixed to them in profe- writing and in converfation, they in general become per- fonlfied even by the omiffion of thefe articles ; as in the bold figure of Shipwreck in Mifs Seward’s I Elegy on Capt. Cook : But round the ftcepy rocks and dangerous firand Rolls the white furf, and Ship w keck guards the land. Add to this, that if the verfes in our heroic poetry be Ihorter than thofe of the ancients, our words like wife are fliorter ; and in refpedl to their meafure or time, which has erroneoufiy been called melody and harmony, I doubt, from what; N4 I V i 84 interlude. has been faid above, whether we are fo much in- folor as is generally believed ; fince many paflages, which have been ftolen from antient poets, have been tranflated into our language without lofing any thing of the beauty of the verfification. The following line tranflated from Juvenal by Dr. Johnfon, is much fuperior to the original : Slow rifes Worth by Poverty deprefs’d. The original is as follows: Difhcile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obflat Res angutta domi. B, I am glad to hear you acknowledge the thefts of the modern poets from the antient ones, whofe works I fuppofe have been reckoned lawful plunder in all ages. But have not you borrowed epithets, phrafes, and even half a line occafionally from modern poets ? P. It may be difficult to mark the exa6t 1 N T E R L U D E. 185 boundary of what fliould be termed plagiarifm : where the fentiment and expreilion are both bor- rowed without due acknowledgment, there can be no doubt ; — fingle words, on the contrary, taken from other authors, cannot convidt a writer of plagiarifm ; they are lawful game, wild by na- ture, the property of all who can capture them ; — and perhaps a few common flowers of fpeech may be gathered, as we pafs over our neighbour’s inclofure, without ftigmatifing us witli the title of thieves ; but we muff not therefore plunder his cultivated fruit: The four lines at the end of the plant Upas are Imitated from Dr. Young’s Night Thoughts. The line in the epifode adjoined to CafTia, The fait tear mingling with the milk he fips,” is from an interelbing and humane padage in Langhorne’s Juftice of Peace. There are probably many others, which, if I could recolledt them, fliould here be acknowledged. As it is, like exotic plants, their mixture with the native ones, I hope, adds beauty to my Botanic Garden : and fuch as it is; Mr, Bookfeller, I now leave it to you to de- 4 i85 TERLUDE. ( fire the Ladies and Gentlemen to walk in ; but pleafe to apprize them, that, like the fpedlators at an unilcilful exhibition in fomc village-barn, I hope they will make Good-humour one of their party ; and thus thcirfclves fupply the defects of the reprefentation. / / THE LOVES OF THE PLz\NTS. CANTO IV. Now the broad Sun his golden orb unflirouds, Flames in tlie weft, and paints the parted clouds ; O’er heaven’s wide arch refrafted luftres flow. And bend in air the many-colour’d bow. — — The tuneful Goddefs on the glowing fky Fix’d In mute eeftafy her gllftening eye ; And then her lute to fweeter tones ftic ftrung, And fwell’d with fofter chords the Paphianfong; Long ailcs of Oaks return’d the filver found, 9 And amorous Echoes talk’d along the ground ; LOVES OF Canto IV. iSS Pleas’d Lichfield liften’d from her facred bowers. Bow’d her tall groves, and fliook her ftately towers. Nymph ! not for thee the radiant day returns. Nymph ! not for thee the golden folftice burns. Refulgent Cere a ! — at the dufky hour She feeks with penfive ftep the mountain-bower. Picas* d Lichfield. 1. il. The feenery deferibed at the be- ginning of the firftpart, or economy of vegetation, is taken from a botanic garden about a mile from Lichfield. Ccrea. 1. Ca6lns grand iflor us, or Cereus. Twenty males, one female. This flower is a native of Jamaica and Ve- racrux. It expands a mofl: exquifiteiy beautiful corol, and emits a moft fragrant odour for a few hours in the night, and then clofes to open no more. The flower is nearly a foot in diameter; the infide of the calyx of a fplendid yellow, and the numerous petals of a pure white : it begins to open about feven or eight o’clock in the evening, and clofes before fun-rife in the morning. Martyn’s Letters, p. 294. The Ciftus labdanife- rus, and many other flowers, lofe their petals after having been a few hours expanded in the day-time ; for in ihefe plants the ftigraa is foon impregnated by the numerous antliers : in many / Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 189 Bright as the blufh of rifmg morn, and warms The dull cold eye of Midnight with her charms. There to the fkies die lifts her pencil fd brows, 19 Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows ; Eyes the white zenith ; counts the funs that roll Their diftant fires, and blaze around the Pole; flowers of the Clflus iabdaniferus I obferved two or three of the ftamens were perpetually bent into contact with the piftil. The Nydlanthes, called Arabian Jafmine, is another flower, wliich expands a beautiful corol, and gives out a mofl; delicate perfume during the night, and not in the day, in its native coun- try, whence its name ; botanical philofophers liave not yet ex* ained this wonderful property ; perhaps the plant fleeps during the day as fome animals do ; and its odoriferous glands only emit their fragrance during the expanfion of the petals ; that is, dur- ing its waking hours : the Geranium trifle has the fame property of giving up its fragrance only in the night. The flowers of the Cucurbita lagenaria are faid to clofe when the fun fliines upon them. In our climate many flowers, as tragopogon, and hibifeus, clofe their flowers before the hotteft part of the day comes on ; and the flowers of fome fpecies of cucubalus, and Siiene, vifeous campion, are clofed all day; but when the fun leaves them they expand, and emit a very agreeable feent; whence fucli plants are termed no6li flora. 190 LOVES OF Canto IV. Or marks where Jove direfts his glittering car O’er Heaven’s blue vault, — Herfelf a brighter ftarc — There as foft zephyrs fweep with paufing airs Thy fnowy neck, and part thy lliadowy hairs. Sweet Maid of Night ! to Cynthia’s fober beams Glows thy warm cheek, thy polifli’d bofom gleams. In crowds around thee gaze the admiring fwains. And guard in filence the enchanted plains ; 30 Drop the ftill tear, or breathe the impaffion’d figh. And drink Inebriate rapture from thine eye. Thus when old Need wood’s hoary feenes the Night Paints with blue fliadow, and wdth milky light; Where Ml^ndy pour’d, the liftening nymphs among. Loud to the echoing vales his parting fong ; With meafured ftep the Fairy Sovereign treads, Shakes her high plume, and glitters o’er the meads ; Tfljerc Mwidy. 1 . 35. Alluding to an unpublilhed poem by F. N. C. Mundy, Efq. on his leaving Needvvood-Foreft. See the paffage in the notes at the end of this volume. Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 191 Round each green holly leads her fportlvc train, And little footfteps mark the circled plain ; 40 Each haunted rill with filver voices rings. And Night’s fwcet bird in livelier accents fings. Ere the bright ftar, which leads the morning fky. Hangs o’er the blulhlng eafi: his diamond eye. The chafte Trop^o leaves her fecret bed ; A faint-like glory trembles round her head : ‘Tropaolum. 1 . 45. Majus. Garden Nafturtion, or greater Indian crefs. Eight males, one female. Mifs E. C. Linneus hrft obferved the Tropaeolum Majus to emit fparks or flaflies in the mornings before fun-rife, during tlie months of June or July, and alfo during the twilight in the evening, but not after total darknefs came on ; thefe fingular fcintillations were fhewn to her father and other philofophers ; and Mr. Wiicke, a cele- brated eledlrician, believed them to be eledric. Lin. Spec. Plantar, p. 490. Swedilh Ads for the year 1762. Pulteney*s View of Linneus, p. 220. Nor is this more wonderful than that the eledrlc eel and torpedo Ihould give voluntary Hrocks of cledricity ; and in this plant perhaps, as in thofe animals, it may be a mode of defence, by which it haralTes or deftroys tlie night- flying infeds which infefl: it ; and probably it may emit the 6 I 192 LOVES OF Canto IV, Eight watchful fwains along the lawns of night With amorous fteps purfue the virgin light ; O’er her fair form the eled:ric luftre plays. And cold flie moves amid the lambent blaze. 50 So fliines the glow-fly, when the fun retires. And gems the night- air with phofphorlc fires ; fame fparks during the day, which muft be then inviiible. This curious fubjedt deferves further Invefligation. See Di6tamnus. The ccafing to fhine of this plant after twilight might Induce one to conceive, that it abforbed and emitted light, like the Bo- lognian Phofphorus, or calcined oy her- fli ells, fo well explained by Mr. B. Wilfon, and by T. B. Bcccari. Exper. on Phofphori, by B, Wilfon, Dodfley. The light of the evening, at the fame diftance from noon, is much greater, as I have repeatedly ob- ferved, than the light of the morning; tills is owing, I fuppofe, to the phofphorcfcent quality of almoft all bodies, in a greater or lefs degree, which thus abforb light during the fun-lhine, and continue to emit it again for fome time afterwards, though not in fuch quai:itlty as to produce apparent fcintillations. The nec- tary of this plant grows from what is fuppofed to be the calyx; but this fuppoled calyx is coloured ; and perhaps, from this cir- \ cumftance ot its bearing the nedlary, fliould rather be efleemed a part ot the corol. See an additional note at the end of the poem. Siifiinss the gioiv~JIy. 1, 51, In Jamaica, in fome fcafons of Canto IV. THE PLANTS.' ^93 Thus o’er the marfh aerial lights betray, And charm the unwary wanderer from his way. I So when thy King, Aflyria, fierce and proud. Three human vlftlms to his idol vow’d ; Rear’d a vaft pyre before the golden flirine Of fulphurous coal, and pitch-exfiiding pine; — » - — Loud roar the flames, the iron noftrils breathe. And the huge bellows pant and heave beneath ; 6o Bright and more bright the blazing deluge flows. And white with feven-fold heat the furnace glows. And now the Monarch fix’d with dread furprife I Deep in the burning vault his dazzled eyes. Lo ! Three unbound amid the frightful glare, Unfcorch’d their fandals, and unfing’d their hair! the year, the fire-flies are feen in the evenings In great abundance. "When they fettle on the ground, the bull-frog greedily devours them ; which feems to have given origin to a curious, though cruel, method of deflroying thefe animals: if red-hot pieces of charcoal be thrown towards them in the dufk of the evenino-, they leap at them, and, haflily fwallowing them, are burnt to death. Part II. O A LOVES OF Canto IV. 1 94 And now a fourth with feraph-beauty bright Defcends, accofts them, and outfliines the light! Fierce flames innocuous, as they flep, retire ! And flow’ they move amid a world of fire !” 70 He fpoke, — to Heaven his arms repentant fpread, And kneeling bow’d his gem-incircled head. Two Sifter-Nymphs, the fair Avenas, lead Their fleecy fquadrons on the lawns of Tweed ; Avena. 1 . 73. Oat. The nuiiicroiis flimilies of graffes have all three males, and two females, except Anthoxanthum, which gives the grateful fmell to hay, and has but tvvo males. The herbs of this order of vegetables fupport the countlefs tribes of graminivorous animals. The feeds of the fmaller kinds of graffes, as of aira, poa, briza, ffipa, &c. are the fuftenance of many forts of birds. The feeds of the large graffes, as of wheat, barley, rye, oats, fupply food to the human fpecics. It feems to have required more ingenuity to think of feeding, nations of mankind with fo fmall a feed, than with the potatoe of Mexico, or the bread-fruit of the fouthern iilands; hence Ceres in Egypt, which was the birth place of our European arts, was defcrvedly celebrated amongft their divinities, as well as Ofyris, who invented the Plough. Canto IV. 195 THE PLANTS. Pafs with light ftep his wave-worn banks along, And wake his Echoes with their filver tonme ; Or touch the reed, as gentle Love infpires. In notes accordant to their chafte deilres. 1 . Sweet Echo ! fleeps thy vocal fliell. Where this high arch o’erhangs the dell; 80 While Tweed with fun-redecling ftreams Chequers thy rocks with dancing beams ? — II. Here may no clamours harfli Intrude, No brawling hound or clarion rude ; Mr. W alilborn obferves, tiiat as wheat, rye, and many of the grafles, and plantain, lift up their anthers on long filaments, and thus expofe the enclofed fecundating dufi: to be wafhed away by the rains, a fcarcity of corn is produced by wet fummers ; hence the necefTity of a careful choice of feed- wheat, as that, which had not received the dufl of the anthers, will not grow, though it may appear well to the eye. The ftraw of the oat feems to have been the firfl; mufical inflrument, invented during the paf- toral ages of the world, before, the difeovery of metals. See note on Ciflus. LOVES OF Canto IV. 195 Here no fell beaft of midnight prowl. And teach thy tortured clifts to howl! III. Be thine to pour thefe vales along Some artlefs Shepherd’s evening fong ; While Night’s fweet bird, from yon high fpray Refponfive, liftens to his lay. 90 IV. And if, like me, fome love-lorn Maid Should firig her forrows to thy fhade. Oh, footh her breaft, ye rocks around ! With fofteft lympathy of found.’* From ozier bowers the brooding Halcyons peep. The Swans purfuing cleave the glafly deep. On hovering wings the wondering Reed-larks play. And filent Bitterns liften to the lay. — Three fhepherd-fwains beneath the beechen fhades Twine rival garlands for the tuneful maids; 100 Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 197 On each fmooth bark the myftlc love-knot frame. Or on white fands Infcribe the favour’d name. Green fwells the beech, the widening knots im- prove. So fpread the tender growths of living love ; Wave follows wave, the letter’d lines decay. So Love’s foft forms uncultured melt away. I FromTime’s remoteft dawn where China brings In proud fucceffion all her Patriot-Kings ; O’er defert-fands, deep gulfs, and hills fublime. Extends her maffy wall from clime to clime ; no With bells and dragons crefts her Pagod-bowers, Her filken palaces, and porcelain towers ; With long canals a thoufand nations laves; Plants all her wilds, and peoples all her waves ; Slow treads fair Cannabis the breezy ftrand. The diftaff ftreams diflievell’ d in her hand ; Cannahis. 1. 115. Chinefe Hemp. Two houfes. Five males. A new fpecies of hemp, of which an account is given O 3 Canto IV. 198 LOVES OF Now to the left her ivory neck inclines. And leads in Paphlan curves its azure lines ; Dark waves the fringed lid, the warm cheek glows. And the Fair ear the parting locks difclofe; 120 Now to the right with airy fwcep die bends. Quick join the threads, the dancing fpole depends. — Five SwTiins attracted guard the Nymph, by turns Fler grace inchants them, emd her beauty burns; by K. Fitzgerald, Efq. in a letter to Sir Jofeph Banks, and which is believed to be much fuperior to the hemp of other countries. A few feeds of this plant were fown in England on the 4th of June, and grew to fourteen feet feven inches in height by the middle of 06 Iober ; they were nearly feven inches in circumference, and bore many lateral branches, and produced very white and tough fibres. At fome parts of the time thefc plants grew nearly eleven inches in a week. — Philof. Tranf. Vol. LXXII. p. 46. Paphlan curves. 1 . 118. In his ingenious work, entitled. The Analyfis of Beauty, Mr. Hogarth believes that the triangu- lar glafs, which was dedicated to Venus in her temple at Paphos, contained in it a line bending fpirally round a cone with a cer- tain degree of curvature ; and that this pyramidal outline and ferpentine curve conflitute the principles of Grace and Beauty. Canto IV. THE PLANTS. ipi To each llie bows with fweet affuafive fmile. Hears his foft vows, and turns her fpole the while. I So when v/ith light and fliade, concordant ftrife ! Stern Cloth o weaves the chequer’d thread of life; Hour after hour the growing line extends, The cradle and the coffin bound its ends ; 130 Soft cords of filk the whirling fpoles reveal, If fmiling Fortune turn the giddy wheel ; But if fweet Love with baby-fingers twines, \ And wets with dewy lips the lengthening lines, Skein after flcein celeftial tints unfold. And all the filken tifiue lliines with gold. Warm with fweet blufiies bright Gala nth a glows. And prints with frolic ftep the melting fnows : Galanthus, 1. 1 37. Nivalis. Snowdrop. Six males, one female. The firft flower that appears after the winter folflice. See Stiilingfleet’s Calendar of Flora. O 4 200 I. O V E S O F Canto IV. O er filent floods, white hills, and glittering meads. Six rival fwains the playful beauty leads, 1 40 Chides with her dulcet voice the tardy Spring, Bids flumberlng Zephyr flretch his folded wing. Some fnovvdrop-roots taken up in winter, and boiled, had tha infipld mucilaginous tafle of the Orchis, and, if cured in the fame manner, would probably make as good falep. The roots of the Hyacinth, I am informed, are equally infipid, and might be ufed as an article of food. Gmclin, in his hihory of Siberia, fays the Martagon Lily makes a part of the food of that country, which is of the fame natural order as tlie fnowdrop. Some roots of Crocus, which I boiled, had a difagreeable flavour. The difficulty of raifing the Orchis from feed has, perhaps, been a principal reafon of its not being cultivated in this coun- try as an article of food. It is affirmed, by one of the Linnean School, in the Amoenit. Academ. that the feeds of Orchis will ripen, if you deftroy the new bulb 5 and that Lily of the Valley, Convallaria, will produce many more feeds, and ripen them, if the roots be crowded in a garden-pot, fo as to prevent them from producing many bulbs, Vol. VI. p. I20. It is probable either of thefe methods may fucceed witli thefe and other bulbous-rooted plants, as fnowdrops, and might render their cultivation profit- able in this climate. The root of the afphodelus ramofus, branchy afphodel, is ufed to feed fwine in France ; the ftarch is obtained from the alftromeria li6ta. Memoires d’ Agricult, Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 201 Wakes the hoarfe Cackoo in his gloomy cave. And calls the wondering Dormoufe from his grave. Bids the mute Redbrcaft cheer the budding grove. And plaintive Ringdove tunc her notes to love. Spring ! with thy own fweet fmlle and tune- ful tongue, Delighted Belli s calls her Infant throng. Each on his reed aftride, the Cherub-train 149 Watch her kind looks, and circle o’er the plain; Now with young wonder touch the hiding fnail. Admire his eye-tipp’d horns, and painted mail ; Chafe with quick ftep, and eager arms outfpread. The paufmg Butterfly from mead to mead ; Beilis proUf era. 1 . 148. Hen and chicken Daify ; in this beau- tiful monller not only the.implction or doubling of tlie petals takes place, as deferibed in the note on Alcea; but a numerous circlet of lefs flowers on peduncles, or footftalks, rife from the fides of the calyx, and lurround the proliferous parent. The fame occurs in Calendula, marigold ; in Heracium, hawk-weed; and in Scabiofa, Scabious. Phil. Botan. p. 82. lol LOVES OF Canto IV., Or twine green ozlers wath the fragrant gale, - The azure harebel, and the prlmrofe pale. Join hand in hand, and in proceffion gay Adorn with votive wreaths the Ihrine of May. — So moves the Goddefs to the Idahan groves. And leads her gold-hair’d family of Loves. i6o Thefe, from the flaming furnace, ftrong and bold Pour the red ftecl in many a fandy mould ; On tinkling anvils (wdth Vulcanlan art). Turn with hot tongs, and forge the dreadful dart; ^he fragrant Gale. 1 . 155. The buds of the Myrlca Gale poiTefs an agreeable aromatic fragrance, and might be worth at- tending to as an article of the Materia Medica. Mr. Sparmair fufpe£ls, that the green wax-like fubflance, with which at cer- tain times of the year the berries of the Myrica cerifera, or can- dle-berry Myrtle, are covered, are depofited there by infedls. It is ufed by the inhabitants for making candles, which he fays burn rather better than thofe made of tallow. Voyage to the Cape, V. I. p. 345. Du Valde gives an account of a white wax made bv fmall infe£ls round the branches of a tree in China in j * great quantity, which is there col:e£l;ed for medical and econo- mical purpofes. The tree is called Tong-tfin, Defeript. of Cliina. Vol. I. p. 230. Canto TV. THE PLANTS. 203 The barbed head on whirling jafpers grind. And dip the point in poifon for the mind ; Eaeh polifli’dfliaft withfnow-white plumage wing, % Or ftrain the bow reluftant to its firing. Thofe on light pinion twine with bufy hands, % Or fireteh from bough to bough the liowerj bands; 170 i Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high. Or catch in filken nets the gilded fly ; Call the young Zephyrs to their fragrant bowers. And fiay with kifles fweet the Vernal Hours. / Where, as proud Maffon- rifes rude and bleak, And with misfliapen turrets crefis the Peak, Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath, } And o’er fear’d Derwent bends his flinty teeth ; Deep in wide caves below the dangerous foil Blue fulphurs flame, imprifon’d waters boil. 180 Deep in wide caves. 1 . 179. The arguments which tend to fliew that the warm fprings of this country are produced from fteam railed by deep fubterraneous fires, and afterwards condenfed 204 LOVES OF Canto IV. Impetuous fteams in fplral columns rife Through rifted rocks, impatient for the ikies; t between the ftrata of the mountains, appear to me much more ' conclufive than the idea of their being warmed by chemical com- binations near the furface of the earth; for, ift, their heat has kept acccuratcly the fame perhaps for many centuries, certainly as long as we have been polTelTed of good thermometers ; whicli cannot be well explained, without fuppofingthat they are firfl; in a boiling ftate. For as the heat of boiling water is 21 2, and that of the internal parts of the earth 48, it is eafy to underfland, that the fleam raifed from boiling water, after being condenfed in fome mountain, and pafling from thence tlirough a certain fpace of the cold earth, mufl be cooled always to a given degree; and it is probable the diftance from the exit of the fpring to the place where the fleam is condenfed, might be guefied by the de- gree of its warmth. 2. In the dry fummer of 1780, when all other fprings were either dry or much diminifhed, thofe of Buxton and Matlock (as I was well informed on the fpot) had iufFered no diminution ; which proves that the fources of thefe warm fprings are at great depths below the furface of the earth. 3. There are numerous perpendicular fiflures in the rocks of Lerbyfhire, in which the ores of lead and copper are found, and which pafs to unknown depths, and might thence afford a paflage to fleam from great fubterraneous fires. 4. If thefe waters were heated by the decompofltion of py-' I Canto IV. 205, THE PLANTS. I Or o’er bright feas of bubbling lavas blow ; As heave and tofs the billowy fires below ; Condenfed on high, in wandering rills they glide . From Maflbn’s dome, and burfl his fparry fide; Round his grey towers, and down his fringed walls. From cliff to cliff, the liquid treafure falls ; In beds of ftalaftlte, bright ores among, 1 89 O’er corals, fliells, and cryftals, winds along ; Crufts the green moffes, and the tangled wood, And fparkllng plunges to its parent flood. — O’er the warm wave a fmlling youth prefides, Attunes Its murmurs. Its meanders guides, (The blooming Fucus) In her fparry coves To amorous Echo fings his fecret loves, rites, there would be fome chalybeate tafte or fulphureous fmell in them. See note in part I. on the exiftence of central fires. Fucus, I. 195. Clandefiine marriage. A fpecies of Fucus, or of Conferva, foon appears in all bafons which contain water. Dr. Prieftley found that great quantities of pure dephlogifticat- ed air were given up in water at the points of this vegetable, particularly in the funfhine,and that hence it contributed to pre- 2c6 LOVES OF Canto IV. Bathes his fair forehead in the mifty ftream, s And with fweet breath perfumes the riling fleam. — So, erft, an Angel o’er Bethefda’s fprings, 199 Each morn defcending, flaook his dewy wings ; ferve the water in rcfervoirs from becoming putrid. The mi- nute diviiions of the leaves of fubaquatic plants as mentioned in the note on Trapa, and of the gills of filh, feem to ferve ano- ther purpofe befides that of increafing their furface, which has not, I believe, been attended to, and that is to facilitate the fepa- ration of the air, whicli is mechanically mixed or chemically diffolved in water by their points or edges ; this appears on im- merfmg a dry hairy leaf in water frefli from a pump; innumer- able globules like quickfilver appear on almofl every point ; for the extremities of thele points attradl the particles of water lefs forcibly than thofe particles attra 61 : each other ; hence the con- tained air, whofe elaflicity was but juil balanced by the attrac- tive power of the furrounding particles of water to each other, find at the point of each fibre a place where the refiftance to its cxpanfion is lefs; and in confequence it there expands, and be- comes a bubble of air. It is eafy to forefee that the rays of the funlhine, by being refracted and in part refledled by the two furfaces of thefe minute air-bubbles, muft impart to them much more heat than to the tranfparent water ; and thus facilitate their afeent by further expanding tliem ; and that the points of vege- tables attradb the particles of water lefs than they attradl; each other, is feen by the fpherical form of dew-drops on the points of grafs. See note on Vegetable Refpiration in Part I, Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 207 And as his bright tranflucent form He laves, Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves. Amphibious Nymph, from Nile’s prolific bed Emerging Trap a lifts her pearly head ; Trapa. 1. 204. Four males, one female. The lower leaves of this plant grow under water, and are divided into minute ca- pillary ramifications ; while the upper leaves are broad and round, and have air-bladders in their footflalks to fupport them above the iurface of the water. As the aerial leaves of vegetables do the office of lungs, by expofmg a large furface of veffels with their contained fluid'S^to the influence of the air; fo thefe aejua- tic leaves anfwer a fimilar purpofe like the gills of fifli ; and per- haps gain from water or give to it a fimilar material. As the material thus neceffary to life feems to abound more in air than in water, the fubaquatic leaves of this plant, and of fifymbrium, oenanthe, ranunculus aquatilis, water crowfoot, and fome others, are cut into fine divifions to increafe the furface ; whilfl thofc above water are undivided. So the plants on high mountains have their upper leaves more divided, as pimpinella, petrofeli- num, and others, becaufe here the air is thinner, and thence a larger furface of contadt is required. The flream of water alfo pafTes but once along the gills of fifli, as it is fooner deprived of its virtue ; whereas the air is both received and ejedled by the ac- tion of the lungs of land-animals. The v/hale feems to be an exception to the above, as he receives water and fpouts it out 8 20 $ LOVES or Canto IV. Fair glows her virgin cheek and modeft breaft, . A panoply of fcales deforms the reft ; again from an organ, which I fuppofe to be a refpiratory one; auci probably the lamprey, fo frequent in the montli of April both in the Severn and Derwent, infpires and expires water on the feven holes on each fide of the neck, which thus perform the of- fice of the gills of other fifh. As fpring-water Is nearly of the fame degree of heat in all climates, the aquatic plants, which grow in rills or fountains, are found equally in the torrid, tem- perate, and frigid zones, as water-crefs, water-parfnip, ranun- culus, and many others. In warmer climates the watery grounds are ufefully cultivat- ed, as with lice ; and the roots of fome aquatic plants are faid to have fupplied food, as the ancient Lotus in Egypt, which fome have fuppofed to be the Nymphaea. — In Siberia the roots of the Butomus, or flowering rufh, are eaten, which is well worth fur- ther enquiry, as they grow fpontaneoufly in our ditches and ri- vers, which at prefent produce no efculent vegetables; and might thence become an article of ufeful cultivation. Herodo- tus affirms that the Egyptian Lotus grows in the Nile, and re- fembles a Lily. That the natives dry it in the fun, and take the pulp out of it, which grows like the head of a poppy, and bake it for bread. Euterpe. Many grit-flones and coals, which I have feen, feem to bear an impreflion of the roots of the Nymphasa, which are often three or four inches thick, efpecially the white-flowered one. Canto IV» THE PLANTS. 209 Her quivering fins and panting gills file hides^ But fpreads her filver arms upon the tides ; Slow as file falls, her ivory neck file laves. And fhakes her golden trefiTes o’er the waves. 2 1 o Charm’d round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide Four Nereid-forms, or flioot alone: the tide ; Now all as one they rife with frolic Ipring, And beat the wondering air on humid wing ; Now all defeending plunge beneath the main. And lafli the foam with undulating .train ; Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance. In air and ocean weave the mazy dance ; Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes, 2 1 9 And twinkle to the fun with ever- changing djes. Where Andes, crefted wdth volcanic beams, Sheds a long line of light on Plata’s ftreams ; Opes all his fprings, unlocks his golden caves, And feeds and freights the immeafurable weaves: P.un' II. P no LOVES OF Canto IV. * Delighted Ocyma at twilight hours Calls her light car, and leaves the fultry bow- ers ; OcymnnifaUnum. 1. 2 :^ 5 . Saline Bafil. Clafs Two Powers, The Abbe Alolina, in his Hiftory of Chili, tranflated from the Italian by the Abbe Grewvel, mentions a fpecies of Bafil, which he calls Ocymum falinum : he fays it refembles the common bafil, except that the Balk is round and jointed ; and that though it grows fixty miles from the fea, yet every morning it is covered with faline globules, which are hard and fplendid, appearing at a diftance like dew ; and that each plant furniflies about half an ounce of fine fait every day, which the peafants colle61:, and ufe as common fait, but efleein it fuperior in flavour. As an article of diet, fait feems to add Amply as a ftimulus, not containing any nourifhmcnt, and is the only foflil fubftance wliich the caprice of mankind has yet taken into their Aomachs along with their food ; and, like all other unnatural ftimuli, is not neceffary to people in health, and contributes to weaken our fyflem ; though it may be ufeful as a medicine. It feems to be the Immediate caufe of the fea fcurvy, as thofe patients quickly re- cover by the ufe of frefli provifions; and is probably a remote caufe of fcrofula (which confifls in the want of irritability in the abforbent veflels) and is therefore ferviceable to thefe pa- tients ; as wine is necefiary to thofe whofe ftomachs have been weakened by its ufe. The univerfality of the ufe of fait with our food, and in our cookery, has rendered it difficult to prove 6 I Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 2II Love’s riling ray, and Youth’s fedudlive dye, Bloom’d on her cheek, and brighten’d in her eye; Chafte, pure, and white, a zone of filver graced Her tender breaft, as white, as pure, as chafte ; — By four fond fwains in playful circles drawn, 2^1 On glowing wheels flie tracks the moon-bright lawn. Mounts the rude cliff*, unveils her blufliing charms, And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms. Emerged from ocean fprings the vaporous air, Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair, Incrufts her beamy form with films faline. And Beauty blazes through the cryftal fhrine. — the truth of thefe obfervations. I fufpe6t that fleHi-iTieat cut into thin Dices, either raw or boiled, might be preferved in coarfe fugar or treacle; and thus a very nouriiliing and falutary diet might be prefented to our feamen. Se-e note on Salt -rocks, in Vol. I. Canto II. If a perfon unaccuflomed to much fait fhould eat a couple of red herrings, his infenfible perfpiration will be fo much increafed by the ftimulus of the fait, that he will find it neceflary in about two hours to drink a quart of wa- ter : the elFedls of a continued ufe of fait in weakening the ac- tion of the lymphatic fyfiem may hence be deduced. P 3 212 LOVES OF Canto IV. So with pellucid ftuds the ice-flower gems Her rimy foliage and her candied ftems. 540 So from his glafly horns, and pearly eyes. The diamond-beetle darts a thoufand dyes; Mounts with enamel’ d wings the vefper gale. And wheeling fliines in adamantine mail. Thus when loud thunders o’er Gomorrah burft. And heaving earthquakes fhook his realms accurfl:. An Angel-gucfc led forth the trembling Fair With fliadowy hand, and warn’d the guiltlefs pair; Flafle from thefe lands of fin, ye Righteous! fly, Speed the quick ftep, nor turn the lingering eye!” — 250 — Such the command, as fabling Bards recite. When Orpheus charm’d the grifly King of Night; Sooth’d the pale phantoms with his plaintive lay. And led the fair Aflurgent into day. — Wide yawn’d the earth, the fiery tempeft flafli’d, And towns and towers in one vafl; ruin crafli’d; — Ice-Jlozvcr. 1. 239. Mefembryantliemum cryfiallinuai. Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 21 ^ Onward they move, — loud Horror roars behind. And fhrieks of Anguifh bellow in the wind. With many a fob, amid a thoufand fears, 559 The beauteous wanderer pours her gufliing tears; Each foft connection rends her troubled brcaft, — She turns, unconfcious of the ftern beheft! — I faint! — I fall! — ah, me! — fcnfations chill Shoot through my bones, my fliuddcring bo- fom thrill! I freeze ! 1 freeze ! juft Heaven regards my fault. Numbs my cold limbs, and hardens into fait! — Not yet, not yet, your dying love refign! ‘‘ Thlslaft, laft kifs receive ! — no longer thine!” — She fald,and ceafed, — her ftlffen’d formHeprefs’d, And ftraln’d the briny column to his breaft; 2,/0 Printed w’lth quivering lips the litelefs fnow". And wxpt, and gazed the monument of woe. So w hen Tineas through the flames of Troy Bore his pale fire, and led his lovely boy; With loitering ftep the fair Creufa ftay’d, And death involved her in eternal fliadc. — - 214 LOVES OF Canto IV. — Oft the lone Pilgrim, that his road forfakes, Marks the wide ruins, and the fulphur’d lakes; On mouldering piles amid afphaltic mud 579 Hears the hoarfe bittern, where Gomorrah flood; Recals the unhappy Pair with lifted eye. Leans on the cryflal tomb, and breathes the lilent figh. With net- wove fafli and glittering gorget drefs’d. And fcarlet robe lapell’d upon her breafl. Stern Ara frowns, the meafured march aflumes. Trails her long lance, and nods her fhadowy plumes ; Arum, 1. 285 . CuckoW'pint, of the clafs Gynandiia, or iriafculine ladies. The pilbl or female part of the flower, rifes like a club, is covered above or clothed, as it were, by the an- thers or males ; and fome of the fpecies have a large fcarlet blotch in the middle of every leaf. The fingular and wonderful (Irudfure of this flower has oc- calioned many difputes amongft botanifls. See Tournef. Mal- pig. Dillen. Riven. &c. The receptacle is enlarged into a naked club, with the germs at its bafe ; the flamens are affixed to the receptacle amidft the germs (a natural prodigy), and thus Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 215 While Love’s foft beams illume her treacherous eyes, And Beauty lightens through the thin difguifc. So erft, when Hercules, untamed by toil. Own’d the foft power of DEJANiRA’sfmile; — 590 do not need the aflfiftance of elevating filaments : hence the flower mav be fald to be inverted. Families of Plants tranflated from Linneus, p. 618. The fpadix of this plant is frequently quite white, or colour- ed, and the leaves liable to be ftreaked with white, and to have black or fcarlet blotches on them. As the plant has no corol or bloflom, it is probable the coloured juices in thefe parts of the flieathor leaves may ferve the famepurpofe as the coloured juices in the petals of other flowers ; from which 1 fuppofe the honey to be prepared. See note on Helleborus. I am informed that thofe tulip-roots whicli have a red cuticle produce red flowers. See Rubia. When the petals of the tulip become ftriped with many co- lours, the plant lofes almoll; half of its height j and the method of making them thus break into colours is by tranfplanting the;n into a meagre or fandy foil, after they have previoufy enjoyed a richer foil: hence it appears, that the plant is weakened when the flower becomes variegated. See note on Anemone. For the ac- quired habits of vegetables, fee Tulipa, Orchis. The roots of the Arum are fcratched up and eaten by thruflies in fevere fnowy feafons. White’s Hift. of Selbourn, p. 43. P4 LOVES OF Canto IV. ai6 _ _ His lion-fpolls the laughing Fair demands. And gives the diftafF to his awk’svard hands ; I O’er her white neck the briftly mane die throws, And binds the gaping w bilkers on her brows; Plaits round her dender walft the diaggy veil. And clafps the velvet paws acrofs her bread:. Next with foft hands the knotted club Ihe rears. Heaves up from earth, and on her diouldcr bears. Onward with loftier ftep the Beauty treads. And trails the brinded ermine o’er the meads ; Wolves, bears, and pards, forfake the affrighted groves, 301 And grinning Satyrs tremble, as die moves. Caryo’s fweet fmlle Dianthus proud ad- mires, And gazing burns with unallow’d defires ; Dianthus. 1 . 303. Superbus. Proud Pink. There is a kind of pink called Fairchild’s mule, which is here fuppofed to be produced between a Dianthus fuperbus, and the Caryophyllus, Clove. The Dianthus fuperbus emits a mod; fragrant odour, Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 217 With fi ghs and forrows her compaffion moves. And wins the damfel to illicit loves. particularly at night. Vegetable mules fupply an Irrefragable argument in favour of the fexual fyflem of botany. They are faid to be numerous ; and, like the mules of the animal kingdom* not always to continue their fpecles by feed. There is an ac- count of a curious mule from the Antlrrliinum linarla, Toad- flax, in the Amoenit. Academ. V. I. No. 3. and many hybrid plants deferibed in No. 32. The urtica alienata is an evergreen plant, which appears to be a nettle from the male flowers, and a Pellitory (Parietaria) from the female ones and the fruit; and is hence between both. Murray, Syfl. Veg. Amongft the Englifli indigenous plants, the veronica hyhrida, mule Speedwel, is fuppofed to have originated from the officinal one, and the fpiked one. And the Sibthorpia Europsea to have for Its parents the golden faxifrage and marfh pennywort. Pulteney’s View of Linneus, p. 253. Mr. Graberg, Mr. Schreber, and Mr. Ram- flrom, feem of opinion, that tlie internal flru6lure or parts of fru 61 :Ification in mule-plants referable the female parent; but that the habit or external flru6lure refemblcs the male parent. See treatifes under the above names in V. VL Amcenlt. Acade- mic. The mule produced from a liorfe and tlie afs refembles tlie lioife externally with his ears, mane, and tail ; but w'ith the na- ture or manners of an afs : but the Hinnus, or creature produc- ed fi •om a male afs, and a mare, refembles the father externally in flature, afh-colour, and the black crofs, but with the nature or manners of ahorfe. I'lie breed from Spauifli rams and Swedilli 3 s 2i8 LOVES OF Canto IV. The Monftcr-ofFspring heirs the father’s pride, Mafli’d in the damafk beauties of the bride. So, when the Nightingale in eaftern bowers 309 On quivering pinion woos the Queen of flowers ; Inhales her fragrance, as he hangs in air. And melts with melody the blufhing fair; Half-rofc, half-bird, a beauteous Monfter fprings. Waves his thin leaves, and claps his glofly wings; Long horrent thorns his moITy legs furround. And tendril- talons root him to the ground ; Green films of rind his wrinkled neck o’erfpread. And crlmfon petals crcft his curled head; Soft warbling beaks in each bright bloflbm move, And vocal Rofebuds thrill the enchanted grove ! — ewes refembled t 1 ie Spanilh fheep in wool, ftature, and external form ; but was as liardy as the Swedifh flieep ; and tlie contrary of thofe which were produced from Swedifli rams and Spanidi ewes. The offspring from the male goat of Angora and the Swedifh female goat had long foft camel’s hair ; but that from the male Swediffa goat, and the female one of Angora, had no improvement of their wool. An Englifla ram without horns, and a Swedifh horned ewe, produced flaeep without horns. Amoen. Acad. Vol.VI, p. 13* Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 219 Admiring Evening ftays her beamy ftar, 321 / And ftill Night liftens from his ebon car ; While on white wings defeending Houries throng, And drink the floods of odour and of fong. When from his golden urn the Solftice pours, O’er Afric’s fable fons the fultry hours ; When not a gale flits o’er her tawny hills. Save where the dry Harmattan breathes and kills ; dry Harmattan. 1 . 328. The Harmattan is a fingular wind blowing from the interior parts of Africa to the Atlantic ocean, fometimes for a few hours, fometimes for feveral days without regular periods. It is always attended with a fog or haze, fo denfe as to render thofe objedls invifible which are at the diftance of a quarter of a mile ; the fun appears through it only about noon, and then of a dilute red, and very minute particles fubfide from the mlfty air fo as to make the grafs, and the fkins of negroes appear whitifli. The extreme drynefs which attends this wind or fog, without dews, withers and quite dries the leaves of vegetables ; and is faid by Dr. Lind at fome feafons to be fatal and malignant to mankind ; probably after much preceding wet, when it may become loaded with the exhalations from putrid marfhes; at other feafons it is faid to check epidemic difeafes, to cure fluxes, and to heal ulcers and cutaneous eruptions ; which / 220 LOVES OF Canto IV. When ftretch’d in dull her gafping panthers lie, And writh’d in foamy folds her ferpents die; 330 is probably efFe6i;eil by its yielding no moifture to the mouths of the external abforbent veffels, by which the adlion of the other branches of the abforbent fyftem is increafed to fupply the de- ficiency. Account of the Harmattan, Phil. Pranf. Vol. LXXI. The Reverend Mr. Sterling gives an account of a darknefs for fix or eight hours at Detroit in America, on the 19th of October, 1762, in which the fun appeared as red as blood, and tlirice its ufuai fize : foine rain hilling, covered white paper with dark drops, like fulpbur or dirt, which burnt like wet gun- powder, and the air had a very fulphureous fmell. He fuppofes this to have been emitted from fame diftant earthquake or vol- cano. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LIIl. p. 63. In many circum dances this wind feems much to refemble thq dry fog which covered mod parts of Europe for many weeks in the fummer of 1780, which has been fuppofed to have had a volcanic origin, as it fucceeded the violent eruption of Mount Hecla, and its neighbourhood. From the fubfidence of a white powder, it feems probable that the Harmattan has admilar origin, from the unexplored mountains of Africa. Nor is it improbable, that the epidemic coughs, which occafionally traverfe immenfe tradfs of country, may he the produ 61 s of volcanic eruptions ; nor impodible, that at fome future time contagious miafmata may be thus emitted from fubterraneous furnaces, in fuch abundance as to contaminate the \yhole atmofphere, and depopulate the earth ! r \ Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 221 Indignant Atlas mourns his Icaflcfs woods. And Gambia trembles for his finking floods ; Contagion ftalks along the briny fand. And Ocean rolls his fick’ning flioals to land. — Fair Chunda fmiles amid the burning waftc, Her brow unturban’d, and her zone unbrac’d; Hlsjicheningjhoals. 1 . 334. Mr, Marfden relates, that in the ifland of Sumatra, during the November of 1775, the dry mon- foons, or S. E. winds, continued fo much longer thaniifual, that the large rivers became dry; and prodigious quantities offea-fiflt, dead and dying, were feen floating for leagues on the fea, and driven on the beach by the tides. This was fuppofed to have been caufed by the great evaporation, and the deficiency of frefli- water rivers having rendered the fea too fait for its inhabitants. The feafon then became fo fickly as to deflroy great numbers of people, both foreigners and natives. Phil. Tranf. Vol. LX XL p. 384. Chunda. 1 . 335. Chundali Borrum is the name which the natives give to this plant ; it is the Hedyfarum gyrans, or moving plant; its clafs is two brotherhoods, ten males. Its leaves are continually in fpontaneous motion; fome rifing and others fall- ing ; and others whirling circularly by tvvifllng their ftems; this fpontaneous movement of the leaves, when the air is quite flill and very warm, feems to be necefliiry to the plant, as perpetual 1 222 LOVES OF Canto IV. Ten brother-youths with light umbrellas fhade. Or fan with bufy hands the panting maid ; Loofe wave her locks, difclofing, as they break. The rifing bofom and averted cheek ; 340 Clafp’d round her ivory neck with ftuds of gold Flows her thin veft in many a gauzy fold ; O’er her light limbs the dim tranfparence plays, And the fair form, it feems to hide, betrays. refplration Is to animal life. A more particular account with a good print of the Hedyfarum gyrans is given by M. Brouffonet in a paper on vegetable motions in the Hiftoire de I’Academie des Sciences. Ann. 1784, p. 6C9. There are many other inftances of fpontaneous movements of the parts of vegetables. In the Marchantia polymorpha fome yellow wool proceeds from the flower-bearing anthers, which moves fpontaneoufly in the anther, while it drops its duft like atoms, Murray, Syft. Veg. See note on CoHinfonia for other inftances of vegetable fpontaneity. Add to this, that as the- fleep of animals confifts in a fufpenfion of voluntary motion, and as vegetables are likewife fubje£l- to fleep, there isreafon to con- clude, that the various adlions of opening and cloflng their petals and foliage may be juflly aferibed to a voluntary power: for without the faculty of volition, fleep would not have been ne- ceflTarv to them. Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 2'i3 Cold from a thoufand rocks, where Ganges leads The gufliing waters to his fultry meads; By moon-crown’ d mofques with gay reflexions glides, And vaft pagodas trembling on his fides ; With fweet loquacity Nelumbo fails. Shouts to his fhores, and parleys with his gales; Invokes his echoes, as (he moves along, 351 And thrills his ripling Purges with her fong. — As round the Nymph her liftening lovers play, And. guard the Beauty on her watery way ; % < Nelumho. 1 . 349. Nympli$a Nelumbo. A beautiful rofe- red flower on a receptacle as large as an artichoke. The cap- fule is perforated with holes at the top, and the feeds rattle in it. Perfedl leaves are feen in the feeds before they germinate. Lin- neus, who has enlifted all our fenfes into the fervice of botany, has obferved this rattling of the Nelumbo ; and mentions what he calls an eledlric murmur, like diflant thunder in hop-yards, when the wind blows, and alks the caufe of it. We have one kind of pedicularis in our meadows, which has obtained the name of rattle-grafs, from the rattling of its dry feed veflcis under our feet. 224 LOVES OF Canto iV. Charm’d on the brink relenting tygers gaze. And paufmg buffaloes forget to graze; Admiring elephants forfake their woods, Stretch their wide ears, and wade into the floods; In filent herds the wondering fea-calves lave. Or nod their filmy foreheads o’er the wave; 360 Poifed on ftlll wing attentive vultures fweep. And winking crocodiles are lull’d to fleep. Where leads the northern Star his lucid train High o’er the fnow-clad earth, and icy main. With milky light the white horizon flreams. And to the moon each fparkllng mountain gleams. Slow o’er the printed fnows with filent walk Huge fliaggy forms acrofs the twilight ftalk ; And ever and anon with hideous found 3(39 Burfl the thick ribs of ice, and thunder round. — Burjl the thick ribs of ice. 1 . 370. The violent cracks of icc heard from the Glaciers feem to be caufed by fome ot the fnow being melted in the middle of the day; and the water thus pro- duced running down into vallies of ice, and congealing again in Canto IV. THE PLANTS. / 225 There, as old Winter flaps his hoary wing, And lingering leaves his empire to the Spring, Pierced with quick lhafts of filver-fhootlng light Fly in dark troops the dazzled imps of night. — Awake, my Love !” enamour’d Muschus cries, Stretch thy fair limbs, refulgent Maid arlfe ; a few hours, forces ofFby its expanfion large precipices from the ice- mountains. I Mujchus. 1 . 375. Corallinus, or lichen rangiferinus. Coral- mofs. Clandeftine-marriage. This mofs vegetates beneath the fnovv, where the degree of heat is always about 40 ; that is, in the middle between the freezing point, and the common heat of the earth ; and is for many months of the winter the foie food of the rein-deer, w'ho digs furrows in the fnow to find it; and as the milk and fledi of this animal is almofl; the only fuftenance which can be procured during the long winters of the higher latitudes, this mofs may be faid to fupport fome millions of man- kind. The quick vegetation that occurs on the folution of the fnows in high latitudes appears very aftonlfliing ; it feems to arife from two caufes, i. the long continuance of the approach- ing fun above the horizon ; 2. the increafed irritability of plants which have been long expofed to the cold. See note on Ane- mone. Part IT. Q 226 LOVES OF Canto I\L Ope tky fweet eye-lids to the rifing ray. And hail with ruby Ups returning day. Down the white hills diffolving torrents pour, Green fprings the turf, and purple blows the flower; 3^*^ His torpid wing the Rail exulting tries. Mounts the foft gale, and wantons in the Ikies ; '' Rife> let us mark how bloom the awaken d groves. And ’mid the banks of rofes our loves.’ Night’s tinfel beams on fmooth Loch-lomond dance. Impatient ^ga views the bright expanfe ; \ / All the water-fowl on the lakes of Siberia are faid by Profeflbr Gmelin to retreat fouthwards on the commencement of the froll, except the Rail, which fleeps buried in the fnow. Account of Siberia. 1. 386. Conferva asgagropila. It is found loofe in many lakes in a globular form, from the fizc of a walnut to that of a melon, much refembling the balls of hair found in the Canto IV. THE PLANTS. ‘ In vain her eyes the paffing floods explore, Wave after wave rolls freightlefs to the fliore. — Now dim amid the diftant foam flie fpies A rifmg fpeck, — ‘‘ ’tis he! ’tis he!” fhe cries; 390 As with firm arms he beats the ftreams afide. And cleaves with rifing chefl: the tolling tide. With bended knee fhe prints the. humid fands. Up-turns her gliftening eyes, and fpreads her hands; — ’Tis he, ’tis he! — my Lord, my life, my love! Slumber, ye winds; ye billows, ceafe to move! Beneath his arms your buoyant plumage fprcad. Ye Swans ! ye Halcyons! hover round his head!” ‘ — ^With eager ftep the boiling furf fhe braves. And meets her refluent lover in the weaves ; 400 flomachs of cows ; it adheres to nothing, but rolls from one part of the lake to another. The Conferva vagabunda dwells on the European feas, travelling along in the midft of the waves ; ( Spec. Plant.) Thefe may not improperly be called itinerant vege- tables. In a limilar manner the Fucus natans (fwimming) ftrikes no roots into the earth, but floats on the fea in very ex- tenfive maffes, and may be faid to be a plant of pafTage, as it is wafted by the winds from one fhore to another, Q 3 LOVES OF Canto IV. 223 Loofc o’er the flood her azure mantle fwims. And the clear fliream betrays her fnowy limbs. So on her fea-girt tower fair Hero ilood At parting day, and mark’d the dafliing flood ; While high in air, the glimmering rocks above. Shone the bright lamp, the pilot-fl:ar of Love. — With robe outfpread the wavering flame behind She kneels, and guards it from the fhlftlng wind; Breathes to her Goddefs all her vows, and guides Her bold Leander o’er the dufky tides; 410 Wrings his wet hair, his briny bofom warms, I And clafps her panting lover in her arms. Deep, in wide caverns and their fliadowy ailes, I Daughter of Earth, the chaileTRUFFELiA fmlles ; * ^Truffelia. 1. 414. (Lycoperdoii Tuber) Truffle. Clanilef- tine marriage. This fungus never appears above ground, re- quiring little air, and perhaps no light. It is found by dogs or fwine, who hunt it by the fmell. Other plants, which have no buds or branches on their ftems, as the graffes, ffloot out nume Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 229 On filvery beds, of foft afbeftus wove, Meets her Gnome-hufband, and avows her love. % — High o’er her couch impending diamonds blaze. And branching gold the cryftal roof inlays; With verdant light the modeft emeralds glow. Blue fapphires glare, and rubies blufh, below; ^2,0 Light piers of lazuli the dome furround. And pictured mochoes teffelate the ground : In glittering threads along rcfleftive walls The warm rill murmuring twinkles, as it falls ; Now fink the Eolian firings, and now they fwell. And Echoes woo in every vaulted cell ; While on white wings delighted Cupids plav. Shake their bright lamps, and died celeflial day, t Clofed in an azure fig by fairy fpclls, Bofom’d in down, fair Capri-fica dw^ells ; — 430 rous ftoles or felons under ground ; and this the more, as their tops or herbs are eaten by cattle, and thus preferve themfelves. Caprificus. 1 . 430. Wild fig. The fruit of the fig Is not a feed-veffel, but a receptacle inclofing the flower within it. As u 3 230 LOVES OF Canto IV. So fleeps in filence the Curculio, Ihut In the dark chambers of the cavern’d nut, thefe trees bear fome male and others female flowers, immured on all fides by the fruit, the manner of their fecundation was very unintelligible, till Tournefort and Pontedera difeovered, that a kind of gnat produced in the male figs carried the fecun- dating dull on its wings, (Cynips Pfenes Syfi. Nat. 919. )> penetrating the female fig, thus impregnated the flowers ; for the evidence of this wonderful fa£f, fee the word Caprification, in Milne’s Botanical Didionary. The figs of this country are all female, and their feeds not prolific ; and therefore they can only be propagated by layers and fuckers. Monfieur de la Hire has (hewn in the Memoir, de PAcadem, tics Sciences, that the fummer figs of Paris, in Provence, Italy, and Malta, have all perfe 6 l flamina, and ripen not only their fruits, but their feed; from v/hich feed other fig trees are rai fed ; but that the ftamina of the autumnal figs are abortive, perhaps owing to the want of due warmth. Mr. Milne, in his Botanical Didlionary, (art. Caprification) fays, that the cultivated fig-trees Itave a few- male flowers placed above the female within the fame covering or receptacle ; which in warmer climates perform their proper office, but in colder ones become abortive. And Linneus obferves, tliat fome figs have the navel of the receptacle open ; which was one reafon that induced him to remove this plant from the clafs Clandeftine Marriage to the clafs Polygamy, Lin. Spec. Plant. From all thefe circumffiances I fliould conje€lure, that thofe Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 231 Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted Ihell, And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell. So the pleafed Linnet in the mofs-wove nett. Waked into life beneath its parent’s breatt. Chirps in the gaping fhell, burtts forth erelong. Shakes Its new plumes, and tries its tendey fone, — female fig flowers, which are clofed on all Tides in the fruit or re- ceptacle without any male ones, are monflers, which have been propagated for their fruit, like barberries, and grapes without feeds in them ; and that the Caprification is either an ancient procefs of imaginary ufe, and blindly follovvcfl in Tome coun- tries, or that it may contribute to ripen the fig by decreafing its vigour, like cutting off a circle of the bark from the branch of a pear-tree. Tournefort feems Inclined to this opinion ; who fays, that the figs in Provence and at Paris ripen fooner, if their buds be pricked with a flraw dipped in olive-oil. Plums and pears pun6lured by fome infe6ls ripen fooner, and the part round the puncture is Tweeter. Is not the honey-dew produced by the pun6lure of infecls? will not wounding the branch of a pear- tree, which is too vigorous, prevent the bloflbms from falling off ; as from fome fig-trees the fi'ult is faid to fall off unlefs they are wounded by caprification ? I had laft fpring fix young trees of the ifehia fig with fruit on them in pots in a flove ; on removing them into larger boxes, they protruded very vigorous flmots, and 23 * LOVES OF Canto IV. t — And now the tallfman fhe ftrikes, that charms Her hufband-Sylph, — and calls him to her arms. — 440 Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord beftrides, With cobweb reins the flying courfer guides. From cryftal flieeps of viewlefs ether fprings. Cleaves the foft air on ftill expanded wings ; Darts like a funbeam o’er the boundlefs wave. And feeks the beauty in her fecret cave. So with quick impulfe through all nature’s frame Shoots the electric air its fubtle flame. So turns the impatient needle to the pole, Tho’ mountains rife between, and oceans roll. 450 t Where round the Orcades white torrents roar. Scooping with ceafelefs rage the incumbent fliore. Wide o’er the deep a dufky cavern bends Its marble arms, and high in air impends ; the figs all fell off ; which I afcribed to the Increafed vigour of the plants. Canto IV. THE PLANTS. 233 Bafaltic piers the ponderous roof fuftain, \ And ftecp their maffy fandals In the main ; Round the dim walls, and through the whlfperlng alles Hoarfe breathes the wind, the glittering water bolls. Here the charm’d Byssus with his blooming bride Spreads his green falls, and braves the foaming tide; The ftar of Venus gilds the twilight wave, 461“ And lights her votaries to the fecret cave ; ( Bafaltic piers. - 1 . 455. This defcriptlon alludes to the cave of Flncal in the iiland of Staffa. The bafaltic columns, which compote the Giants Caufeway on the coaft of Ireland, as well as thofe which fupport the cave of Fingal, are evidently of vol- canic origin, as is well illullrated in an ingenious paper of Mr. Keir, in the Philof. Tranf. who obferved in the glafs, which had been long in a fufing heat at the bottom of the pots in the glafs-houfes at Stourbridge, that cryflals were produced of a form fimilar to the parts of the bafaltic columns of the Giants Caufeway. ByJJus. 1 . 459. Clandeftine Marriage. It floats on the fea in the day, and flnks a little during the night ; it is found in caverns on the northern fliores, of a pale green colour, and as thin as paper. m LOVES OF Canto IV. Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed. And each coy Sea-maid hides her blufhing head. Where cool’d by rills, and curtain’d round by woods. Slopes the green dell to meet the briny floods. The fparhling noon-beams trembling on the tide. The Proteus-lover woos his playful bride, Proteus -lover. 1 . 468. Conferva polymorpha. Tliis ve'» getable is put amongfl the cryptogamia, or clandeftinc marriages, by Linneus ; but, according to Mr. Ellis, the males and females are on different plants. Philof. Tranf. Vol. LVII. It twice changes its colour, from red to^brown, and then to black ; and changes its form by lofing its lower leaves, and elongating fome of the upper ones, fo as to be miidaken by the unfkilful for dif- ferent plants. It grows on the (bores of this country. There is another plant, Medicago polymorpha, which may be faid to affume a great variety of fhapes ; as the feed-veffels re- femble fometimes fnail-horns, at other times caterpillars with or without long h^iir upon them , by which means it is probable they fometimes elude the depredations of thofe infedls. The feeds of Calendula, Marygold, bend up like a hairy caterpillar, with their prickles briflling outwards, ^nd may thus deter fome birds or infers from preying upon them. Salicornia alfo af- 235 Canto IV. THE PLANTS. To win the fair he tries a thoufand forms, Bafks on the fands, or gambols in the ftorms. 470 A Dolphin now, his fcaly iidcs he laves, And bears the fportive Damfel on the waves ; She ftrikes the cymbal as he moves along. And wondering Ocean liftens to the fong. - — And now a fpotted Pard the lover ftalks. Plays round her fteps, and guards her favour’d walks ; As with white teeth he prints her hand, carefs d, And lays his velvet paw upon her breaft, O’er his round face her fnowy fingers fhrain The filken knots, and fit the ribbon-rein. 480 —And now a Swan, he fpreads his plumy fails. And proudly glides before the fanning gales ; Pleas’d on the flowery brink with graceful hand She waves her floating lover to the land; Bright fhlnes his finuous neck, with crimfon beak He prints fond kiffes on her glowing cheek, \ fumes an animal fimlUtude. Phil. Bot. p. 87. See note on Iris * in additional notes; and Cypripedia in \'ol. I. Cakto IV. 236 L O V E S O F Spreads his broad wings, elates his ebon creft, And clafps the beauty to his downy breaft. A hundred virgins join a hundred fwains, And fond Adoxis leads the fprightly trains; 490 Pair after pair, along his facred groves To Hymen’s fane the bright proceffion moves ; Adonis. 1 . 490. Many males and many females live together in the fame flower. It may feem a folecifm in language to call a flower,' which contains many of botli fexes, an individual; and the more fo to call a tree or Ihrub an individual, which confihs of fo many flowers. Every tree, indeed, ought to be confidered as a family or fwarm of its refpeclive buds ; but the buds them- felves feem to be individual plants ; becaufe each has leaves or lungs appropriated to it ; and the bark of the tree is only a con- geries of the roots of all thefe individual buds. Thus hollow oak-trees and willows are often feen with the whole wood de- cayed and gone ; and yet the few remaining branches flourifli with vigour ; but in refpecSl to the male and female parts of a flower, tney do not deflroy its individuality any more than the number of paps of a fovv, or the number of her cotyledons, each of which includes one of her young. The fociety, called the Areoi, in the ifland of Otaheite, con- lifls of about 100 males and 100 females, who form one pro- mifeuous marriage. Canto IV. THE PLANTS. ^37 Each fmlling youth a myrtle garland fhadcs, And wreaths of rofes veil the blufhing maids ; Light Joys on twinkling feet attend the throng. Weave the gay dance, or raife the frolic fong; — Thick, as they pafs, exulting Cupids fling Promifeuous arrows from the founding firing ; On wings of goflTamer foft Whifpers fly, And the fly Glance fleals fide-long from the eye. — As round his fhrine the gawdy circles bow. And feal with muttering lips the faithlefs vow. Licentious Hymen joins their mingled hands. And loofely twines the meretricious bands. — Thus where pleafed Venus, in the fouthern main, t Sheds all her fmiles on Otaheite’s plain. Wide o’er the ifle her filken net flie draws. And the Loves laugh at all but Nature’s laws.” Here ccafed the Goddefs, — oxr the filent ftrings 5^9 Applauding Zephyrs fwept their fluttering wings ; Canto IV. ^►38 LOVE S, 6 cc. Enraptur’d Sylphs arofe in murmuring crowds , To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds ; / Each Gnome relu6lant fought his earthy cell, And each chill Floret clos’d her velvet bell. Then, on foft tiptoe, Night approaching near Hung o’er the tunelefs lyre his fable ear ; Gem’d with bright ftars the ftill ethereal plain. And bade his Nightingales repeat the ftrain. r ADDITIONAL NOTES. Additional mteto Curcuma. Canto I. 1 . 65. Thefe antherlefs filaments feem to be an endeavour of the plant to produce more flamens, as would appear from fome experiments of Mr. Reynier, inflituted for another pur- pofe : he cut away the flamens of many flowers, with de- fign to prevent their fecundity, and in many inftances the flower threw out new filaments from the wounded part of different lengths, but did not produce new anthers. The experiments were made on the geum rivale, differ- ent kinds of mallows, and the ^chinops citro. Critical Review for March, 1788. Addition to the note on Iris. Canto I. 1 . 7 1. In the Per- fian Iris the end of the lower petal is purple, with white edges and orange flreaks, creeping, as it were, into the mouth of the flower like an infed ; by which deception •i4o ADDITIONAL NOTES. in its native climate it probably prevents a fimilar infe6l from plundering it of its honey: the edges of the lower petal lap over thofe of the upper one, which prevents it from opening too wide on fine days, and facilitates its re- turn at night ; whence the rain is excluded, and the air admitted. See Polymorpha, Rubia, and Cypripedia, in Vol. I. Additional note on Chondrilla, Canto I. 1 . 97. In the na- tural date of the expanded Lower of the barberry^ the ftamens lie on the petals ; under the concave fummits of which the anthers fiaelter themfelves, and in this fitua- tion remain perfedlly rigid ; but on touching the infide of the filament near its bafe with a fine bridle, or blunt needle, the damen indantly bends upwards, and the an- ther, embracing the digma, dieds its dud. Obfervations on the Irritation of Vegetables, by T. E. Smith, M. D, Addition to the note on Silene, Canto I. 1 . 139. I faw a plant of the Dionaea Mufcipula, Fly-trap of Venus, this day, in the colle6lion of Sir B. Boothby, at Afhburn-Hall, Derbyfhire, Aug. 20th, 1788; and on drawing a draw along the middle of the rib of the leaves as they lay upon the ground round the dem, each of them, in about a fe- cond of time, clofed and doubled itfelf up, eroding the ADDITIONAL NOTES. 241 thorns over the oppofite edge of the leaf, like the teeth of a Ipring rat-trap : of this plant I was favoured with an elegant coloured drawing, by Mifs Maria Jackfon, of Tarporly, in Chefhire, a Lady who adds much botanical knowledge to many other elegant acquirements. In the Apocynum Androfasmifolium, one kind of Dog*s-bane, the anthers converge over the nectaries, which confifl of five glandular oval corpufcles furround- ing the germ ; and at the fame time admit air to the nec- taries at the interflice between each anther. But when a By inferts its probofcis between thefe anthers to plunder the honey, they converge clofer, and with fuch violence as to detain the fly, which thus generally perifhes. This account was related to me by R. W. Darwin, Efq. of El- fton, in Nottinghamfhire, who lliewed me the plant in flower, July ad, 1788, with a fly thus held fafl by the end of its probofcis, and was well feen by a magnifying lens, and which in vain repeatedly flruggled to difengage itfelf, till the converging anthers were feparated by means of a pin : on fome days he had obferved that almofl every flower of this elegant plant had a fly in it thus entangled ; and a few weeks afterwards favoured me with his further obfervations oh this fubjecl. My Apocynum is not yet out of flower. I have of- “ ten vifited it, and have frequently found four or five Part 1 1. R ADDITIONAL NOTES. 242 flies, fome alive, and fome dead, in its flowers ; they are generally caught by the trunk or probofcis, fome- times by the trunk and a legj there is one at prefent only caught by a leg: I don’t know that this plant fleeps, as the flowers remain open in the night ; yet the ‘‘ flies frequently make their efcape. In a plant of Mr. Ordoyno’s, an ingenious gardener at Newark, who is “ poflefTed of a great colledion of plants, I faw many flowers of an Apocynum with three dead flies in each ; they are a thin-bodied fly, and rather lefs than the common houfe-fly ; but I have feen two or three other forts of flies thus arrefled by the plant. Aug. 1 2, 1788.” \ Additional note on llex^ Canto I. 1 . 16 1. The effi- cient caufe, v/hich renders the hollies prickly in Need- wood Forefl only as high as the animals can reach them, may arife from the lower branches being conflantly crop- ped by them, and thus fhoot forth more luxuriant foliage : it is probable the fhears in garden-hollies may produce the fame eflefl, which is equally curious, as prickles are not thus produced on other plants. Additional note on Ulva, Canto I. 1 . 415. M, Hubert made fome obfervadons on the air contained in the cavi- ADDITIONAL NOTES. 243 ties of the bambou. The ftems of thefe canes were from 40 to 50 feet in height, and 4 or 5 inches In diameter, and might contain about 30 pints of elaftic air. He cut a bambou, and introduced a lighted candle into the cavity, which was extinguifhed Immediately on its entrance. He tried this about 60 times in a cavity of the bambou, con- taining about two pints. He introduced mice at different times into thefe cavities, which feemed to be fomewhat affedbed, but foon recovered their agility. The ftem of the bambou is not hollow till it rifes more than one foot from the earth ; the divifions between the cavities are convex downwards. Obferv. fur la Physique, par M, Rozier, 1 . 33. p. 130^ Addition to the note on T'rop^olum, Canto IV. 1 . 45. In Sweden a very curious phenomenon has been obferved on certain flowers, by M. Haggren, Ledurer in Natural Hlftory. One evening he perceived a faint flafh of light repeatedly dart from a Marigold ; furprifed at fuch an uncommon appearance, he refolved to examine it with attention ; and, to be affured that it was no deception of the eye, he placed a man near him, with orders to make a fignal at the moment when he obferved the light. They both faw it conftantly at the fame moment. The light was mofl: 'brilliant on Marigolds of an 244 ADDITIONAL NOTES. orange or flame colour, but fcarcely vlflble on pale ones. The flafli was frequently feen on the fame flower two or three times in quick fucceflaon, but more commonly at intervals of feveral minutes ; and when feveral flowers in the fame place emitted their light together, it could be obferved at a confiderable diftance. This phenomenon was remarked in the months of July and Auguft, at fun-fet, and for half an hour after, when the atmofphere was clear s but after a rainy day, or when the air was loaded with vapours, nothing of it was feen. The following flowers emitted flalhes, more or lefs vivid, in this order: 1. The Marigold, ( Calendula officinalis J, 2 . Garden Naflurtion, (Tropu^olum majus ). 3. Orange Lily, ( Lilium hidhiferum ), 4 . African Marigold, (-Tagetes patula et eredia ), Sometimes it was alG obferved on the Sun-flowers, (Helianthus annuus). But bright yellow, or flame-co- lour, feemed in general neceflTary for the produdion of this light ; for it was never feen on the flowers of any other colour, To difeover whether fome little infers, or phofphoric worms, might not be the caufe of it, the flowers were carefully examined even with a microfeope, without any fuch being found. ADDITIONAL NOTES. 245 From the rapidity of the flafh, and other circumftances, it might be conjedtured, that there is fomething of elec- tricity in this phenomenon. It is well known, that when x\\Q pifiil of a flower is impregnated, xht pollen burfts away by its elafticity, with which cledlricity may be combined. But M. Haggren, after having obferved the fiafli from the OrangeTily, the anthers of which are a confiderable fpace diflant from the petals ^ found that the light pro- ceeded from the petals only ; whence he concludes, that this eledlric light is caufed by tht pollen, which in flying off is fcattered upon the petals, Obfer. Phyfique par M, Rozier, Vol. XXXIII. p. iii. I 246 ADDITIONAL NOTES. Addition to the note on Upas, Canto III. 1. 238 . Defcription of the Poifon-Tree hi the Ifland of Java. Trmiflated from the Original Dutch of N. P. Focrfch. THIS deftruflive tree is called in the Malayan lan- guage Bohun-UpaSi and has been defcribed by naturalills ; but their accounts have been fo tindured with the mar- vellousj that the whole narration has been fLippofed to be an ingenious fidlion by the generality of readers. Nor is this in the lead: degree furprifing, when the circumllances w’hich we fhall faithfully relate in this defcription are con- fidered. I mull acknowledgCj that I long doubted the exig- ence of this tree, until a ftridter inquiry convinced me of my error. I fhall now only relate fimple unadorned fadls, of which I have been an eye-witnefs. My readers may depend upon the fidelity of this account. In the year I774> I was Ilationed at Batavia, as a furgeon, in the fer- vice of the Dutch Eaft-India Company. During my re- fidence there I received feveral different accounts of the Bohun-Upas, and the violent effedls of its poifon. They ADDITIONAL NOTES. 2,^7 all then feemed incredible to me, but raifed my curioficy in fo high a degree, that I refolved to invefligate this fubjedl thoroughly, and to truft only to my own ohjerva- tions. In confequence of this refolution, I applied to the Governor-General, Mr. Petrus Albertus van der Parra, for a pafs to travel through the country : my requell was granted s and, having procured every information, I fet cut on my expedition. I had procured a recommendation from an old Malayan pried to another pried, v/ho lives on the neared inhabitable fpot to the tree which is about fifteen or fixteen miles didant. The letter proved of great fervice to me in my undertaking, as that pried is ap- pointed by the Emperor to refide there, in order to pre- pare for eternity the fouls of thofe who for different crimes are fentenced to approach the tree, and to procure the poifon. The Bohm-Upas is fituated in the ifland of Java^ about twenty-feven leagues from Batavia^ fourteen from Soura- Chartay the feat of the Emperor, and between eighteen and twenty leagues from B’inkjoey the prefent refidence of the Sultan of Java, It is furrounded on all fides by a circle of high hills and mountains ; and the country round it, to the didance of ten or twelve miles from the tree, is entirely barren. Not a tree nor a rub, nor even the lead plant or grafs is to be feen. I have made the tour 248 ADDITIONAL NOTES. all around this dangerous fpot, at about eighteen miles diflant from the centre, and I found the afped of the country on all Iides equally dreary. The eafiefl; afeent of the hills is from that part where the old ecclefiaflic dwells. From his houfe the criminals are fent for the poi- fon, into which the points of all warlike inftruments are dipped. It is of high value, and produces a confiderable revenue to the Emperor. Account of the manner in which the l^oifon is procured. The poifon which is procured from this tree is a gum that ifliies out between the bark and the tree itfelf, like the camphor, Malefa6lors, who for their crimes are fen- tenced to die, are the only perfons who fetch the poifon; and this is the only chance they have of faving their lives. After fentence is pronounced upon them by the judge, they are afl^ed in court, whether they will die by the hands of the executioner, or whether they will go to the Upas tree for a box of poifon ? They commonly prefer the latter propofal, as there is not only fome chance of pre- ferving their lives, but alfo a certainty, in cafe of their fafe return, that a provifion will be made for them in fu- ture by the Emperor. They are alfo permitted to afle a favour from the Emperor, which is generally of a trifling ADDITIONAL NOTES. 249 nature, and commonly granted. They are then provided with a filver or tortoife-lhell box, in which they are to put the poifonous gum, and are properly inftrudled how to proceed while they are upon their dangerous expedi- tion. Among other particulars, they are always told to attend to the diredlion of the winds s as they are to go tov/ards the tree before the wind, fo that the efHuvia from the tree is always blown from them. They are told likewife, to travel with the utmoft difpatch, as that is the only method of infuring a fafe return. They are af- terwards fent to the houfe of the old prieft, to which place they are commonly attended by their friends and relations. Here they generally remain fome days, in expectation of a favourable breeze. During that time the ecclefiaftic prepares them for their future fate by prayers and admo- nitions. When the hour of their departure arrives, the prieft puts them on a long leather-cap, with two glafies before their eyes, which comes down as far as their bread; and alfo provides them with a pair of leather-gloves. They are then conducted by the prieft, and thein friends and re- lations, about two miles on their journey. Here the prieft repeats his inftrudtions, and tells them where they are to look for the tree. He fhews them a hill, which they are told to afeend, and that on the other fide they w ill find a ADDITIONAL NOTES; 350 rivulet, which they are to follow, and which will conducSb them direftly to the Upas. They now take leave of each other; and,amid{l prayers for their fuccefs,the delinquents haften away. The worthy old ecclefiaflic hasaflured me, that during his refidence there, for upwards of thirty years, he had difmiffed above feven hundred criminals in the manner which I have deferibed ; and that fcarcely two out of twenty have returned. He fhewed me a catalogue of all the unhappy fufferers, v/ith the date of their departure from his hoLife annexed; and a lift of the offences for which they had been condemned : to which was added, a lift of thofe who had returned in fafety. I afterwards faw another lift of thefe culprits, at the jail-keeper’s at Soura- Chartdy and found that they perfedly correfponded with each other, and with the different informations which I afterwards obtained. I was prefent at fome of thefe melancholy ceremonies, and defired different delinquents to bring with them fome pieces of the wood, or a fmall branch, or fome leaves of this wonderful tree. I have alfo given them filk cords, defir- ing them to meafure its thicknefs. I never could procure more than two dry leaves that were picked up by one of them on his return ; and all I could learn from him, con- cerning the tree itfelf, was, that it flood on the border of 3 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 251 a rlvuleL as defcribed by the old Pried; that it was of a middling fize ; that five or fix young trees of the fame kind ftood clofe by it ; but that no other fhrub or plant could be feen near it ; and that the ground was of a brownilh fand, full of ftones, almofi: impraclicable for travelling, and covered with ,dead bodies. After many converfations with the old Malayan prieu, I quefiioned him about the firft difeovery, and aficed his opinion of this dangerous tree ; upon which he gave me the follow- ing anfwer : We are told in our new Alcoran, that, above an hun- dred years ago, the country around the tree was inha- bited by a people ftrongly addided to the fins of Sodom and Gomorrah ; when the great prophet Mahomet de- termined not to fuffer them to lead fuch detefiable lives any longer, he applied to God to punilh them : upon which God caufed this tree to grow out of the earth, which deftroyed them all, and rendered the country for “ ever uninhabitable.” Such was the Malayan opinion. I fhall not attempt a comment ; but mud oblerve, that all the Malayans con- fider this tree as an holy inftrument of the great prophet to punilh the fins of mankind ; and, therefore, to die of the poifon of the Upas is generally confidered among them as an honourable death. For that reafon I alfo ob- additional notes. ferved> that the delinquents, who were going to tlie tree, were generally drelTed in their bell apparel. This however is certain, though it may appear incredi- ble, that from fifteen to eighteen miles round this tree, not only no human creature can exift, but that, in that fpace of ground, no living animal of any kind has ever been difcovered. I have alfo been alTured by feveral per- fons of veracity, that there are no fifh in the waters, nor has any rat, moufe, or any other vermin, been feen there ; and when any birds fly fo near this tree that the effluvia reaches them, they fall a facrifice to the efFe^ls of the poifon. This circumftance has been afccrtained by different de- linquents, who, in their return, have feen the birds drop down, and have picked them up deadj and brought them to the old ecclefiaftic. I will here mention an inftance, which proves the fail beyond all doubt, and which happened during my flay at Java. In 1775 a rebellion broke out among the fubje£ls of the Maffay, a fovereign prince, whole dignity is nearly equal to that of the Emperor. They refufed to pay a duty im- pofed upon them by their fovereign, whom they openly oppofed. The Maffay fent a body of a thoufand troops to difperfe the rebels, and to drive them, with their families, out of his dominions. Thus four hundred families, con- ADDITIONAL NOTES. 253 lifting of above fixteen hundred fouls, were obliged to leave their native country. Neither the Emperor nor the Sultan would give them protedlon, not only becaufe they were rebels, but alfo through fear of difpleafing their Neighbour, the Maffay. In this dlftrefsful fituatlon, they had ho other refource than to repair to the uncultivated parts round the Upas, and requefted permlftion of the Em- peror to fettle there. Their requeft was granted, on con- dition of their fixing their abode not more than twelve or fourteen miles from the tree. In order not to deprive the inhabitants already fettled there at a greater diftance of their cultivated lands. With this they were obliged to comply ; but the confequence was, that in lefs than two months their number was reduced to about three hun- dred. The chiefs of thofe who remained returned to the Mafiay, informed him of their Ioffes, and intreated his pardon, which induced him to receive them again as fub- jedls, thinking them fufficiently punlfhed for their mif- condu6t. 1 have feen and converfed with feveral of thofe who furvived foon after their return. They all had the appearance of perfons tainted with an infectious diforder; they looked pale and weak, and from the account which they-gave of the lofsof their comrades, and of the fymp- toms and circumftances which attended their diffolution, fuch as convulfions, and other figns of a violent death, I was fully convinced that they fell victims to the poifon. 254 ADDITIONAL NOTES. This violent cffe6l of the poifon at fo great a diftance from the tree, certainly appears furprifing, and almoft in- credible : and efpecially, when we confider that it is pof- fible for delinquents who approach the tree to return alive. My wonder, however, in a great meafure, ceafed, after I had made the following obfervations : I have faid before, that malefadors are inftrudled to go to the tree with the wind, and to return againfl the wind. When the wind continues to blow from the fame quarter while the delinquent travels thirty, or fix and thirty miles, if he be of a good conftitution, he certainly furvives. But what proves the moft de(lru6live is, that there is no de- pendence on the wind in that part of the world for any length of time. — There are no regular land-winds; and the fea-wind is not perceived there at all, the fituation of the tree being at too great a diftance, and furrounded by high mountains and uncultivated forefts. Beftdes, the wind there never blows a frefti regular gale, but is com- monly merely a current of light, foft breezes, which pafs through the different openings of the adjoining mountains. It is alfo frequently difficult to determine from what part of the globe the wind really comes, as it is divided by various obftructions in its paffage, .which eafily change the diredlion of the wind, and often totally deftroy its effedls. I, therefore, impute the diftant effeds of the poifon, in a great meafure, to the conftant gentle winds in thofe parts. ADDITIONAL NOTES. 255 which have not power enough to difperfe the poifonous particles. If high winds were more frequent and durable ♦ there, they would certainly weaken very much, and even deftroy the obnoxious effluvia of the poifon ; but without them the air remains infeded and pregnant with thefe poifonous vapours. . I am the more convinced of this, as the worthy eccle- fiaftic affured me, that a dead calm is always attended with the greateft danger, as there is a continual perfpiration ifffulng from the tree, which is feen to rife and fpread in the air, like the putrid fteam of a marffiy cavern. Experiments made with the Gum of the Upas-Tree, In the year 1776, in the month of February, I was prefent at the execution of thirteen of the Emperor’s con- cubines, at Soura-Charta^ who were convided of infidelity to the Emperor’s bed. It was in the forenoon, about eleven o’clock, when the fiir criminals were led into an open fpace within the walls of the Emperor’s palace. There the judge paffTed fentence upon them, by which they are doomed to fuffer death by a lancet poifoned with Upas. After this the Alcoran was prefented to them, and they were, according to the law of their great prophet Mahomet, to acknowledge and ro affirm by oath, that 2 ;6 ADDITIONAL NOTES. V the charges brought againft them, together with the fen- tence and their punifhment, were fair and equitable. This they did, by laying their right hand upon the Alcoran, their left hands upon their bread:, and their eyes lifted to- wards heaven ; the judge then held the Alcoran to their lips, and they killed it. Thefc ceremonies over, the executioner proceeded on his bufinefs in the following manner: — Thirteen pods, each about five feet high, had been previoufly eredled. To thefe the delinquents were fafiened, and their breads dripped naked. In this fituation they remained a fliort time in continual prayers, attended by feveral prieds, un- til a fignal was given by the judge to the executioner ; on which the latter produced an indrument, much like thQ fpring lancet ufed by farriers for bleeding horfes. With this indrument, it being poifoned with the gum of the Upas, the unhappy wretches were lanced in the middle of their breads, and the operation was performed upon.them all in lefs than two minutes. My adonifnment was raifed to the highed degree, when I beheld the fudden ededls of that poifon, for in about five minutes after they were lanced they were taken with a tremor attended with a JuhJultus terdinum, after which they died in the greated agonies, crying out to God and Mahomet for mercy. In fixteen minutqs by my watch-. ADDITIONAL NOTES. ^57 which I held in my hand, all the criminals were no more. Some hours after their death, I obferved their bodies full of livid fpots, much like thofe of the Petechia^ their faces fwelled, their colour changed to a kind of blue, their eyes looked yellow, &c. &c. About a fortnight after this, I had an opportunity of feeing fuch another execution at Samarang. Seven Ma- iayans were executed there with the fame inflrument, and in the fame manner ; and T found the operation in the poifon, and the fpots in their bodies, exadlly the fame. Thefe circumftances made me defirous to try an ex- periment with fome animals, in order to be convinced of the real effeds of this poifon j and as I had then two young puppies, I thought them the fitteft objedls for my pur- pofe. ' I accordingly procured with great difficulty fome grains of Upas. I dilTolved half a grain of that gum in a fmall quantity of arrack, and dipped a lancet into it. With this poifoned inftrument I made an incifion in the lower mufcular part of the belly in one of the puppies. Three minutes after it received the wound the animal began to cry out mofl: piteoufly, and ran as fall as poffiblc from one corner of the room to the other. So it continued during fix minutes, when ail its (Irength being exhaufted, it fell upon the ground, was taken with convulfions, and died in the eleventh minute. I repeated this experiment Part II, S 258 ADDITIONAL NOTES. with two other puppies, with a cat and a fowl, and found the operation of the poifon in all of them the fame: none of thefe animals furvived above thirteen minutes. I thought it neceflary to try alfo the efPed: of the poifon given inwardly, which I did in the following manner. I diffolved a quarter of a grain of the gum in half an ounce of arrack, and made a dog of feven months old drink it. In feven minutes, a retching enfued, and I obferved, at the fame time, that the animal was delirious, as it ran up and down the room, fell on the ground, and tumbled about ; then it rofe again, cried out very loud, and in about half an hour after was feized with convulfions, and died. I opened the body, and found the ftomach very much inflamed, as the inteftines were in fome parts, but not fo much as the flomach. There was a fmall quan- tity of coagulated blood in the ftomach j but I could dif- cover no orifice from which it could have iflfued ; and therefore fuppofed it to have been fqueezed out of the lungs, by the animal’s ftraining while it was vomiting. From thefe experiments I have been convinced that the gum of the Upas is the moft dangerous and moft vio- lent of all vegetable poifons ; and I am apt to believe that it greatly contributes to the unhealthinefs of that ifland. Nor is this the only evil attending it : hundreds of the na- tives of Java, as well as Europeans, are yearly deftroyed 3 I ADDITIONAL NOT^S. 259 and treacheroufly murdered by that poifon, either inter- nally or externally. Every man of quality or fafhion has his dagger or other arms poifoned with it ; and in times of war the Malayans poifon the Iprings and other waters with it ; by this treacherous pradlice the Dutch fuffered greatly during the laft war, as it occafioned the lofs of half their army. For this reafon, they have ever fince kept fifh in the fprings of which they drink the water, and fcn- tinels are placed near them, who infpedl the waters every hour, to fee whether the fifli are alive. If they march with an army or body of troops into an enemy’s country, they always carry live fifli with them, which they throw into the water fome hours before they venture to drink it ; by which means they have been able to prevent their total deftrudlion. This account, I flatter myfelf, will fatisfy the curiofity of my readers, and the few fa6ls which I have related will be confidered as a certain proof of the exilTence of this pernicious tree, and its penetrating efledts. If it be afleed why we have not yet any more fatisfac- tory accounts of this tree, I can only anfwer, that the ob- jedl of mofl: travellers to that part of the world confifts more in commercial purfuits than in the ftudy of Natural Hiftory and the advancement of Sciences. Befides, Java is fo univerfally reputed an unhealthy ifland, that rich tra- 26 o ADDITIONAL NOTES. vellers feldom make any long ftay in it; and others want money, and generally are too ignorant of the language to travel, in order to make inquiries. In future, thofe who vifit this ifland will now probably be induced to make it an objedl of their refearches, and will furnilh us with a fuller defcriptlon of this tree. I will therefore only add, that there exifts alfo a fort of Cajoe-Upas on the coaft of MacaiTer, thepoifon of which operates nearly in the fame manner, but is not half fo violent or malignant as that of Java, and of which I Ihall likewife give a more circumftantial account in a defcrip^ tion of that ifland . — London Magazmo* ADDITIONAL NOTES. 25r 9 Another Account of the Boa Upas, or Polfon-Trce of Macairer,y/*o;;/ an inaugural Differtation publfhed hy Chrift. AejmeLxus, and approved by Profeflbr Thunberg, at Upfal. DOCTOR AEJMELiEUS firft fpeaks of polfons ia general, enumerating many virulent ones from the mineral and animal, as v/ell as from the vegetable kingdoms of Nature. Of the hrft he mentions arfenical, mercurial, and antimonial preparations ; amongil the fecond he mentions the poifons of feveral ierpents, fifhes, and infcfls j and amongil the lall the Curara on the bank of the Oronoko, and the Woorara on the banks of the Amazones, and many others. But he thinks the flrongcll is that of a tree hitherto undefcribed, known by the name of Boa Upas, which grows in many of the warmer parts of India, principally in the iOands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bali, Macafler, and Celebes. Rurnphius tcilifies concerning this Indian poifon, that it was more terrible to the Dutch than any warlike inllru- mentj it is by him dyled Arbor toxicaria, and mentions two fpecies of it, which he terms male and femalci and defcribes the tree as having a thick trunk, with fpreading S3 additional notes. \ branches, covered with a rough dark bark. The wood, he adds, is very folid, of a pale yellow, and variegated with black fpots, but the fruflification is yet unknown. ProfefTor Thiinberg fuppofes the Boa Upas to be a Ceftrum, or a tree of the fame natural family ; and de- fcribes a Ceftrum of the Cape of Good FI ope, the juice of which the Flottentots mix with the venom of a certain ferpent, which is faid to increafe the deleterious qua- lity of them both. The Boa Upas tree is eafily recognifed at a diftance, being always folitary, the foil around it being barren, and as it were burnt up; the dried juice is dark brown, liqui- fying by heat, like other refins. It is collefled with the' greateft caution, the perfon having his head, hands, and feet carefully covered with linen, that his whole body may be protected from the vapour as well as from the drop- pings of the tree. No one can approach fo near as to gather the juice, hence they fupply bamboos, pointed like a fpear, which they thruft obliquely, with great force, into the trunk; the juice oozing out gradually fills the upper joint; and the nearer the root the wound is made, the more virulent the poifon is fuppofed to be. Sometimes upwards of twenty reeds are left fixed in the tree for three or four days, that the juice may collect and harden in the cavities ; the upper joint of the reed is then cut off ADDITIONAL NOTES. 263 from the remaining part, the concreted juice is formed into globules or (ticks, and is kept in hollow reeds, care- fully clofed, and wrapped in tenfold linen. It is every week taken out to prevent its becoming mouldy, which fpoilsit. The deleterious quality appears to be volatile, fince it lofes much of its power in the time of one year, and in a few years becomes totally effete. The vapour of the tree produces numbnefs and fpafins of the limbs, and if any one (lands under it bare-headed, he lofes his hair; and if a drop falls on him, violent inflam- mation enfues. Birds which fit on the branches a (hort time, drop down dead, and can even with difEculcy fly over it ; and not only no vegetables grow under it, but the ground is barren a (lone cad around it. A perfon wounded by a dart poifoned with this juice feels immediately a fenfe of heat over his whole body, with great vertigo, to which death foon fuccecds. A per- fon wounded with the Java poifon was arfedled with tremor of the limbs, and darting of the tendons in five / minutes, and died in lefs than fixteen minutes, with marks of great anxiety ; the corpfe, in a few hours, was covered with petechial fpots, the face became tumid and lead-co« loured, and the white part of the eye became yellow. The natives try the drength of their poifon by a fingu- iar ted; fome of the exp reded juice of the root of Amo- S4 264 ADDITIONAL NOTES. mum Zerumbet is mixed with a little water, and a bit of the poifonous gum or refin is dropped into it ; an efFer- vefcence inftantly takes place, by the violence of which they judge of the ftrength of the poifon. — What air can be extricated during this effervefcence ? — This experi- ment is faid to be dangerous to the operator. As the juice is capable of being difTolved in arrack, and is thence fuppofed to be principally of a refinous nature, the ProfelTor does not credit that fountains have been poi Toned with it. This poifon has been employed as a punilhment for ca- pital crimes in MacalTer and other iflands ^ in thofe cafes fome experiments have been made, and when a finger only had been wounded with a dart, the immediate amputation of it did not fave the criminal from death. The poifon from what has been termed the female tree, is lefs deleterious than the other, and has been ufed chiefly in huntings the carcafes of animals thus deftroyed are I eaten with impunity. The poifon-juice is faid to be ufed externally as a remedy againfl: other poifons, in the form of a plafter ; alfo to be ufed internally for the fame pur- pofe ; and is believed to alleviate the pain, and extradl the poifon of venomous infeds fooner than any other appli- cation. The author concludes that thefe accounts have been ADDITIONAL NOTES. 265 exaggerated by Mahomedan priefts, who have perfuaded their followers that the Prophet Mahomet planted this noxious tree as a punifhment for the fins of mankind. An abfiradt of this Diflertation of C. Aejmelseus is given in Dr. Duncan’s Medical Commentaries for the Year 1790, Decad. 2d. Vol. V. i I ( 26(5 ) Fairy-fcene from Mr. Mundy s Needwood Foreji. Referred to in Canto IV. 1. 35 . Here, fcen of old, the elfin race With fprightly vigils mark'd the place; Their gay procefTions charm’d the fight. Gilding the lucid noon of night ; Or, when obfcure the midnight hour, With glow-worm lantherns hung the bower. — Hark I — the foft lute ! — along the green Moves with majeftic fiiep the Queen ! Attendant Fays around her throng, And trace the dance or rAife the fong; Or touch the flirill reed, as they trip. With finger light and ruby lip. High, on her brow fublime, is borne One fcarlet woodbine’s tremulous horn ; A gaudy Bee-bird’s ^ triple plume Sheds on her neck its waving gloom ; * The hwn?mng-hirJ, ( 267 ) With filvery gofTamer entwin’d Stream the luxuriant locks behind. I Thin folds of tangled network break In airy waves adown her neckj— Warp’d in his loom, the fpider fpread The far-diverging rays of thread, Then round and round with fhuttle fine Inwrought the undulating line; — Scarce hides the woof her bofom’s fnow. One pearly nipple peeps below. One rofe-leaf forms her crimfon vefl, The loofe edge erodes o’er her bread; And one tranflucent fold, that fell From the tall lily’s ample bell. Forms with fweet grace her fnow- white train, Flows, as die deps, and fweeps the plain. Silence and Night inchanted gaze, And Hefper hides his vanquidi’d rays ! — Now the waked reed-finch fwells his throat And night-larks trill their mingled note : Yet hufh’d in mofs with writhed neck The blackbird hides his golden beak; Charm’d from his dream of love, he wakes, Opes his gay eye, his plumage diakes, ( 268 ) And, (Iretching wide each ebon wing, Firft in low whifpers tries to fing ; Then founds his clarion loud, and thrills The moon-bright lawns, and fhadowy hills. Silent the choral Fays attend. And then their filver voices blend. Each fhining thread of found prolong, And weave the magic woof of fong. Pleafed Philomela takes her (land On high, and leads the Fairy band. Pours fweet at intervals her drain, And guides with beating wing the train. Whilft interrupted Zephyrs bear Hoarfe murmurs from the diftant wear And at each paufe is heard the fwell Of Echo’s foft fymphonious flielL { 2<59 ) CATALOGUE OF THE POETIC EXHIBITION. CANTO J. line Group of infecfls ..... 21 Tender hufband 39 Self-admirer 45 Rival lovers 5^ Coquet 61 Platonic wife 65 Monfter- hufband 77 Rural happinefs 85 Clandefline marriage. . . 93 Sympathetic lovers 97 Ninon d’Enclos 125 Harlots 139 Irinnt^ 161 Mr. Wright’s paintings 175 Thaleftris. 191 Autumnal fcene 197 line Dervlfe proceffion ..... 2 %i Lady in full drefs 229 Lady on a precipice. . . . 249 Palace in the Tea 263 Vegetable lamb 281 Whale 289 Senfibility 299 Mountain-fcene by night 345 Lady drinking water. . . 359 Lady and cauldron .... 373 Medea and Aefon 381 Aerial lady 391 Forlorn nymph 401 Galatea on the fea 421 Lady frozen to a llatue 433 ( 1^0 ) CANTO II. line Air-balloon of Mont- golfier 25 Arts of weaving and fpinning 67 Arkwright’s cotton mills 85 Invention of letters, figures, and crotchets 105 Mrs. Delany’s paper- garden 155 Mechanifm of a watch, and defign for its cafe 1 65 Time, hours, moments. . 183 lific Transformation of Ne- buchadnezzar 21 1 St. Anthony preaching to fifii 245 Sorcerefs 267 Mifs Crew’s drawings . , 295 Song to May 309 Fro ft fcenc 333 Difcovery of the bark . . 347 Mofes ft ri king the rock 405 Dropfy 415 Mr. Howard and prifons. 439 CANTO III. Witch and imps in a church 7 Infpired Prieftefs 39 Fufcli’s night mare .... 31 Cave of Thor and fub- terranean Naiads .... 85 Medea and children. ... 135 Palmyra weeping 197 Group of wild creatures drinking 203 Poifon-tree of Java .... 219 Time and hours 233 W^oundeddeer 2^3 Lady ftiot in battle .... 269 Harlots 329 Laocoon and his fons. . . 333 Drunkards and difeafes. . 357 Prometlieus and the vul- ture 371 Lady burying her child in the plague 387 Mofes concealed on the Nile 421 Slavery of the Africans. . 439 W^eeping Mufe 463 ( 271 ) CANTO IV. line line Maid of night Offspring from the mar- Fairies , , . . . 33 riage of the Rofe and Eledlric lady 43 Nightingale 309 Shadrec, Mefliec, and Parched deferts in Africa 32s Abednego, in the fiery Turkiih lady in an un- furnace 55 drefs 335 Shepherdeflfes 73 ice-feene in Lapland. . . 363 Song to Echo 79 Loch-lomond by moon- Kingdom of China .... 107 light 385 Lady and difiafF. 115 Hero and Leander 403 Cupid fpinning ><33 Gnome-hulhand and pa- Lady walking in fnow. . 137 lace under ground . . . 413 Children at play 147 Lady inclofed in a fig . . 429 Venus and Loves ^59 Sylph-hufband 439 Matlock Bath 175 Marine cave 45 « Angel bathing 199 Proteus-lover 465 Mermaid and Nereids . . 203 Lady on a Dolphin. . . . 47 1 Lady in fait 221 Lady bridling a Pard . . . 475 Lot’s wife 245 Lady falutcd by a Swan 481 Lady in regimentals . . . 283 Hymeneal proceflion . . . 489 Dejanira in a lion’s Ikin 289 Night 515 V " :V r V . . .■>w \ » f: \ y i f' h » I ft ■■*«.' f ■.•,'■ » 0 . CONTENTS OF THE NOTES. CANTO I. Seeds of Canna ufed for prayer-beads Stems and leaves of Callltriche fo matted together, as they float on the water, as to bear a perfoii walking on them. The female in Colllnfonia approaches firlf to one of the males, and then to the other. Females in Nigella and Epilobium bend towards the males for fome days, and then leave them The fligma or head of the female in Spartium (common broom) is produced amongfl; the higher fet of males; but when the keel-leaf opens, the piflil fuddenly twifts round like a French -horn, and places the fligma amidfl; the lower ' fet of males The two lower males in Ballota become mature before the two higher ; and when their dufl is fhed, turn outwards from file female. The plants of the clafs Two Powers wdth naked feeds are all aromatic. Of thefe Mariim and Nepeta are delightful to cats Part II. T 39 45 51 57 6q ( 274 ) line The filaments in Meadia, Borago, Cyclamen, Solanum, See. fliewn by reafonmg to be the moft unchangeable parts of thofe flowers 6i Rudiments of two hinder wings are feen in theclafs Oiptera, or two-winged infects. Teats of male animals. Fila- ments without anthers in Curcuma, Linum, &c. and fiyles without fl:igmas in many plants, fliew the advance of the works of nature towards greater perfe6lion 65 Double flowers, or vegetable monfters, how produced .... 69,77 The calyx and lower feries of petals not changed in double flowers 69 Drfperfion of the dull: in nettles and other plants 73»75 Cedar and Cyprus unperifliable '7^ Anthoxanthum gives the fragrant feent to hay 86 Viviparous plants : the Aphis is viviparous in fummer, and oviparous in autumn ib. li ritability of the ftamen of the plants of the clafs Synge- nefia, or Confederate males ^7 Some of the males in Lychnis, and other flowers, arrive fooner at ttieir maturity io8,i 19 Males approach the female in Gloriofa, Fritillaria, and Kalmia 119 Contrivances to deftroy inic< 5 ?ts in Silene, Dionsea mufcipula. Arum mufeivorum, Dypfacus, &.c 1^9 Some bell-flowers clofe at night; others hang the mouths downwards ; others nod and turn from the wind; fiamens bound down to the piftilin Amaryllis formoilATima ; piflil is crooked in Flemerocallis flava, yellow day-lily 1^2 ( 275 ) linr Thorns and prickles defigned for the defence of the plant ; tall Hollies have no prickles above the reach of cattle. . . i 5 i Bird-lime from the bark of Hollies like elaflic gum Ib. Adanfonia the larged; tree known, its dimenfions 183 Bulbous roots contain the embfyon flower, feen by diflecl- ing a tulip-root 204 Flowers of Colchicum and Hamamelis appear in autumn, and ripen their feed in the fpring following 212 Sunflower turns to the fun by nutation, not by gyration. . . 221 Difperflon of feeds 224 Drofera catches flies 229 Of the nectary, its ftrudlure to preferve the honey from in- feds : 241 Curious probofcis of the Sphinx Convolvuli ib. Final caufe of the refemblance of fome flowers to infects, as the bee-orchis Ib. In fome plants of the clafs Tetradynamia, or Four Powers, the two fliorter ftamens, when at maturity, rife as high as the others 250 Ice in the caves on TenerilF, which were formerly hollowed by volcanic fires ib. Some parafites do not injure trees, as Tillandfia and Epi- dendrum 258 jMoflfes growing on trees injure them ib. Marriages of plants neceflary to be celebrated in the air. . . . 264 Infeds with legs on their backs ib. Scarcity of grain in wet feafons ib. Tartarian lamb ; ufe of down on vegetables ; air, gbfs, \ T 2 ( 275 ) line wax, and fat, are bad condu6lors of heat ; fnow docs not moiften the living animals buried in it, illuftrated by burning camphor in fnow 282 Of the collapfe of the fenfitive plant 299 Birds of paflfage 320 The acquired habits of plants ib. Irritability of plants increafed by previous expofure to cold. ib. Lichen produces the firft vegetation on rocks 347 Plants holding water • • • • • ^ 365 Madder colours the bones of young animals 373 Colours of animals ferve to conceal them ib. Warm bathing retards old age 383 Plant living on air without taking root 393 Male flowers of Vallifneria detach themfelves from the plant, and float to the female ones 403 Air in the cells of plants, its various ufes 413 Air-bladders of fifh ib. How Mr. Day probably lofl his life in his diving fhip ^ ib. Star-gelly is voided by Herons 433 Intoxicating mu/lirooms ib. Mufhrooms grow without light, and approach to animal nature ib. CANTO II. Seeds of Tillandfia fly on long threads, like fpiders on the golTamer 7 ( 277 ) line Account of cotton mills 87 Invention of letters, figures, crotchets 105 Mrs. Delany’s and Mrs. North’s paper-gardens 155 The horologe of Flora 165 The white petals of Helleborus niger become firll red, and then change into a green calyx 201 Berries of Menifpermum intoxicate fifli 229 EfFefts of opium 207 Frontifpiece by Mifs Crewe 295 Petals of Ciftus and Oenothera continue but a few hours . 305 Method of colledling the gum from Ciftus by leathern thongs ibid Difcovery of the bark 349 Foxglove how ufed in droplies 425 Bifltop of Marfeilles and Lord Mayor of London 435 CANTO III. SuperftitioLis ufes of plants, the divining rod, animal mag- netifm 7 Intoxication of the Pythian Prieftefs, poifon from Laurel leaves, and from Cherry kernels 40 Sleep confifts in the abolition of voluntary power ; night- > mare explained 74 Indian fig emits flender cords from its fummit 80 Cave of Thor in Derbyfhire, and fubterraneous rivers ex- plained 9^ 6 ( 278 ) line The capfule of the Geranium makes an hygrometer ; Bar- ley creeps out of a barn 191 Mr. Edgeworth’s creeping hygrometer ibid Flower of Fraxinella flafhes on the approach of a candle . . 184 Eflential oils narcotic, poifonous, deleterious to infedfs. . . , ibid Dew-drops from Mancinella bliflier the Ikin 188 Ufes of poifonous juices in the vegetable economy ibid The fragrance of plants a part of their defence ibid The fting and poifon of a nettle 191 Vapour from Lobelia fuffbeative ; unwholefomnefs of per- fumed hair-powder 193 Ruins of Palmyra 197 The poifon-tree of Java ! 238* Tulip-roots die annually , . . 259 Hyacinth and Ranunculus roots ! ibid Vegetable contefl; for air and liglit 329 Some voluble hems turn E. S. W. and others W. S. E. . . ibid Tops of white bryony as grateful as afparagus ibid Fermentation converts fugar into fpirit, food into poifon. . 337 f'able of Prometheus applied to dram-drinkers 371 Cyclamen buries its feeds and trifollum fubterraneum 38 r Pits dug to receive the dead in the plague 408 Lakes of America conhll of frelh water 413 The feeds of Cahia and feme others are carried from Ame- rica, and thrown on the coafls of Norway and Scotland 413 Of the Gull-ftream ibid Wonderful change predidted in the Gulf of Mexico ibid ( 279 ) CANTO IV. Ill the flowers of Cadlus grandlflorus and Clflus fome of the flamens are perpetually bent to the piflil Ny6Ianthes and others are only fragrant in the night ; Cu- curbita lagenaria clofes when the fun Ihines on it ibid Tropeolum, nafturtion, emits fparks in the twilight : Nec- tary on its calyx 45 Phofphorefcent lights in the evening 51 Hot embers eaten by bull frogs ibid Long filaments of gralTes, the caufe of bad feed wheat .... 73 Chinefe hemp grew in England above fourteen feet in five months 115 Roots of fnow-drop and hyacinth infipid like orchis 137 Orchis will ripen its feeds if the new bulb be cut off ibid Proliferous flowers 148 The wax on the candle-berry myrtle faid to be made by infedts 155 The warm fpiings of Matlock produced by the condenfation of fleam raifed from great depths by fubterranean fires . . 179 Air feparated from water by the attradlion of points to water being lefs than that of the particles of water to each other 193 Minute divifion of fub-aquatic leaves 204 Water-crefs and other aquatic plants inhabit all climates . . ibid Butomus efculent ; Lotus of Egypt ; Nymphaea ibid Ocyinum covered with fait every night 22J ( 28 o ) line Salt a remote caufe of fcrofula, and immediate caufe of fea- fcurvy * • * 225 Coloured fpatha of Arum, and blotched leaves, if they ferve the purpofe of a coloured petal 285 Tulip roots-with a red cuticle produce red flowers ibid Of vegetable mules the internal parts, as thofe of frudlifica- tion, refemble the female parent ; and the external parts the male one 303 The fame occurs in animal mules, as the common mule and the hinnus, and in flieep ibid The wind called Harmattan from volcanic eruptions ; fome epidemic coughs or influenza have the fame origin 328 Fifh killed in the fea by dry fummers in Afia 334 J. Tedyfarum gyrans perpetually moves its leaves like the refpi^ ration of animals 333 plants poffefs a voluntary power of motion ibid Loud cracks from ice-mountains explained 370 . Mufchuscorallinus vegetates below the fnow, where the heat is always about 40 375 Qviick growth of vegetables in northern latitudes after the folution of tlte fnows explained ibid The Rail fleeps in the fnow ibid Conferva aegagropila rolls about the bottom of lakes 386 Lycoperdon tuber, trufHe, requires no light. 414 Account of capriheation 430 Figs wounded with a ftravv, and pears and plumbs wounded by infedfs, ripen fooner, and become fweeter ibid Female figs clofed on all Tides, fuppofed to be monflers, . . ibid Bafaltic columns produced by volcanoes fliewn by their form 455 ( 28l ) line Byflus floats on the fea in the day, and finks In the night. , 459 Conferva polymorpha twice changes its colour and its form 468 Some feed-veffels and feeds refemblc Infe6ls, Ibid Individuality of flowers not deftroyed by the number of males or females which they contain 490 Trees are fwarms of buds, which are individuals ibid INDEX OF THE NAMES OF THE PLANTS. Adonis Page Aegagropila 226 Aflcea 10 Amarvfllis 20 j -Anemone 41 Anthoxanthum 13 Arum 214 Avena 1 94 Barometz • • 37 Beilis 201 ByflTus 233 Cadus 1 88 Calendula 89 Calhtriche 4 Canna 3 Cannabis ^97 Capri -ficus • • 229 Carlina 75 Caryophy'llus 2 i 5 Caffia 160 Cereus 188 Chondrilla IS Chunda 231 Part II. Cinchona Circaea I 2 I Ciftus 99 Cocculus 94 Colchicum . . . , 28 Collinfonia . . . . 5 Conferva ...226,234 Cupreflus Curcuma 8 Cufcuta 151 Cy'clamen . . . , 157 Cyperus 84 Dianthus Diclamnus .... 137 Digitalis Dodecatheon . . . 6 Draba 34 Drofera Dy'pfacus Epidendrum . . . 5 ^ Ficus Fucus u ( 252 ) . ■» Fraxlnella 137 Galanthus... 199 Genifta 5 Glorlofa 17 Gofly'plum 81 HedyTarum 221 Helianthus 29 Helleborus 92 Hippomane 138 Ilex 22 Impatiens 13,8 Iris II Kleinhovia 25 Lapfana 89 Lauro-cerafus 124 Lichen 43 Linum . . 80 Lobelia 140 Lonicera 32 Lychnis 16 Lycoperdon 228 Manclnella 138 Meadia 7 Meliffa 6 Menifpermum 94 Mimofa 39 Mufchns 225 Nymphsea .... Nelumbo .... 'Ocymum .... Orchis Ofmunda Ofy'ris Panavpr 89 223 145 14 Papy'rus 84 Plantago Polymoi pha. . . Polypodium . . , 37 Prunus » Rubia 48 Silene 19 Trapa Tremella 5 ^ Tropae'olum . . TrutFelia Tiilipa 27 Uiva 53 Upas '43 Urtica 139 Valllfneria 52 ViTcum 35 Vftis 155 Zoftera T 11 E E N D. ■ 9 * AN ADDITION, ^0 he infer ted near the end of the Additional Note XXXIII. p. 433, of the firjl volume^ immediately before the laft Jentence, The following clrcumftance, which I obferved this week, is fufficiently curious to be here inferred. On the fifth of April 1799 wind, which had blown for feveral days from the N. E. and a great part of that time was very violent, became due E. The barometer funk nearly an inch, clouds were produced, and much fnow fell during the whole day \ and on the next day the wind became again N. E. and the barometer rofe again. The fame circumftances exadlly recurred on the eighth of Aprils the wind again changed from N. E. to due E. the barometer funk, and fnow and afterwards rain were the confequence. Which is thus to be explained. On April the fifth the atmofphere became lighter, I fuppofe, becaufe no more air was fupplied from the ar6lic circle, and the fnow was produced from fome of the fouthern air over this country falling down, I fuppofe, on the lowered current of nor- thern air. But why did the N. E. wind on both thefe days change to due E. ? To this it may be anfwered, that as no new air was now brought from the N. and in confequence the barometer funk \ and as air from the S. evidently became mixed with that from the N. whence the clouds and confequent fnow \ the further progrefs of the N. E. air towards the S, was flopped by the oppofing ADDITIONAL NOTE. air from the S. but its eafterly dire(5lion was not flopped ; and as this only remained, it became due E. This idea was further countenanced, becaufe the wind on both days became a few points on the foutherly fide of the E, for an hour or two before the fnow ceafed. D\re5iions to the Binder for placing the Plates in Part IL Pleafe to place the print of Flora at play with Cupid oppofite the Title Page. The plate with numbers 1 . to XXIV. to be doubled, and placed at the end of the Preface. The print of Meadia oppofite to page 7 Gloriofa 17 Dionaea * 19 Amaryllis Barometz. Vegetable Lamb 37 Vallifneria 52 Nightmare 125 Hedyfarum 221 Apocynum 241 ERRATUM. Part I. Canto II, 1 . 324 , p, 102, for Jiate read fate. ♦v, \ . / > ' JhitA, / s rr:-; ■r s 4, I ,t'*- *, - f ♦ ■i "7^ ' f ( ) ' / % >. C; ,>,. . :/ .«i ■ . ' • #_ ■ -V' tIT -i- ^ ' / . r s‘ •*> »• f . 5^ . .( X ( I [ ;W' • ) / A A f 7 i. / 'C <7 5» iiailiilifa UMi'X,-: [.’TIC ;7'^VW, ■ V ..fl." ttt.