[Illustration: FLORA at Play with CUPID. ] THE BOTANIC GARDEN. PART II. CONTAINING THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. A POEM. WITH PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES. VOLUME THE SECOND. VIVUNT IN VENEREM FRONDES; NEMUS OMNE PER ALTUM FELIX ARBOR AMAT; NUTANT AD MUTUA PALMÆ FÆDERA, POPULEO SUSPIRAT POPULUS ICTU, ET PLATANI PLATANIS, ALNOQUE ASSIBILAT ALNUS. CLAUD. EPITH. THE SECOND EDITION. LONDON: PRINTED BY J. NICHOLS, FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD. M, DCC, XC. ADVERTISEMENT. The general design of the following sheets is to inlist Imaginationunder the banner of Science, and to lead her votaries from the looseranalogies, which dress out the imagery of poetry, to the stricter ones, which form the ratiocination of philosophy. While their particular designis to induce the ingenious to cultivate the knowledge of BOTANY; byintroducing them to the vestibule of that delightful science, andrecommending to their attention the immortal works of the SwedishNaturalist LINNEUS. In the first Poem, or Economy of Vegetation, the physiology of Plantsis delivered; and the operation of the Elements, as far as they may besupposed to affect the growth of Vegetables. But the publication of thispart is deferred to another year, for the purpose of repeating someexperiments on vegetation, mentioned in the notes. In the second poem, orLOVES OF THE PLANTS, which is here presented to the Reader, the SexualSystem of LINNEUS is explained, with the remarkable properties of manyparticular plants. The author has withheld this work, (excepting a few pages) many yearsfrom the press, according to the rule of Horace, hoping to have renderedit more worthy the acceptance of the public, --but finds at length, thathe is less able, from disuse, to correct the poetry; and, from want ofleizure, to amplify the annotations. In this second edition, the plants Amaryllis, Orchis, and Cannabis areinserted with two additional prints of flowers; some alterations are madein Gloriosa, and Tulipa; and the description of the Salt-mines in Polandis removed to the first poem on the Economy of Vegetation. PREFACE. Linneus has divided the vegetable world into 24 Classes; these Classesinto about 120 Orders; these Orders contain about 2000 Families, orGenera; and these Families about 20, 000 Species; besides the innumerableVarieties, which the accidents of climate or cultivation have added tothese Species. The Classes are distinguished from each other in this ingenious system, by the number, situation, adhesion, or reciprocal proportion of the malesin each flower. The Orders, in many of these Classes, are distinguishedby the number, or other circumstances of the females. The Families, orGenera, are characterized by the analogy of all the parts of the floweror fructification. The Species are distinguished by the foliage of theplant; and the Varieties by any accidental circumstance of colour, taste, or odour; the seeds of these do not always produce plants similar to theparent; as in our numerous fruit-trees and garden flowers; which arepropagated by grafts or layers. The first eleven Classes include the plants, in whose flowers both thesexes reside; and in which the Males or Stamens are neither united, norunequal in height when at maturity; and are therefore distinguished fromeach other simply by the number of males in each flower, as is seen inthe annexed PLATE, copied from the Dictionaire Botanique of M. BULLIARD, in which the numbers of each division refer to the Botanic Classes. CLASS I. ONE MALE, _Monandria_; includes the plants which possess but OneStamen in each flower. II. TWO MALES, _Diandria_. Two Stamens. III. THREE MALES, _Triandria_. Three Stamens. IV. FOUR MALES, _Tetrandria_. Four Stamens. V. FIVE MALES, _Pentandria_. Five Stamens. VI. SIX MALES, _Hexandria_. Six Stamens. VII. SEVEN MALES, _Heptandria_. Seven Stamens. VIII. EIGHT MALES, _Octandria_. Eight Stamens. IX. NINE MALES, _Enneandria_. Nine Stamens. X. TEN MALES, _Decandria_. Ten Stamens. XI. TWELVE MALES, _Dodecandria_. Twelve Stamens. The next two Classes are distinguished not only by the number of equaland disunited males, as in the above eleven Classes, but require anadditional circumstance to be attended to, _viz. _ whether the males orstamens be situated on the calyx, or not. XII. TWENTY MALES, _Icosandria_. Twenty Stamens inserted on the calyx orflower-cup; as is well seen in the last Figure of No. Xii. In the annexedPlate. XIII. MANY MALES, _Polyandria_. From 20 to 100 Stamens, which do notadhere to the calyx; as is well seen in the first Figure of No. Xiii. Inthe annexed Plate. In the next two Classes, not only the number of stamens are to beobserved, but the reciprocal proportions in respect to height. XIV. TWO POWERS, _Didynamia_. Four Stamens, of which two are lower thanthe other two; as is seen in the two first Figures of No. Xiv. XV. FOUR POWERS, _Tetradynamia_. Six Stamens; of which four are taller, and the two lower ones opposite to each other; as is seen in the thirdFigure of the upper row in No. 15. The five subsequent Classes are distinguished not by the number of themales, or stamens, but by their union or adhesion, either by theiranthers, or filaments, or to the female or pistil. XVI. ONE BROTHERHOOD, _Monadelphia_. Many Stamens united by theirfilaments into one company; as in the second Figure below of No. Xvi. XVII. TWO BROTHERHOODS, _Diadelphia_. Many Stamens united by theirfilaments into two Companies; as in the uppermost Fig. No. Xvii. XVIII. MANY BROTHERHOODS, _Polyadelphia_. Many Stamens united by theirfilaments into three or more companies, as in No. Xviii. XIX. CONFEDERATE MALES, _Syngenesia_. Many Stamens united by theiranthers; as in first and second Figures, No. Xix. XX. FEMININE MALES, _Gynandria_. Many Stamens attached to the pistil. The next three Classes consist of plants, whose flowers contain but oneof the sexes; or if some of them contain both sexes, there are otherflowers accompanying them of but one sex. XXI. ONE HOUSE, _Monoecia_. Male flowers and female flowers separate, buton the same plant. XXII. TWO HOUSES, _Dioecia_. Male flowers and female flowers separate, ondifferent plants. XXIII. POLYGAMY, _Polygamia_. Male and female flowers on one or moreplants, which have at the same time flowers of both sexes. The last Class contains the plants whose flowers are not discernible. XXIV. CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE, _Cryptogamia_. The Orders of the first thirteen Classes are founded on the numberof Females, or Pistils, and distinguished by the names, ONE FEMALE, _Monogynia_. TWO FEMALES, _Digynia_. THREE FEMALES, _Trigynia_, &c. As isseen in No. I. Which represents a plant of one male, one female; and inthe first Figure of No. Xi. Which represents a flower with twelve males, and three females; (for, where the pistils have no apparent styles, thesummits, or stigmas, are to be numbered) and in the first Figure of No. Xii. Which represents a flower with twenty males and many females; and inthe last Figure of the same No. Which has twenty males and one female;and in No. Xiii. Which represents a flower with many males and manyfemales. The Class of TWO POWERS, is divided into two natural Orders; into suchas have their seeds naked at the bottom of the calyx, or flower cup; andsuch as have their seeds covered; as is seen in No. Xiv. Fig. 3. And 5. The Class of FOUR POWERS, is divided also into two Orders; in one ofthese the seeds are inclosed in a silicule, as in _Shepherd's purse_. No. Xiv. Fig. 5. In the other they are inclosed in a silique, as in_Wall-flower_. Fig. 4. In all the other Classes, excepting the Classes Confederate Males, andClandestine Marriage, as the character of each Class is distinguished bythe situations of the males; the character of the Orders is marked by thenumbers of them. In the Class ONE BROTHERHOOD, No. Xvi. Fig. 3. The Orderof ten males is represented. And in the Class TWO BROTHERHOODS, No. Xvii. Fig. 2. The Order ten males is represented. In the Class CONFEDERATE MALES, the Orders are chiefly distinguished bythe fertility or barrenness of the florets of the disk, or ray of thecompound flower. And in the Class of CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE, the four Orders are termedFERNS, MOSSES, FLAGS, and FUNGUSSES. The Orders are again divided into Genera, or Families, which are allnatural associations, and are described from the general resemblances ofthe parts of fructification, in respect to their number, form, situation, and reciprocal proportion. These are the Calyx, or Flower-cup, as seen inNo. Iv. Fig. 1. No. X. Fig. 1. And 3. No. Xiv. Fig. 1. 2. 3. 4. Second, the Corol, or Blossom, as seen in No. I. Ii. &c. Third, the Males, orStamens; as in No. Iv. Fig. 1. And No. Viii. Fig. 1. Fourth, the Females, or Pistils; as in No. I. No. Xii. Fig. 1. No. Xiv. Fig. 3. No. Xv. Fig. 3. Fifth, the Pericarp or Fruit-vessel; as No. Xv. Fig. 4. 5. No. Xvii. Fig. 2. Sixth, the Seeds. The illustrious author of the Sexual System of Botany, in his preface tohis account of the Natural Orders, ingeniously imagines, that oneplant of each Natural Order was created in the beginning; and that theintermarriages of these produced one plant of every Genus, or Family; andthat the intermarriages of these Generic, or Family plants, produced allthe Species: and lastly, that the intermarriages of the individuals ofthe Species produced the Varieties. In the following POEM, the name or number of the Class or Order of eachplant is printed in italics; as "_Two_ brother swains. " "_One_ Housecontains them. " and the word "_secret_" expresses the Class ofClandestine Marriage. The Reader, who wishes to become further acquainted with this delightfulfield of science, is advised to study the words of the Great Master, andis apprized that they are exactly and literally translated into English, by a Society at LICHFIELD, in four Volumes Octavo. To the SYSTEM OF VEGETABLES is prefixed a copious explanation of all theTerms used in Botany, translated from a thesis of Dr. ELMSGREEN, with theplates and references from the Philosophia Botannica of LINNEUS. To the FAMILIES OF PLANTS is prefixed a Catalogue of the names of plants, and other Botanic Terms, carefully accented, to shew their properpronunciation; a work of great labour, and which was much wanted, notonly by beginners, but by proficients in BOTANY. * * * * * PROEM. GENTLE READER! Lo, here a CAMERA OBSCURA is presented to thy view, in which are lightsand shades dancing on a whited canvas, and magnified into apparentlife!--if thou art perfectly at leasure for such trivial amusement, walkin, and view the wonders of my INCHANTED GARDEN. Whereas P. OVIDIUS NASO, a great Necromancer in the famous Court ofAUGUSTUS CAESAR, did by art poetic transmute Men, Women, and even Godsand Goddesses, into Trees and Flowers; I have undertaken by similarart to restore some of them to their original animality, after havingremained prisoners so long in their respective vegetable mansions; andhave here exhibited them before thee. Which thou may'st contemplateas diverse little pictures suspended over the chimney of a Lady'sdressing-room, _connected only by a slight festoon of ribbons_. Andwhich, though thou may'st not be acquainted with the originals, may amusethee by the beauty of their persons, their graceful attitudes, or thebrilliancy of their dress. FAREWELL. [Illustration] THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. CANTO I. Descend, ye hovering Sylphs! aerial Quires, And sweep with little hands your silver lyres; With fairy footsteps print your grassy rings, Ye Gnomes! accordant to the tinkling strings;5 While in soft notes I tune to oaten reed Gay hopes, and amorous sorrows of the mead. -- From giant Oaks, that wave their branches dark, To the dwarf Moss, that clings upon their bark, What Beaux and Beauties crowd the gaudy groves, 10 And woo and win their vegetable Loves. How Snowdrops cold, and blue-eyed Harebels blend Their tender tears, as o'er the stream they bend; The lovesick Violet, and the Primrose pale Bow their sweet heads, and whisper to the gale;15 With secret sighs the Virgin Lily droops, And jealous Cowslips hang their tawny cups. How the young Rose in beauty's damask pride Drinks the warm blushes of his bashful bride; With honey'd lips enamour'd Woodbines meet, 20 Clasp with fond arms, and mix their kisses sweet. -- Stay thy soft-murmuring waters, gentle Rill; Hush, whispering Winds, ye ruflling Leaves, be still; Rest, silver Butterflies, your quivering wings; Alight, ye Beetles, from your airy rings; [_Vegetable Loves_. L. 10. Linneus, the celebrated Swedish naturalist, has demonstrated, that ail flowers contain families of males or females, or both; and on their marriages has constructed his invaluable system ofBotany. ] 25 Ye painted Moths, your gold-eyed plumage furl, Bow your wide horns, your spiral trunks uncurl; Glitter, ye Glow-worms, on your mossy beds; Descend, ye Spiders, on your lengthen'd threads; Slide here, ye horned Snails, with varnish'd shells;30 Ye Bee-nymphs, listen in your waxen cells!-- BOTANIC MUSE! who in this latter age Led by your airy hand the Swedish sage, Bad his keen eye your secret haunts explore On dewy dell, high wood, and winding shore;35 Say on each leaf how tiny Graces dwell; How laugh the Pleasures in a blossom's bell; How insect Loves arise on cobweb wings, Aim their light shafts, and point their little stings. First the tall CANNA lifts his curled brow40 Erect to heaven, and plights his nuptial vow; [_Canna_. L. 39. Cane, or Indian Reed. One male and one female inhabiteach flower. It is brought from between the tropics to our hot-houses, and bears a beautiful crimson flower; the seeds are used as shot by theIndians, and are strung for prayer-beads in some catholic countries. ] The virtuous pair, in milder regions born, Dread the rude blast of Autumn's icy morn; Round the chill fair he folds his crimson vest, And clasps the timorous beauty to his breast. 45 Thy love, CALLITRICHE, _two_ Virgins share, Smit with thy starry eye and radiant hair;-- On the green margin sits the youth, and laves His floating train of tresses in the waves; Sees his fair features paint the streams that pass, 50 And bends for ever o'er the watery glass. _Two_ brother swains, of COLLIN'S gentle name, The same their features, and their forms the same, [_Callitriche_, l. 45. Fine-Hair, Stargrass. One male and two femalesinhabit each flower. The upper leaves grow in form of a star, whence itis called Stellaria Aquatica by Ray and others; its stems and leavesfloat far on the water, and are often so matted together, as to bear aperson walking on them. The male sometimes lives in a separate flower. ] [_Collinsonia_. L. 51. Two males one female. I have lately observed avery singular circumstance in this flower; the two males stand widelydiverging from each other, and the female bends herself into contactfirst with one of them, and after some time leaves this, and appliesherself to the other. It is probable one of the anthers may be maturebefore the other? See note on Gloriosa, and Genista. Thefemales in Nigella, devil in the bush, are very tall compared to themales; and bending over in a circle to them, give the flower someresemblance to a regal crown. The female of the epilobium angustisolium, rose bay willow herb, bends down amongst the males for several days, and becomes upright again when impregnated. ] [_Genista_. L. 57. Dyer's broom. Ten males and one female inhabit thisflower. The males are generally united at the bottom in two sets, whenceLinneus has named the class "two brotherhoods. " In the Genista, however, they are united in but one set. The flowers of this class are calledpapilionaceous, from their resemblance to a butterfly, as the pea-blossom. In the Spartium Scoparium, or common broom, I have lately observeda curious circumstance, the males or stamens are in two sets, one setrising a quarter of an inch above the other; the upper set does not arriveat their maturity so soon as the lower, and the stigma, or head of thefemale, is produced amongst the upper or immature set; but as soon asthe pistil grows tall enough to burst open the keel-leaf, or hood of theflower, it bends itself round in an instant, like a French horn, andinserts its head, or stigma, amongst the lower or mature set of males. The pistil, or female, continues to grow in length; and in a few daysthe stigma arrives again amongst the upper set, by the time they becomemature. This wonderful contrivance is readily seen by opening thekeel-leaf of the flowers of broom before they burst spontaneously. Seenote on Collinsonia, Gloriosa, Draba. ] With rival love for fair COLLINIA sigh, Knit the dark brow, and roll the unsteady eye. 55 With sweet concern the pitying beauty mourns, And sooths with smiles the jealous pair by turns. Sweet blooms GENISTA in the myrtle shade, And _ten_ fond brothers woo the haughty maid. _Two_ knights before thy fragrant altar bend, 60 Adored MELISSA! and _two_ squires attend. MEADIA'S soft chains _five_ suppliant beaux confess, And hand in hand the laughing belle address; Alike to all, she bows with wanton air, Rolls her dark eye, and waves her golden hair. [_Melissa_. L. 60. Balm. In each flower there are four males and onefemale; two of the males stand higher than the other two; whence the nameof the class "two powers. " I have observed in the Ballota, and others ofthis class, that the two lower stamens, or males become mature before thetwo higher. After they have shed their dust, they turn themselves awayoutwards; and the pistil, or female, continuing to grow a little taller, is applied to the upper stamens. See Gloriosa, and Genista. All the plants of this class, which have naked seeds, are aromatic. TheMarum, and Nepeta are particularly delightful to cats; no other bruteanimals seem pleased with any odours but those of their food or prey. ] [_Meadia_. L. 61. Dodecatheon, American Cowslip. Five males and onefemale. The males, or anthers, touch each other. The uncommon beauty ofthis flower occasioned Linneus to give it a name signifying the twelveheathen gods; and Dr. Mead to affix his own name to it. The pistil ismuch longer than the stamens, hence the flower-stalks have their elegantbend, that the stigma may hang downwards to receive the fecundating dustof the anthers. And the petals are so beautifully turned back to preventthe rain or dew drops from sliding down and washing off this dustprematurely; and at the same time exposing it to the light and air. Assoon as the seeds are formed, it erects all the flower-stalks to preventthem from falling out; and thus loses the beauty of its figure. Is thisa mechanical effect, or does it indicate a vegetable storgé to preserveits offspring? See note on Ilex, and Gloriosa. In the Meadia, the Borago, Cyclamen, Solanum, and many others, thefilaments are very short compared with the slyle. Hence it becamenecessary, 1st. To furnish the stamens with long anthers. 2d. To lengthenand bend the peduncle or flower-slalk, that the flower might hangdownwards. 3d. To reflect the petals. 4th. To erect these peduncles whenthe germ was fecundated. We may reason upon this by observing, that allthis apparatus might have been spared, if the filaments alone had grownlonger; and that thence in these flowers that the filaments are the mostunchangeable parts; and that thence their comparative length, in respectto the style, would afford a most permanent mark of their genericcharacter. ] [Illustration: Meadia] 65 Woo'd with long care, CURCUMA cold and shy Meets her fond husband with averted eye: _Four_ beardless youths the obdurate beauty move With soft attentions of Platonic love. With vain desires the pensive ALCEA burns, 70 And, like sad ELOISA, loves and mourns. The freckled IRIS owns a fiercer flame, And _three_ unjealous husbands wed the dame. CUPRESSUS dark disdains his dusky bride, _One_ dome contains them, but _two_ beds divide. 75 The proud OSYRIS flies his angry fair, _Two_ houses hold the fashionable pair. [_Curcuma_. L. 65. Turmeric. One male and one female inhabit thisflower; but there are besides four imperfect males, or filaments withoutanthers upon them, called by Linneus eunuchs. The flax of our countryhas ten filaments, and but five of them are terminated with anthers;the Portugal flax has ten perfect males, or stamens; the Verbena of ourcountry has four males; that of Sweden has but two; the genus Albuca, theBignonia Catalpa, Gratiola, and hemlock-leaved Geranium have only halftheir filaments crowned with anthers. In like manner the florets, whichform the rays of the flowers of the order frustraneous polygamy of theclass syngenesia, or confederate males, as the sun-flower, are furnishedwith a style only, and no stigma: and are thence barren. There is alsoa style without a stigma in the whole order dioecia gynandria; the maleflowers of which are thence barren. The Opulus is another plant, whichcontains some unprolific flowers. In like manner some tribes of insectshave males, females, and neuters among them: as bees, wasps, ants. There is a curious circumstance belonging to the class of insects whichhave two wings, or diptera, analogous to the rudiments of stamens abovedescribed; viz. Two little knobs are found placed each on a stalk orpeduncle, generally under a little arched scale; which appear to berudiments of hinder wings; and are called by Linneus, halteres, orpoisers, a term of his introduction. A. T. Bladh. Amaen. Acad. V. 7. Otheranimals have marks of having in a long process of time undergonechanges in some parts of their bodies, which may have been effected toaccommodate them to new ways of procuring their food. The existence ofteats on the breasts of male animals, and which are generally replete witha thin kind of milk at their nativity, is a wonderful instance of thiskind. Perhaps all the productions of nature are in their progress togreater perfection? an idea countenanced by the modern discoveries anddeductions concerning the progressive formation of the solid parts of theterraqueous globe, and consonant to the dignity of the Creator of allthings. ] [_Alcea_, l. 69. Flore pleno. Double hollyhock. The double flowers, so much admired by the florists, are termed by the botanist vegetablemonsters; in some of these the petals are multiplied three or four times, but without excluding the stamens, hence they produce some seeds, asCampanula and Stramoneum; but in others the petals become so numerous astotally to exclude the stamens, or males; as Caltha, Peonia, and Alcea;these produce no seeds, and are termed eunuchs. Philos. Botan. No. 150. These vegetable monsters are formed in many ways. 1st. By themultiplication of the petals and the exclusion of the nectaries, as inlarkspur. 2d. By the multiplication of the nectaries and exclusion ofthe petals; as in columbine. 3d. In some flowers growing in cymes, thewheel-shape flowers in the margin are multiplied to the exclusion ofthe bell-shape flowers in the centre; as in gelder-rose. 4th. By theelongation of the florets in the centre. Instances of both these arefound in daisy and feverfew; for other kinds of vegetable monsters, seePlantago. The perianth is not changed in double flowers, hence the genus or familymay be often discovered by the calyx, as in Hepatica, Ranunculus, Alcea. In those flowers, which have many petals, the lowest series of the petalsremains unchanged in respect to number; hence the natural number of thepetals is easily discovered. As in poppies, roses, and Nigella, or devilin a bulb. Phil. Bot. P. 128. ] [_Iris_. L. 71. Flower de Luce. Three males, one female. Some of thespecies have a beautifully freckled flower; the large stigma or headof the female covers the three males, counterfeiting a petal with itsdivisions. ] [_Cupressus_. L. 73. Cypress. One House. The males live in separateflowers, but on the same plant. The males of some of these plants, whichare in separate flowers from the females, have an elastic membrane; whichdisperses their dust to a considerable distance, when the anthers burstopen. This dust, on a fine day, may often be seen like a cloud hanginground the common nettle. The males and females of all the cone-bearingplants are in separate flowers, either on the same or on differentplants; they produce resins, and many of them are supposed to supply themost durable timber: what is called Venice-turpentine is obtained fromthe larch by wounding the bark about two feet from the ground, andcatching it as it exsudes; Sandarach is procured from common juniper; andIncense from a juniper with yellow fruit. The unperishable chests, whichcontain the Egyptian mummies, were of Cypress; and the Cedar, with whichblack-lead pencils are covered, is not liable to be eaten by worms. SeeMiln's Bot. Dict. Art. Coniferæ. The gates of St. Peter's church atRome, which had lasted from the time of Constantine to that of PopeEugene the fourth, that is to say eleven hundred years, were of Cypress, and had in that time suffered no decay. According to Thucydides, theAthenians buried the bodies of their heroes in coffins of Cypress, asbeing not subject to decay. A similar durability has also been ascribedto Cedar. Thus Horace, _----speramus carmina fingi Posse linenda cedre, & lavi servanda cupresso. _ [_Osyris_. L. 75. Two houses. The males and females are on differentplants. There are many instances on record, where female plants have beenimpregnated at very great distance from their male; the dust dischargedfrom the anthers is very light, small, and copious, so that it may spreadvery wide in the atmosphere, and be carried to the distant pistils, without the supposition of any particular attraction; these plantsresemble some insects, as the ants, and cochineal insect, of which themales have wings, but not the female. ] With strange deformity PLANTAGO treads, A Monster-birth! and lifts his hundred heads; Yet with soft love a gentle belle he charms, 80 And clasps the beauty in his hundred arms. So hapless DESDEMONA, fair and young, Won by OTHELLO'S captivating tongue, Sigh'd o'er each strange and piteous tale, distress'd, And sunk enamour'd on his sooty breast. 85 _Two_ gentle shepherds and their sister-wives With thee, ANTHOXA! lead ambrosial lives; [_Plantago_. L. 77. Rosea. Rose Plantain. In this vegetable monster thebractes, or divisions of the spike, become wonderfully enlarged; and areconverted into leaves. The chaffy scales of the calyx in Xeranthemum, andin a species of Dianthus, and the glume in some alpine grasses, and thescales of the ament in the salix rosea, rose willow, grow into leaves;and produce other kinds of monsters. The double flowers become monstersby the multiplication of their petals or nectaries. See note on Alcea. [_Anthoxanthum_. L. 83. Vernal grass. Two males, two females. The othergrasses have three males and two females. The flowers of this grass givethe fragrant scent to hay. I am informed it is frequently viviparous, that is, that it bears sometimes roots or bulbs instead of seeds, whichafter a time drop off and strike root into the ground. This circumstanceis said to obtain in many of the alpine grasses, whose seeds areperpetually devoured by small birds. The Festuca Dometorum, fescue grassof the bushes, produces bulbs from the sheaths of its straw. The AlliumMagicum, or magical onion, produces onions on its head, instead of seeds. The Polygonum Viviparum, viviparous bistort, rises about a foot high, with a beautiful spike of flowers, which are succeeded by buds or bulbs, which fall off and take root. There is a bulb, frequently seen onbirch-trees, like a bird's nest, which seems to be a similar attempt ofnature, to produce another tree; which falling off might take root inspongy ground. There is an instance of this double mode of production in the animalkingdom, which is equally extraordinary: the same species of Aphis isviviparous in summer, and oviparous in autumn. A. T. Bladh. Amoen. Acad. V. 7. ] Where the wide heath in purple pride extends, And scatter'd furze its golden lustre blends, Closed in a green recess, unenvy'd lot!90 The blue smoak rises from their turf-built cot; Bosom'd in fragrance blush their infant train, Eye the warm sun, or drink the silver rain. The fair OSMUNDA seeks the silent dell, The ivy canopy, and dripping cell;95 There hid in shades _clandestine_ rites approves, Till the green progeny betrays her loves. [_Osmunda_. L. 93. This plant grows on moist rocks; the parts of itsflower or its seeds are scarce discernible; whence Linneus has given thename of clandestine marriage to this class. The younger plants are of abeautiful vivid green. ] With charms despotic fair CHONDRILLA reigns O'er the soft hearts of _five_ fraternal swains; If sighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn;100 And, if she smiles, with rival raptures burn. So, tun'd in unison, Eolian Lyre! Sounds in sweet symphony thy kindred wire; Now, gently swept by Zephyr's vernal wings, Sink in soft cadences the love-sick strings;105 And now with mingling chords, and voices higher, Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir. [_Chondrilla_. L. 97. Of the class Confederate Males. The numerousflorets, which constitute the disk of the flowers in this class, containin each five males surrounding one female, which are connected at top, whence the name of the class. An Italian writer, in a discourse on theirritability of flowers, asserts, that if the top of the floret betouched, all the filaments which support the cylindrical anther willcontrast themselves, and that by thus raising or depressing the antherthe whole of the prolific dust is collected on the stigma. He adds, thatif one filament be touched after it is separated from the floret, that itwill contract like the muscular fibres of animal bodies, his experimentswere tried on the Centauréa Calcitrapoides, and on artichokes, andglobe-thistles. Discourse on the irratability of plants. Dodsley. ] _Five_ sister-nymphs to join Diana's train With thee, fair LYCHNIS! vow, --but vow in vain; Beneath one roof resides the virgin band, 110 Flies the fond swain, and scorns his offer'd hand; But when soft hours on breezy pinions move, And smiling May attunes her lute to love, Each wanton beauty, trick'd in all her grace, Shakes the bright dew-drops from her blushing face;115 In gay undress displays her rival charms, And calls her wondering lovers to her arms. When the young Hours amid her tangled hair Wove the fresh rose-bud, and the lily fair, [_Lychnis. _ l. 108. Ten males and five females. The flowers whichcontain the five females, and those which contain the ten males, arefound on different plants; and often at a great distance from each other. Five of the ten males arrive at their maturity some days before the otherfive, as may be seen by opening the corol before it naturally expandsitself. When the females arrive at their maturity, they rise above thepetals, as if looking abroad for their distant husbands; the scarlet onescontribute much to the beauty of our meadows in May and June. ] Proud GLORIOSA led _three_ chosen swains, 120 The blushing captives of her virgin chains. -- --When Time's rude hand a bark of wrinkles spread Round her weak limbs, and silver'd o'er her head, _Three_ other youths her riper years engage, The flatter'd victims of her wily age. 125 So, in her wane of beauty, NINON won With fatal smiles her gay unconscious son. -- [_Gloriosa_. L. 119. Superba. Six males, one female. The petals of thisbeautiful flower with three of the stamens, which are first mature, standup in apparent disorder; and the pistil bends at nearly a right angleto insert its stigma amongst them. In a few days, as these decline, the other three stamens bend over, and approach the pistil. In theFritillaria Persica, the six stamens are of equal lengths, and theanthers lie at a distance from the pistil, and three alternate onesapproach first; and, when these decline, the other three approach: in theLithrum Salicaria, (which has twelve males and one female) a beautifulred flower, which grows on the banks of rivers, six of the males arriveat maturity, and surround the female some time before the other six; whenthese decline, the other six rise up, and supply their places. Severalother flowers have in similar manner two sets of stamens of differentages, as Adoxa, Lychnis, Saxifraga. See Genista. Perhaps a differencein the time of their maturity obtains in all these flowers, which havenumerous stamens. In the Kahnia the ten stamens lie round the pistil likethe radii of a wheel; and each anther is concealed in a nich of the corolto protect it from cold and moisture; these anthers rise separately fromtheir niches, and approach the pistil for a time, and then recede totheir former situations. ] [Illustration: Gloriosa Superba] Clasp'd in his arms she own'd a mother's name, -- "Desist, rash youth! restrain your impious flame, "First on that bed your infant-form was press'd, 130 "Born by my throes, and nurtured at my breast. "-- Back as from death he sprung, with wild amaze Fierce on the fair he fix'd his ardent gaze; Dropp'd on one knee, his frantic arms outspread, And stole a guilty glance toward the bed;135 Then breath'd from quivering lips a whisper'd vow, And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow; "Thus, thus!" he cried, and plung'd the furious dart, And life and love gush'd mingled from his heart. The fell SILENE and her sisters fair, 140 Skill'd in destruction, spread the viscous snare. [_Silene_. L. 139. Catchfly. Three females and ten males inhabit eachflower; the viscous material, which surrounds the stalks under theflowers of this plant, and of the Cucubulus Otites, is a curiouscontrivance to prevent various insects from plundering the honey, ordevouring the seed. In the Dionaea Muscipula there is a still morewonderful contrivance to prevent the depredations of insects: The leavesare armed with long teeth, like the antennæ of insects, and lie spreadupon the ground round the stem; and are so irritable, that when aninsect creeps upon them, they fold up, and crush or pierce it to death. The last professor Linneus, in his Supplementum Plantarum, gives thefollowing account of the Arum Muscivorum. The flower has the smell ofcarrion; by which the flies are invited to lay their eggs in the chamberof the flower, but in vain endeavour to escape, being prevented by thehairs pointing inwards; and thus perish in the flower, whence its nameof fly-eater. P. 411. In the Dypsacus is another contrivance for thispurpose, a bason of water is placed round each joint of the stem. Inthe Drosera is another kind of fly-trap. See Dypsacus and Drosera;the flowers of Siléne and Cucúbalus are closed all day, but are openand give an agreeable odour in the night. See Cerea. See additionalnotes at the end of the poem. ] [Illustration: Dionna Muscipula] [Illustration: Amaryllis formosissima] The harlot-band _ten_ lofty bravoes screen, And frowning guard the magic nets unseen. -- Haste, glittering nations, tenants of the air, Oh, steer from hence your viewless course afar!145 If with soft words, sweet blushes, nods, and smiles, The _three_ dread Syrens lure you to their toils, Limed by their art in vain you point your stings, In vain the efforts of your whirring wings!-- Go, seek your gilded mates and infant hives, 150 Nor taste the honey purchas'd with your lives! When heaven's high vault condensing clouds deform, Fair AMARYLLIS flies the incumbent storm, [_Amaryllis_, l. 152. Formosissima. Most beautiful Amaryllis. Six males, one female. Some of the bell-flowers close their apertures at night, orin rainy or cold weather, as the convolvulus, and thus protect theirincluded stamens and pistils. Other bell-flowers hang their aperturesdownwards, as many of the lilies; in those the pistil, when at maturity, is longer than the stamens; and by this pendant attitude of the bell, when the anthers burst, their dust falls on the stigma: and these are atthe same time sheltered as with an umbrella from rain and dews. But, asa free exposure to the air is necessary for their fecundation, the styleand filaments in many of these flowers continue to grow longer after thebell is open, and hang down below its rim. In others, as in the martagon, the bell is deeply divided, and the divisions are reflected upwards, thatthey may not prevent the access of air, and at the same time affordsome shelter from perpendicular rain or dew. Other bell-flowers, as thehemerocallis and amaryllis, have their bells nodding only, as it were, orhanging obliquely toward the horizon; which, as their stems are slender, turn like a weathercock from the wind; and thus very effectually preservetheir inclosed stamens and anthers from the rain and cold. Many of theseflowers, both before and after their season of fecundation, erect theirheads perpendicular to the horizon, like the Meadia, which cannot beexplained from meer mechanism. The Amaryllis formosissima is a flower of the last mentioned kind, andaffords an agreeable example of _art_ in the vegetable economy, 1. Thepistil is of great length compared with the stamens; and this I supposeto have been the most unchangeable part of the flower, as in Meadia, which see. 2. To counteract this circumstance, the pistil and stamens aremade to decline downwards, that the prolific dust might fall from theanthers on the stigma. 3. To produce this effect, and to secure it whenproduced, the corol is lacerated, contrary to what occurs in otherflowers of this genus, and the lowest division with the two next lowestones are wrapped closely over the style and filaments, binding themforceibly down lower toward the horizon than the usual inclination of thebell in this genus, and thus constitutes a most elegant flower. There isanother contrivance for this purpose in the Hemerocallis flava: the longpistil often is bent somewhat like the capital letter _N_, with design toshorten it, and thus to bring the stigma amongst the anthers. ] Seeks with unsteady step the shelter'd vale, And turns her blushing beauties from the gale. --155 _Six_ rival youths, with soft concern impress'd, Calm all her fears, and charm her cares to rest. -- So shines at eve the sun-illumin'd fane, Lifts its bright cross, and waves its golden vane; From every breeze the polish'd axle turns, 160 And high in air the dancing meteor burns. _Four_ of the giant brood with ILEX stand, Each grasps a thousand arrows in his hand; [_Ilex_. L. 161. Holly. Four males, four females. Many plants, like manyanimals, are furnished with arms for their protection; these are eitheraculei, prickles, as in rose and barberry, which are formed from theouter bark of the plant; or spinæ, thorns, as in hawthorn, which are anelongation of the wood, and hence more difficult to be torn off than theformer; or stimuli, stings, as in the nettles, which are armed with avenomous fluid for the annoyance of naked animals. The shrubs and trees, which have prickles or thorns, are grateful food to many animals, asgoosberry, and gorse; and would be quickly devoured, if not thus armed;the stings seem a protection against some kinds of insects, as wellas the naked mouths of quadrupeds. Many plants lose their thorns bycultivation, as wild animals lose their ferocity; and some of themtheir horns. A curious circumstance attends the large hollies inNeedwood-forest, they are armed with thorny leaves about eight feethigh, and have smooth leaves above; as if they were conscious thathorses and cattle could not reach their upper branches. See note onMeadia, and on Mancinella. The numerous clumps of hollies inNeedwood-forest serve as landmarks to direct the travellersacross it in various directions; and as a shelter to the deer and cattlein winter; and in scarce seasons supply them with much food. For when theupper branches, which are without prickles, are cut down, the deer cropthe leaves and peel off the bark. The bird-lime made from the bark ofhollies seems to be a very similar material to the elastic gum, or Indianrubber, as it is called. There is a fossile elastic bitumen found atMatlock in Derbyshire, which much resembles these substances in itselasticity and inflammability. The thorns of the mimosa cornigereresemble cow's horns in appearance as well as in use. System ofVegetables, p. 782. ] A thousand steely points on every scale Form the bright terrors of his bristly male. --165 So arm'd, immortal Moore uncharm'd the spell, And slew the wily dragon of the well. -- Sudden with rage their _injur'd_ bosoms burn, Retort the insult, or the wound return; _Unwrong'd_, as gentle as the breeze that sweeps170 The unbending harvests or undimpled deeps, They guard, the Kings of Needwood's wide domains, Their sister-wives and fair infantine trains; Lead the lone pilgrim through the trackless glade, Or guide in leafy wilds the wand'ring maid. 175 So WRIGHT's bold pencil from Vesuvio's hight Hurls his red lavas to the troubled night; From Calpè starts the intolerable flash, Skies burst in flames, and blazing oceans dash;-- Or bids in sweet repose his shades recede, 180 Winds the still vale, and slopes the velvet mead; On the pale stream expiring Zephyrs sink, And Moonlight sleeps upon its hoary brink. Gigantic Nymph! the fair KLEINHOVIA reigns, The grace and terror of Orixa's plains; [_Hurls his red lavas_. L. 176. Alluding to the grand paintings of theeruptions of Vesuvius, and of the destruction of the Spanish vesselsbefore Gibraltar; and to the beautiful landscapes and moonlight scenes, by Mr. Wright of Derby. ] [_Kleinhovia_. L. 183. In this class the males in each flower aresupported by the female. The name of the class may be translated"Viragoes, " or "Feminine Males. " The largest tree perhaps in the world is of the same natural order asKleinhovia, it is the Adansonia, or Ethiopian Sour-gourd, or AfricanCalabash tree. Mr. Adanson says the diameter of the trunk frequentlyexceeds 25 feet, and the horizontal branches are from 45 to 55 feet long, and so large that each branch is equal to the largest trees of Europe. The breadth of the top is from 120 to 150 feet. And one of the rootsbared only in part by the wasting away of the earth by the river, nearwhich it grew, measured 110 feet long; and yet these stupendous treesnever exceed 70 feet in height. Voyage to Senegal. ] O'er her warm cheek the blush of beauty swims, And nerves Herculean bend her sinewy limbs; With frolic eye she views the affrighted throng, 190 And shakes the meadows, as she towers along, With playful violence displays her charms, And bears her trembling lovers in her arms. So fair THALESTRIS shook her plumy crest, And bound in rigid mail her jutting breast;195 Poised 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 conquest with the wreaths of love. When o'er the cultured lawns and dreary wastes200 Retiring Autumn flings her howling blasts, Bends in tumultuous waves the struggling woods, And showers their leafy honours on the floods, In withering heaps collects the flowery spoil, And each chill insect sinks beneath the soil;205 Quick flies fair TULIPA the loud alarms, And folds her infant closer in her arms; In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies, And waits the courtship of serener skies. -- So, six cold moons, the Dormouse charm'd to rest, 210 Indulgent Sleep! beneath thy eider breast, In fields of Fancy climbs the kernel'd groves, Or shares the golden harvest with his loves. -- [_Tulipa_. L. 205. Tulip. What is in common language called a bulbousroot, is by Linneus termed the Hybernacle, or Winter-lodge of the youngplant. As these bulbs in every respect resemble buds, except in theirbeing produced under ground, and include the leaves and flower inminiature, which are to be expanded in the ensuing spring. By cautiouslycutting in the early spring through the concentric coats of atulip-root, longitudinally from the top to the base, and taking them offsuccessively, the whole flower of the next summer's tulip is beautifullyseen by the naked eye, with its petals, pistil, and stamens; the flowersexist in other bulbs, in the same manner, as in Hyacinths, but theindividual flowers of these being less, they are not so easily differed, or so conspicuous to the naked eye. In the seeds of the Nymphæa Nelumbo, the leaves of the plant are seenso distinctly, that Mr. Ferber found out by them to what plant the seedsbelonged. Amoen. Acad. V. Vi. No. 120. He says that Mariotte firstobserved the future flower and foliage in the bulb of a Tulip; and adds, that it is pleasant to see in the buds of the Hepatica, and Pediculariahirsuta, yet lying in the earth; and in the gems of Daphne Mezereon;and at the base of Osmunda Lunaria, a perfect plant of the future yearcompleat in all its parts. Ibid. ] But bright from earth amid the troubled air Ascends fair COLCHICA with radiant hair, 215 Warms the cold bosom of the hoary year, And lights with Beauty's blaze the dusky sphere. _Three_ blushing Maids the intrepid Nymph attend, And _six_ gay Youths, enamour'd train! defend. So shines with silver guards the Georgian star, 220 And drives on Night's blue arch his glittering car; Hangs o'er the billowy clouds his lucid form, Wades through the mist, and dances in the storm. [_Colchicum autumnale_. I. 214. Autumnal Meadow-saffron. Six males, three females. The germ is buried within the root, which thus seemsto constitute a part of the flower. Families of Plants, p. 242 Thesesingular flowers appear in the autumn without any leaves, whence in somecountries they are called Naked Ladies: in the March following the greenleaves spring up, and in April the seed-vessel rises from the ground; theseeds ripen in May, contrary to the usual habits of vegetables, whichslower in the spring, and ripen their seeds in the autumn. Miller's Dict. The juice of the root of this plant is so acrid as to produce violenteffects on the human constitution, which also prevents it from beingeaten by subterranean insects, and thus guards the seed-vessel during thewinter. The defoliation of deciduous trees is announced by the floweringof the Colchicum; of these the ash is the last that puts forth itsleaves, and the first that loses them. Phil. Bot. P. 275. The Hamamelis, Witch Hazle, is another plant which flowers in autumn;when the leaves fall off, the flowers come out in clusters from thejoints of the branches, and in Virginia ripen their seed in the ensuingspring; but in this country their seeds seldom ripen. Lin. Spec. Plant. Miller's Dict. ] GREAT HELIANTHUS guides o'er twilight plains In gay solemnity his Dervise-trains;225 Marshall'd in _fives_ each gaudy band proceeds, Each gaudy band a plumed Lady leads; With zealous step he climbs the upland lawn, And bows in homage to the rising dawn; Imbibes with eagle-eye the golden ray, 230 And watches, as it moves, the orb of day. [_Helianthus_. L. 223. Sun flower. The numerous florets, whichconstitute the disk of this flower, contain in each five malessurrounding one female, the five stamens have their anthers connectedat top, whence the name of the class "confederate males;" see note onChondrilla. The sun-flower follows the course of the sun by nutation, not by twisting its stem. (Hales veg. Stat. ) Other plants, when they areconfined in a room, turn the shining surface of their leaves, and bendtheir whole branches to the light. See Mimosa. ] [_A plumed Lady leads_. L. 226. The seeds of many plants of this classare furnished with a plume, by which admirable mechanism they aredisseminated by the winds far from their parent stem, and look like ashuttlecock, as they fly. Other seeds are disseminated by animals; ofthese some attach themselves to their hair or feathers by a gluten, asmisleto; others by hooks, as cleavers, burdock, hounds-tongue; and othersare swallowed whole for the sake of the fruit, and voided uninjured, as the hawthorn, juniper, and some grasses. Other seeds again dispersethemselves by means of an elastic seed-vessel, as Oats, Geranium, andImpatiens; and the seeds of aquatic plants, and of those which grow onthe banks of rivers, are carried many miles by the currents, into whichthey fall. See Impatiens. Zostera. Cassia. Carlïna. ] Queen of the marsh, imperial DROSERA treads Rush-fringed banks, and moss-embroider'd beds; Redundant folds of glossy silk surround Her slender waist, and trail upon the ground;235 _Five_ sister-nymphs collect with graceful ease, Or spread the floating purple to the breeze; And _five_ fair youths with duteous love comply With each soft mandate of her moving eye. As with sweet grace her snowy neck she bows, 240 A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows; Bright shines the silver halo, as she turns; And, as she steps, the living lustre burns. [_Drosera_. L. 231. Sun-dew. Five males, five females. The leavesof this marsh-plant are purple, and have a fringe very unlike othervegetable productions. And, which is curious, at the point of everythread of this erect fringe stands a pellucid drop of mucilage, resembling a ducal coronet. This mucus is a secretion from certainglands, and like the viscous material round the flower-stalks of Silene(catchfly) prevents small insects from infesting the leaves. As theear-wax in animals seems to be in part designed to prevent fleas andother insects from getting into their ears. See Silene. Mr. Wheatly, aneminent surgeon in Cateaton-street, London, observed these leaves to bendupwards, when an insect settled on them, like the leaves of the muscipulaveneris, and pointing all their globules of mucus to the centre, thatthey compleatly intangled and destroyed it. M. Broussonet, in the Mem. Del'Acad. Des Sciences for the year 1784. P. 615. After hiving describedthe motion of the Dionæa, adds, that a similar appearance has beenobserved in the leaves of two species of Drosera. ] Fair LONICERA prints the dewy lawn, And decks with brighter blush the vermil dawn;245 Winds round the shadowy rocks, and pansied vales, And scents with sweeter breath the summer-gales; [_Lonicera_. L. 243. Caprifolium. Honeysuckle. Five males, one female. Nature has in many flowers used a wonderful apparatus to guard thenectary, or honey-gland, from insects. In the honey-suckle the petalterminates in a long tube like a cornucopiae, or horn of plenty; andthe honey is produced at the bottom of it. In Aconitum, monkshood, thenectaries stand upright like two horns covered with a hood, which aboundswith such acrid matter that no insects penetrate it. In Helleborus, hellebore, the many nectaries are placed in a circle, like littlepitchers, and add much to the beauty of the flower. In the Columbine, Aquilegia, the nectary is imagined to be like the neck and body of abird, and the two petals standing upon each side to represent wings;whence its name of columbine, as if resembling a nest of young pigeonsfluttering whilst their parent feeds them. The importance of the nectaryin the economy of vegetation is explained at large in the notes on partthe first. Many insects are provided with a long and pliant proboscis for thepurpose of acquiring this grateful food, as a variety of bees, moths, andbutterflies: but the Sphinx Convolvuli, or unicorn moth, is furnishedwith the most remarkable proboscis in this climate. It carries it rolledup in concentric circles under its chin, and occasionally extends it toabove three inches in length. This trunk consists of joints and muscles, and seems to have more versatile movements than the trunk of theelephant; and near its termination is split into two capillary tubes. Theexcellence of this contrivance for robbing the flowers of their honey, keeps this beautiful insect fat and bulky; though it flies only in theevening, when the flowers have closed their petals, and are thence moredifficult of access; at the same time the brilliant colours of the mothcontribute to its safety, by making it mistaken by the late sleepingbirds for the flower it rests on. Besides these there is a curious contrivance attending the Ophrys, commonly called the Bee-orchis, and the Fly-orchis, with some kinds ofthe Delphinium, called Bee-larkspurs, to preserve their honey; in thesethe nectary and petals resemble in form and colour the insects, whichplunder them: and thus it may be supposed, they often escape these hourlyrobbers, by having the appearance of being pre-occupied. See note onRubia, and Conserva polymorpha. ] With artless grace and native ease she charms, And bears the Horn of Plenty in her arms. _Five_ rival Swains their tender cares unfold, 250 And watch with eye askance the treasured gold. Where rears huge Tenerif his azure crest, Aspiring DRABA builds her eagle nest; Her pendant eyry icy caves surround, Where erst Volcanos min'd the rocky ground. 255 Pleased round the Fair _four_ rival Lords ascend The shaggy steeps, _two_ menial youths attend. High in the setting ray the beauty stands, And her tall shadow waves on distant lands. [_Draba_. I. 252. Alpina. Alpine Whitlow-grass. One female and sixmales. Four of these males stand above the other two; whence the name ofthe class "four powers. " I have observed in several plants of this class, that the two lower males arise, in a few-days after the opening of theflower, to the same height as the other four, not being mature as soonas the higher ones. See note on Gloriosa. All the plants of this classpossess similar virtues; they are termed acrid and anti corbutic in theirraw state, as mustard, watercress; when cultivated and boiled, theybecome a mild wholesome food, as cabbage, turnep. There was formerly a Volcano on the Peake of Tenerif, which becameextinct about the year 1684. Philos. Trans. In many excavations of themountain, much below the summit, there is now found abundance of iceat all seasons. Tench's Expedition to Botany Bay, p. 12. Are thesecongelations in consequence of the daily solution of the hoar-frost whichis produced on the summit during the night?] Stay, bright inhabitant of air, alight, 260 Ambitious VISCA, from thy eagle-flight!-- ----Scorning the sordid soil, aloft she springs, Shakes her white plume, and claps her golden wings; High o'er the fields of boundless ether roves, And seeks amid the clouds her soaring loves! 265 Stretch'd on her mossy couch, in trackless deeps, Queen of the coral groves, ZOSTERA sleeps; [_Viscum_. L. 260. Misletoe. Two houses. This plant never grows upon theground; the foliage is yellow, and the berries milk-white; the berriesare so viscous, as to serve for bird-lime; and when they fall, adhere tothe branches of the tree, on which the plant grows, and strike root intoits bark; or are carried to distant trees by birds. The Tillandsia, orwild pine, grows on other trees, like the Misletoe, but takes little orno nourishment from them, having large buckets in its leaves to collectand retain the rain water. See note on Dypsacus. The mosses, which growon the bark of trees, take much nourishment from them; hence it isobserved that trees, which are annually cleared from moss by a brush, grow nearly twice as fast. (Phil. Transact. ) In the cyder countries thepeasants brush their apple-trees annually. ] [_Zostera_. L. 266. Grass-wrack. Class, Feminine Males. Order, ManyMales. It grows at the bottom of the sea, and rising to the surface, whenin flower, covers many leagues; and is driven at length to the shore. During its time of floating on the sea, numberless animals live on theunder surface of it; and being specifically lighter than the sea water, or being repelled by it, have legs placed as it were on their backs forthe purpose of walking under it. As the Scyllcea. See Barbut's GeneraVermium. It seems necessary that the marriages of plants should becelebrated in the open air, either because the powder of the anther, orthe mucilage on the stigma, or the reservoir of honey might receive injuryfrom the water. Mr. Needham observed, that in the ripe dust of everyflower, examined by the microscope, some vesicles are perceived, fromwhich a fluid had escaped; and that those, which still retain it, explodeif they be wetted, like an eolopile suddenly exposed to a strong heat. These observations have been verified by Spallanzani and others. Hencerainy seasons make a scarcity of grain, or hinder its fecundity, bybursting the pollen before it arrives at the moist stigma of the flower. Spallanzani's Dissertations, v. II. P. 321. Thus the flowers of the maleVallisneria are produced under water, and when ripe detach themselves fromthe plant, and rising to the surface are wafted by the air to the femaleflowers. See Vallisneria. ] The silvery sea-weed matted round her bed, And distant surges murmuring o'er her head. -- High in the flood her azure dome ascends, 270 The crystal arch on crystal columns bends; Roof'd with translucent shell the turrets blaze, And far in ocean dart their colour'd rays; O'er the white floor successive shadows move, As rise and break the ruffled waves above. --275 Around the nymph her mermaid-trains repair, And weave with orient pearl her radiant hair; With rapid fins she cleaves the watery way, Shoots like a diver meteor up to day; Sounds a loud conch, convokes a scaly band, 280 Her sea-born lovers, and ascends the strand. E'en round the pole the flames of Love aspire, And icy bosoms feel the _secret_ fire!-- Cradled in snow and fann'd by arctic air Shines, gentle BAROMETZ! thy golden hair;285 Rooted in earth each cloven hoof descends, And round and round her flexile neck she bends; Crops the grey coral moss, and hoary thyme, Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime; Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam, 290 Or seems to bleat, a _Vegetable Lamb_. [_Barometz_. L. 284. Polypodium Barometz. Tartarian Lamb. ClandestineMarriage. This species of Fern is a native of China, with a decumbentroot, thick, and every where covered with the most soft and dense wool, intensely yellow. Lin. Spec. Plant. This curious stem is sometimes pushed out of the ground in its horizontalsituation by some of the inferior branches of the root, so as to give itsome resemblance to a Lamb standing on four legs; and has been said todestroy all other plants in its vicinity. Sir Hans Sloane describes itunder the name of Tartarian Lamb, and has given a print of it. Philos. Trans. Abridged, v. II. P. 646. But thinks some art had been used togive it an animal appearance. Dr. Hunter, in his edition of the Terra ofEvelyn, has given a more curious print of it, much resembling a sheep. The down is used in India externally for stopping hemorrhages, and iscalled golden moss. The thick downy clothing of some vegetables seems designed to protectthem from the injuries of cold, like the wool of animals. Those bodies, which are bad conductors of electricity, are also bad conductors of heat, as glass, wax, air. Hence either of the two former of these may be meltedby the flame of a blow-pipe very near the fingers which hold it withoutburning them; and the last, by being confined on the surface of animalbodies, in the interstices of their fur or wool, prevents the escape oftheir natural warmth; to which should be added, that the hairs themselvesare imperfect conductors. The fat or oil of whales, and other northernanimals, seems designed for the same purpose of preventing the too suddenescape of the heat of the body in cold climates. Snow protects vegetableswhich are covered by it from cold, both because it is a bad conductor ofheat itself, and contains much air in its pores. If a piece of camphor beimmersed in a snow-ball, except one extremity of it, on setting fire tothis, as the snow melts, the water becomes absorbed into the surroundingsnow by capillary attraction; on this account, when living animals areburied in snow, they are not moistened by it; but the cavity enlarges asthe snow dissolves, affording them both a dry and warm habitation. ] --So, warm and buoyant in his oily mail, Gambols on seas of ice the unwieldy Whale; Wide-waving fins round floating islands urge His bulk gigantic through the troubled surge;295 With hideous yawn the flying shoals He seeks, Or clasps with fringe of horn his massy cheeks; Lifts o'er the tossing wave his nostrils bare, And spouts pellucid columns into air; The silvery arches catch the setting beams, 300 And transient rainbows tremble o'er the streams. Weak with nice sense, the chaste MIMOSA stands, From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands; Oft as light clouds o'er-pass the Summer-glade, Alarm'd she trembles at the moving shade;305 And feels, alive through all her tender form, The whisper'd murmurs of the gathering storm; Shuts her sweet eye-lids to approaching night; And hails with freshen'd charms the rising light. [_Mimosa_. I. 301. The sensitive plant. Of the class Polygamy, one house. Naturalists have not explained the immediate cause of the collapsing ofthe sensitive plant; the leaves meet and close in the night during thesleep of the plant, or when exposed to much cold in the day-time, in thesame manner as when they are affected by external violence, folding theirupper surfaces together, and in part over each other like scales ortiles; so as to expose as little of the upper surface as may be to theair; but do not indeed collapse quite so far, since I have found, whentouched in the night during their sleep, they fall still further;especially when touched on the foot-stalks between the stems and theleaflets, which seems to be their most sensitive or irritable part. Nowas their situation after being exposed to external violence resemblestheir sleep, but with a greater degree of collapse, may it not be owingto a numbness or paralysis consequent to too violent irritation, like thefaintings of animals from pain or fatigue? I kept a sensitive plant ina dark room till some hours after day-break: its leaves and leaf-stalkswere collapsed as in its most profound sleep, and on exposing it to thelight, above twenty minutes passed before the plant was thoroughly awakeand had quite expanded itself. During the night the upper or smoothersurfaces of the leaves are appressed together; this would seem to shewthat the office of this surface of the leaf was to expose the fluids ofthe plant to the light as well as to the air. See note on Helianthus. Many flowers close up their petals during the night. See note onvegetable respiration in Part I. ] Veil'd, with gay decency and modest pride, 310 Slow to the mosque she moves, an eastern bride; There her soft vows unceasing love record, Queen of the bright seraglio of her Lord. -- So sinks or rises with the changeful hour The liquid silver in its glassy tower. 315 So turns the needle to the pole it loves, With fine librations quivering as it moves. All wan and shivering in the leafless glade The sad ANEMONE reclined her head; Grief on her cheeks had paled the roseate hue, 320 And her sweet eye-lids dropp'd with pearly dew. --"See, from bright regions, borne on odorous gales The Swallow, herald of the summer, sails; [_Anemone_. L. 318. Many males, many females. Pliny says this flowernever opens its petals but when the wind blows; whence its name: it hasproperly no calix, but two or three sets of petals, three in each set, which are folded over the stamens and pistil in a singular and beautifulmanner, and differs also from ranunculus in not having a melliferous poreon the claw of each petal. ] [_The Swallow_. L. 322. There is a wonderful conformity between thevegetation of some plants, and the arrival of certain birds of passage. Linneus observes that the wood anemone blows in Sweden on the arrivalof the swallow; and the marsh mary-gold, Caltha, when the cuckoo sings. Near the same coincidence was observed in England by Stillingfleet. Theword Coccux in Greek signifies both a young fig and a cuckoo, which issupposed to have arisen from the coincidence of their appearance in Greece. Perhaps a similar coincidence of appearance in some parts of Asia gaveoccasion to the story of the loves of the rose and nightingale, so muchcelebrated by the eastern poets. See Dianthus. The times however of theappearance of vegetables in the spring seem occasionally to be influencedby their acquired habits, as well as by their sensibility to heat: for theroots of potatoes, onions, &c. Will germinate with much less heat in thespring than in the autumn; as is easily observable where these roots arestored for use; and hence malt is best made in the spring. 2d. The grainsand roots brought from more southern latitudes germinate here sooner thanthose which are brought from more northern ones, owing to their acquiredhabits. Fordyce on Agriculture. 3d. It was observed by one of the scholarsof Linneus, that the apple-trees sent from hence to New England blossomedfor a few years too early for that climate, and bore no fruit; butafterwards learnt to accommodate themselves to their new situation. (Kalm's Travels. ) 4th. The parts of animals become more sensible to heatafter having been previously exposed to cold, as our hands glow on cominginto the house after having held snow in them; this seems to happen tovegetables; for vines in grape-houses, which have been exposed to thewinter's cold, will become forwarder and more vigorous than those whichhave been kept during the winter in the house. (Kenedy on Gardening. ) Thisaccounts for the very rapid vegetation in the northern latitudes after thesolution of the snows. The increase of the irritability of plants in respect to heat, afterhaving been previously exposed to cold, is further illustrated by anexperiment of Dr. Walker's. He cut apertures into a birch-tree atdifferent heights; and on the 26th of March some of these apertures bled, or oozed with the sap-juice, when the thermometer was at 39; which sameapertures did not bleed on the 13th of March, when the thermometer was at44. The reason of this I apprehend was, because on the night of the 25ththe thermometer was as low as 34; whereas on the night of the 12th it wasat 41; though the ingenious author ascribes it to another cause. Trans. Of Royal Soc. Of Edinburgh, v. 1. P. 19. ] "Breathe, gentle AIR! from cherub-lips impart Thy balmy influence to my anguish'd heart;325 Thou, whose soft voice calls forth the tender blooms, Whose pencil paints them, and whose breath perfumes; O chase the Fiend of Frost, with leaden mace Who seals in death-like sleep my hapless race; Melt his hard heart, release his iron hand, 330 And give my ivory petals to expand. So may each bud, that decks the brow of spring, Shed all its incense on thy wafting wing!"-- To her fond prayer propitious Zephyr yields, Sweeps on his sliding shell through azure fields, 335 O'er her fair mansion waves his whispering wand, And gives her ivory petals to expand; Gives with new life her filial train to rise, And hail with kindling smiles the genial skies. So shines the Nymph in beauty's blushing pride, 340 When Zephyr wafts her deep calash aside; Tears with rude kiss her bosom's gauzy veil, And flings the fluttering kerchief to the gale. So bright, the folding canopy undrawn, Glides the gilt Landau o'er the velvet lawn, 345 Of beaux and belles displays the glittering throng; And soft airs fan them, as they roll along. Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow O'er Conway, listening to the surge below; Retiring LICHEN climbs the topmost stone, 350 And 'mid the airy ocean dwells alone. -- Bright shine the stars unnumber'd _o'er her head_, And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed; While round the rifted rocks hoarse whirlwinds breathe, And dark with thunder sail the clouds _beneath_. --355 The steepy path her plighted swain pursues, And tracks her light step o'er th' imprinted dews, Delighted Hymen gives his torch to blaze, Winds round the craggs, and lights the mazy ways; [_Lichen_. L. 349. Calcareum. Liver-wort. Clandestine Marriage. Thisplant is the first that vegetates on naked rocks, covering them with akind of tapestry, and draws its nourishment perhaps chiefly from theair; after it perishes, earth enough is left for other mosses to rootthemselves; and after some ages a soil is produced sufficient for thegrowth of more succulent and large vegetables. In this manner perhapsthe whole earth has been gradually covered with vegetation, after it wasraised out of the primeval ocean by subterraneous fires. ] Sheds o'er their _secret_ vows his influence chaste, 360 And decks with roses the admiring waste. High in the front of heaven when Sirius glares, And o'er Britannia shakes his fiery hairs; When no soft shower descends, no dew distills, Her wave-worn channels dry, and mute her rills;365 When droops the sickening herb, the blossom fades, And parch'd earth gapes beneath the withering glades. --With languid step fair DYPSACA retreats; "Fall gentle dews!" the fainting nymph repeats; Seeks the low dell, and in the sultry shade370 Invokes in vain the Naiads to her aid. -- [_Dypsacus. _ l. 367. Teasel. One female, and four males. There is acup around every joint of the stem of this plant, which contains from aspoonful to half a pint of water; and serves both for the nutriment ofthe plant in dry seasons, and to prevent insects from creeping up todevour its seed. See Silene. The Tillandsia, or wild pine, of the WestIndies has every leaf terminated near the stalk with a hollow bucket, which contains from half a pint to a quart of water. Dampier's Voyage toCampeachy. Dr. Sloane mentions one kind of aloe furnished with leaves, which, like the wild pine and Banana, hold water; and thence affordnecessary refreshment to travellers in hot countries. Nepenthes had abucket for the same purpose at the end of every leaf, Burm. Zeyl. 41. 17. ] _Four_ silvan youths in crystal goblets bear The untasted treasure to the grateful fair; Pleased from their hands with modest grace she sips, And the cool wave reflects her coral lips. 375 With nice selection modest RUBIA blends, Her vermil dyes, and o'er the cauldron bends; Warm 'mid the rising steam the Beauty glows, As blushes in a mist the dewy rose. [_Rubia. _ l. 375. Madder. Four males and one female. This plant iscultivated in very large quantities for dying red. If mixed with the foodof young pigs or chickens, it colours their bones red. If they are fedalternate fortnights with a mixture of madder, and with their usual foodalone, their bones will consist of concentric circles of white and red. Belchier. Phil. Trans. 1736. Animals fed with madder for the purposeof these experiments were found upon dissection to have thinner gall. Comment. De rebus. Lipsiæ. This circumstance is worth further attention. The colouring materials of vegetables, like those which serve the purposeof tanning, varnishing, and the various medical purposes, do not seemessential to the life of the plant; but seem given it as a defenceagainst the depredations of insects or other animals, to whom thesematerials are nauseous or deleterious. To insects and many smalleranimals their colours contribute to conceal them from the larger oneswhich prey upon them. Caterpillars which feed on leaves are generallygreen; and earth-worms the colour of the earth which they inhabit;Butterflies which frequent flowers, are coloured like them; small birdswhich frequent hedges have greenish backs like the leaves, and lightcoloured bellies like the sky, and are hence less visible to the hawk, who passes under them or over them. Those birds which are muchamongst flowers, as the gold-finch (Fringilla carduelis), are furnishedwith vivid colours. The lark, partridge, hare, are the colour of the dryvegetables or earth on which they rest. And frogs vary their colour withthe mud of the streams which they frequent; and those which live ontrees are green. Fish, which are generally suspended in water, andswallows, which are generally suspended in air, have their backs thecolour of the distant ground, and their bellies of the sky. In the colderclimates many of these become white during the existence of the snows. Hence there is apparent design in the colours of animals, whilst thoseof vegetables seem consequent to the other properties of the materialswhich possess them. ] With chemic art _four_ favour'd youths aloof380 Stain the white fleece, or stretch the tinted woof; O'er Age's cheek the warmth of youth diffuse, Or deck the pale-eyed nymph in roseate hues. So when MEDEA to exulting Greece From plunder'd COLCHIS bore the golden fleece;385 On the loud shore a magic pile she rais'd, The cauldron bubbled, and the faggots blaz'd;--- Pleased on the boiling wave old ÆSON swims, And feels new vigour stretch his swelling limbs; [_Pleased on the boiling wave. _ l. 387. The story of Æson becomingyoung, from the medicated bath of Medea, seems to have been intended toteach the efficacy of warm bathing in retarding the progress of oldage. The words _relaxation and bracing_, which are generally thoughtexpressive of the effects of warm and cold bathing, are mechanical terms, properly applied to drums or strings; but are only metaphors when appliedto the effects of cold or warm bathing on animal bodies. The immediatecause of old age seems to reside in the inirritability of the finervessels or parts of our system; hence these cease to act, and collapseor become horny or bony. The warm bath is peculiarly adapted toprevent these circumstances by its increasing our irritability, and bymoistening and softening the skin, and the extremities of the finervessels, which terminate in it. To those who are past the meridian oflife, and have dry skins, and begin to be emaciated, the warm bath, forhalf an hour twice a week, I believe to be eminently serviceable inretarding the advances of age. ] Through his thrill'd nerves forgotten ardors dart, 390 And warmer eddies circle round his heart; With softer fires his kindling eye-balls glow, And darker tresses wanton round his brow. As dash the waves on India's breezy strand, Her flush'd cheek press'd upon her lily hand, 395 VALLISNER sits, up-turns her tearful eyes, Calls her lost lover, and upbraids the skies; [_Vallisniria_. L. 395. This extraordinary plant is of the class TwoHouses. It is found in the East Indies, in Norway, and various partsof Italy. Lin. Spec. Plant. They have their roots at the bottom of theRhone, the flowers of the female plant float on the surface of thewater, and are furnished with an elastic spiral stalk, which extends orcontracts as the water rises and falls; this rise or fall, from the rapiddescent of the river, and the mountain torrents which flow into it, oftenamounts to many feet in a few hours. The flowers of the male plant areproduced under water, and as soon as their farina, or dust, is mature;they detach themselves from the plant, and rise to the surface, continueto flourish, and are wafted by the air, or borne by the currents to thefemale flowers. In this resembling those tribes of insects, where themales at certain seasons acquire wings, but not the females, as ants, Cocchus, Lampyris, Phalæna, Brumata, Lichanella. These male flowers arein such numbers, though very minute, as frequently to cover the surfaceof the river to considerable extent. See Families of Plants translatedfrom Linneus, p. 677. ] [Illustration: Vallisneria Spiralis] For him she breathes the silent sigh, forlorn, Each setting-day; for him each rising morn. -- "Bright orbs, that light yon high etherial plain, 400 Or bathe your radiant tresses in the main; Pale moon, that silver'st o'er night's sable brow;-- For ye were witness to his parting vow!-- Ye shelving rocks, dark waves, and sounding shore, -- Ye echoed sweet the tender words he swore!--405 Can stars or seas the sails of love retain? O guide my wanderer to my arms again!"-- Her buoyant skiff intrepid ULVA guides, And seeks her Lord amid the trackless tides; [_Ulva_, l. 407. Clandestine marriage. This kind of sea-weed is buoyedup by bladders of air, which are formed in the duplicatures of itsleaves; and forms immense floating fields of vegetation; the youngones, branching out from the larger ones, and borne on similar littleair-vessels. It is also found in the warm baths of Patavia; where theleaves are formed into curious cells or labyrinths for the purpose offloating on the water. See ulva labyrinthi-formis Lin. Spec. Plant. Theair contained in these cells was found by Dr. Priestley to be sometimespurer than common air, and sometimes less pure; the air-bladders of fishseem to be similar organs, and serve to render them buoyant in the water. In some of these, as in the Cod and Haddock, a red membrane, consistingof a great number of leaves or duplicatures, is found within the air-bag, which probably secretes this air from the blood of the animal. (Monro. Physiol. Of Fish. P. 28. ) To determine whether this air, when firstseparated from the blood of the animal or plant, be dephlogisticated air, is worthy inquiry. The bladder-sena (Colutea), and bladder-nut(Staphylæa), have their seed-vessels distended with air; the Ketmia hasthe upper joint of the stem immediately under the receptacle of the flowermuch distended with air; these seem to be analogous to the air-vessel atthe broad end of the egg, and may probably become less pure as the seedripens: some, which I tried, had the purity of the surrounding atmosphere. The air at the broad end of the egg is probably an organ serving thepurpose of respiration to the young chick, some of whose vessels arespread upon it like a placenta, or permeate it. Many are of opinion thateven the placenta of the human fetus, and cotyledons of quadrupeds, arerespiratory organs rather than nutritious ones. The air in the hollow stems of grasses, and of some umbelliferous plants, bears analogy to the air in the quills, and in some of the bones ofbirds; supplying the place of the pith, which shrivels up after it hasperformed its office of protruding the young stem or feather. Some ofthese cavities of the bones are said to communicate with the lungs inbirds. Phil. Trans. The air-bladders of fish are nicely adapted to their intended purpose;for though they render them buoyant near the surface without the labourof using their fins, yet, when they rest at greater depths, they are noinconvenience, as the increased pressure of the water condenses the airwhich they contain into less space. Thus, if a cork or bladder of air wasimmersed a very great depth in the ocean, it would be so much compressed, as to become specifically as heavy as the water, and would remain there. It is probable the unfortunate Mr. Day, who was drowned in a diving-shipof his own construction, miscarried from not attending to thiscircumstance: it is probable the quantity of air he took down with him, if he descended much lower than he expected, was condensed into so smalla space as not to render the ship buoyant when he endeavoured to ascend. ] Her _secret_ vows the Cyprian Queen approves, 410 And hovering halcyons guard her infant-loves; Each in his floating cradle round they throng, And dimpling Ocean bears the fleet along. -- Thus o'er the waves, which gently bend and swell, Fair GALATEA steers her silver shell; 415 Her playful Dolphins stretch the silken rein, Hear her sweet voice, and glide along the main. As round the wild meandering coast she moves By gushing rills, rude cliffs, and nodding groves; Each by her pine the Wood-nymphs wave their locks, 420 And wondering Naiads peep amid the rocks; Pleased trains of Mermaids rise from coral cells, Admiring Tritons sound their twisted shells; Charm'd o'er the car pursuing Cupids sweep, Their snow-white pinions twinkling in the deep;425 And, as the lustre of her eye she turns, Soft sighs the Gale, and amorous Ocean burns. On DOVE'S green brink the fair TREMELLA stood, And view'd her playful image in the flood; [_Tremella_, l. 427. Clandestine marriage. I have frequently observedfungusses of this Genus on old rails and on the ground to become atransparent jelly, after they had been frozen in autumnal mornings; whichis a curious property, and distinguishes them from some other vegetablemucilage; for I have observed that the paste, made by boiling wheat-flourin water, ceases to be adhesive after having been frozen. I suspectedthat the Tremella Nostoc, or star-jelly, also had been thus produced; buthave since been well informed, that the Tremella Nostoc is a mucilagevoided by Herons after they have eaten frogs; hence it has the appearanceof having been pressed through a hole; and limbs of frogs are saidsometimes to be found amongst it; it is always seen upon plains or by thesides of water, places which Herons generally frequent. Some of the Fungusses are so acrid, that a drop of their juice blistersthe tongue; others intoxicate those who eat them. The Ostiacks in Siberiause them for the latter purpose; one Fungus of the species, Agaricusmuscarum, eaten raw; or the decoction of three of them, producesintoxication for 12 or 16 hours. History of Russia. V. 1. Nichols. 1780. As all acrid plants become less so, if exposed to a boiling heat, itis probable the common mushroom may sometimes disagree from being notsufficiently stewed. The Oftiacks blister their skin by a fungus found onBirch-trees; and use the Agiricus officin. For Soap. Ib. There was a dispute whether the fungusses should be classed in the animalor vegetable department. Their animal taste in cookery, and their animalsmell when burnt, together with their tendency to putrefaction, insomuchthat the Phallus impudicus has gained the name of stink-horn; and lastly, their growing and continuing healthy without light, as the Licoperdontuber or truffle, and the fungus vinosus or mucor in dark cellars, andthe esculent mushrooms on beds covered thick with straw, would seem toshew that they approach towards the animals, or make a kind of isthmusconnecting the two mighty kingdoms of animal and of vegetable nature. ] To each rude rock, lone dell, and echoing grove430 Sung the sweet sorrows of her _secret_ love. "Oh, stay!--return!"--along the sounding shore Cry'd the sad Naiads, --she return'd no more!-- Now girt with clouds the sullen Evening frown'd, And withering Eurus swept along the ground;435 The misty moon withdrew her horned light, And sunk with Hesper in the skirt of night; No dim electric streams, (the northern dawn, ) With meek effulgence quiver'd o'er the lawn; No star benignant shot one transient ray440 To guide or light the wanderer on her way. Round the dark craggs the murmuring whirlwinds blow, Woods groan above, and waters roar below; As o'er the steeps with pausing foot she moves, The pitying Dryads shriek amid their groves;445 She flies, --she stops, --she pants--she looks behind, And hears a demon howl in every wind. --As the bleak blast unfurls her fluttering vest, Cold beats the snow upon her shuddering breast; Through her numb'd limbs the chill sensations dart, 450 And the keen ice bolt trembles at her heart. "I sink, I fall! oh, help me, help!" she cries, Her stiffening tongue the unfinish'd sound denies; Tear after tear adown her cheek succeeds, And pearls of ice bestrew the glittering meads;455 Congealing snows her lingering feet surround, Arrest her flight, and root her to the ground; With suppliant arms she pours the silent prayer; Her suppliant arms hang crystal in the air; Pellucid films her shivering neck o'erspread, 460 Seal her mute lips, and silver o'er her head, Veil her pale bosom, glaze her lifted hands, And shrined in ice the beauteous statue stands. --DOVE'S azure nymphs on each revolving year For fair TREMELLA shed the tender tear;465 With rush-wove crowns in sad procession move, And sound the sorrowing shell to hapless love. " Here paused the MUSE, --across the darken'd pole Sail the dim clouds, the echoing thunders roll; The trembling Wood-nymphs, as the tempest lowers, 470 Lead the gay Goddess to their inmost bowers; Hang the mute lyre the laurel shade beneath, And round her temples bind the myrtle wreath. --Now the light swallow with her airy brood Skims the green meadow, and the dimpled flood;475 Loud shrieks the lone thrush from his leafless thorn, Th' alarmed beetle sounds his bugle horn; Each pendant spider winds with fingers fine His ravel'd clue, and climbs along the line; Gay Gnomes in glittering circles stand aloof480 Beneath a spreading mushroom's fretted roof; Swift bees returning seek their waxen cells, And Sylphs cling quivering in the lily's bells. Through the still air descend the genials showers, And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flowers. INTERLUDE. _Bookseller_. Your verses, Mr. Botanist, consist of _pure description_, Ihope there is _sense_ in the notes. _Poet_. I am only a flower-painter, or occasionally attempt a landskip;and leave the human figure with the subjects of history to abler artists. _B. _ It is well to know what subjects are within the limits of yourpencil; many have failed of success from the want of this self-knowledge. But pray tell me, what is the essential difference between Poetry andProse? is it solely the melody or measure of the language? _P. _ I think not solely; for some prose has its melody, and even measure. And good verses, well spoken in a language unknown to the hearer, are noteasily to be distinguished from good prose. _B_. Is it the sublimity, beauty, or novelty of the sentiments? _P_. Not so; for sublime sentiments are often better expressed in prose. Thus when Warwick in one of the plays of Shakespear, is left wounded onthe field after the loss of the battle, and his friend says to him, "Oh, could you but fly!" what can be more sublime than his answer, "Why then, I would not fly. " No measure of verse, I imagine, could add dignity tothis sentiment. And it would be easy to select examples of the beautifulor new from prose writers, which I suppose no measure of verse couldimprove. _B_. In what then consists the essential difference between Poetry andProse? _P_. Next to the measure of the language, the principal distinctionappears to me to consist in this: that Poetry admits of but few wordsexpressive of very abstracted ideas, whereas Prose abounds with them. Andas our ideas derived from visible objects are more distinct than thosederived from the objects of our other senses, the words expressive ofthese ideas belonging to vision make up the principal part of poeticlanguage. That is, the Poet writes principally to the eye, theProse-writer uses more abstracted terms. Mr. Pope has written a bad versein the Windsor Forest: "And Kennet swift for silver Eels _renown'd_. " The word renown'd does not present the idea of a visible object to themind, and is thence prosaic. But change this line thus, "And Kennet swift, where silver Graylings _play_. "and it becomes poetry, because the scenery is then brought before theeye. _B_. This may be done in prose. _P_. And when it is done in a single word, it animates the prose; so itis more agreeable to read in Mr. Gibbon's History, "Germany was at thistime _over-shadowed_ with extensive forests;" than Germany was at thistime _full_ of extensive forests. But where this mode of expressionoccurs too frequently, the prose approaches to poetry: and in graverworks, where we expect to be instructed rather than amused, it becomestedious and impertinent. Some parts of Mr. Burke's eloquent orationsbecome intricate and enervated by superfluity of poetic ornament; whichquantity of ornament would have been agreeable in a poem, where muchornament is expected. _B_. Is then the office of poetry only to amuse? _P_. The Muses are young ladies, we expect to see them dressed; thoughnot like some modern beauties with so much gauze and feather, that "theLady herself is the least part of her. " There are however didactic piecesof poetry, which are much admired, as the Georgics of Virgil, Mason'sEnglish Garden, Hayley's Epistles; nevertheless Science is best deliveredin Prose, as its mode of reasoning is from stricter analogies thanmetaphors or similies. _B_. Do not Personifications and Allegories distinguish poetry? _P_. These are other arts of bringing objects before the eye; or ofexpressing sentiments in the language of vision; and are indeed bettersuited to the pen than the pencil. _B_. That is strange, when you have just said they are used to bringtheir objects before the eye. _P_. In poetry the personification or allegoric figure is generallyindistinct, and therefore does not strike us as forcibly as to make usattend to its improbability; but in painting, the figures being all muchmore distinct, their improbability becomes apparent, and seizes ourattention to it. Thus the person of Concealment is very indistinct andtherefore does not compel us to attend to its improbability, in thefollowing beautiful lines of Shakespear: "--She never told her love; But let Concealment, like a worm i' th' bud, Feed on her damask cheek. "-- But in these lines below the person of Reason obtrudes itself into ourcompany, and becomes disagreeable by its distinctness, and consequentimprobability. "To Reason I flew, and intreated her aid, Who paused on my case, and each circumstance weigh'd; Then gravely reply'd in return to my prayer, That Hebe was fairest of all that were fair. That's a truth, reply'd I, I've no need to be taught, I came to you, Reason, to find out a fault. If that's all, says Reason, return as you came, To find fault with Hebe would forfeit my name. " Allegoric figures are on this account in general less manageable inpainting and in statuary than in poetry: and can seldom be introduced inthe two former arts in company with natural figures, as is evidentfrom the ridiculous effect of many of the paintings of Rubens in theLuxemburgh gallery; and for this reason, because their improbabilitybecomes more striking, when there are the figures of real persons bytheir side to compare them with. Mrs. Angelica Kauffman, well apprised ofthis circumstance, has introduced no mortal figures amongst her Cupidsand her Graces. And the great Roubiliac, in his unrivalled monument ofTime and Fame struggling for the trophy of General Fleming, has only hungup a medallion of the head of the hero of the piece. There are howeversome allegoric figures, which we have so often heard described or seendelineated, that we almost forget that they do not exist in common life;and hence view them without astonishment; as the figures of the heathenmythology, of angels, devils, death and time; and almost believe themto be realities, even when they are mixed with representations of thenatural forms of man. Whence I conclude, that a certain degree ofprobability is necessary to prevent us from revolting with distaste fromunnatural images; unless we are otherwise so much interested in thecontemplation of them as not to perceive their improbability. _B_. Is this reasoning about degrees of probability just?--When Sir JoshuaReynolds, who is unequalled both in the theory and practice of his art, and who is a great master of the pen as well as the pencil, has assertedin a discourse delivered to the Royal Academy, December 11, 1786, that"the higher styles of painting, like the higher kinds of the Drama, donot aim at any thing like deception; or have any expectation, that thespectators should think the events there represented are really passingbefore them. " And he then accuses Mr. Fielding of bad judgment, when heattempts to compliment Mr. Garrick in one of his novels, by introducingan ignorant man, mistaking the representation of a scene in Hamlet for areality; and thinks, because he was an ignorant man, he was less liableto make such a mistake. _P_. It is a metaphysical question, and requires more attention than SirJoshua has bestowed upon it. --You will allow, that we are perfectlydeceived in our dreams; and that even in our waking reveries, we areoften so much absorbed in the contemplation of what passes in ourimaginations, that for a while we do not attend to the lapse of time orto our own locality; and thus suffer a similar kind of deception as inour dreams. That is, we believe things present before our eyes, which arenot so. There are two circumstances, which contribute to this compleat deceptionin our dreams. First, because in sleep the organs of sense are closed orinert, and hence the trains of ideas associated in our imaginations arenever interrupted or dissevered by the irritations of external objects, and can not therefore be contrasted with our sensations. On this account, though we are affected with a variety of passions in our dreams, asanger, love, joy; yet we never experience surprize. --For surprize is onlyproduced when any external irritations suddenly obtrude themselves, anddissever our passing trains of ideas. Secondly, because in sleep there is a total suspension of our voluntarypower, both over the muscles of our bodies, and the ideas of our minds;for we neither walk about, nor reason in compleat sleep. Hence, as thetrains of ideas are passing in our imaginations in dreams, we cannotcompare them with our previous knowledge of things, as we do in ourwaking hours; for this is a voluntary exertion; and thus we cannotperceive their incongruity. Thus we are deprived in sleep of the onlytwo means by which we can distinguish the trains of ideas passing in ourimaginations, from those excited by our sensations; and are led by theirvivacity to believe them to belong to the latter. For the vivacity ofthese trains of ideas, passing in the imagination, is greatly increasedby the causes above-mentioned; that is, by their not being disturbed ordissevered either by the appulses of external bodies, as in surprize; orby our voluntary exertions in comparing them with our previous knowledge, of things, as in reasoning upon them. _B_. Now to apply. _P_. When by the art of the Painter or Poet a train of ideas is suggestedto our imaginations, which interests us so much by the pain or pleasureit affords, that we cease to attend to the irritations of common externalobjects, and cease also to use any voluntary efforts to compare theseinteresting trains of ideas with our previous knowledge of things, acompleat reverie is produced: during which time, however short, if it bebut for a moment, the objects themselves appear to exist before us. This, I think, has been called by an ingenious critic "the ideal presence" ofsuch objects. (Elements of Criticism by Lord Kaimes). And in respect tothe compliment intended by Mr. Fielding to Mr. Garrick, it would seemthat an ignorant Rustic at the play of Hamlet, who has some previousbelief in the appearance of Ghosts, would sooner be liable to fall intoreverie, and continue in it longer, than one who possessed more knowledgeof the real nature of things, and had a greater facility ofexercising his reason. _B_. It must require great art in the Painter or Poet to produce thiskind of deception? _P_. The matter must be interesting from its sublimity, beauty, ornovelty; this is the scientific part; and the art consists in bringingthese distinctly before the eye, so as to produce (as above-mentioned)the ideal presence of the object, in which the great Shakespearparticularly excells. _B_. Then it is not of any consequence whether the representationscorrespond with nature? _P_. Not if they so much interest the reader or spectator as to inducethe reverie above described. Nature may be seen in the market-place, or at the card-table; but we expect something more than this in theplay-house or picture-room. The further the artists recedes from nature, the greater novelty he is likely to produce; if he rises above nature, he produces the sublime; and beauty is probably a selection and newcombination of her most agreeable parts. Yourself will be sensible of thetruth of this doctrine by recollecting over in your mind the works ofthree of our celebrated artists. Sir Joshua Reynolds has introducedsublimity even into its portraits; we admire the representation ofpersons, whose reality we should have passed by unnoticed. Mrs. AngelicaKauffman attracts our eyes with beauty, which I suppose no where exists;certainly few Grecian faces are seen in this country. And the daringpencil of Fuseli transports us beyond the boundaries of nature, andravishes us with the charm of the most interesting novelty. AndShakespear, who excells in all these together, so far captivates thespectator, as to make him unmindful of every kind of violation of Time, Place, or Existence. As at the first appearance of the Ghost of Hamlet, "his ear must be dull as the fat weed, which roots itself on Lethe'sbrink, " who can attend to the improbablity of the exhibition. So in manyscenes of the Tempest we perpetually believe the action passing beforeour eyes, and relapse with somewhat of distaste into common life at theintervals of the representation. _B_. I suppose a poet of less ability would find such great machinerydifficult and cumbersome to manage? _P_. Just so, we should be mocked at the apparent improbabilities. As inthe gardens of a Scicilian nobleman, described in Mr. Brydone's and inMr. Swinburn's travels, there are said to be six hundred statues ofimaginary monsters, which so disgust the spectators, that the state hadonce a serious design of destroying them; and yet the very improbablemonsters in Ovid's Metamorphoses have entertained the world for manycenturies. _B. _ The monsters in your Botanic Garden, I hope, are of the latter kind? _P. _ The candid reader must determine. THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. CANTO II. Again the Goddess strikes the golden lyre, And tunes to wilder notes the warbling wire; With soft suspended step Attention moves, And Silence hovers o'er the listening groves;5 Orb within orb the charmed audience throng, And the green vault reverberates the song. "Breathe soft, ye Gales!" the fair CARLINA cries, Bear on broad wings your Votress to the skies. How sweetly mutable yon orient hues, 10 As Morn's fair hand her opening roses strews; How bright, when Iris blending many a ray Binds in embroider'd wreath the brow of Day; Soft, when the pendant Moon with lustres pale O'er heaven's blue arch unfurls her milky veil;15 While from the north long threads of silver light Dart on swift shuttles o'er the tissued night! [_Carlina. _ l. 7. Carline Thistle. Of the class Confederate Males. Theseeds of this and of many other plants of the same class are furnishedwith a plume, by which admirable mechanism they perform long aerialjourneys, crossing lakes and deserts, and are thus disseminated far fromthe original plant, and have much the appearance of a Shuttlecock as theyfly. The wings are of different construction, some being like a divergenttuft of hairs, others are branched like feathers, some are elevated fromthe crown of the seed by a slender foot-stalk, which gives, than a veryelegant appearance, others sit immediately on the crown of the seed. Nature has many other curious vegetable contrivances for the dispersionof seeds: see note on Helianthus. But perhaps none of them has more theappearance of design than the admirable apparatus of Tillandsia for thispurpose. This plant grows on the branches of trees, like the misleto, andnever on the ground; the seeds are furnished with many long threads ontheir crowns; which, as they are driven forwards by the winds, wrap roundthe arms of trees, and thus hold them fast till they vegetate. This itvery analogous to the migration of Spiders on the gossamer, who are saidto attach themselves to the end of a long thread, and rise thus to thetops of trees or buildings, as the accidental breezes carry them. ] "Breathe soft, ye Zephyrs! hear my fervent sighs, Bear on broad wings your Votress to the skies!"-- --Plume over plume in long divergent lines20 On whale-bone ribs the fair Mechanic joins; Inlays with eider down the silken strings, And weaves in wide expanse Dædalian wings; Round her bold sons the waving pennons binds, And walks with angel-step upon the winds. 25 So on the shoreless air the intrepid Gaul Launch'd the vast concave of his buoyant ball. -- Journeying on high, the silken castle glides Bright as a meteor through the azure tides; O'er towns and towers and temples wins its way, 30 Or mounts sublime, and gilds the vault of day. Silent with upturn'd eyes unbreathing crowds Pursue the floating wonder to the clouds; And, flush'd with transport or benumb'd with fear, Watch, as it rises, the diminish'd sphere. 35 --Now less and less!--and now a speck is seen!-- And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between!-- With bended knees, raised arms, and suppliant brow To every shrine with mingled cries they vow. -- "Save Him, ye Saints! who o'er the good preside;40 "Bear Him, ye Winds! ye Stars benignant! guide. " --The calm Philosopher in ether fails, Views broader stars, and breathes in purer gales; Sees, like a map, in many a waving line Round Earth's blue plains her lucid waters mine;45 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-reflected light; High o'er the pearly Star, whose beamy horn. 50 Hangs in the east, gay harbinger of morn; Leave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing; Jove's silver guards, and Saturn's dusky ring; Leave the fair beams, which, issuing from afar; Play with new lustres round the Georgian star;55 Shun with strong oars the Sun's attractive throne, The sparkling zodiack, and the milky zone; Where headlong Comets with increasing force Through other systems bend their blazing course. -- For thee Cassiope her chair withdraws, 60 For thee the Bear retracts his shaggy paws; High o'er the North thy golden orb shall roll, And blaze eternal round the wondering pole. So Argo, rising from the southern main, Lights with new stars the blue etherial plain;65 With favoring beams the mariner protects, And the bold course, which first it steer'd, directs. Inventress of the Woof, fair LINA flings The flying shuttle through the dancing strings; [_For thee the Bear. _ l. 60. Tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens Scorpius. Virg. Georg. L. 1. 34. A new star appeared in Cassiope's chair in 1572. Herschel's Construction of the Heavens. Phil. Trans. V. 75. P. 266. ] [_Linum. _ l. 67. Flax Five males and five females. It was first found onthe banks of the Nile. The Linum Lusitanicum, or portigal flax, has tenmales: see the note on Curcuma. Isis was said to invent spinning andweaving: mankind before that time were clothed with the skins of animals. The fable of Arachne was to compliment this new art of spinning andweaving, supposed to surpass in fineness the web of the Spider. ] Inlays the broider'd weft with flowery dyes, 70 Quick beat the reeds, the pedals fall and rise; Slow from the beam the lengths of warp unwind, And dance and nod the massy weights behind. -- Taught by her labours, from the fertile soil Immortal Isis clothed the banks of Nile;75 And fair ARACHNE with her rival loom Found undeserved a melancholy doom. -- _Five_ Sister-nymphs with dewy fingers twine The beamy flax, and stretch the fibre-line; Quick eddying threads from rapid spindles reel, 80 Or whirl with beaten foot the dizzy wheel. --Charm'd round the busy Fair _five_ shepherds press, Praise the nice texture of their snowy dress, Admire the Artists, and the art approve, And tell with honey'd words the tale of love. 85 So now, where Derwent rolls his dusky floods Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods, The Nymph, GOSSYPIA, treads the velvet sod, And warms with rosy smiles the watery God; His ponderous oars to slender spindles turns, 90 And pours o'er massy wheels his foamy urns; With playful charms her hoary lover wins, And wields his trident, --while the Monarch spins. --First with nice eye emerging Naiads cull From leathery pods the vegetable wool; [_Gossypia_. L. 87. Gossypium. The cotton plant. On the river Derwent nearMatlock in Derbyshire, Sir RICHARD ARKWRIGHT has created his curiousand magnificent machinery for spinning cotton; which had been in vainattempted by many ingenious artists before him. The cotton-wool is firstpicked from the pods and seeds by women. It is then carded by _cylindricalcards_, which move against each other, with different velocities. It istaken from these by an _iron-hand_ or comb, which has a motion similar tothat of scratching, and takes the wool off the cards longitudinally inrespect to the fibres or staple, producing a continued line looselycohering, called the _Rove_ or _Roving_. This Rove, yet very looselytwisted, is then received or drawn into a _whirling canister_, and isrolled by the centrifugal force in spiral lines within it; being yet tootender for the spindle. It is then passed between _two pairs of rollers_;the second pair moving faster than the first elongate the thread withgreater equality than can be done by the hand; and is then twisted onspoles or bobbins. The great fertility of the Cotton-plant in these fine flexile threads, whilst those from Flax, Hemp, and Nettles, or from the bark of theMulberry-tree, require a previous putrefection of the parenchymatoussubstance, and much mechanical labour, and afterwards bleaching, rendersthis plant of great importance to the world. And since Sir RichardArkwright's ingenious machine has not only greatly abbreviated andsimplefied the labour and art of carding and spinning the Cotton-wool, but performs both these circumstances _better_ than can be done by hand, it is probable, that the clothing of this small seed will become theprincipal clothing of mankind; though animal wool and silk may bepreferable in colder climates, as they are more imperfect conductors ofheat, and are thence a warmer clothing. ] 95 With wiry teeth _revolving cards_ release The tanged knots, and smooth the ravell'd fleece; Next moves the _iron-band_ with fingers fine, Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line; Slow, with soft lips, the _whirling Can_ acquires100 The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires; With quicken'd pace _successive rollers_ move, And these retain, and those extend the _rove_; Then fly the spoles, the rapid axles glow;-- And slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below. 105 PAPYRA, throned upon the banks of Nile, Spread her smooth leaf, and waved her silver style. [_Cyperus. Papyrus. _ l. 105. Three males, one female. The leaf of thisplant was first used for paper, whence the word _paper_; and leaf, or folium, for a fold of a book. Afterwards the bark of a species ofmulberry was used; whence _liber_ signifies a book, and the bark of atree. Before the invention of letters mankind may be said to have beenperpetually in their infancy, as the arts of one age or country generallydied with their inventors. Whence arose the policy, which still continuesin Indostan, of obliging the son to practice the profession of hisfather. After the discovery of letters, the facts of Astronomy andChemistry became recorded in written language, though the antienthieroglyphic characters for the planets and metals continue in use atthis day. The antiquity of the invention of music, of astronomicalobservations, and the manufacture of Gold and Iron, are recorded inScripture. ] --The storied pyramid, the laurel'd bust, The trophy'd arch had crumbled into dust; The sacred symbol, and the epic song, 110 (Unknown the character, forgot the tongue, ) With each unconquer'd chief, or fainted maid, Sunk undistinguish'd in Oblivion's shade. Sad o'er the scatter'd ruins Genius sigh'd, And infant Arts but learn'd to lisp and died. 115 Till to astonish'd realms PAPYRA taught To paint in mystic colours Sound and Thought. With Wisdom's voice to print the page sublime, And mark in adamant the steps of Time. --Three favour'd youths her soft attention share, 120 The fond disciples of the studious Fair, [About twenty letters, ten cyphers, and seven crotches, represent bytheir numerous combinations all our ideas and sensations! the musicalcharacters are probably arrived at their perfection, unless emphasis, andtone, and swell could be expressed, as well as note and time. Charlesthe Twelfth of Sweden had a design to have introduced a numeration bysquares, instead of by decimation, which might have served the purposesof philosophy better than the present mode, which is said to be ofArabic invention. The alphabet is yet in a very imperfect state; perhapsseventeen letters could express all the simple sounds in the Europeanlanguages. In China they have not yet learned to divide their wordsinto syllables, and are thence necessitated to employ many thousandcharacters; it is said above eighty thousand. It is to be wished, inthis ingenious age, that the European nations would accord to reform ouralphabet. ] Hear her sweet voice, the golden process prove; Gaze, as they learn; and, as they listen, love. _The first_ from Alpha to Omega joins The letter'd tribes along the level lines;125 Weighs with nice ear the vowel, liquid, surd, And breaks in syllables the volant word. Then forms _the next_ upon the marshal'd plain In deepening ranks his dexterous cypher-train; And counts, as wheel the decimating bands, 130 The dews of Ægypt, or Arabia's sands, And then _the third_ on four concordant lines Prints the lone crotchet, and the quaver joins; Marks the gay trill, the solemn pause inscribes, And parts with bars the undulating tribes. 135 Pleased round her cane-wove throne, the applauding crowd Clap'd their rude hands, their swarthy foreheads bow'd; With loud acclaim "a present God!" they cry'd, "A present God!" rebellowing shores reply'd-- Then peal'd at intervals with mingled swell140 The echoing harp, shrill clarion, horn, and shell; While Bards ecstatic, bending o'er the lyre, Struck deeper chords, and wing'd the song with fire. Then mark'd Astronomers with keener eyes The Moon's refulgent journey through the skies;145 Watch'd the swift Comets urge their blazing cars, And weigh'd the Sun with his revolving Stars. High raised the Chemists their Hermetic wands, (And changing forms obey'd their waving hands, ) Her treasur'd gold from Earth's deep chambers tore, 150 Or fused and harden'd her chalybeate ore. All with bent knee from fair PAPYRA claim Wove by her hands the wreath of deathless fame. --Exulting Genius crown'd his darling child, The young Arts clasp'd her knees, and Virtue smiled. 155 So now DELANY forms her mimic bowers, Her paper foliage, and her silken flowers; [_So now Delany_. L. 155. Mrs. Delany has finished nine hundred andseventy accurate and elegant representations of different vegetableswith the parts of their flowers, fructification, &c. According with theclassification of Linneus, in what she terms paper-mosaic. She began thiswork at the age of 74, when her sight would no longer serve her to paint, in which she much excelled; between her age of 74 and 82, at which timeher eyes quite failed her, she executed the curious Hortus ficcusabove-mentioned, which I suppose contains a greater number of plantsthan were ever before drawn from the life by any one person. Her methodconsisted in placing the leaves of each plant with the petals, and allthe other parts of the flowers, on coloured paper, and cutting them withscissars accurately to the natural size and form, and then parting themon a dark ground; the effect of which is wonderful, and their accuracyless liable to fallacy than drawings. She is at this time (1788) in her89th year, with all the powers of a fine understanding still unimpaired. I am informed another very ingenious lady, Mrs. North, is constructing asimilar Hortus ficcus, or Paper-garden; which she executes on a ground ofvellum with such elegant taste and scientific accuracy, that it cannotfail to become a work of inestimable value. ] Her virgin train the tender scissars ply, Vein the green leaf, the purple petal dye: Round wiry stems the flaxen tendril bends, 160 Moss creeps below, and waxen fruit impends. Cold Winter views amid his realms of snow DELANY'S vegetable statues blow; Smooths his stern brow, delays his hoary wing, And eyes with wonder all the blooms of spring. 165 The gentle LAPSANA, NYMPHÆA fair, And bright CALENDULA with golden hair, [_Lapsana, Nymphæa alba, Calendula_. L. 165. And many other flowers closeand open their petals at certain hours of the day; and thus constitutewhat Linneus calls the Horologe, or Watch of Flora. He enumerates 46flowers, which possess this kind of sensibility. I shall mention a few ofthem with their respective hours of rising and setting, as Linneus termsthem. He divides them first into _meteoric_ flowers, which less accuratelyobserve the hour of unfolding, but are expanded sooner or later, accordingto the cloudiness, moisture, or pressure of the atmosphere. 2d. _Tropical_flowers open in the morning and close before evening every day; but thehour of the expanding becomes earlier or later, at the length of the dayincreases or decreases. 3dly. _Æquinoctial_ flowers, which open at acertain and exact hour of the day, and for the most part close at anotherdeterminate hour. Hence the Horologe or Watch of Flora is formed from numerous plants, ofwhich the following are those most common in this country. Leontodontaraxacum, Dandelion, opens at 5--6, closes at 8--9. Hieracium pilosella, mouse-ear hawkweed, opens at 8, closes at 2. Sonchus lævis, smoothSow-thistle, at 5 and at 11--12. Lactuca sativa, cultivated Lettice, at7 and jo. Tragopogon luteum, yellow Goatsbeard, at 3--5 and at 9--10. Lapsana, nipplewort, at 5--6 and at 10--1. Nymphæa alba, white waterlily, at 7 and 5. Papaver nudicaule, naked poppy, at 5 and at 7. Hemerecallis fulva, tawny Day-lily, at 5 and at 7--8. Convolvulus, at5--6. Malva, Mallow, at 9--10, and at 1. Arenarea purpurea, purpleSandwort, at 9--10, and at 2--3. Anagallis, pimpernel, at 7--8. Portulacahortensis, garden Purilain, at 9--10, and at 11--12. Dianthus prolifer, proliferous Pink, at 8 and at 1. Cichoreum, Succory, at 4--5. Hypochiaeris, at 6--7, and at 4--5. Crepis at 4--5, and at 10--II. Picris, at 4--5, and at 12. Calendula field, at 9, and at 3. CalendulaAfrican, at 7, and at 3--4. As these observations were probably made in the botanic gardens at Upsal, they must require further attention to suit them to our climate. SeeStillingfleet Calendar of Flora. ] Watch with nice eye the Earth's diurnal way, Marking her solar and sidereal day, Her slow nutation, and her varying clime, 170 And trace with mimic art the march of Time; Round his light foot a magic chain they fling, And count the quick vibrations of his wing. -- First in its brazen cell reluctant roll'd Bends the dark spring in many a steely fold;175 On spiral brass is stretch'd the wiry thong, Tooth urges tooth, and wheel drives wheel along; In diamond-eyes the polish'd axles flow, Smooth slides the hand, the ballance pants below. Round the white circlet in relievo bold180 A Serpent twines his scaly length in gold; And brightly pencil'd on the enamel'd sphere Live the fair trophies of the passing year. --Here _Time's_ huge fingers grasp his giant-mace, And dash proud Superstition from her base, 185 Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, and shed The crumbling fragments round her guilty head. There the gay _Hours_, whom wreaths of roses deck, Lead their young trains amid the cumberous wreck; And, slowly purpling o'er the mighty waste, 190 Plant the fair growths of Science and of Taste. While each light _Moment_, as it dances by With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye, Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kiss, The callow nestlings of domestic Bliss. 195 As yon gay clouds, which canopy the skies, Change their thin forms, and lose their lucid dyes; So the soft bloom of Beauty's vernal charms Fades in our eyes, and withers in our arms. --Bright as the silvery plume, or pearly shell, 200 The snow-white rose, or lily's virgin bell, The fair HELLEBORAS attractive shone, Warm'd every Sage, and every Shepherd won. -- Round the gay sisters press the _enamour'd bands_, And seek with soft solicitude their hands. 205 --Ere while how chang'd!--in dim suffusion lies The glance divine, that lighten'd in their eyes; [_Helleborus_. I. 201. Many males, many females. The Helleborus niger, or Christmas rose, has a large beautiful white flower, adorned with acircle of tubular two-lipp'd nectarics. After impregnation the flowerundergoes a remarkable change, the nectaries drop off, but the whitecorol remains, and gradually becomes quite green. This curiousmetamorphose of the corol, when the nectaries fall off, seems to shewthat the white juices of the corol were before carried to the nectaries, for the purpose of producing honey: because when these nectaries falloff, no more of the white juice is secreted in the corol, but it becomesgreen, and degenerates into a calyx. See note on Lonicera. The nectary ofthe Tropaeolum, garden nasturtion, is a coloured horn growing from thecalyx. ] Cold are those lips, where smiles seductive hung, And the weak accents linger on their tongue; Each roseat feature fades to livid green, --210 --Disgust with face averted shuts the scene. So from his gorgeous throne, which awed the world, The mighty Monarch of the east was hurl'd, To dwell with brutes beneath the midnight storm, By Heaven's just vengeance changed in mind and form. 215 --Prone to the earth He bends his brow superb, Crops the young floret and the bladed herb; Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy side Of slow Euphrates laps the muddy tide. Long eagle-plumes his arching neck invest, 220 Steal round his arms, and clasp his sharpen'd breast; Dark brinded hairs in bristling ranks, behind, Rise o'er his back, and rustle in the wind, Clothe his lank sides, his shrivel'd limbs surround, And human hands with talons print the ground. 225 Silent in shining troops the Courtier-throng Pursue their monarch as he crawls along; E'en Beauty pleads in vain with smiles and tears, Nor Flattery's self can pierce his pendant ears. _Two_ Sister-Nymphs to Ganges' flowery brink230 Bend their light steps, the lucid water drink, Wind through the dewy rice, and nodding canes, (As _eight_ black Eunuchs guard the sacred plains), With playful malice watch the scaly brood, And shower the inebriate berries on the flood. --235 Stay in your crystal chambers, silver tribes! Turn your bright eyes, and shun the dangerous bribes; The tramel'd net with less destruction sweeps Your curling shallows, and your azure deeps; With less deceit, the gilded fly beneath, 240 Lurks the fell hook unseen, --to taste is death!-- --Dim your slow eyes, and dull your pearly coat, Drunk on the waves your languid forms shall float, [_Two Sister-Nymphs. _ l. 229. Menispernum. Cocculus. Indian berry. Twohouses, twelve males. In the female flower there are two styles and eightfilaments without anthers on their summits; which are called by Linneuseunuchs. See the note on Curcuma. The berry intoxicates fish. SaintAnthony of Padua, when the people refused to hear him, preached to thefish, and converted them. Addison's travels in Italy. ] On useless fins in giddy circles play, And Herons and Otters seize you for their prey. -- 245 So, when the Saint from Padua's graceless land In silent anguish sought the barren strand, High on the shatter'd beech sublime He stood, Still'd with his waving arm the babbling flood; "To Man's dull ear, " He cry'd, "I call in vain, "Hear me, ye scaly tenants of the main!"--250 Misshapen Seals approach in circling flocks, In dusky mail the Tortoise climbs the rocks, Torpedoes, Sharks, Rays, Porpus, Dolphins, pour Their twinkling squadrons round the glittering shore;255 With tangled fins, behind, huge Phocæ glide, And Whales and Grampi swell the distant tide. Then kneel'd the hoary Seer, to heaven address'd His fiery eyes, and smote his sounding breast; "Bless ye the Lord!" with thundering voice he cry'd, 260 "Bless ye the Lord!" the bending shores reply'd; The winds and waters caught the sacred word, And mingling echoes shouted "Bless the Lord!" The listening shoals the quick contagion feel, Pant on the floods, inebriate with their zeal, 265 Ope their wide jaws, and bow their slimy heads, And dash with frantic fins their foamy beds. Sopha'd on silk, amid her charm-built towers, Her meads of asphodel, and amaranth bowers, Where Sleep and Silence guard the soft abodes, 270 In sullen apathy PAPAVER nods. Faint o'er her couch in scintillating streams Pass the thin forms of Fancy and of Dreams; Froze by inchantment on the velvet ground Fair youths and beauteous ladies glitter round; [_Papaver_. L. 270. Poppy. Many males, many females. The plants of thisclass are almost all of them poisonous; the finest opium is procured bywounding the heads of large poppies with a three-edged knife, andtying muscle-shells to them to catch the drops. In small quantities itexhilarates the mind, raises the passions, and invigorates the body: inlarge ones it is succeeded by intoxication, languor, stupor and death. It is customary in India for a messenger to travel above a hundred mileswithout rest or food, except an appropriated bit of opium for himself, and a larger one for his horse at certain stages. The emaciated anddecrepid appearance, with the ridiculous and idiotic gestures, of theopium-eaters in Constantinople is well described in the Memoirs of Baronde Tott. ] 275 On crystal pedestals they seem to sigh, Bend the meek knee, and lift the imploring eye. --And now the Sorceress bares her shrivel'd hand, And circles thrice in air her ebon wand; Flush'd with new life descending statues talk, 280 The pliant marble softening as they walk; With deeper sobs reviving lovers breathe, Fair bosoms rise, and soft hearts pant beneath; With warmer lips relenting damsels speak, And kindling blushes tinge the Parian cheek;285 To viewless lutes aërial voices sing, And hovering Loves are heard on rustling wing. --She waves her wand again!--fresh horrors seize Their stiffening limbs, their vital currents freeze; By each cold nymph her marble lover lies, 290 And iron slumbers seal their glassy eyes. So with his dread Caduceus HERMES led From the dark regions of the imprison'd dead, Or drove in silent shoals the lingering train To Night's dull shore, and PLUTO'S dreary reign295 So with her waving pencil CREWE commands The realms of Taste, and Fancy's fairy lands; Calls up with magic voice the shapes, that sleep In earth's dark bosom, or unfathom'd deep; That shrined in air on viewless wings aspire, 300 Or blazing bathe in elemental fire. As with nice touch her plaistic hand she moves, Rise the fine forms of Beauties, Graces, Loves; Kneel to the fair Inchantress, smile or sigh, And fade or flourish, as she turns her eye. 305 Fair CISTA, rival of the rosy dawn, Call'd her light choir, and trod the dewy lawn; Hail'd with rude melody the new-born May, As cradled yet in April's lap she lay. [_So with her waving pencil. _ l. 295. Alluding to the many beautifulpaintings by Miss EMMA CREWE; to whom the author is indebted for the veryelegant Frontispiece, where Flora, at play with Cupid, is loading himwith garden-tools. ] [_Cistus labdaniferus. _ l. 304. Many males, one female. The petals of thisbeautiful and fragrant shrub, as well as of the Oenothera, tree primrose, and others, continue expanded but a few hours, falling off about noon, orsoon after, in hot weather. The most beautiful flowers of the Cactusgrandiflorus (see Cerea) are of equally short duration, but have theirexistence in the night. And the flowers of the Hibiscus trionum are saidto continue but a single hour. The courtship between the males and femalesin these flowers might be easily watched; the males are said to approachand recede from the females alternately. The flowers of the Hibiscussinensis, mutable rose, live in the West Indies, their native climate, but one day; but have this remarkable property, they are white at thefirst expansion, then change to deep red, and become purple as theydecay. The gum or resin of this fragrant vegetable is collected from extensiveunderwoods of it in the East by a singular contrivance. Long leathernthongs are tied to poles and cords, and drawn over the tops of theseshrubs about noon; which thus collect the dust of the anthers, whichadheres to the leather, and is occasionally scraped off. Thus in somedegree is the manner imitated, in which the bee collects on his thighsand legs the same material for the construction of his combs. ] I. "Born in yon blaze of orient sky, 310 "Sweet MAY! thy radiant form unfold; "Unclose thy blue voluptuous eye, "And wave thy shadowy locks of gold. II. "For Thee the fragrant zephyrs blow, "For Thee descends the sunny shower;315 "The rills in softer murmurs slow, "And brighter blossoms gem the bower. III. "Light Graces dress'd in flowery wreaths "And tiptoe Joys their hands combine; "And Love his sweet contagion breathes, 320 "And laughing dances round thy shrine. IV. "Warm with new life the glittering throngs "On quivering fin and rustling wing "Delighted join their votive songs, "And hail thee, GODDESS OF THE SPRING. " 325 O'er the green brinks of Severn's oozy bed, In changeful rings, her sprightly troop She led; PAN tripp'd before, where Eudness shades the mead, And blew with glowing lip his sevenfold reed; Emerging Naiads swell'd the jocund strain, 330 And aped with mimic step the dancing train. -- [_Sevenfold reed. _ I. 328. The sevenfold reed, with which Pan isfrequently described, seems to indicate, that he was the inventor of the musical gamut. ] "I faint, I fall!"--_at noon_ the Beauty cried, "Weep o'er my tomb, ye Nymphs!"--and sunk and died. --Thus, when white Winter o'er the shivering clime Drives the still snow, or showers the silver rime;335 As the lone shepherd o'er the dazzling rocks Prints his steep step, and guides his vagrant flocks; Views the green holly veil'd in network nice, Her vermil clusters twinkling in the ice; Admires the lucid vales, and slumbering floods, 340 Fantastic cataracts, and crystal woods, Transparent towns, with seas of milk between, And eyes with transport the refulgent scene:-- If breaks the sunshine o'er the spangled trees, Or flits on tepid wing the western breeze, 345 In liquid dews descends the transient glare, And all the glittering pageant melts in air. Where Andes hides his cloud-wreath'd crest in snow, And roots his base on burning sands below; Cinchona, fairest of Peruvian maids350 To Health's bright Goddess in the breezy glades On Quito's temperate plain an altar rear'd, Trill'd the loud hymn, the solemn prayer preferr'd: Each balmy bud she cull'd, and honey'd flower, And hung with fragrant wreaths the sacred bower;355 Each pearly sea she search'd, and sparkling mine, And piled their treasures on the gorgeous shrine; Her suppliant voice for sickening Loxa raised, Sweet breath'd the gale, and bright the censor blazed. --"Divine HYGEIA! on thy votaries bend360 Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend! While streaming o'er the night with baleful glare The star of Autumn rays his misty hair; Fierce from his fens the Giant AGUE springs, And wrapp'd in fogs descends on vampire wings; [_Cinchona_. L. 349. Peruvian bark-tree. Five males, and onefemale. Several of these trees were felled for other purposes into alake, when an epidemic fever of a very mortal kind prevailed at Loxa inPeru, and the woodmen, accidentally drinking the water, were cured; andthus were discovered the virtues of this famous drug. ] 365 "Before, with shuddering limbs cold Tremor reels, And Fever's burning nostril dogs his heels; Loud claps the grinning Fiend his iron hands, Stamps with his marble feet, and shouts along the lands; Withers the damask cheek, unnerves the strong, 370 And drives with scorpion-lash the shrieking throng. Oh, Goddess! on thy kneeling votaries bend Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend!" --HYGEIA, leaning from the blest abodes, The crystal mansions of the immortal gods, 375 Saw the sad Nymph uplift her dewy eyes, Spread her white arms, and breathe her fervid sighs; Call'd to her fair associates, Youth, and Joy, And shot all-radiant through the glittering sky; Loose waved behind her golden train of hair, 380 Her sapphire mantle swam diffus'd in air. -- O'er the grey matted moss, and pansied sod, With step sublime the glowing Goddess trod, Gilt with her beamy eye the conscious shade, And with her smile celestial bless'd the maid. 385 "Come to my arms, " with seraph voice she cries, "Thy vows are heard, benignant Nymph! arise; Where yon aspiring trunks fantastic wreath Their mingled roots, and drink the rill beneath, Yield to the biting axe thy sacred wood, 390 And strew the bitter foliage on the flood. " In silent homage bow'd the blushing maid, -- _Five_ youths athletic hasten to her aid, O'er the scar'd hills re-echoing strokes resound, And headlong forests thunder on the ground. 395 Round the dark roots, rent bark, and shatter'd boughs, From ocherous beds the swelling fountain flows; With streams austere its winding margin laves, And pours from vale to vale its dusky waves. --As the pale squadrons, bending o'er the brink, 400 View with a sigh their alter'd forms, and drink; Slow-ebbing life with refluent crimson breaks O'er their wan lips, and paints their haggard cheeks; Through each fine nerve rekindling transports dart, Light the quick eye, and swell the exulting heart. 405 --Thus ISRAEL's heaven-taught chief o'er trackless lands Led to the sultry rock his murmuring bands. Bright o'er his brows the forky radiance blazed, And high in air the rod divine He raised. -- Wide yawns the cliff!--amid the thirsty throng410 Rush the redundant waves, and shine along; With gourds and shells and helmets press the bands, Ope their parch'd lips, and spread their eager hands, Snatch their pale infants to the exuberant shower, Kneel on the shatter'd rock, and bless the Almighty Power. 415 Bolster'd with down, amid a thousand wants, Pale Dropsy rears his bloated form, and pants; "Quench me, ye cool pellucid rills!" he cries, Wets his parch'd tongue, and rolls his hollow eyes. So bends tormented TANTALUS to drink, 420 While from his lips the refluent waters shrink; Again the rising stream his bosom laves, And Thirst consumes him 'mid circumfluent waves. --Divine HYGEIA, from the bending sky Descending, listens to his piercing cry;425 Assumes bright DIGITALIS' dress and air, Her ruby cheek, white neck, and raven hair; _Four_ youths protect her from the circling throng, And like the Nymph the Goddess steps along. -- --O'er Him She waves her serpent-wreathed wand, 430 Cheers with her voice, and raises with her hand, Warms with rekindling bloom his visage wan, And charms the shapeless monster into man. [_Digitalis_. L. 425. Of the class Two Powers. Four males, one female, Foxglove. The effect of this plant in that kind of Dropsy, which istermed anasarca, where the legs and thighs are much swelled, attendedwith great difficulty of breathing, is truly astonishing. In the ascitesaccompanied with anasarca of people past the meridian of life it willalso sometimes succeed. The method of administering it requires somecaution, as it is liable, in greater doses, to induce very violent anddebilitating sickness, which continues one or two days, during which timethe dropsical collection however disappears. One large spoonful, or halfan ounce, of the following decoction, given twice a day, will generallysucceed in a few days. But in more robust people, one large spoonfulevery two hours, till four spoonfuls are taken, or till sickness occurs, will evacuate the dropsical swellings with greater certainty, but isliable to operate more violently. Boil four ounces of the fresh leaves ofpurple Foxglove (which leaves may be had at all seasons of the year) fromtwo pints of water to twelve ounces; add to the strained liquor, whileyet warm, three ounces of rectified spirit of wine. A theory of theeffects of this medicine, with many successful cases, may be seen in apamphlet, called, "Experiments on Mucilaginous and Purulent Matter, "published by Dr. Darwin in 1780. Sold by Cadell, London. ] So when Contagion with mephitic breath And withered Famine urged the work of death;435 Marseilles' good Bishop, London's generous Mayor, With food and faith, with medicine and with prayer, Raised the weak head and stayed the parting sigh, Or with new life relumed the swimming eye. --440 --And now, PHILANTHROPY! thy rays divine Dart round the globe from Zembla to the Line; O'er each dark prison plays the cheering light, Like northern lustres o'er the vault of night. -- [_Marseillle's good Bishop_. L. 435. In the year 1720 and 1722 thePlague made dreadful havock at Marseilles; at which time the Bishopwas indefatigable in the execution of his pastoral office, visiting, relieving, encouraging, and absolving the sick with extream tenderness;and though perpetually exposed to the infection, like Sir John Lawrencementioned below, they both are said to have escaped the disease. ] [_London's generous Mayor_, l. 435. During the great Plague at London inthe year 1665, Sir John Lawrence, the then Lord Mayor, continued thewhole time in the city; heard complaints, and redressed them; enforcedthe wisest regulations then known, and saw them executed. The day afterthe disease was known with certainty to be the Plague, above 40, 000servants were dismissed, and turned into the streets to perish, for noone would receive them into their houses; and the villages near Londondrove them away with pitch-forks and fire-arms. Sir John Lawrencesupported them all, as well as the needy who were sick, at first byexpending his own fortune, till subscriptions could be solicited andreceived from all parts of the nation. _Journal of the Plague-year, Printed for E. Nutt, &c. At the R. Exchange_. 1722. ] From realm to realm, with cross or crescent crown'd, Where'er Mankind and Misery are found, 445 O'er burning sands, deep waves, or wilds of snow, Thy HOWARD journeying seeks the house of woe. Down many a winding step to dungeons dank, Where anguish wails aloud, and fetters clank; To caves bestrew'd with many a mouldering bone, 450 And cells, whose echoes only learn to groan; Where no kind bars a whispering friend disclose, No sunbeam enters, and no zephyr blows, HE treads, inemulous of fame or wealth, Profuse of toil, and prodigal of health;455 With soft assuasive eloquence expands Power's rigid heart, and opes his clenching hands; Leads stern-ey'd Justice to the dark domains, If not to fever, to relax the chains; Or guides awaken'd Mercy through the gloom, 460 And shews the prison, sister to the tomb!-- Gives to her babes the self-devoted wife, To her fond husband liberty and life!-- --The Spirits of the Good, who bend from high Wide o'er these earthly scenes their partial eye, 465 When first, array'd in VIRTUE'S purest robe, They saw her HOWARD traversing the globe; Saw round his brows her sun-like Glory blaze In arrowy circles of unwearied rays; Mistook a Mortal for an Angel-Guest, 470 And ask'd what Seraph-foot the earth imprest. --Onward he moves!--Disease and Death retire, And murmuring Demons hate him, and admire. " Here paused the Goddess, --on HYGEIA'S shrine Obsequious Gnomes repose the lyre divine;475 Descending Sylphs relax the trembling strings, And catch the rain-drops on their shadowy wings. --And now her vase a modest Naiad fills With liquid crystal from her pebbly rills; Piles the dry cedar round her silver urn, 480 (Bright climbs the blaze, the crackling faggots burn), Culls the green herb of China's envy'd bowers, In gaudy cups the steamy treasure pours; And, sweetly-smiling, on her bended knee Presents the fragrant quintessence of Tea. INTERLUDE II. _Bookseller. _ The monsters of your Botanic Garden are as surprising asthe bulls with brazen feet, and the fire-breathing dragons, which guardedthe Hesperian fruit; yet are they not disgusting, nor mischievous: andin the manner you have chained them together in your exhibition, theysucceed each other amusingly enough, like prints of the London Cries, wrapped upon rollers, with a glass before them. In this at least theyresemble the monsters in Ovid's Metamorphoses; but your similies, Isuppose, are Homeric? _Poet. _ The great Bard well understood how to make use of this kind ofornament in Epic Poetry. He brings his valiant heroes into the field withmuch parade, and sets them a fighting with great fury; and then, after afew thrusts and parries, he introduces a long string of similies. Duringthis the battle is supposed to continue; and thus the time necessary forthe action is gained in our imaginations; and a degree of probabilityproduced, which contributes to the temporary deception or reverie of thereader. But the similies of Homer have another agreeable characteristic; theydo not quadrate, or go upon all fours (as it is called), like the moreformal similies of some modern writers; any one resembling feature seemsto be with him a sufficient excuse for the introduction of this kind ofdigression; he then proceeds to deliver some agreeable poetry on this newsubject, and thus converts every simile into a kind of short episode. _B. _ Then a simile should not very accurately resemble the subject? _P. _ No; it would then become a philosophical analogy, it would beratiocination instead of poetry: it need only so far resemble thesubject, as poetry itself ought to resemble nature. It should have somuch sublimity, beauty, or novelty, as to interest the reader; and shouldbe expressed in picturesque language, so as to bring the scenery beforehis eye; and should lastly bear so much veri-similitude as not to awakenhim by the violence of improbability or incongruity. _B. _ May not the reverie of the reader be dissipated or disturbed bydisagreeable images being presented to his imagination, as well as byimprobable or incongruous ones? _P_. Certainly; he will endeavour torouse himself from a disagreeable reverie, as from the night-mare. Andfrom this may be discovered the line of boundary between the Tragic andthe Horrid: which line, however, will veer a little this way or that, according to the prevailing manners of the age or country, and thepeculiar associations of ideas, or idiosyncracy of mind, of individuals. For instance, if an artist should represent the death of an officer inbattle, by shewing a little blood on the bosom of his shirt, as if abullet had there penetrated, the dying figure would affect the beholderwith pity; and if fortitude was at the same time expressed in hiscountenance, admiration would be added to our pity. On the contrary, ifthe artist should chuse to represent his thigh as shot away by a cannonball, and should exhibit the bleeding flesh and shattered bone of thestump, the picture would introduce into our minds ideas from a butcher'sshop, or a surgeon's operation-room, and we should turn from it withdisgust. So if characters were brought upon the stage with their limbsdisjointed by torturing instruments, and the floor covered with clottedblood and scattered brains, our theatric reverie would be destroyed bydisgust, and we should leave the play-house with detestation. The Painters have been more guilty in this respect than the Poets; thecruelty of Apollo in flaying Marcias alive is a favourite subject withthe antient artists: and the tortures of expiring martyrs have disgracedthe modern ones. It requires little genius to exhibit the muscles inconvulsive action either by the pencil or the chissel, because theinterstices are deep, and the lines strongly defined: but those tendergradations of muscular action, which constitute the graceful attitudes ofthe body, are difficult to conceive or to execute, except by a master ofnice discernment and cultivated taste. _B. _ By what definition would youdistinguish the Horrid from the Tragic? _P. _ I suppose the latter consists of Distress attended with Pity, whichis said to be allied to Love, the most agreeable of all our passions;and the former in Distress, accompanied with Disgust, which is allied toHate, and is one of our most disagreeable sensations. Hence, when horridscenes of cruelty are represented in pictures, we wish to disbelievetheir existence, and voluntarily exert ourselves to escape from thedeception: whereas the bitter cup of true Tragedy is mingled with somesweet consolatory drops, which endear our tears, and we continue tocontemplate the interesting delusion with a delight which it is not easyto explain. _B. _ Has not this been explained by Lucretius, where he describes ashipwreck; and says, the Spectators receive pleasure from feelingthemselves safe on land? and by Akenside, in his beautiful poem on thePleasures of Imagination, who ascribes it to our finding objects for thedue exertion of our passions? _P_. We must not confound our sensations at the contemplation of realmisery with those which we experience at the scenical representations oftragedy. The spectators of a shipwreck may be attracted by the dignityand novelty of the object; and from these may be said to receivepleasure; but not from the distress of the sufferers. An ingeniouswriter, who has criticised this dialogue in the English Review forAugust, 1789, adds, that one great source of our pleasure from scenicaldistress arises from our, at the same time, generally contemplating oneof the noblest objects of nature, that of Virtue triumphant overevery difficulty and oppression, or supporting its votary under everysuffering: or, where this does not occur, that our minds are relievedby the justice of some signal punishment awaiting the delinquent. But, besides this, at the exhibition of a good tragedy, we are not only amusedby the dignity, and novelty, and beauty, of the objects before us; but, if any distressful circumstances occur too forcible for our sensibility, we can voluntarily exert ourselves, and recollect, that the scenery isnot real: and thus not only the pain, which we had received from theapparent distress, is lessened, but a new source of pleasure is openedto us, similar to that which we frequently have felt on awaking from adistressful dream; we are glad that it is not true. We are at the sametime unwilling to relinquish the pleasure which we receive from the otherinteresting circumstances of the drama; and on that account quicklypermit ourselves to relapse into the delusion; and thus alternatelybelieve and disbelieve, almost every moment, the existence of the objectsrepresented before us. _B_. Have those two sovereigns of poetic land, HOMER and SHAKESPEAR, kepttheir works entirely free from the Horrid?--or even yourself in yourthird Canto? _P_. The descriptions of the mangled carcasses of the companions ofUlysses, in the cave of Polypheme, is in this respect certainlyobjectionable, as is well observed by Scaliger. And in the play of TitusAndronicus, if that was written by Shakespear (which from its internalevidence I think very improbable), there are many horrid and disgustfulcircumstances. The following Canto is submitted to the candour of thecritical reader, to whose opinion I shall submit in silence. THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS. CANTO III. And now the Goddess founds her silver shell, And shakes with deeper tones the inchanted dell; Pale, round her grassy throne, bedew'd with tears, Flit the thin forms of Sorrows, and of Fears;5 Soft Sighs responsive whisper to the chords, And Indignations half-unsheath their swords. "Thrice round the grave CIRCÆA prints her tread, And chaunts the numbers, which disturb the dead; Shakes o'er the holy earth her sable plume, 10 Waves her dread wand, and strikes the echoing tomb! --Pale shoot the stars across the troubled night, The timorous moon withholds her conscious light; Shrill scream the famish'd bats, and shivering owls, And loud and long the dog of midnight howls!-- [_Circæa_. L. 7. Enchanter's Nightshade. Two males, one female. It wasmuch celebrated in the mysteries of witchcraft, and for the purpose ofraising the devil, as its name imports. It grows amid the moulderingbones and decayed coffins in the ruinous vaults of Sleaford-church inLincolnshire. The superstitious ceremonies or histories belonging to somevegetables have been truly ridiculous; thus the Druids are said to havecropped the Misletoe with a golden axe or sickle; and the Bryony, orMandrake, was said to utter a scream when its root was drawn from theground; and that the animal which drew it up became diseased and soondied: on which account, when it was wanted for the purposes of medicine, it was usual to loosen and remove the earth about the root, and then totie it by means of a cord to a dog's tail, who was whipped to pull it up, and was then supposed to suffer for the impiety of the action. And evenat this day bits of dried root of Peony are rubbed smooth, and strung, and sold under the name of Anodyne necklaces, and tied round the necks ofchildren, to facilitate the growth of their teeth! add to this, that inPrice's History of Cornwall, a book published about ten years ago, theVirga Divinatoria, or Divining Rod, has a degree of credit given to it. This rod is of hazle, or other light wood, and held horizontally in thehand, and is said to bow towards the ore whenever the Conjurer walks overa mine. A very few years ago, in France, and even in England, anotherkind of divining rod has been used to discover springs of water in asimilar manner, and gained some credit. And in the very last year, therewere many in France, and some in England, who underwent an enchantmentwithout any divining rod at all, and believed themselves to be affectedby an invisible agent, which the Enchanter called Animal Magnetism!] --Then yawns the bursting ground!--_two_ imps obscene Rise on broad wings, and hail the baleful queen; Each with dire grin salutes the potent wand, And leads the sorceress with his sooty hand; Onward they glide, where sheds the sickly yew20 O'er many a mouldering bone its nightly dew; The ponderous portals of the church unbar, -- Hoarse on their hinge the ponderous portals jar; As through the colour'd glass the moon-beam falls, Huge shapeless spectres quiver on the walls;25 Low murmurs creep along the hollow ground, And to each step the pealing ailes resound; By glimmering lamps, protecting saints among, The shrines all tremble as they pass along, O'er the still choir with hideous laugh they move, 30 (Fiends yell below, and angels weep above!) Their impious march to God's high altar bend, With feet impure the sacred steps ascend; With wine unbless'd the holy chalice stain, Assume the mitre, and the cope profane;35 To heaven their eyes in mock devotion throw, And to the cross with horrid mummery bow; Adjure by mimic rites the powers above, And plite alternate their Satanic love. Avaunt, ye Vulgar! from her sacred groves40 With maniac step the Pythian LAURA moves; Full of the God her labouring bosom sighs, Foam on her lips, and fury in her eyes, Strong writhe her limbs, her wild dishevell'd hair Starts from her laurel-wreath, and swims in air. --45 While _twenty_ Priests the gorgeous shrine surround Cinctur'd with ephods, and with garlands crown'd, [_Laura_. L. 40. Prunus. Lauro-cerasus. Twenty males, one female. ThePythian priestess is supposed to have been made drunk with infusionof laurel-leaves when she delivered her oracles. The intoxication orinspiration is finely described by Virgil. Æn. L. Vi. The distilledwater from laurel-leaves is, perhaps, the most sudden poison we areacquainted with in this country. I have seen about two spoonfuls of itdestroy a large pointer dog in less than ten minutes. In a smaller doseit is said to produce intoxication: on this account there is reason tobelieve it acts in the same manner as opium and vinous spirit; but thatthe dose is not so well ascertained. See note on Tremella. It is usedin the Ratafie of the distillers, by which some dram-drinkers have beensuddenly killed. One pint of water, distilled from fourteen pounds ofblack cherry stones bruised, has the same deleterious effect, destroying as suddenly as laurel-water. It is probable Apricot-kernels, Peach-leaves, Walnut-leaves, and whatever possesses the kernel-flavour, may have similar qualities. ] Contending hosts and trembling nations wait The firm immutable behests of Fate; --She speaks in thunder from her golden throne50 With words _unwill'd_, and wisdom not her own. So on his NIGHTMARE through the evening fog Flits the squab Fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog; Seeks some love-wilder'd Maid with sleep oppress'd, Alights, and grinning fits upon her breast. 55 --Such as of late amid the murky sky Was mark'd by FUSELI'S poetic eye; Whose daring tints, with SHAKESPEAR'S happiest grace, Gave to the airy phantom form and place. -- Back o'er her pillow sinks her blushing head, 60 Her snow-white limbs hang helpless from the bed; While with quick sighs, and suffocative breath, Her interrupted heart-pulse swims in death. --Then shrieks of captured towns, and widows' tears, Pale lovers stretch'd upon their blood-stain'd biers, 65 The headlong precipice that thwarts her flight, The trackless desert, the cold starless night, And stern-eye'd Murder with his knife behind, In dread succession agonize her mind. O'er her fair limbs convulsive tremors fleet, 70 Start in her hands, and struggle in her feet; In vain to scream with quivering lips she tries, And strains in palsy'd lids her tremulous eyes; In vain she _wills_ to run, fly, swim, walk, creep; The WILL presides not in the bower of SLEEP. 75 --On her fair bosom sits the Demon-Ape Erect, and balances his bloated shape; [_The Will presides not. _ 1. 74. Sleep consists in the abolition of allvoluntary power, both over our muscular motions and our ideas; for weneither walk nor reason in sleep. But, at the same time, many of ourmuscular motions, and many of our ideas, continue to be excited intoaction in consequence of internal irritations and of internal sensations;for the heart and arteries continue to beat, and we experience varietyof passions, and even hunger and thirst in our dreams. Hence I conclude, that our nerves of sense are not torpid or inert during sleep; but thatthey are only precluded from the perception of external objects, by theirexternal organs being rendered unfit to transmit to them the appulses ofexternal bodies, during the suspension of the power of volition; thus theeye-lids are closed in sleep, and I suppose the tympanum of the car isnot stretched, because they are deprived of the voluntary exertions ofthe muscles appropriated to these purposes; and it is probable somethingsimilar happens to the external apparatus of our other organs of sense, which may render them unfit for their office of perception during sleep:for milk put into the mouths of sleeping babes occasions them to swallowand suck; and, if the eye-lid is a little opened in the day-light by theexertions of disturbed sleep, the person dreams of being much dazzled. See first Interlude. ] 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, 80 Descending FICA dives into the sands; Chamber'd in earth with cold oblivion lies; Nor heeds, _ye Suitor-train_, your amorous sighs; Erewhile with renovated beauty blooms, Mounts into air, and moves her leafy plumes. 85 --Where HAMPS and MANIFOLD, their cliffs among, Each in his flinty channel winds along; With lucid lines the dusky Moor divides, Hurrying to intermix their sister tides. [When there arises in sleep a painful desire to exert the voluntarymotions, it is called the Nightmare or Incubus. When the sleep becomes soimperfect that some muscular motions obey this exertion of desire, peoplehave walked about, and even performed some domestic offices in sleep;one of these sleep-walkers I have frequently seen: once she smelt of atube-rose, and sung, and drank a dish of tea in this state; her awakingwas always attended with prodigious surprize, and even fear; this diseasehad daily periods, and seemed to be of the epileptic kind. ] [_Ficus indica_. L. 80. Indian Fig-tree. Of the glass Polygamy. This largetree rises with opposite branches on all sides, with long egged leaves;each branch emits a slender flexile depending appendage from its summitlike a cord, which roots into the earth and rises again. Sloan. Hist. OfJamaica. Lin. Spec. Plant. See Capri-ficus. ] Where still their silver-bosom'd Nymphs abhor, 90 The blood-smear'd mansion of gigantic THOR, -- --Erst, fires volcanic in the marble womb Of cloud-wrapp'd WETTON raised the massy dome; Rocks rear'd on rocks in huge disjointed piles Form the tall turrets, and the lengthen'd ailes; [_Gigantic Thor. _ l. 90. Near the village of Wetton, a mile or two aboveDove-Dale, near Ashburn in Dirbyshire, there is a spacious cavern aboutthe middle of the ascent of the mountain, which still retains the Name ofThor's house; below is an extensive and romantic common, where the riversHamps and Manifold sink into the earth, and rise again in Ham gardens, the seat of John Port, Esq. About three miles below. Where these riversrise again there are impressions resembling Fish, which appear to be ofJasper bedded in Limestone. Calcareous Spars, Shells converted into akind of Agate, corallines in Marble, ores of Lead, Copper, and Zinc, andmany strata of Flint, or Chert, and of Toadstone, or Lava, abound in thispart of the country. The Druids are said to have offered human sacrificesinclosed in wicker idols to Thor. Thursday had its name from this Deity. The broken appearance of the surface of many parts of this country; withthe Swallows, as they are called, or basons on some of the mountains, like volcanic Craters, where the rain-water sinks into the earth; and thenumerous large stones, which seem to have been thrown over the land byvolcanic explosions; as well as the great masses of Toadstone or Lava;evince the existence of violent earthquakes at some early period of theworld. At this time the channels of these subterraneous rivers seem tohave been formed, when a long tract of rocks were raised by the seaflowing in upon the central fires, and thus producing an irresistableexplosion of steam; and when these rocks again subsided, their partsdid not exactly correspond, but left a long cavity arched over in thisoperation of nature. The cavities at Castleton and Buxton in Derbyshireseem to have had a similar origin, as well as this cavern termed Thor'shouse. See Mr. Whitehurst's and Dr. Hutton's Theories of the Earth. ] 95 Broad ponderous piers sustain the roof, and wide Branch the vast rain-bow ribs from side to side. While from above descends in milky streams One scanty pencil of illusive beams, Suspended crags and gaping gulphs illumes, 100 And gilds the horrors of the deepen'd glooms. --Here oft the Naiads, as they chanced to play Near the dread Fane on THOR'S returning day, Saw from red altars streams of guiltless blood Stain their green reed-beds, and pollute their flood;105 Heard dying babes in wicker prisons wail, And shrieks of matrons thrill the affrighted Gale; While from dark caves infernal Echoes mock, And Fiends triumphant shout from every rock! ---So still the Nymphs emerging lift in air110 Their snow-white shoulders and their azure hair; Sail with sweet grace the dimpling streams along, Listening the Shepherd's or the Miner's song; But, when afar they view the giant-cave, On timorous fins they circle on the wave, 115 With streaming eyes and throbbing hearts recoil, Plunge their fair forms, and dive beneath the soil. -- Closed round their heads reluctant eddies sink, And wider rings successive dash the brink. -- Three thousand steps in sparry clefts they stray, 120 Or seek through sullen mines their gloomy way; On beds of Lava sleep in coral cells, Or sigh o'er jasper fish, and agate shells. Till, where famed ILAM leads his boiling floods Through flowery meadows and impending woods, 125 Pleased with light spring they leave the dreary night, And 'mid circumfluent surges rise to light; Shake their bright locks, the widening vale pursue, Their sea-green mantles fringed with pearly dew; In playful groups by towering THORP they move, 130 Bound o'er the foaming wears, and rush into the Dove. With fierce distracted eye IMPATIENS stands, Swells her pale cheeks, and brandishes her hands, [_Impatiens. _ l. 131. Touch me not. The seed vessel consists of onecell with five divisions; each of these, when the seed is ripe, on beingtouched, suddenly folds itself into a spiral form, leaps from the stalkand disperses the seeds to a great distance by it's elasticity. Thecapsule of the geranium and the beard of wild oats are twisted for asimilar purpose, and dislodge their seeds on wet days, when theground is best fitted to receive them. Hence one of these, with itsadhering capsule or beard fixed on a stand, serves the purpose ofan hygrometer, twisting itself more or less according to the moistureof the air. The awn of barley is furnished with stiff points, which, like the teethof a saw, are all turned towards the point of it; as this long awn liesupon the ground, it extends itself in the moist air of night, and pushesforwards the barley corn, which it adheres to; in the day it shortens asit dries; and as these points prevent it from receding, it draws up itspointed end; and thus, creeping like a worm, will travel many feet fromthe parent stem. That very ingenious Mechanic Philosopher, Mr. Edgeworth, once made on this principle a wooden automaton; its back consisted ofsoft Fir-wood, about an inch square, and four feet long, made of piecescut the cross-way in respect to the fibres of the wood, and gluedtogether: it had two feet before, and two behind, which supported theback horizontally; but were placed with their extremities, which werearmed with sharp points of iron, bending backwards. Hence, in moistweather, the back lengthened, and the two foremost feet were pushedforwards; in dry weather the hinder feet were drawn after, as theobliquity of the points of the feet prevented it from receding. And thus, in a month or two, it walked across the room which it inhabited. Mightnot this machine be applied as an Hygrometer to some meteorologicalpurpose?] With rage and hate the astonish'd groves alarms, And hurls her infants from her frantic arms. 135 --So when MEDÆA left her native soil Unaw'd by danger, unsubdued by toil; Her weeping sire and beckoning friends withstood, And launch'd enamour'd on the boiling flood; One ruddy boy her gentle lips caress'd, 140 And one fair girl was pillow'd on her breast; While high in air the golden treasure burns, And Love and Glory guide the prow by turns. But, when Thessalia's inauspicious plain Received the matron-heroine from the main;145 While horns of triumph sound, and altars burn, And shouting nations hail their Chief's return: Aghaft, She saw new-deck'd the nuptial bed, And proud CREUSA to the temple led; Saw her in JASON'S mercenary arms150 Deride her virtues, and insult her charms; Saw her dear babes from fame and empire torn, In foreign realms deserted and forlorn; Her love rejected, and her vengeance braved, By Him her beauties won, her virtues saved. --155 With stern regard she eyed the traitor-king, And felt, Ingratitude! thy keenest sting; "Nor Heaven, " She cried, "nor Earth, nor Hell can hold "A Heart abandon'd to the thirst of Gold!" Stamp'd with wild foot, and shook her horrent brow, 160 And call'd the furies from their dens below. --Slow out of earth, before the festive crowds, On wheels of fire, amid a night of clouds, Drawn by fierce fiends arose a magic car, Received the Queen, and hovering flamed in air. --165 As with raised hands the suppliant traitors kneel And fear the vengeance they deserve to feel, Thrice with parch'd lips her guiltless babes she press'd, And thrice she clasp'd them to her tortur'd breast; Awhile with white uplifted eyes she stood, 170 Then plung'd her trembling poniards in their blood. "Go, kiss your sire! go, share the bridal mirth!" She cry'd, and hurl'd their quivering limbs on earth. Rebellowing thunders rock the marble towers, And red-tongued lightnings shoot their arrowy showers;175 Earth yawns!--the crashing ruin sinks!--o'er all Death with black hands extends his mighty Pall; Their mingling gore the Fiends of Vengeance quaff, And Hell receives them with convulsive laugh. Round the vex'd isles where fierce tornados roar, 180 Or tropic breezes sooth the sultry shore; What time the eve her gauze pellucid spreads O'er the dim flowers, and veils the misty meads; Slow, o'er the twilight sands or leafy walks, With gloomy dignity DICTAMNA stalks; [_Dictamnus. _ l. 184. Fraxinella. In the still evenings of dry seasonsthis plant emits an inflammable air or gas, and flashes on the approachof a candle. There are instances of human creatures who have taken firespontaneously, and been totally consumed. Phil. Trans. The odours of many flowers, so delightful to our sense of smell, as wellas the disgreeable scents of others, are owing to the exhalation of theiressential oils. These essential oils have greater or less volatility, andare all inflammable; many of them are poisons to us, as these of Laureland Tobacco; others possess a narcotic quality, as is evinced by the oilof cloves instantly relieving slight tooth-achs; from oil of cinnamonrelieving the hiccup; and balsam of peru relieving the pain of someulcers. They are all deleterious to certain insects, and hence their usein the vegetable economy being produced in flowers or leaves to protectthem from the depredations of their voracious enemies. One of theessential oils, that of turpentine, is recommended, by M. De Thosse, for the purpose of destroying insects which infect both vegetables andanimals. Having observed that the trees were attacked by multitudes ofsmall insects of different colours (pucins ou pucerons), which injuredtheir young branches, he destroyed them all intirely in the followingmanner: he put into a bowl a few handfuls of earth, on which he poured asmall quantity of oil of turpentine; he then beat the whole together witha spatula, pouring on it water till it became of the consistence of soup;with this mixture he moistened the ends of the branches, and both theinsects and their eggs were destroyed, and other insects kept aloof bythe scent of the turpentine. He adds, that he destroyed the fleas ofhis puppies by once bathing them in warm water impregnated with oil ofturpentine. Mem. D'Agriculture, An. 1787, Trimest. Printemp. P. 109. Isprinkled some oil of turpentine, by means of a brush, on some branchesof a nectarine-tree, which was covered with the aphis; but it killed boththe insect and the branches: a solution of arsenic much diluted didthe same. The shops of medicine are supplied with resins, balsams, andessential oils; and the tar and pitch, for mechanical purposes, arcproduced from these vegetable secretions. ] 185 In sulphurous eddies round the weird dame Plays the light gas, or kindles into flame. If rests the traveller his weary head, Grim MANCINELLA haunts the mossy bed, Brews her black hebenon, and, stealing near, 190 Pours the curst venom in his tortured ear. -- Wide o'er the mad'ning throng URTICA flings Her barbed shafts, and darts her poison'd stings. [_Mancinella_, I. 188. Hyppomane. With the milky juice of this tree theIndians poison their arrows; the dew-drops, which fall from it, are socaustic as to blister the skin, and produce dangerous ulcers; whence manyhave found their death by sleeping under its shade. Variety of noxiousplants abound in all countries; in our own the deadly nightshade, henbane, hounds-tongue, and many others, are seen in almost every highroad untouched by animals. Some have asked, what is the use of suchabundance of poisons? The nauseous or pungent juices of some vegetables, like the thorns of others, are given them for their defence from thedepredations of animals; hence the thorny plants are in general wholesomeand agreeable food to graminivorous animals. See note on Ilex. Theflowers or petals of plants are perhaps in general more acrid than theirleaves; hence they are much seldomer eaten by insects. This seems to havebeen the use of the essential oil in the vegetable economy, as observedabove in the notes on Dictamnus and on Ilex. The fragrance of plantsis thus a part of their defence. These pungent or nauseous juices ofvegetables have supplied the science of medicine with its principalmaterials, such as purge, vomit, intoxicate, &c. ] [_Urtica_. I. 191. Nettle. The sting has a bag at its base, and aperforation near its point, exactly like the stings of wasps and theteeth of adders; Hook, Microgr. P. 142. Is the fluid contained in thisbag, and pressed through the perforation into the wound, made by thepoint, a caustic essential oil, or a concentrated vegetable acid?The vegetable poisons, like the animal ones, produce more sudden anddangerous effects, when instilled into a wound, than when taken intothe stomach; whence the families of Marfi and Psilli, in antient Rome, sucked the poison without injury out of wounds made by vipers, and were supposed to be indued with supernatural powers for thispurpose. By the experiments related by Beccaria, it appears that fouror five times the quantity, taken by the mouth, had about equal effectswith that infused into a wound. The male flowers of the nettle areseparate from the female, and the anthers are seen in fair weather toburst with force, and to discharge a dust, which hovers about theplant like a cloud. ] And fell LOBELIA'S suffocating breath Loads the dank pinion of the gale with death. --195 With fear and hate they blast the affrighted groves, Yet own with tender care their _kindred Loves!_-- So, where PALMIRA 'mid her wasted plains, Her shatter'd aqueducts, and prostrate sanes, [_Lobelia. I. _ 193. Longiflora. Grows in the West Indies, and spreads suchdeleterious exhalations around it, that an oppression of the breast isfelt on approaching it at many feet distance when placed in the corner ofa room or hot-house. Ingenhouz, Exper. On Air, p. 14. 6. Jacquini hort. Botanic. Vindeb. The exhalations from ripe fruit, or withering leaves, are proved much to injure the air in which they are confined; and, it isprobable, all those vegetables which emit a strong scent may do this ina greater or less degree, from the Rose to the Lobelia; whence theunwholesomeness in living perpetually in such an atmosphere of perfumeas some people wear about their hair, or carry in their handkerchiefs. Either Boerhaave or Dr. Mead have affirmed they were acquainted with apoisonous fluid whose vapour would presently destroy the person who satnear it. And it is well known, that the gas from fermenting liquors, orobtained from lime-stone, will destroy animals immersed in it, as well asthe vapour of the Grotto del Cani near Naples. ] [_So, where Palmira. _ I. 197. Among the ruins of Palmira, which aredispersed not only over the plains but even in the deserts, there is onesingle colonade above 2600 yards long, the bases of the Corinthiancolumns of which exceed the height of a man: and yet this row is only asmall part of the remains of that one edifice! Volney's Travels. ] (As the bright orb of breezy midnight pours200 Long threads of silver through her gaping towers, O'er mouldering tombs, and tottering columns gleams, And frosts her deserts with diffusive beams), Sad o'er the mighty wreck in silence bends, Lifts her wet eyes, her tremulous hands extends. --205 If from lone cliffs a bursting rill expands Its transient course, and sinks into the sands; O'er the moist rock the fell Hyæna prowls, The Leopard hisses, and the Panther growls; On quivering wing the famish'd Vulture screams, 210 Dips his dry beak, and sweeps the gushing streams; With foamy jaws, beneath, and sanguine tongue, Laps the lean Wolf, and pants, and runs along; Stern stalks the Lion, on the rustling brinks Hears the dread Snake, and trembles as he drinks;215 Quick darts the scaly Monster o'er the plain, Fold after fold, his undulating train; And, bending o'er the lake his crested brow, Starts at the Crocodile, that gapes below. Where seas of glass with gay reflections smile220 Round the green coasts of Java's palmy isle; A spacious plain extends its upland scene, Rocks rise on rocks, and fountains gush between; Soft zephyrs blow, eternal summers reign, And showers prolific bless the soil, --in vain!225 --No spicy nutmeg scents the vernal gales, Nor towering plaintain shades the mid-day vales; No grassy mantle hides the sable hills, No flowery chaplet crowns the trickling rills; Nor tufted moss, nor leathery lichen creeps230 In russet tapestry o'er the crumbling steeps. --No step retreating, on the sand impress'd, Invites the visit of a second guest; No refluent fin the unpeopled stream divides, No revolant pinion cleaves the airy tides; 235 Nor handed moles, nor beaked worms return, That mining pass the irremeable bourn. -- Fierce in dread silence on the blasted heath Fell UPAS sits, the HYDRA-TREE of death. Lo! from one root, the envenom'd soil below, 240 A thousand vegetative serpents grow; In shining rays the scaly monster spreads O'er ten square leagues his far-diverging heads; Or in one trunk entwists his tangled form, Looks o'er the clouds, and hisses in the storm. [_Upas_. L. 238. There is a poison-tree in the island of Java, which issaid by its effluvia to have depopulated the country for 12 or 14 milesround the place of its growth. It is called, in the Malayan language, Bohon-Upas; with the juice of it the most poisonous arrows are prepared;and, to gain this, the condemned criminals are sent to the tree withproper direction both to get the juice and to secure themselves from themalignant exhalations of the tree; and are pardoned if they bring back acertain quantity of the poison. But by the registers there kept, notone in four are said to return. Not only animals of all kinds, bothquadrupeds, fish, and birds, but all kinds of vegetables also aredestroyed by the effluvia of the noxious tree; so that, in a district of12 or 14 miles round it, the face of the earth is quite barren and rocky, intermixed only with the skeletons of men and animals; affording a sceneof melancholy beyond what poets have described or painters delineated. Two younger trees of its own species are said to grow near it. SeeLondon Magazine for 1784, or 1783. Translated from a description of thepoison-tree of the island of Java, written in Dutch by N. P. Foereh. Fora further account of it, see a note at the end of the work. ] 245 Steep'd in fell poison, as his sharp teeth part, A thousand tongues in quick vibration dart; Snatch the proud Eagle towering o'er the heath, Or pounce the Lion, as he stalks beneath; Or strew, as marshall'd hosts contend in vain, 250 With human skeletons the whiten'd plain. --Chain'd at his root two scion-demons dwell, Breathe the faint hiss, or try the shriller yell; Rise, fluttering in the air on callow wings, And aim at insect-prey their little stings. 255 So Time's strong arms with sweeping scythe erase Art's cumberous works, and empires, from their base; While each young Hour its sickle fine employs, And crops the sweet buds of domestic joys! With blushes bright as morn fair ORCHIS charms, 260 And lulls her infant in her fondling arms; [_Orchis_. L. 259. The Orchis morio in the circumstance of theparent-root shrivelling up and dying, as the young one increases, isnot only analogous to other tuberous or knobby roots, but also to somebulbous roots, as the tulip. The manner of the production of herbaceousplants from their various perennial roots, seems to want furtherinvestigation, as their analogy is not yet clearly established. Thecaudex, or true root, in the orchis lies above the knob; and from thispart the fibrous roots and the new knob are produced. In the tulip thecaudex lies below the bulb; from whence proceed the fibrous roots and thenew bulbs; and I suspect the tulip-root, after it has flowered, dieslike the orchis-root; for the stem of the last year's tulip lies on theoutside, and not in the center of the new bulb; which I am informed doesnot happen in the three or four first years when raised from seed, whenit only produces a stem, and slender leaves without flowering. In thetulip-root, dissected in the early spring, just before it begins toshoot, a perfect flower is seen in its center; and between the first andsecond coat the large next year's bulb is, I believe, produced; betweenthe second and third coat, and between this and the fourth coat, andperhaps further, other less and less bulbs are visible, all adjoiningto the caudex at the bottom of the mother-bulb; and which, I am told, require as many years before they will slower, as the number of the coatswith which they are covered. This annual reproduction of the tulip-rootinduces some florists to believe that tulip-roots never die naturally, asthey lose so few of them; whereas the hyacinth-roots, I am informed, willnot last above five or seven years after they have flowered. The hyacinth-root differs from the tulip-root, as the stem of the lastyear's flower is always found in the center of the root, and the newoff-sets arise from the caudex below the bulb, but not beneath any of theconcentric coats of the root, except the external one: hence Mr. Eaton, an ingenious florist of Derby, to whom I am indebted for most of theobservations in this note, concludes, that the hyacinth-root does notperish annually after it has flowered like the tulip. Mr. Eaton gave me atulip root which had been set too deep in the earth, and the caudex hadelongated itself near an inch, and the new bulb was formed above the oldone, and detached from it, instead of adhering to its side. The caudex of the ranunculus, cultivated by the florists, lies above theclaw-like root; in this the old root or claws die annually, like thetulip and orchis, and the new claws, which are seen above the old ones, draw down the caudex lower into the earth. The same is said to happen toScabiosa, or Devil's bit, and some other plants, as valerian and greaterplantain; the new fibrous roots rising round the caudex above the oldones, the inferior end of the root becomes stumped, as if cut off, afterthe old fibres are decayed, and the caudex is drawn down into the earthby these new roots. See Arum and Tulipa. ] Soft play _Affection_ round her bosom's throne, And guards his life, forgetful of her own. So wings the wounded Deer her headlong flight, Pierced by some ambush'd archer of the night, 265 Shoots to the woodlands with her bounding fawn, And drops of blood bedew the conscious lawn; There hid in shades she shuns the cheerful day, Hangs o'er her young, and weeps her life away. So stood Eliza on the wood-crown'd height, 270 O'er Minden's plain, spectatress of the sight, Sought with bold eye amid the bloody strife Her dearer self, the partner of her life; From hill to hill the rushing host pursued, And view'd his banner, or believed she view'd. 275 Pleased with the distant roar, with quicker tread Fast by his hand one lisping boy she led; And one fair girl amid the loud alarm Slept on her kerchief, cradled by her arm; While round her brows bright beams of Honour dart, 280 And Love's warm eddies circle round her heart --Near and more near the intrepid Beauty press'd, Saw through the driving smoke his dancing crest, Heard the exulting shout, "they run! they run!" "Great GOD!" she cried, "He's safe! the battle's won!"285 --A ball now hisses through the airy tides, (Some Fury wing'd it, and some Demon guides!) Parts the fine locks, her graceful head that deck, Wounds her fair ear, and sinks into her neck; The red stream, issuing from her azure veins, 290 Dyes her white veil, her ivory bosom stains. -- --"Ah me!" she cried, and, sinking on the ground, Kiss'd her dear babes, regardless of the wound; "Oh, cease not yet to beat, thou Vital Urn! "Wait, gushing Life, oh, wait my Love's return!--295 "Hoarse barks the wolf, the vulture screams from far! "The angel, Pity, shuns the walks of war!---- "Oh, spare ye War-hounds, spare their tender age!-- "On me, on me, " she cried, "exhaust your rage!"-- Then with weak arms her weeping babes caress'd, 300 And sighing bid them in her blood-stain'd vest. From tent to tent the impatient warrior flies, Fear in his heart, and frenzy in his eyes; Eliza's name along the camp he calls, Eliza echoes through the canvas walls;305 Quick through the murmuring gloom his footsteps tread, O'er groaning heaps, the dying and the dead, Vault o'er the plain, and in the tangled wood, Lo! dead Eliza weltering in her blood!-- --Soon hears his listening son the welcome sounds, 310 With open arms and sparkling eyes he bounds:-- "Speak low, " he cries, and gives his little hand, "Eliza sleeps upon the dew-cold sand; "Poor weeping Babe with bloody fingers press'd, "And tried with pouting lips her milkless breast;315 "Alas! we both with cold and hunger quake-- "Why do you weep?--Mama will soon awake. " --"She'll wake no more!" the hopeless mourner cried Upturn'd his eyes, and clasp'd his hands, and sigh'd; Stretch'd on the ground awhile entranc'd he lay, 320 And press'd warm kisses on the lifeless clay; And then unsprung with wild convulsive start, And all the Father kindled in his heart; "Oh, Heavens!" he cried, "my first rash vow forgive! "These bind to earth, for these I pray to live!"--325 Round his chill babes he wrapp'd his crimson vest, And clasp'd them sobbing to his aching breast. _Two_ Harlot-Nymphs, the fair CUSCUTAS, please With labour'd negligence, and studied ease; [_Cuscuta. _ l. 327. Dodder. Four males, two females. This parasite plant(the seed splitting without cotyledons), protrudes a spiral body, and notendeavouring to root itself in the earth ascends the vegetables in itsvicinity, spirally W. S. E. Or contrary to the movement of the sun;and absorbs its nourishment by vessels apparently inserted into itssupporters. It bears no leaves, except here and there a scale, verysmall, membranous, and close under the branch. Lin. Spec. Plant. Edit. AReichard. Vol. I. P. 352. The Rev. T. Martyn, in his elegant letters onbotany, adds, that, not content with support, where it lays hold, thereit draws its nourishment; and at length, in gratitude for all this, strangles its entertainer. Let. Xv. A contest for air and light obtainsthroughout the whole vegetable world; shrubs rise above herbs; and, byprecluding the air and light from them, injure or destroy them; treessuffocate or incommode shrubs; the parasite climbing plants, as Ivy, Clematis, incommode the taller trees; and other parasites, which existwithout having roots on the ground, as Misletoe, Tillandsia, Epidendrum, and the mosses and funguses, incommode them all. Some of the plants with voluble stems ascend other plants spirallyeast-south-west, as Humulus, Hop, Lonicera, Honey-suckle, Tamus, black Bryony, Helxine. Others turn their spiral stems west-south-east, asConvolvulus, Corn-bind, Phaseolus, Kidney-bean, Basella, Cynanche, Euphorbia, Eupatorium. The proximate or final causes of this differencehave not been investigated. Other plants are furnished with tendrils forthe purpose of climbing: if the tendril meets with nothing to lay hold ofin its first revolution, it makes another revolution; and so on till itwraps itself quite up like a cork-screw; hence, to a careless observer, it appears to move gradually backwards and forwards, being seen sometimespointing eastward and sometimes westward. One of the Indian grasses, Panicum arborescens, whose stem is no thicker than a goose-quill, risesas high as the tallest trees in this contest for light and air. Spec. Plant a Reichard, Vol. I. P. 161. The tops of many climbing plants aretender from their quick growth; and, when deprived of their acrimony byboiling, are an agreeable article of food. The Hop-tops are in commonuse. I have eaten the tops of white Bryony, Bryonia alba, and found themnearly as grateful as Asparagus, and think this plant might be profitablycultivated as an early garden-vegetable. The Tamus (called black Bryony), was less agreeable to the taste when boiled. See Galanthus. ] In the meek garb of modest worth disguised, 330 The eye averted, and the smile chastised, With sly approach they spread their dangerous charms, And round their victim wind their wiry arms. So by Scamander when LAOCOON stood, Where Troy's proud turrets glitter'd in the flood, 335 Raised high his arm, and with prophetic call To shrinking realms announced her fatal fall; Whirl'd his fierce spear with more than mortal force, And pierced the thick ribs of the echoing horse; Two Serpent-forms incumbent on the main, 340 Lashing the white waves with redundant train, Arch'd their blue necks, and (hook their towering crests, And plough'd their foamy way with speckled breasts; Then darting fierce amid the affrighted throngs, Roll'd their red eyes, and shot their forked tongues, --345 --Two daring Youths to guard the hoary fire Thwart their dread progress, and provoke their ire. Round sire and sons the scaly monsters roll'd, Ring above ring, in many a tangled fold, Close and more close their writhing limbs surround, 350 And fix with foamy teeth the envenom'd wound. --With brow upturn'd to heaven the holy Sage In silent agony sustains their rage; While each fond Youth, in vain, with piercing cries Bends on the tortured Sire his dying eyes. 355 "Drink deep, sweet youths" seductive VITIS cries, The maudlin tear-drop glittering in her eyes; Green leaves and purple clusters crown her head, And the tall Thyrsus stays her tottering tread. --_Five_ hapless swains with soft assuasive smiles360 The harlot meshes in her deathful toils; "Drink deep, " she carols, as she waves in air The mantling goblet, "and forget your care. "-- O'er the dread feast malignant Chemia scowls, And mingles poison in the nectar'd bowls;365 Fell Gout peeps grinning through the flimsy scene, And bloated Dropsy pants behind unseen; Wrapp'd in his robe white Lepra hides his stains, And silent Frenzy writhing bites his chains. [_Vitis_. 1. 355. Vine. Five males, one female. The juice of the ripegrape is a nutritive and agreeable food, consisting chiefly of sugar andmucilage. The chemical process of fermentation converts this sugar intospirit, converts food into poison! And it has thus become the curse ofthe Christian world, producing more than half of our chronical diseases;which Mahomet observed, and forbade the use of it to his disciples. TheArabians invented distillation; and thus, by obtaining the spirit offermented liquors in a less diluted slate, added to its destructivequality. A Theory of the Diabætes and Dropsy, produced by drinkingfermented or spirituous liquors, is explained in a Treatise on theinverted motions of the lymphatic system, published by Dr. Darwin. Cadell. ] So when PROMETHEUS braved the Thunderer's ire, 370 Stole from his blazing throne etherial fire, And, lantern'd in his breast, from realms of day Bore the bright treasure to his Man of clay;-- High on cold Caucasus by VULCAN bound, The lean impatient Vulture fluttering round, 375 His writhing limbs in vain he twists and strains To break or loose the adamantine chains. The gluttonous bird, exulting in his pangs, Tears his swoln liver with remorseless fangs. [_Prometheus_, l. 369. The antient story of Prometheus, who concealedin his bosom the fire he had stolen, and afterwards had a vultureperpetually gnawing his liver, affords so apt an allegory for the effectsof drinking spirituous liquors, that one should be induced to think theart of distillation, as well as some other chemical processes (such ascalcining gold), had been known in times of great antiquity, and lostagain. The swallowing drams cannot be better represented in hieroglyphiclanguage than by taking fire into one's bosom; and certain it is, thatthe general effect of drinking fermented or spirituous liquors is aninflamed, schirrous, or paralytic liver, with its various critical orconsequential diseases, as leprous eruptions on the face, gout, dropsy, epilepsy, insanity. It is remarkable, that all the diseases from drinkingspirituous or fermented liquors are liable to become hereditary, even tothe third generation; gradually increasing, if the cause be continued, till the family becomes extinct. ] The gentle CYCLAMEN with dewy eye380 Breathes o'er her lifeless babe the parting sigh; And, bending low to earth, with pious hands Inhumes her dear Departed in the sands. "Sweet Nursling! withering in thy tender hour, "Oh, sleep, " She cries, "and rise a fairer flower!"385 --So when the Plague o'er London's gasping crowds Shook her dank wing, and steer'd her murky clouds; When o'er the friendless bier no rites were read, No dirge slow-chanted, and no pall out-spread; While Death and Night piled up the naked throng, 390 And Silence drove their ebon cars along; Six lovely daughters, and their father, swept To the throng'd grave CLEONE saw, and wept; [_Cyclamen_. 1. 379. Shew-bread, or Sow-bread. When the seeds are ripe, the stalk of the flower gradually twists itself spirally downwards, tillit touches the ground, and forcibly penetrating the earth lodges itsseeds; which are thought to receive nourishment from the parent root, asthey are said not to be made to grow in any other situation. The Trifolium subterraneum, subterraneous trefoil, is another plant, which buries its seed, the globular head of the seed penetrating theearth; which, however, in this plant may be only an attempt to concealits seeds from the ravages of birds; for there is another trefoil, thetrifolium globosum, or globular woolly-headed trefoil, which has acurious manner of concealing its seeds; the lower florets only havecorols and are fertile; the upper ones wither into a kind of wool, and, forming a bead, completely conceal the fertile calyxes. Lin. Spec. Plant, a Reichard. ] Her tender mind, with meek Religion fraught, Drank all-resigned Affliction's bitter draught;395 Alive and listening to the whisper'd groan Of others' woes, unconscious of her own!-- One smiling boy, her last sweet hope, she warms Hushed on her bosom, circled in her arms, -- Daughter of woe! ere morn, in vain caress'd, 400 Clung the cold Babe upon thy milkless breast, With feeble cries thy last sad aid required, Stretch'd its stiff limbs, and on thy lap expired!-- --Long with wide eye-lids on her Child she gazed, And long to heaven their tearless orbs she raised;405 Then with quick foot and throbbing heart she found Where Chartreuse open'd deep his holy ground; [_Where Chartreuse_. L. 406. During the plague in London, 1665, one pitto receive the dead was dug in the Charter-house, 40 feet long, 16 feetwide, and about 20 feet deep; and in two weeks received 1114 bodies. During this dreadful calamity there were instances of mothers carryingtheir own children to those public graves, and of people delirious, or indespair from the loss of their friends, who threw themselves alive intothese pits. Journal of the Plague-year in 1665, printed for E. Nutt, Royal-Exchange. ] Bore her last treasure through the midnight gloom, And kneeling dropp'd it in the mighty tomb; "I follow next!" the frantic mourner said, 410 And living plunged amid the festering dead. Where vast Ontario rolls his brineless tides, And feeds the trackless forests on his sides, Fair CASSIA trembling hears the howling woods, And trusts her tawny children to the floods. -- [_Rolls his brineless tide. _ l. 411. Some philosophers have believedthat the continent of America was not raised out of the great ocean atso early a period of time as the other continents. One reason for thisopinion was, because the great lakes, perhaps nearly as large as theMediterranean Sea, consist of fresh water. And as the sea-salt seems tohave its origin from the destruction of vegetable and animal bodies, washed down by rains, and carried by rivers into lakes or seas; itwould seem that this source of sea-salt had not so long existed in thatcountry. There is, however, a more satisfactory way of explaining thiscircumstance; which is, that the American lakes lie above the level ofthe ocean, and are hence perpetually desalited by the rivers which runthrough them; which is not the case with the Mediterranean, into which acurrent from the main ocean perpetually passes. ] [_Caffia. _ l. 413. Ten males, one female. The seeds are black, thestamens gold-colour. This is one of the American fruits, which areannually thrown on the coasts of Norway; and are frequently in so recenta state as to vegetate, when properly taken care of, the fruit of theanacardium, cashew-nut; of cucurbita lagenaria, bottlegourd; of themimosa scandens, cocoons; of the piscidia erythrina, logwood-tree; andcocoa-nuts are enumerated by Dr. Tonning. (Amæn. Acad. 149. ) amongstthese emigrant seeds. The fact is truly wonderful, and cannot beaccounted for but by the existence of under currents in the depths of theocean; or from vortexes of water passing from one country to anotherthrough caverns of the earth. Sir Hans Sloane has given an account of four kinds of seeds, which arefrequently thrown by the sea upon the coasts of the islands of thenorthern parts of Scotland. Phil. Trans. Abridged, Vol. III. P. 540. Which seeds are natives of the West Indies, and seem to be broughtthither by the gulf-stream described below. One of these is called, bySir H. Sloane, Phaseolus maximus perennis, which is often also thrownon the coast of Kerry in Ireland; another is called, in Jamaica, Horse-eye-bean; and a third is called Niker in Jamaica. He adds, thatthe Lenticula marina, or Sargosso, grows on the rocks about Jamaica, iscarried by the winds and current towards the coast of Florida, and thenceinto the North-American ocean, where it lies very thick on the surface ofthe sea. Thus a rapid current passes from the gulf of Florida to the N. E. Along the coast of North-America, known to seamen by the name of theGULF-STREAM. A chart of this was published by Dr. Francklin in 1768, fromthe information principally of Capt. Folger. This was confirmed by theingenious experiments of Dr. Blagden, published in 1781, who found thatthe water of the Gulf-stream was from six to eleven degrees warmerthan the water of the sea through which it ran; which must have beenoccasioned by its being brought from a hotter climate. He ascribes theorigin of this current to the power of the trade-winds, which, blowingalways in the same direction, carry the waters of the Atlantic ocean tothe westward, till they are stopped by the opposing continent on the westof the Gulf of Mexico, and are thus accumulated there, and run down theGulf of Florida. Philos. Trans. V. 71, p. 335. Governor Pownal has givenan elegant map of this Gulf-stream, tracing it from the Gulf of Floridanorthward as far as Cape Sable in Nova Scotia, and then across theAtlantic ocean to the coast of Africa between the Canary-islands andSenegal, increasing in breadth, as it runs, till it occupies five or sixdegrees of latitude. The Governor likewise ascribes this current to theforce of the trade-winds _protruding_ the waters westward, till they areopposed by the continent, and accumulated in the Gulf of Mexico. He veryingeniously observes, that a great eddy must be produced in the Atlanticocean between this Gulf-stream and the westerly current protruded by thetropical winds, and in this eddy are found the immense fields of floatingvegetables, called Saragosa weeds, and Gulf-weeds, and some light woods, which circulate in these vast eddies, or are occasionally driven out ofthem by the winds. Hydraulic and Nautical Observations by GovernorPownal, 1787. Other currents are mentioned by the Governor in thisingenious work, as those in the Indian Sea, northward of the line, whichare ascribed to the influence of the Monsoons. It is probable, that inprocess of time the narrow tract of land on the west of the Gulf ofMexico may be worn away by this elevation of water dashing against it, bywhich this immense current would cease to exist, and a wonderful changetake place in the Gulf of Mexico and West Indian islands, by thesubsiding of the sea, which might probably lay all those islands intone, or join them to the continent. ] 415 Cinctured with gold while _ten_ fond brothers stand, And guard the beauty on her native land, Soft breathes the gale, the current gently moves, And bears to Norway's coasts her infant-loves. --So the sad mother at the noon of night420 From bloody Memphis stole her silent flight; Wrapp'd her dear babe beneath her folded vest, And clasp'd the treasure to her throbbing breast, With soothing whispers hushed its feeble cry, Pressed the soft kiss, and breathed the secret sigh. --425 --With dauntless step she seeks the winding shore, Hears unappall'd the glimmering torrents roar; With Paper-flags a floating cradle weaves, And hides the smiling boy in Lotus-leaves; Gives her white bosom to his eager lips, 430 The salt tears mingling with the milk he sips; Waits on the reed-crown'd brink with pious guile, And trusts the scaly monsters of the Nile. -- --Erewhile majestic from his lone abode, Embassador of Heaven, the Prophet trod;435 Wrench'd the red Scourge from proud Oppression's hands, And broke, curst Slavery! thy iron bands. Hark! heard ye not that piercing cry, Which shook the waves and rent the sky!-- E'en now, e'en now, on yonder Western shores440 Weeps pale Despair, and writhing Anguish roars: E'en now in Afric's groves with hideous yell Fierce SLAVERY stalks, and slips the dogs of hell; From vale to vale the gathering cries rebound, And sable nations tremble at the sound!--445 --YE BANDS OF SENATORS! whose suffrage sways Britannia's realms, whom either Ind obeys; Who right the injured, and reward the brave, Stretch your strong arm, for ye have power to save! Throned in the vaulted heart, his dread resort, 450 Inexorable CONSCIENCE holds his court; With still small voice the plots of Guilt alarms, Bares his mask'd brow, his lifted hand disarms; But, wrapp'd in night with terrors all his own, He speaks in thunder, when the deed is done. 455 _Hear him_ ye Senates! hear this truth sublime, "HE, WHO ALLOWS OPPRESSION, SHARES THE CRIME. " No radiant pearl, which crested Fortune wears, No gem, that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears, Not the bright stars, which Night's blue arch adorn, 460 Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, Shine with such lustre as the tear, that breaks For other's woe down Virtue's manly cheeks. " Here ceased the MUSE, and dropp'd her tuneful shell, Tumultuous woes her panting bosom swell, 465 O'er her flush'd cheek her gauzy veil she throws, Folds her white arms, and bends her laurel'd brows; For human guilt awhile the Goddess sighs, And human sorrows dim celestial eyes. INTERLUDE III. _Bookseller_. Poetry has been called a sister-art both to Painting and toMusic; I wish to know, what are the particulars of their relationship? _Poet_. It has been already observed, that the principal part of thelanguage of poetry consists of those words, which are expressive of theideas, which we originally receive by the organ of sight; and in this itnearly indeed resembles painting; which can express itself in no otherway, but by exciting the ideas or sensations belonging to the sense ofvision. But besides this essential similitude in the language of thepoetic pen and pencil, these two sisters resemble each other, if I mayso say, in many of their habits and manners. The painter, to produce astrong effect, makes a few parts of his picture large, distinct, andluminous, and keeps the remainder in shadow, or even beneath its naturalsize and colour, to give eminence to the principal figure. This issimilar to the common manner of poetic composition, where the subordinatecharacters are kept down, to elevate and give consequence to the hero orheroine of the piece. In the south aile of the cathedral church at Lichfield, there is anantient monument of a recumbent figure; the head and neck of which lieon a roll of matting in a kind of niche or cavern in the wall; and aboutfive feet distant horizontally in another opening or cavern in the wallare seen the feet and ankles, with some folds of garment, lying also ona matt; and though the intermediate space is a solid stone-wall, yet theimagination supplies the deficiency, and the whole figure seems to existbefore our eyes. Does not this resemble one of the arts both of thepainter and the poet? The former often shows a muscular arm amidst agroup of figures, or an impassioned face; and, hiding the remainder ofthe body behind other objects, leaves the imagination to compleat it. Thelatter, describing a single feature or attitude in picturesque words, produces before the mind an image of the whole. I remember seeing a print, in which was represented a shrivelled handstretched through an iron grate, in the stone floor of a prison-yard, toreach at a mess of porrage, which affected me with more horrid ideas ofthe distress of the prisoner in the dungeon below, than could havebeen perhaps produced by an exhibition of the whole person. And in thefollowing beautiful scenery from the Midsummer-night's dream, (in which Ihave taken the liberty to alter the place of a comma), the description ofthe swimming step and prominent belly bring the whole figure before oureyes with the distinctness of reality. When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive, And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; Which she with pretty and with swimming gate, Following her womb, (then rich with my young squire), Would imitate, and sail upon the land. There is a third sister-feature, which belongs both to the pictorial andpoetic art; and that is the making sentiments and passions visible, asit were, to the spectator; this is done in both arts by describing orportraying the effects or changes which those sentiments or passionsproduce upon the body. At the end of the unaltered play of Lear, thereis a beautiful example of poetic painting; the old King is introduced asdying from grief for the loss of Cordelia; at this crisis, Shakespear, conceiving the robe of the king to be held together by a clasp, represents him as only saying to an attendant courtier in a faint voice, "Pray, Sir, undo this button, --thank you, Sir, " and dies. Thus by theart of the poet, the oppression at the bosom of the dying King is madevisible, not described in words. _B_. What are the features, in which these Sister-arts do not resembleeach other? _P_. The ingenious Bishop Berkeley, in his Treatise on Vision, a work ofgreat ability, has evinced, that the colours, which we see, are only alanguage suggesting to our minds the ideas of solidity and extension, which we had before received by the sense of touch. Thus when we view thetrunk of a tree, our eye can only acquaint us with the colours or shades;and from the previous experience of the sense of touch, these suggest tous the cylindrical form, with the prominent or depressed wrinkles onit. From hence it appears, that there is the strictest analogy betweencolours and sounds; as they are both but languages, which do notrepresent their correspondent ideas, but only suggest them to the mindfrom the habits or associations of previous experience. It is thereforereasonable to conclude, that the more artificial arrangements of thesetwo languages by the poet and the painter bear a similar analogy. But in one circumstance the Pen and the Pencil differ widely from eachother, and that is the quantity of Time which they can include in theirrespective representations. The former can unravel a long series ofevents, which may constitute the history of days or years; while thelatter can exhibit only the actions of a moment. The Poet is happier indescribing successive scenes; the Painter in representing stationaryones: both have their advantages. Where the passions are introduced, as the Poet, on one hand, has thepower gradually to prepare the mind of his reader by previous climactericcircumstances; the Painter, on the other hand, can throw strongerillumination and distinctness on the principal moment or catastrophe ofthe action; besides the advantage he has in using an universal language, which can be _read_ in an instant of time. Thus where a great number offigures are all seen together, supporting or contrasting each other, andcontributing to explain or aggrandize the principal effect, we viewa picture with agreeable surprize, and contemplate it with unceasingadmiration. In the representation of the sacrifice of Jephtha's Daughter, a print done from a painting of Ant. Coypel, at one glance of the eyewe read all the interesting passages of the last act of a well-writtentragedy; so much poetry is there condensed into a moment of time. _B. _ Will you now oblige me with an account of the relationship betweenPoetry, and her other sister, Music? _P_. In the poetry of our languageI don't think we are to look for any thing analogous to the notes of thegamut; for, except perhaps in a few exclamations or interrogations, weare at liberty to raise or sink our voice an octave or two at pleasure, without altering the sense of the words. Hence, if either poetry or prosebe read in melodious tones of voice, as is done in recitativo, or inchaunting, it must depend on the speaker, not on the writer: for thoughwords may be selected which are less harsh than others, that is, whichhave fewer sudden stops or abrupt consonants amongst the vowels, orwith fewer sibilant letters, yet this does not constitute melody, whichconsists of agreeable successions of notes referrable to the gamut; orharmony, which consists of agreeable combinations of them. If the Chineselanguage has many words of similar articulation, which yet signifydifferent ideas, when spoken in a higher or lower musical note, as sometravellers affirm, it must be capable of much finer effect, in respect tothe audible part of poetry, than any language we are acquainted with. There is however another affinity, in which poetry and music more nearlyresemble each other than has generally been understood, and that is intheir measure or time. There are but two kinds of time acknowledged inmodern music, which are called _triple time_, and _common time_. Theformer of these is divided by bars, each bar containing three crotchets, or a proportional number of their subdivisions into quavers andsemiquavers. This kind of time is analogous to the measure of our heroicor iambic verse. Thus the two following couplets are each of them dividedinto five bars of _triple time_, each bar consisting of two crotchets andtwo quavers; nor can they be divided into bars analogous to _common time_without the bars interfering with some of the crotchets, so as to dividethem. _3_ Soft-warbling beaks ¦ in each bright blos ¦ som move, 4 And vo ¦ cal rosebuds thrill ¦ the enchanted grove, ¦ In these lines there is a quaver and a crochet alternately in every bar, except in the last, in which _the in_ make two semiquavers; the _e_ issupposed by Grammarians to be cut off, which any one's ear will readilydetermine not to be true. _3_ Life buds or breathes ¦ from Indus to ¦ the poles, 4 And the ¦ vast surface kind ¦ les, as it rolls. ¦ In these lines there is a quaver and a crotchet alternately in the firstbar; a quaver, two crotchets, and a quaver, make the second bar. In thethird bar there is a quaver, a crotchet, and a rest after the crotchet, that is, after the word _poles_, and two quavers begin the next line. Thefourth bar consists of quavers and crotchets alternately. In the last barthere is a quaver, and a rest after it, viz. After the word _kindles_;and then two quavers and a crotchet. You will clearly perceive the truthof this, if you prick the musical characters above mentioned under theverses. The _common time_ of musicians is divided into bars, each of whichcontains four crotchets, or a proportional number of their subdivisioninto quavers and semiquavers. This kind of musical time is analogous tothe dactyle verses of our language, the most popular instances of whichare in Mr. Anstie's Bath-Guide. In this kind of verse the bar does notbegin till after the first or second syllable; and where the verse isquite complete, and written by a good ear, these first syllables added tothe last complete the bar, exactly in this also corresponding with manypieces of music; _2_ Yet ¦ if one may guess by the ¦ size of his calf, Sir, 4 He ¦ weighs about twenty-three ¦ stone and a half, Sir. _2_ Master ¦ Mamozet's head was not ¦ finished so soon, 4 For it ¦ took up the barber a ¦ whole afternoon. In these lines each bar consists of a crotchet, two quavers, anothercrotchet, and two more quavers: which are equal to four crotchets, and, like many bars of _common time_ in music, may be subdivided into two inbeating time without disturbing the measure. The following verses from Shenftone belong likewise to common time: 2/4 A | river or a sea | Was to him a dish | of tea, And a king | dom bread and butter. The first and second bars consist each of a crotchet, a quaver, acrotchet, a quaver, a crotchet. The third bar consists of a quaver, twocrotchets, a quaver, a crotchet. The last bar is not complete withoutadding the letter A, which begins the first line, and then it consists ofa quaver, a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet, two quavers. It must be observed, that the crotchets in triple time are in generalplayed by musicians slower than those of common time, and hence minuetsare generally pricked in triple time, and country dances generally incommon time. So the verses above related, which are analogous to _tripletime_, are generally read slower than those analogous to _common time_;and are thence generally used for graver compositions. I suppose all thedifferent kinds of verses to be found in our odes, which have any measureat all, might be arranged under one or other of these two musical times;allowing a note or two sometimes to precede the commencement of the bar, and occasional rests, as in musical compositions: if this was attendedto by those who set poetry to music, it is probable the sound and sensewould oftener coincide. Whether these musical times can be applied to thelyric and heroic verses of the Greek and Latin poets, I do not pretend todetermine; certain it is, that the dactyle verse of our language, whenit is ended with a double rhime, much resembles the measure of Homerand Virgil, except in the length of the lines. B. Then there is norelationship between the other two of these sister-, Painting and Music? _P_. There is at least a mathematical relationship, or perhaps I oughtrather to have said a metaphysical relationship between them. Sir IsaacNewton has observed, that the breadths of the seven primary coloursin the Sun's image refracted by a prism are proportional to the sevenmusical notes of the gamut, or to the intervals of the eight soundscontained in an octave, that is, proportional to the following numbers: Sol. La. Fa. Sol. La. Mi. Fa. Sol. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet, 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 16 10 9 16 16 9 Newton's Optics, Book I. Part 2. Prop. 3 and 6. Dr. Smith, in hisHarmonics, has an explanatory note upon this happy discovery, as he termsit, of Newton. Sect. 4. Art. 7. From this curious coincidence, it hasbeen proposed to produce a luminous music, confiding of successionsor combinations of colours, analogous to a tune in respect to theproportions above mentioned. This might be performed by a strong light, made by means of Mr. Argand's lamps, passing through coloured glasses, and falling on a defined part of a wall, with moveable blinds beforethem, which might communicate with the keys of a harpsichord; and thusproduce at the same time visible and audible music in unison with eachother. The execution of this idea is said by Mr. Guyot to have beenattempted by Father Cassel without much success. If this should beagain attempted, there is another curious coincidence between sounds andcolours, discovered by Dr. Darwin of Shrewsbury, and explained in a paperon what he calls Ocular Spectra, in the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. LXXVI. Which might much facilitate the execution of it. In this treatisethe Doctor has demonstrated, that we see certain colours, not only withgreater ease and distinctness, but with relief and pleasure, after havingfor some time contemplated other certain colours; as green after red, orred after green; orange after blue, or blue after orange; yellow afterviolet, or violet after yellow. This he shews arises from the _ocularspectrum_ of the colour last viewed coinciding with the _irritation_ ofthe colour now under contemplation. Now as the pleasure we receivefrom the sensation of melodious notes, independent of the previousassociations of agreeable ideas with them, must arise from our hearingsome proportions of sounds after others more easily, distinctly, oragreeably; and as there is a coincidence between the proportions of theprimary colours, and the primary sounds, if they may be so called; heargues, that the same laws must govern the sensations of both. In thiscircumstance, therefore, consists the sisterhood of Music and Painting;and hence they claim a right to borrow metaphors from each other;musicians to speak of the brilliancy of sounds, and the light and shadeof a concerto; and painters of the harmony of colours, and the tone of apicture. Thus it was not quite so absurd, as was imagined, when the blindman asked if the colour scarlet was like the sound of a trumpet. As thecoincidence or opposition of these _ocular spectra_, (or colours whichremain in the eye after having for some time contemplated a luminousobject) are more easily and more accurately ascertained, now their lawshave been investigated by Dr. Darwin, than the _relicts_ of evanescentsounds upon the ear; it is to be wished that some ingenious musicianwould further cultivate this curious field of science: for if visiblemusic can be agreeably produced, it would be more easy to add sentimentto it by the representations of groves and Cupids, and sleeping nymphsamid the changing colours, than is commonly done by the words of audiblemusic. _B. _ You mentioned the greater length of the verses of Homer and Virgil. Had not these poets great advantage in the superiority of their languagescompared to our own? _P_. It is probable, that the introduction of philosophy into a countrymust gradually affect the language of it; as philosophy converses in moreappropriated and abstracted terms; and thus by degrees eradicates theabundance of metaphor, which is used in the more early ages of society. Otherwise, though the Greek compound words have more vowels in proportionto their consonants than the English ones, yet the modes of compoundingthem are less general; as may be seen by variety of instances given inthe preface of the Translators, prefixed to the SYSTEM OF VEGETABLES bythe Lichfield Society; which happy property of our own language renderedthat translation of Linneus as expressive and as concise, perhaps more sothan the original. And in one respect, I believe, the English language serves the purposeof poetry better than the antient ones, I mean in the greater ease ofproducing personifications; for as our nouns have in general no gendersaffixed to them in prose-compositions, and in the habits of conversation, they become easily personified only by the addition of a masculine orfeminine pronoun, as, Pale Melancholy sits, and round _her_ throws A death-like silence, and a dread repose. _Pope's Abelard. _ And secondly, as most of our nouns have the article _a_ or _the_ prefixedto them in prose-writing and in conversation, they in general becomepersonified even by the omission of these articles; as in the bold figureof Shipwreck in Miss Seward's Elegy on Capt. Cook: But round the steepy rocks and dangerous strand Rolls the white surf, and SHIPWRECK guards the land. Add to this, that if the verses in our heroic poetry be shorter thanthose of the ancients, our words likewise are shorter; and in respectto their measure or time, which has erroneously been called melody andharmony, I doubt, from what has been said above, whether we are so muchinferior as is generally believed; since many passages, which have beenstolen from antient poets, have been translated into our language withoutlosing any thing of the beauty of the versification. _B. _ I am glad to hear you acknowledge the thefts of the modern poetsfrom the antient ones, whose works I suppose have been reckoned lawfulplunder in all ages. But have not you borrowed epithets, phrases, andeven half a line occasionally from modern poems? _P. _ It may be difficult to mark the exact boundary of what should betermed plagiarism: where the sentiment and expression are both borrowedwithout due acknowledgement, there can be no doubt;--single words, onthe contrary, taken from other authors, cannot convict a writer ofplagiarism; they are lawful game, wild by nature, the property of allwho can capture them;--and perhaps a few common flowers of speech may begathered, as we pass over our neighbour's inclosure, without stigmatizingus with the title of thieves; but we must not therefore plunder hiscultivated fruit. The four lines at the end of the plant Upas are imitated from Dr. Young'sNight Thoughts. The line in the episode adjoined to Cassia, "The salttear mingling with the milk he sips, " is from an interesting and humanepassage in Langhorne's Justice of Peace. There are probably many others, which, if I could recollect them, should here be acknowledged. As it is, like exotic plants, their mixture with the natives ones, I hope, addsbeauty to my Botanic Garden:--and such as it is, _Mr. Bookseller_, I nowleave it to you to desire the Ladies and Gentlemen to walk in; but pleaseto apprize them, that, like the spectators at an unskilful exhibition insome village-barn, I hope they will make Good-humour one of their party;and thus theirselves supply the defects of the representation. THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS CANTO IV. Now the broad Sun his golden orb unshrouds, Flames in the west, and paints the parted clouds; O'er heaven's wide arch refracted lustres flow, And bend in air the many-colour'd bow. --5 --The tuneful Goddess on the glowing sky Fix'd in mute extacy her glistening eye; And then her lute to sweeter tones she strung, And swell'd with softer chords the Paphian song. Long ailes of Oaks return'd the silver sound, 10 And amorous Echoes talk'd along the ground; Pleas'd Lichfield listen'd from her sacred bowers, Bow'd her tall groves, and shook her stately towers. "Nymph! not for thee the radiant day returns, Nymph! not for thee the golden solstice burns, 15 Refulgent CEREA!--at the dusky hour She seeks with pensive step the mountain-bower, [_Pleas'd Lichfield. _ I. 11. The scenery described at the beginning ofthe first part, or economy of vegetation, is taken from a botanic gardenabout a mile from Lichfield. _Cerea. _ l. 15. Cactus grandiflorus, or Cereus. Twenty males, one female. This flower is a native of Jamaica and Veracrux. It expands a mostexquisitely beautiful corol, and emits a most fragrant odour for a fewhours in the night, and then closes to open no more. The flower is nearlya foot in diameter; the inside of the calyx of a splendid yellow, and thenumerous petals of a pure white: it begins to open about seven or eighto'clock in the evening, and closes before sun-rise in the morning. Martyn's Letters, p. 294. The Cistus labdiniferus, and many otherflowers, lose their petals after having been a few hours expanded inthe day-time; for in these plants the stigma is soon impregnated by thenumerous anthers: in many flowers of the Cistus lubdiniferus I observedtwo or three of the stamens were perpetually bent into contact with thepistil. The Nyctanthes, called Arabian Jasmine, is another flower, which expandsa beautiful corol, and gives out a most delicate perfume during thenight, and not in the day, in its native country, whence its name;botanical philosophers have not yet explained this wonderful property;perhaps the plant sleeps during the day as some animals do; and itsodoriferous glands only emit their fragrance during the expansion ofthe petals; that is, during its waking hours: the Geranium triste hasthe same property of giving up its fragrance only in the night. Theflowers of the Cucurbita lagenaria are said to close when the sunshines upon them. In our climate many flowers, as tragopogon, andhibiscus, close their flowers before the hottest part of the day comeson; and the flowers of some species of cucubalus, and Silene, viscouscampion, are closed all day; but when the sun leaves them they expand, and emit a very agreeable scent; whence such plants are termednoctiflora. ] Bright as the blush of rising morn, and warms The dull cold eye of Midnight with her charms. There to the skies she lifts her pencill'd brows, 20 Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows; Eyes the white zenyth; counts the suns, that roll Their distant fires, and blaze around the Pole; Or marks where Jove directs his glittering car O'er Heaven's blue vault, --Herself a brighter star. 25 --There as soft Zephyrs sweep with pausing airs Thy snowy neck, and part thy shadowy hairs, Sweet Maid of Night! to Cynthia's sober beams Glows thy warm cheek, thy polish'd bosom gleams. _In crowds_ around thee gaze the admiring swains, 30 And guard in silence the enchanted plains; Drop the still tear, or breathe the impassion'd sigh, And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye. Thus, when old Needwood's hoary scenes the Night Paints with blue shadow, and with milky light;35 Where MUNDY pour'd, the listening nymphs among, Loud to the echoing vales his parting song; With measured step the Fairy Sovereign treads, Shakes her high plume, and glitters o'er the meads; Round each green holly leads her sportive train, 40 And little footsteps mark the circled plain; Each haunted rill with silver voices rings, And Night's sweet bird in livelier accents sings. Ere the bright star, which leads the morning sky, Hangs o'er the blushing east his diamond eye, 45 The chaste TROPAEO leaves her secret bed; A saint-like glory trembles round her head; [_ Where Mundy. _ l. 35. Alluding to an unpublished poem by F. N. Mundy, Esq. On his leaving Needwood-Forest. _Tropæolum. _ l. 45. Majus. Garden Nasturtion, or greater Indian cress. Eight males, one female. Miss E. C. Linneus first observed the TropæolumMajus to emit sparks or flashes in the mornings before sun-rise, duringthe months of June or July, and also during the twilight in the evening, but not after total darkness came on; these singular scintillations wereshewn to her father and other philosophers; and Mr. Wilcke, a celebratedelectrician, believed them to be electric. Lin. Spec. Plantar. P. 490. Swedish Acts for the year 1762. Pulteney's View of Linneus, p. 220. Noris this more wonderful than that the electric eel and torpedo should givevoluntary shocks of electricity; and in this plant perhaps, as in thoseanimals, it may be a mode of defence, by which it harrasses or destroysthe night-flying insects which infest it; and probably it may emit the samesparks during the day, which must be then invisible. This curious subjectdeserves further investigation. See Dictamnus. The ceasing to shine ofthis plant after twilight might induce one to conceive, that itabsorbed and emitted light, like the Bolognian Phosphorus, or calcinedoyster-shells, so well explained by Mr. B. Wilson, and by T. B. Beccari. Exper. On Phosphori, by B. Wilson. Dodsley. The light of the evening, at the same distance from noon, is much greater, as I have repeatedlyobserved, than the light of the morning: this is owing, I suppose, to thephosphorescent quality of almost all bodies, in a greater or less degree, which thus absorb light during the sun-shine, and continue to emit itagain for some time afterwards, though not in such quantity as to produceapparent scintillations. The nectary of this plant grows from what issupposed to be the calyx; but this supposed calyx is coloured; andperhaps, from this circumstance of its bearing the nectary, should ratherbe esteemed a part of the coral. See an additional note at the end of thepoem. ] _Eight_ watchful swains along the lawns of night With amorous steps pursue the virgin light; O'er her fair form the electric lustre plays, 50 And cold she moves amid the lambent blaze. So shines the glow-fly, when the sun retires, And gems the night-air with phosphoric fires; [_So shines the glow-fly. _ l. 52. In Jamaica, in some seasons of the year, the fire-flies are seen in the evenings in great abundance. When theysettle on the ground, the bull-frog greedily devours them; which seems tohave given origin to a curious, though cruel, method of destroying theseanimals: if red-hot pieces of charcoal be thrown towards them in the duskof the evening, they leap at them, and, hastily swallowing them, areburnt to death. ] Thus o'er the marsh aërial lights betray, And charm the unwary wanderer from his way. 55 So when thy King, Assyria, fierce and proud, Three human victims to his idol vow'd; Rear'd a vast pyre before the golden shrine Of sulphurous coal, and pitch-exsuding pine;-- --Loud roar the flames, the iron nostrils breathe, 60 And the huge bellows pant and heave beneath; Bright and more bright the blazing deluge flows, And white with seven-fold heat the furnace glows. And now the Monarch fix'd with dread surprize Deep in the burning vault his dazzled eyes. 65 "Lo! Three unbound amid the frightful glare, Unscorch'd their sandals, and unsing'd their hair! And now a fourth with seraph-beauty bright Descends, accosts them, and outshines the light! Fierce flames innocuous, as they step, retire!70 And slow they move amid a world of fire!" He spoke, --to Heaven his arms repentant spread, And kneeling bow'd his gem-incircled head. _Two_ Sister-Nymphs, the fair AVENAS, lead Their fleecy squadrons on the lawns of Tweed;75 Pass with light step his wave-worn banks along, And wake his Echoes with their silver tongue; Or touch the reed, as gentle Love inspires, In notes accordant to their chaste desires. I. "Sweet ECHO! sleeps thy vocal shell, "Where this high arch o'erhangs the dell; "While Tweed with sun-reflecting streams "Chequers thy rocks with dancing beams?-- [_Ovena_. L. 73. Oat. The numerous families of grasses have all threemales, and two females, except Anthoxanthum, which gives the gratefulsmell to hay, and has but two males. The herbs of this order ofvegetables support the countless tribes of graminivorous animals. Theseeds of the smaller kinds of grasses, as of aira, poa, briza, stipa, &c. Are the sustenance of many sorts of birds. The seeds of the largegrasses, as of wheat, barley, rye, oats, supply food to the humanspecies. It seems to have required more ingenuity to think of feeding nations ofmankind with so small a seed, than with the potatoe of Mexico, or thebread-fruit of the southern islands; hence Ceres in Egypt, which was thebirth-place of our European arts, was deservedly celebrated amongst theirdivinities, as well as Osyris, who invented the Plough. Mr. Wahlborn observes, that as wheat, rye, and many of the grasses, andplantain, lift up their anthers on long filments, and thus expose theenclosed fecundating dust to be washed away by the rains, a scarcity ofcorn is produced by wet summers; hence the necessity of a careful choiceof seed wheat, as that, which had not received the dust of the anthers, will not grow, though it may appear well to the eye. The straw of theoat seems to have been the first musical instrument, invented during thepastoral ages of the world, before the discovery of metals. See note onCistus. ] II. "Here may no clamours harsh intrude, No brawling hound or clarion rude;85 Here no fell beast of midnight prowl, And teach thy tortured cliffs to howl! III. "Be thine to pour these vales along Some artless Shepherd's evening song; While Night's sweet bird, from yon high spray90 Responsive, listens to his lay. IV. "And if, like me, some love-lorn maid "Should sing her sorrows to thy shade, "Oh, sooth her breast, ye rocks around! "With softest sympathy of sound. " 95 From ozier bowers the brooding Halcyons peep, The Swans pursuing cleave the glassy deep, On hovering wings the wondering Reed-larks play, And silent Bitterns listen to the lay. -- _Three_ shepherd-swains beneath the beechen shades100 Twine rival garlands for the tuneful maids; On each smooth bark the mystic love-knot frame, Or on white sands inscribe the favour'd name. From Time's remotest dawn where China brings In proud succession all her Patriot-Kings;105 O'er desert-sands, deep gulfs, and hills sublime, Extends her massy wall from clime to clime; With bells and dragons crests her Pagod-bowers, Her silken palaces, and porcelain towers; With long canals a thousand nations laves;110 Plants all her wilds, and peoples all her waves; Slow treads fair CANNABIS the breezy strand, The distaff streams dishevell'd in her hand; [_Cannabis_. L. 111. Chinese Hemp. Two houses. Five males. A newspecies of hemp, of which an account is given by K. Fitzgerald, Esq. In aletter to Sir Joseph Banks, and which is believed to be much superiorto the hemp of other countries. A few seeds of this plant were sown inEngland on the 4th of June, and grew to fourteen feet seven inchesin height by the middle of October; they were nearly seven inches incircumference, and bore many lateral branches, and produced very whiteand tough fibres. At some parts of the time these plants grew nearlyeleven inches in a week. Philos. Trans. Vol. LXXII. P. 46. ] Now to the left her ivory neck inclines, And leads in Paphian curves its azure lines;115 Dark waves the fringed lid, the warm cheek glows, And the fair ear the parting locks disclose; Now to the right with airy sweep she bends, Quick join the threads, the dancing spole depends. --_Five_ Swains attracted guard the Nymph, by turns120 Her grace inchants them, and her beauty burns; To each She bows with sweet assuasive smile, Hears his soft vows, and turns her spole the while. So when with light and shade, concordant strife! Stern CLOTHO weaves the chequer'd thread of life;125 Hour after hour the growing line extends, The cradle and the coffin bound its ends; [_Paphian curves. _ l. 114. In his ingenious work, entitled, The Analysisof Beauty, Mr. Hogarth believes that the triangular glass, which wasdedicated to Venus in her temple at Paphos, contained in it a linebending spirally round a cone with a certain degree of curviture;and that this pyramidal outline and serpentine curve constitute theprinciples of Grace and Beauty. ] Soft cords of silk the whirling spoles reveal, If smiling Fortune turn the giddy wheel; But if sweet Love with baby-fingers twines, 130 And wets with dewy lips the lengthening lines, Skein after skein celestial tints unfold, And all the silken tissue shines with gold. Warm with sweet blushes bright GALANTHA glows, And prints with frolic step the melting snows; [_Galanthus. _ l. 133. Nivalis. Snowdrop. Six males, one female. Thefirst flower that appears after the winter solstice. See Stillingfleet'sCalendar of Flora. Some snowdrop-roots taken up in winter, and boiled, had the insipidmucilaginous taste of the Orchis, and, if cured in the same manner, wouldprobably make as good salep. The roots of the Hyacinth, I am informed, are equally insipid, and might be used as an article of food. Gmelin, inhis History of Siberia, says the Martigon Lily makes a part of the foodof that country, which is of the same natural order as the snowdrop. Someroots of Crocus, which I boiled, had a disagreeable flavour. The difficulty of raising the Orchis from seed has, perhaps, been aprincipal reason of its not being cultivated in this country as anarticle of food. It is affirmed, by one of the Linnean school, in theAmoenit. Academ. That the seeds of Orchis will ripen, if you destroy thenew bulb; and that Lily of the Valley, Convallaria, will produce manymore seeds, and ripen them, if the roots be crowded in a garden-pot, soas to prevent them from producing many bulbs. Vol. VI. P. 120. It isprobable either of these methods may succeed with these and otherbulbous-rooted plants, as snowdrops, and might render their cultivationprofitable in this climate. The root of the asphodelus ramosus, branchyasphodel, is used to feed swine in France; and starch is obtained fromthe alstromeria licta. Memoires d'Agricult. ] 135 O'er silent floods, white hills, and glittering meads _Six_ rival swains the playful beauty leads, Chides with her dulcet voice the tardy Spring, Bids slumbering Zephyr stretch his folded wing, Wakes the hoarse Cuckoo in his gloomy cave, 140 And calls the wondering Dormouse from his grave, Bids the mute Redbreast cheer the budding grove, And plaintive Ringdove tune her notes to love. Spring! with thy own sweet smile, and tuneful tongue, Delighted BELLIS calls her infant throng. 145 Each on his reed astride, the Cherub-train Watch her kind looks, and circle o'er the plain; Now with young wonder touch the siding snail, Admire his eye-tipp'd horns, and painted mail; Chase with quick step, and eager arms outspread, 150 The pausing Butterfly from mead to mead; [_Bellis prolifera_ l. 144. Hen and chicken Daisy; in this beautifulmonster not only the impletion or doubling of the petals takes place, asdescribed in the note on Alcea; but a numerous circlet of less flowers onpeduncles, or footstalks, rise from the sides of the calyx, and surroundthe proliferous parent. The same occurs in Calendula, marigold; inHeracium, hawk-weed; and in Scabiosa, Scabious. Phil. Botan. P. 82. ] Or twine green oziers with the fragrant gale, The azure harebel, and the primrose pale, Join hand in hand, and in procession gay Adorn with votive wreaths the shrine of May. 155 --So moves the Goddess to the Idalian groves, And leads her gold-hair'd family of Loves. These, from the flaming furnace, strong and bold Pour the red steel into the sandy mould; On tinkling anvils (with Vulcanian art), 160 Turn with hot tongs, and forge the dreadful dart; The barbed head on whirling jaspers grind, And dip the point in poison for the mind; Each polish'd shaft with snow-white plumage wing, Or strain the bow reluctant to its string. 165 Those on light pinion twine with busy hands, Or stretch from bough to bough the flowery bands; [_The fragrant Gale. _ l. 151. The buds of the Myrica Gale possess anagreeable aromatic fragrance, and might be worth attending to as anarticle of the Materia Medica. Mr. Sparman suspects, that the greenwax-like substance, with which at certain times of the year the berriesof the Myrica cerifera, or candle-berry Myrtle, are covered, aredeposited there by insects. It is used by the inhabitants for makingcandles, which he says burn rather better than those made of tallow. _Voyage to the Cape, _ V. I. 345. ] Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high, Or catch in silken nets the gilded fly; Call the young Zephyrs to their fragrant bowers, 170 And stay with kisses sweet the Vernal Hours. Where, as proud Maffon rises rude and bleak, And with mishapen turrets crests the Peak, Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath, And o'er fear'd Derwent bends his flinty teeth;175 Deep in wide caves below the dangerous soil Blue sulphurs flame, imprison'd waters boil. [_Deep in wide caves_. L. 175. The arguments which tend to shewthat the warm springs of this country are produced from steam raised bydeep subterraneous fires, and afterwards condensed between the strata ofthe mountains, appear to me much more conclusive, than the idea of theirbeing warmed by chemical combinations near the surface of the earth: for, 1st, their heat has kept accurately the same perhaps for many centuries, certainly as long as we have been possessed of good thermometers; whichcannot be well explained, without supposing that they are first in aboiling state. For as the heat of boiling water is 212, and that of theinternal parts of the earth 48, it is easy to understand, that the steamraised from boiling water, after being condensed in some mountain, andpassing from thence through a certain space of the cold earth, must becooled always to a given degree; and it is probable the distance from theexit of the spring, to the place where the steam is condensed, might beguessed by the degree of its warmth. 2. In the dry summer of 1780, when all other springs were either dry ormuch diminished, those of Buxton and Matlock (as I was well informed onthe spot), had suffered no diminution; which proves that the sources ofthese warm springs are at great depths below the surface of the earth. 3. There are numerous perpendicular fissures in the rocks of Derbyshire, in which the ores of lead and copper are found, and which pass tounknown depths; and might thence afford a passage to steam from greatsubterraneous fires. 4. If these waters were heated by the decomposition of pyrites, therewould be some chalybeate taste or sulphureous smell in them. See note inpart 1. On the existence of central fires. ] Impetuous steams in spiral colums rise Through rifted rocks, impatient for the skies; Or o'er bright seas of bubbling lavas blow, 180 As heave and toss the billowy fires below; Condensed on high, in wandering rills they glide From Maffon's dome, and burst his sparry side; Round his grey towers, and down his fringed walls, From cliff to cliff, the liquid treasure falls;185 In beds of stalactite, bright ores among, O'er corals, shells, and crystals, winds along; Crusts the green mosses, and the tangled wood, And sparkling plunges to its parent flood. --O'er the warm wave a smiling youth presides, 190 Attunes its murmurs, its meanders guides, (The blooming FUCUS), in her sparry coves To amorous Echo sings his _secret_ loves, Bathes his fair forehead in the misty stream, And with sweet breath perfumes the rising steam. 195 --So, erst, an Angel o'er Bethesda's springs, Each morn descending, shook his dewy wings; And as his bright translucent form He laves, Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves. [_Fucus_. L. 191. Clandestine marriage. A species of Fucus, or of Conserva, soon appears in all basons which contain water. Dr. Priestley found that great quantities of pure dephlogisticated air weregiven up in water at the points of this vegetable, particularly inthe sunshine, and that hence it contributed to preserve the water inreservoirs from becoming putrid. The minute divisions of the leaves ofsubaquatic plants, as mentioned in the note on Trapa, and of the gillsof fish, seem to serve another purpose besides that of increasing theirsurface, which has not, I believe, been attended to, and that is tofacilitate the separation of the air, which is mechanically mixed orchemically dissolved in water by their points or edges; this appearson immersing a dry hairy leaf in water fresh from a pump; innumerableglobules like quicksilver appear on almost every point; for theextremities of these points attract the particles of water less forciblythan those particles attract each other; hence the contained air, whose elasticity was but just balanced by the attractive power of thesurrounding particles of water to each other, finds at the point of eachfibre a place where the resistance to its expansion is less; and inconsequence it there expands, and becomes a bubble of air. It is easy toforesee that the rays of the sunshine, by being refracted and in partrelieved by the two surfaces of these minute air-bubbles, must impart tothem much more heat than to the transparent water; and thus facilitatetheir ascent by further expanding them; that the points of vegetablesattract the particles of water less than they attract each other, is seenby the spherical form of dew-drops on the points of grass. See note onVegetable Respiration in Part I. ] Amphibious Nymph, from Nile's prolific bed200 Emerging TRAPA lifts her pearly head; Fair glows her virgin cheek and modest breast, A panoply of scales deforms the rest; [_Trapa, _ l. 200. Four males, one female. The lower leavesof this plant grow under water, and are divided into minute capillaryramifications; while the upper leaves are broad and round, and haveair-bladders in their footstalks to support them above the surface ofthe water. As the aerial leaves of vegetables do the office of lungs, byexposing a large surface of vessels with their contained fluids to theinfluence of the air; so these aquatic leaves answer a similar purposelike the gills of fish; and perhaps gain from water or give to it asimilar material. As the material thus necessary to life seems to aboundmore in air than in water, the subaquatic leaves of this plant, and ofsisymbrium, coenanthe, ranunculus aquatilis, water crowfoot, and someothers, are cut into fine divisions to increase the surface; whilst thoseabove water are undivided. So the plants on high mountains have theirupper leaves more divided, as pimpinella, petroselinum, and others, because here the air is thinner, and thence a larger surface of contactis required. The stream of water also passes but once along the gills offish, as it is sooner deprived of its virtue; whereas the air is bothreceived and ejected by the action of the lungs of land-animals. Thewhale seems to be an exception to the above, as he receives water andspouts it out again from an organ, which I suppose to be a respiratoryone. As spring-water is nearly of the same degree of heat in allclimates, the aquatic plants, which grow in rills or fountains, are foundequally in the torrid, temperate, and frigid zones, as water-cress, water-parsnip, ranunculus, and many others. In warmer climates the watery grounds are usefully cultivated, as withrice; and the roots of some aquatic plants are said to have suppliedfood, as the ancient Lotus in Egypt, which some have supposed to be theNymphæa. --In Siberia the roots of the Butemus, or flowering rush, areeaten, which is well worth further enquiry, as they grow spontaneously inour ditches and rivers, which at present produce no esculent vegetables;and might thence become an article of useful cultivation. Herodotusaffirms, that the Egyptian Lotus grows in the Nile, and resembles a Lily. That the natives dry it in the sun, and take the pulp out of it, whichgrows like the head of a poppy, and bake it for bread. Enterpe. Manygrit-stones and coals, which I have seen, seem to bear an impression ofthe roots of the Nymphæa, which are often three or four inches thick, especially the white-flowered one. ] Her quivering fins and panting gills she hides But spreads her silver arms upon the tides;205 Slow as she sails, her ivory neck she laves, And shakes her golden tresses o'er the waves. Charm'd round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide _Four_ Nereid-forms, or shoot along the tide; Now all as one they rise with frolic spring, 210 And beat the wondering air on humid wing; Now all descending plunge beneath the main, And lash the foam with undulating train; Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance, In air and ocean weave the mazy dance;215 Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes, And twinkle to the sun with ever-changing dyes. Where Andes, crested with volcanic beams, Sheds a long line of light on Plata's streams; Opes all his springs, unlocks his golden caves, 220 And feeds and freights the immeasurable waves; Delighted OCYMA at twilight hours Calls her light car, and leaves the sultry bowers;-- Love's rising ray, and Youth's seductive dye, Bloom'd on her cheek, and brighten'd in her eye;225 Chaste, pure, and white, a zone of silver graced Her tender breast, as white, as pure, as chaste;--- [_Ocymum salinun_. L. 221. Saline Basil. Class Two Powers. The AbbèMolina, in his History of Chili, translated from the Italian by the AbbèGrewvel, mentions a species of Basil, which he calls Ocymum salinum: hesays it resembles the common basil, except that the stalk is round andjointed; and that though it grows 60 miles from the sea, yet everymorning it is covered with saline globules, which are hard and splendid, appearing at a distance like dew; and that each plant furnishes abouthalf an ounce of fine salt every day, which the peasants collect, and useas common salt, but esteem it superior in flavour. As an article of diet, salt seems to act simply as a stimulus, notcontaining any nourishment, and is the only fossil substance which thecaprice of mankind has yet taken into their stomachs along with theirfood; and, like all other unnatural stimuli, is not necessary to peoplein health, and contributes to weaken our system; though it may be usefulas a medicine. It seems to be the immediate cause of the sea-scurvy, asthose patients quickly recover by the use of fresh provisions; and isprobably a remote cause of scrophula (which consists in the want ofirritability in the absorbent vessels), and is therefore serviceable tothese patients; as wine is necessary to those whose stomachs have beenweakened by its use. The universality of the use of salt with our food, and in our cookery, has rendered it difficult to prove the truth of theseobservations. I suspect that flesh-meat cut into thin slices, either rawor boiled, might be preserved in coarse sugar or treacle; and thus a verynourishing and salutary diet might be presented to our seamen. See noteon Salt-rocks, in Vol. I, Canto II. If a person unaccustomed to much saltshould eat a couple of red-herrings, his insensible perspiration willbe so much increased by the stimulus of the salt, that he will find itnecessary in about two hours to drink a quart of water: the effects of acontinued use of salt in weakening the action of the lymphatic system mayhence be deduced. ] By _four_ fond swains in playful circles drawn, On glowing wheels she tracks the moon-bright lawn, Mounts the rude cliff, unveils her blushing charms, 230 And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms. Emerged from ocean springs the vaporous air, Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair, Incrusts her beamy form with films saline, And Beauty blazes through the crystal shrine. --235 So with pellucid studs the ice-flower gems Her rimy foliage, and her candied stems. So from his glassy horns, and pearly eyes, The diamond-beetle darts a thousand dyes; Mounts with enamel'd wings the vesper gale, 240 And wheeling shines in adamantine mail. Thus when loud thunders o'er Gomorrah burst, And heaving earthquakes shook his realms accurst, An Angel-guest led forth the trembling Fair With shadowy hand, and warn'd the guiltless pair; [_Ice-flower_. L. 235. Mesembryanthemum crystallinum. ] 245 "Haste from these lands of sin, ye Righteous! fly, Speed the quick step, nor turn the lingering eye!"-- --Such the command, as fabling Bards indite, When Orpheus charm'd the grisly King of Night; Sooth'd the pale phantoms with his plaintive lay, 250 And led the fair Assurgent into day. -- Wide yawn'd the earth, the fiery tempest flash'd, And towns and towers in one vast ruin crash'd;-- Onward they move, ---loud horror roars behind, And shrieks of Anguish bellow in the wind. 255 With many a sob, amid a thousand fears, The beauteous wanderer pours her gushing tears; Each soft connection rends her troubled breast, --She turns, unconscious of the stern behest!-- "I faint!--I fall!--ah, me!--sensations chill260 Shoot through my bones, my shuddering bosom thrill! I freeze! I freeze! just Heaven regards my fault, Numbs my cold limbs, and hardens into salt!-- Not yet, not yet, your dying Love resign!-- This last, last kiss receive!--no longer thine!"--265 She said, and ceased, --her stiffen'd form He press'd, And strain'd the briny column to his breast; Printed with quivering lips the lifeless snow, And wept, and gazed the monument of woe. -- So when Aeneas through the flames of Troy270 Bore his pale fire, and led his lovely boy; With loitering step the fair Creusa stay'd, And Death involved her in eternal shade. -- Oft the lone Pilgrim that his road forsakes, Marks the wide ruins, and the sulphur'd lakes;275 On mouldering piles amid asphaltic mud Hears the hoarse bittern, where Gomorrah stood; Recalls the unhappy Pair with lifted eye, Leans on the crystal tomb, and breathes the silent sigh.. With net-wove sash and glittering gorget dress'd, 280 And scarlet robe lapell'd upon her breast, Stern ARA frowns, the measured march assumes, Trails her long lance, and nods her shadowy plumes; [_Arum_. I. 281. Cuckow-pint, of the class Gynandria, or masculine ladies. The pistil, or female part of the flower, rises like a club, is coveredabove or clothed, as it were, by the anthers or males; and some of thespecies have a large scarlet blotch in the middle of every leaf. The singular and wonderful structure of this flower has occasioned manydisputes amongst botanists. See Tourniff. Malpig. Dillen. Rivin. &c. Thereceptacle is enlarged into a naked club, with the germs at its base;the stamens are affixed to the receptacle amidst the germs (a naturalprodigy), and thus do not need the assistance of elevating filaments:hence the flower may be said to be inverted. _Families of Plants_translated from Linneus, p. 618. The spadix of this plant is frequently quite white, or coloured, and theleaves liable to be streaked with white, and to have black or scarletblotches on them. As the plant has no corol or blossom, it is probablethe coloured juices in these parts of the sheath or leaves may serve thesame purpose as the coloured juices in the petals of other flowers; fromwhich I suppose the honey to be prepared. See note on Helleborus. I aminformed that those tulip-roots which have a red cuticle produce redflowers. See Rubia. When the petals of the tulip become striped with many colours, the plantloses almost half of its height; and the method of making them thus breakinto colours is by transplanting them into a meagre or sandy soil, _afterthey have previously enjoyed a richer soil: hence it appears, thatthe plant is weakened when the flower becomes variegated. See note onAnemone. For the acquired habits of vegetables, see Tulipa, Orchis. The roots of the Arum are scratched up and eaten by thrushes in severesnowy seasons. White's Hist. Of Selbourn, p. 43. ] While Love's soft beams illume her treacherous eyes, And Beauty lightens through the thin disguise. 285 So erst, when HERCULES, untamed by toil, Own'd the soft power of DEJANIRA'S smile;-- His lion-spoils the laughing Fair demands, And gives the distaff to his awkward hands; O'er her white neck the bristly mane she throws, 290 And binds the gaping whiskers on her brows; 290 Plaits round her slender waist the shaggy vest, And clasps the velvet paws across her breast. Next with soft hands the knotted club she rears, Heaves up from earth, and on her shoulder bears. 295 Onward with loftier step the Beauty treads, 295 And trails the brinded ermine o'er the meads; Wolves, bears, and bards, forsake the affrighted groves, And grinning Satyrs tremble, as she moves. CARYO'S sweet smile DIANTHUS proud admires, 300 And gazing burns with unallow'd desires; 300 [_Dianthus_. L. 299. Superbus. Proud Pink. There is a kind of pinkcalled Fairchild's mule, which is here supposed to be produced betweena Dianthus superbus, and the Garyophyllus, Clove. The Dianthus superbusemits a most fragrant odour, particularly at night. Vegetable mulessupply an irrefragable argument in favour of the sexual system of botany. They are said to be numerous; and, like the mules of the animal kingdom, not always to continue their species by seed. There is an account of acurious mule from the Antirrbinum linaria, Toad-flax, in the Amoenit. Academ. V. I. No. 3. And many hybrid plants described in No. 32. TheUrtica alienata is an evergreen plant, which appears to be a nettle fromthe male flowers, and a Pellitory (Parietaria) from the female ones andthe fruit; and is hence between both. Murray, Syft. Veg. Amongst theEnglish indigenous plants, the veronica hybrida mule Speedwel is supposedto have originated from the officinal one; and the spiked one, and theSibthorpia Europæa to have for its parents the golden saxifrage and marshpennywort. Pulteney's View of Linneus, p. 250. Mr. Graberg, Mr. Schreber, and Mr. Ramstrom, seem of opinion, that the internal structure or partsof fructification in mule-plants resemble the female parent; but thatthe habit or external structure resembles the male parent. See treatisesunder the above names in V. VI. Amænit. Academic. The mule produced froma horse and the ass resembles the horse externally with his ears, main, and tail; but with the nature or manners of an ass: but the Hinnus, orcreature produced from a male ass, and a mare, resembles the fatherexternally in stature, ash-colour, and the black cross, but with thenature or manners of a horse. The breed from Spanish rams and Swedishewes resembled the Spanish sheep in wool, stature, and external form; butwas as hardy as the Swedish sheep; and the contrary of those which wereproduced from Swedish rams and Spanish ewes. The offspring from the malegoat of Angora and the Swedish female goat had long soft camel's hair;but that from the male Swedish goat, and the female one of Angora, had noimprovement of their wool. An English ram without horns, and a Swedishhorned ewe, produced sheep without horns. Amoen. Academ. V. VI. P. 13. ] With sighs and sorrows her compassion moves, And wins the damsel to illicit loves. The Monster-offspring heirs the father's pride, Mask'd in the damask beauties of the bride. 305 So, when the Nightingale in eastern bowers On quivering pinion woos the Queen of flowers; Inhales her fragrance, as he hangs in air, And melts with melody the blushing fair; Half-rose, half-bird, a beauteous Monster springs, 310 Waves his thin leaves, and claps his glossy wings; Long horrent thorns his mossy legs surround, And tendril-talons root him to the ground; Green films of rind his wrinkled neck o'espread, And crimson petals crest his curled head;315 Soft-warbling beaks in each bright blossom move, And vocal Rosebuds thrill the enchanted grove!-- Admiring Evening stays her beamy star, And still Night listens from his ebon ear; While on white wings descending Houries throng, 320 And drink the floods of odour and of song. When from his golden urn the Solstice pours O'er Afric's sable sons the sultry hours; When not a gale flits o'er her tawny hills, Save where the dry Harmattan breathes and kills; [_The dry Harmattan_. L. 324. The Harmattan is a singular wind blowingfrom the interior parts of Africa to the Atlantic ocean, sometimes fora few hours, sometimes for several days without regular periods. It isalways attended with a fog or haze, so dense as to render those objectsinvisible which are at the distance of a quarter of a mile; the sunappears through it only about noon, and then of a dilute red, and veryminute particles subside from the misty air so as to make the grass, andthe skins of negroes appear whitish. The extreme dryness which attendsthis wind or fog, without dews, withers and quite dries the leaves ofvegetables; and is said of Dr. Lind at some seasons to be fatal andmalignant to mankind; probably after much preceding wet, when it maybecome loaded with the exhalations from putrid marshes; at otherseasons it is said to check epidemic diseases, to cure fluxes, andto heal ulcers and cutaneous eruptions; which is probably effected by itsyielding no moisture to the mouths of the external absorbent vessels, by which the action of the other branches of the absorbent system isincreased to supply the deficiency. _Account of the Harmattan. Phil. Transact. V. LXXI. _ The Rev. Mr. Sterling gives an account of a darkness for six or eighthours at Detroit in America, on the 19th of October, 1762, in whichthe sun appeared as red as blood, and thrice its usual size: some rainfalling, covered white paper with dark drops, like sulphur or dirt, whichburnt like wet gunpowder, and the air had a very sulphureous smell. He supposes this to have been emitted from some distant earthquake orvolcano. Philos. Trans. V. LIII. P. 63. In many circumstances this wind seems much to resemble the dry fog whichcovered most parts of Europe for many weeks in the summer of 1780, whichhas been supposed to have had a volcanic origin, as it succeeded theviolent eruption of Mount Hecla, and its neighbourhood. From thesubsidence of a white powder, it seems probable that the Harmattan hasa similar origin, from the unexplored mountains of Africa. Nor is itimprobable, that the epidemic coughs, which occasionally traverse immensetracts of country, may be the products of volcanic eruptions; norimpossible, that at some future time contagious miasmata may be thusemitted from subterraneous furnaces, in such abundance as to contaminatethe whole atmosphere, and depopulate the earth!] 325 When stretch'd in dust her gasping panthers lie, And writh'd in foamy folds her serpents die; Indignant Atlas mourns his leafless woods, And Gambia trembles for his sinking floods; Contagion stalks along the briny sand, 330 And Ocean rolls his sickening shoals to land. [_His sickening shoals_. 330. Mr. Marsden relates, that in the island ofSumatra, during the November of 1775, the dry monsoons, or S. E. Winds, continued so much longer than usual, that the large rivers became dry;and prodigious quantities of sea-fish, dead and dying, were seen floatingfor leagues on the sea, and driven on the beach by the tides. This wassupposed to have been caused by the great evaporation, and the deficiencyof fresh water rivers having rendered the sea too fast for its inhabitants. The season then became so sickly as to destroy great numbers of people, both foreigners and natives. Phil. Trans. V. LXXI. P. 384. ] --Fair CHUNDA smiles amid the burning waste, Her brow unturban'd, and her zone unbrac'd; _Ten_ brother-youths with light umbrella's shade, Or fan with busy hands the panting maid;335 Loose wave her locks, disclosing, as they break, The rising bosom and averted cheek; [_Chunda_. L. 331. _Chundali Borrum_ is the name which the natives giveto this plant; it is the Hedylarum gyrans, or moving plant; its class istwo brotherhoods, ten males. Its leaves are continually in spontaneousmotion; some rising and others falling; and others whirling circularly bytwisting their stems; this spontaneous movement of the leaves, when theair is quite still and very warm, seems to be necessary to the plant, atperpetual respiration is to animal life. A more particular account, witha good print of the Hedyfarum gyrans is given by M. Brouffonet in a paperon vegetable motions in the Histoire de l'Academie des Sciences. Ann. 1784, p. 609. There are many other instances of spontaneous movements of the parts ofvegetables. In the Marchantia polymorpha some yellow wool proceeds fromthe flower-bearing anthers, which moves spontaneously in the anther, while it drops its dust like atoms. Murray, Syst. Veg. See note onCollinfonia for other instances of vegetable spontaneity. Add to this, that as the sleep of animals consists in a suspension of voluntarymotion, and as vegetables are likewise subject to sleep, there is reasonto conclude, that the various actions of opening and closing their petalsand foliage may be justly ascribed to a voluntary power: for withoutthe faculty of volition, sleep would not have been, necessary to them. ] [Illustration: Hedysarum gyrans. ] Clasp'd round her ivory neck with studs of gold Flows her thin vest in many a gauzy fold; O'er her light limbs the dim transparence plays, 340 And the fair form, it seems to hide, betrays. Where leads the northern Star his lucid train High o'er the snow-clad earth, and icy main, With milky light the white horizon streams, And to the moon each sparkling mountain gleams. --345 Slow o'er the printed snows with silent walk Huge shaggy forms across the twilight stalk; And ever and anon with hideous sound Burst the thick ribs of ice, and thunder round. -- There, as old Winter slaps his hoary wing, 350 And lingering leaves his empire to the Spring, Pierced with quick shafts of silver-shooting light Fly in dark troops the dazzled imps of night-- [_Burst the thick rib of ice_. L. 348. The violent cracks of ice heardfrom the Glaciers seem to be caused by some of the snow being melted inthe middle of the day; and the water thus produced running down intovallies of ice, and congealing again in a few hours, forces off by itsexpansion large precipices from the ice-mountains. ] "Awake, my Love!" enamour'd MUSCHUS cries, "Stretch thy fair limbs, resulgent Maid! arise;355 Ope thy sweet eye-lids to the rising ray, And hail with ruby lips returning day. Down the white hills dissolving torrents pour, Green springs the turf, and purple blows the flower; His torpid wing the Rail exulting tries, 360 Mounts the soft gale, and wantons in the skies; Rise, let us mark how bloom the awaken'd groves, And 'mid the banks of roses _hide_ our loves. " [_Muschus_. L. 353. Corallinus, or lichen rangiferinus. Coral-moss. Clandestine-marriage. This moss vegetates beneath the snow, where thedegree of heat is always about 40; that is, in the middle between thefreezing point, and the common heat of the earth; and is for many monthsof the winter the sole food of the rain-deer, who digs furrows in thesnow to find it: and as the milk and flesh of this animal is almost theonly sustenance which can be procured during the long winters of thehigher latitudes, this moss may be said to support some millions ofmankind. The quick vegetation that occurs on the solution of the snows in highlatitudes appears very astonishing; it seems to arise from two causes, 1. The long continuance of the approaching sun above the horizon; 2. Theincreased irritability of plants which have been long exposed to thecold. See note on Anemone. All the water-fowl on the lakes of Siberia are said by Professor Gmelinto retreat Southwards on the commencement of the frosts, except the Rail, which sleeps buried in the snow. Account of Siberia. ] Night's tinsel beams on smooth Lock-lomond dance, Impatient ÆGA views the bright expanse;--365 In vain her eyes the parting floods explore, Wave after wave rolls freightless to the shore. --Now dim amid the distant foam she spies A rising speck, --"'tis he! 'tis he!" She cries; As with firm arms he beats the streams aside, 370 And cleaves with rising chest the tossing tide, With bended knee she prints the humid sands, Up-turns her glistening eyes, and spreads her hands; --"'Tis he, 'tis he!--My Lord, my life, my love!-- Slumber, ye winds; ye billows, cease to move!375 beneath his arms your buoyant plumage spread, Ye Swans! ye Halcyons! hover round his head!"-- [_Æga_ l. 364. Conserva ægagropila. It is found loose in many lakesin a globular form, from the size of a walnut to that of a melon, muchresembling the balls of hair found in the stomachs of cows; it adheresto nothing, but rolls from one part of the lake to another. The Conservavagabunda dwells on the European seas, travelling along in the midst ofthe waves; (Spec. Plant. ) These may not improperly be called itinerantvegetables. In a similar manner the Fucus natans (swimming) strikes noroots into the earth, but floats on the sea in very extensive masses, andmay be said to be a plant of passage, as it is wafted by the winds fromone shore to another. ] --With eager step the boiling surf she braves, And meets her refluent lover in the waves; Loose o'er the flood her azure mantle swims, 380 And the clear stream betrays her snowy limbs. So on her sea-girt tower fair HERO stood At parting day, and mark'd the dashing flood; While high in air, the glimmering rocks above, Shone the bright lamp, the pilot-star of Love. 385 --With robe outspread the wavering flame behind She kneels, and guards it from the shifting wind; Breathes to her Goddess all her vows, and guides Her bold LEANDER o'er the dusky tides; Wrings his wet hair, his briny bosom warms, 390 And clasps her panting lover in her arms. Deep, in wide caverns and their shadowy ailes, Daughter of Earth, the chaste TRUFFELIA smiles; [_Truffelia_. L. 392. (Lycoperdon Tuber) Truffle. Clandestine marriage. This fungus never appears above ground, requiring little air, and perhaps no light. It is found by dogs or swine, who hunt it by the smell. Otherplants, which have no buds or branches on their stems, as the grasses, shoot out numerous stoles or scions underground; and this the more, as their tops or herbs are eaten by cattle, and thus preservethemselves, ] On silvery beds, of soft asbestus wove, Meets her Gnome-husband, and avows her love. 395 --_High_ o'er her couch impending diamonds blaze, And branching gold the crystal roof inlays; With verdant light the modest emeralds glow, Blue sapphires glare, and rubies blush, _below_; Light piers of lazuli the dome surround, 400 And pictured mochoes tesselate the ground; In glittering threads along reflective walls The warm rill murmuring twinkles, as it falls; Now sink the Eolian strings, and now they swell, And Echoes woo in every vaulted cell;405 While on white wings delighted Cupids play, Shake their bright lamps, and shed celestial day. Closed in an azure fig by fairy spells, Bosom'd in down, fair CAPRI-FICA dwells;-- [_Caprificus_. L. 408 Wild fig. The fruit of the fig is not aseed-vessel, but a receptacle inclosing the flower within it. As thesetrees bear some male and others female flowers, immured on all sides bythe fruit, the manner of their fecundation was very unintelligible, tillTournefort and Pontedera discovered, that a kind of gnat produced in themale figs carried the fecundating dust on its wings, (Cynips PsenesSyst. Nat. 919. ), and, penetrating the female fig, thus impregnatedthe flowers; for the evidence of this wonderful fact, see the wordCaprification, in Milne's Botanical Dictionary. The figs of this countryare all female, and their seeds not prolific; and therefore they can onlybe propagated by layers and suckers. Monsieur de la Hire has shewn in the Memoir, de l'Academ. De Science, that the summer figs of Paris, in Provence, Italy, and Malta, have allperfect stamina, and ripen not only their fruits, but their seed; fromwhich seed other fig-trees are raised; but that the stamina of theautumnal figs are abortive, perhaps owing to the want of due warmth. Mr. Milne, in his Botanical Dictionary (art. Caprification), says, that thecultivated fig-trees have a few male flowers placed above the femalewithin the same covering or receptacle; which in warmer climates performtheir proper office, but in colder ones become abortive: And Linneusobserves, that some figs have the navel of the receptacle open; whichwas one reason that induced him to remove this plant from the classClandestine Marriage to the class Polygamy. Lin. Spec. Plant. From all these circumstances I should conjecture, that those femalefig-flowers, which are closed on all sides in the fruit or receptaclewithout any male ones, are monsters, which have been propagated for theirfruit, like barberries, and grapes without seeds in them; and that theCaprification is either an ancient process of imaginary use, and blindlyfollowed in some countries, or that it may contribute to ripen the figby decreasing its vigour, like cutting off a circle of the bark from thebranch of a pear-tree. Tournefort seems inclined to this opinion; whosays, that the figs in Provence and at Paris ripen sooner, if their budsbe pricked with a straw dipped in olive-oil. Plumbs and pears puncturedby some insects ripen sooner, and the part round the puncture is sweeter. Is not the honey-dew produced by the puncture of insects? will notwounding the branch of a pear-tree, which is too vigorous, prevent theblossoms from falling off; as from some fig-trees the fruit is said tofall off unless they are wounded by caprification? I had last spring sixyoung trees of the Ischia fig with fruit on them in pots in a stove; onremoving them into larger boxes, they protruded very vigorous shoots, andthe figs all fell off; which I ascribed to the increased vigour of theplants. ] So sleeps in silence the Curculio, shut410 In the dark chambers of the cavern'd nut, Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted shell, And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell. So the pleased Linnet in the moss-wove nest, Waked into life beneath its parent's breast, 415 Chirps in the gaping shell, bursts forth erelong, Shakes its new plumes, and tries its tender song. -- --And now the talisman she strikes, that charms Her husband-Sylph, --and calls him to her arms. -- Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord bestrides, 420 With cobweb reins the flying courser guides, From crystal steeps of viewless ether springs, Cleaves the soft air on still expanded wings; Darts like a sunbeam o'er the boundless wave, And seeks the beauty in her _secret_ cave. 425 So with quick impulse through all nature's frame Shoots the electric air its subtle flame. So turns the impatient needle to the pole, Tho' mountains rise between, and oceans roll. Where round the Orcades white torrents roar, 430 Scooping with ceaseless rage the incumbent shore, Wide o'er the deep a dusky cavern bends Its marble arms, and high in air impends; Basaltic piers the ponderous roof sustain, And steep their massy sandals in the main;435 Round the dim walls, and through the whispering ailes Hoarse breathes the wind, the glittering water boils. Here the charm'd BYSSUS with his blooming bride Spreads his green sails, and braves the foaming tide; The star of Venus gilds the twilight wave, 440 And lights her votaries to the _secret_ cave; Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed, And each coy sea-maid hides her blushing head. [_Basaltic piers_. L. 433. This description alludes to the cave ofFingal in the island of Staffa. The basaltic columns, which compose theGiants Causeway on the coast of Ireland, as well as those which supportthe cave of Fingal, are evidently of volcanic origin, as is wellillustrated in an ingenious paper of Mr. Keir, in the Philos. Trans. Whoobserved in the glass, which had been long in a fusing heat at the bottomof the pots in the glass-houses at Stourbridge, that crystals wereproduced of a form similar to the parts of the basaltic columns of theGiants Causeway. ] [_Byssus_. 437. Clandestine Marriage. It floats on the sea in the day, and sinks a little during the night; it is found in caverns on thenorthern shores, of a pale green colour, and as thin as paper. ] Where cool'd by rills, and curtain'd round by woods, Slopes the green dell to meet the briny floods, 445 The sparkling noon-beams trembling on the tide, The PROTEUS-LOVER woos his playful bride, To win the fair he tries a thousand forms, Basks on the sands, or gambols in the storms. A Dolphin now, his scaly sides he laves, 450 And bears the sportive damsel on the waves; She strikes the cymbal as he moves along, And wondering Ocean listens to the song. --And now a spotted Pard the lover stalks, Plays round her steps, and guards her favour'd walks; [_The Proteus-love_. L. 446. Conserva polymorpha. This vegetable isput amongst the cryptogamia, or clandestine marriages, by Linneus; but, according to Mr. Ellis, the males and females are on different plants. Philos. Trans. Vol. LVII. It twice changes its colour, from red to brown, and then to black; and changes its form by losing its lower leaves, andelongating some of the upper ones, so as to be mistaken by the unskilfulfor different plants. It grows on the shores of this country. There is another plant, Medicago polymorpha, which may be said to assumea great variety of shapes; as the seed-vessels resemble sometimessnail-horns, at other times caterpillars with or without long hair uponthem; by which means it is probable they sometimes elude the depredationsof those insects. The seeds of Calendula, Marygold, bend up like a hairycaterpillar, with their prickles bridling outwards, and may thus detersome birds or insects from preying upon them. Salicornia also assumesan animal similitude. Phil. Bot. P. 87. See note on Iris in additionalnotes; and Cypripedia in Vol. I. ] 455 As with white teeth he prints her hand, caress'd, And lays his velvet paw upon her breast, O'er his round face her snowy fingers strain The silken knots, and fit the ribbon-rein. --And now a Swan, he spreads his plumy sails, 460 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 shines his sinuous neck, with crimson beak He prints fond kisses on her glowing cheek, 465 Spreads his broad wings, elates his ebon crest, And clasps the beauty to his downy breast. A _hundred_ virgins join a _hundred_ swains, And fond ADONIS leads the sprightly trains; [_Adonis_. L. 468. Many males and many females live together in thesame flower. It may seem a solecism in language, to call a flower, whichcontains many of both sexes, an individual; and the more so to call atree or shrub an individual, which consists of so many flowers. Everytree, indeed, ought to be considered as a family or swarm of itsrespective buds; but the buds themselves seem to be individual plants;because each has leaves or lungs appropriated to it; and the bark of thetree is only a congeries of the roots of all these individual buds. Thushollow oak-trees and willows are often seen with the whole wooddecayed and gone; and yet the few remaining branches flourish withvigour; but in respect to the male and female parts of a flower, they donot destroy its individuality any more than the number of paps of a sow, or the number of her cotyledons, each of which includes one of her young. The society, called the Areoi, in the island of Otaheite, consists ofabout 100 males and 100 females, who form one promiscuous marriage. ] Pair after pair, along his sacred groves470 To Hymen's fane the bright procession moves; Each smiling youth a myrtle garland shades, And wreaths of roses veil the blushing maids; Light joys on twinkling feet attend the throng, Weave the gay dance, or raise the frolic song;475 --Thick, as they pass, exulting Cupids fling Promiscuous arrows from the sounding string; On wings of gossamer soft Whispers fly, And the sly Glance steals side-long from the eye. --As round his shrine the gaudy circles bow, 480 And seal with muttering lips the faithless vow, Licentious Hymen joins their mingled hands, And loosely twines the meretricious bands. -- Thus where pleased VENUS, in the southern main, Sheds all her smiles on Otaheite's plain, 485 Wide o'er the isle her silken net she draws, And the Loves laugh at all, but Nature's laws. " Here ceased the Goddess, --o'er the silent strings Applauding Zephyrs swept their fluttering wings; Enraptur'd Sylphs arose in murmuring crowds490 To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds; Each Gnome reluctant sought his earthy cell, And each bright Floret clos'd her velvet bell. Then, on soft tiptoe, NIGHT approaching near Hung o'er the tuneless lyre his sable ear;495 Gem'd with bright stars the still etherial plain, And bad his Nightingales repeat the strain. [Illustration: Apocynum androsæmifolium. ] ADDITIONAL NOTES: P. 7. _Additional note to Curcuma. _ These anther-less filaments seem tobe an endeavour of the plant to produce more stamens, as would appearfrom some experiments of M. Reynier, instituted for another purpose:he cut away the stamens of many flowers, with design to prevent theirfecundity, and in many instances the flower threw out new filaments fromthe wounded part of different lengths; but did not produce new anthers. The experiments were made on the geum rivale, different kinds of mallows, and the æchinops ritro. Critical Review for March, 1788. P. 8. _Addition to the note on Iris. _ In the Persian Iris the end of thelower petal is purple, with white edges and orange streaks, creeping, asit were, into the mouth of the flower like an insect; by which deceptionin its native climate it probably prevents a similar insect fromplundering it of its honey: the edges of the lower petal lap over thoseof the upper one, which prevents it from opening too wide on fine days, and facilitates its return at night; whence the rain is excluded, and theair admitted. See Polymorpha, Rubia, and Cypripedia in Vol. I. P. 12. _Additional note on Chandrilla. _ In the natural state of theexpanded flower of the barberry, the stamens lie on the petals; underthe concave summits of which the anthers shelter themselves, and in thissituation remain perfectly rigid; but on touching the inside of thefilament near its base with a fine bristle, or blunt needle, the stameninstantly bends upwards, and the anther, embracing the stigma, sheds itsdust. Observations on the Irritation of Vegetables, by T. E. Smith, M. D. P. 15. _Addition to the note on Silene. _ I saw a plant of the DionaeaMuscipula, Flytrap of Venus, this day, in the collection of Mr. Boothbyat Ashbourn-Hall, Derbyshire, Aug. 20th, 1788; and on drawing a strawalong the middle of the rib of the leaves as they lay upon the groundround the stem, each of them, in about a second of time, closed anddoubled itself up, crossing the thorns over the opposite edge of theleaf, like the teeth of a spring rap-trap: of this plant I was favouredwith an elegant coloured drawing, by Miss Maria Jackson of Tarporly, inCheshire, a Lady who adds much botanical knowledge to many other elegantacquirements. In the Apocynum Androsaemifolium, one kind of Dog's bane, the anthers converge over the nectaries, which consist of five glandularoval corpuscles surrounding the germ; and at the same time admit airto the nectaries at the interstice between each anther. But when a flyinserts its proboscis between these anthers to plunder the honey, theyconverge closer, and with such violence as to detain the fly, which thusgenerally perishes. This account was related to me by R. W. Darwin, Esq;of Elston, in Nottinghamshire, who showed me the plant in flower, July2d, 1788, with a fly thus held fast by the end of its proboscis, and waswell seen by a magnifying lens, and which in vain repeatedly struggled todisengage itself, till the converging anthers were separated by meansof a pin: on some days he had observed that almost every flower of thiselegant plant had a fly in it thus entangled; and a few weeks afterwardsfavoured me with his further observations on this subject. "My Apocynum is not yet out of flower. I have often visited it, and have frequently found four or five flies, some alive, and some dead, in its flowers; they are generally caught by the trunk or proboscis, sometimes by the trunk and a leg; there is one at present only caught by a leg: I don't know that this plant sleeps, as the flowers remain open in the night; yet the flies frequently make their escape. In a plant of Mr. Ordino's, an ingenious gardener at Newark, who is possessed of a great collection of plants, I saw many flowers of an Apocynum with three dead flies in each; they are a thin-bodied fly, and rather less than the common house-fly; but I have seen two or three other sorts of flies thus arrested by the plant. Aug. 12, 1788. " P. 18. _Additional note on Ilex_. The efficient cause which renders thehollies prickly in Needwood Forest only as high as the animals can reachthem, may arise from the lower branches being constantly cropped by them, and thus shoot forth more luxuriant foliage: it is probable the shears ingarden-hollies may produce the same effect, which is equally curious, asprickles are not thus produced on other plants. P. 41. _Additional note on Ulva_. M. Hubert made some observations on theair contained in the cavities of the bambou. The stems of these caneswere from 40 to 50 feet in height, and 4 or 5 inches in diameter, andmight contain about 30 pints of elastic air. He cut a bambou, andintroduced a lighted candle into the cavity, which was extinguishedimmediately on its entrance. He tried this about 60 times in a cavity ofthe bambou, containing about two pints. He introduced mice at differenttimes into these cavities, which seemed to be somewhat affected, but soonrecovered their agility. The stem of the bambou is not hollow till itrises more than one foot from the earth; the divisions between thecavities are convex downwards. Observ. Sur la Physique par M. Rozier, l. 33. P. 130. P. 65. _Additional note on Gossypium_. --------emerging Naïads cull From leathery pods the vegetable wool. ----_eam circum Milesia vellera nymphæ Carpebant, hyali saturo fucata colore_. Virg. Georg. IV. 334. P. 119. _Addition to Orchis_. The two following lines were by mistakeomitted; they were to have been inserted after l. 282, p. 119. Saw on his helm, her virgin hands inwove, Bright stars of gold, and mystic knots of love; P. 136. _Addition to the note on Tropæolum_. In Sweden a very curiousphenomenon has been observed on certain flowers, by M. Haggren, Lecturer in Natural History. One evening be perceived a faint flash oflight repeatedly dart from a Marigold; surprized at such an uncommonappearance, he resolved to examine it with attention; and, to be assuredthat it was no deception of the eye, he placed a man near him, withorders to make a signal at the moment when he observed the light. Theyboth saw it constantly at the same moment. The light was most brilliant on Marigolds, of an orange or flame colour;but scarcely visible on pale ones. The flash was frequently seen on the same flower two or three times inquick succession, but more commonly at intervals of several minutes; andwhen several flowers in the same place emitted their light together, itcould be observed at a considerable distance. This phaenomenon was remarked in the months of July and August, atsun-set, and for half an hour after, when the atmosphere was clear; butafter a rainy day, or when the air was loaded with vapours, nothing of itwas seen. The following flowers emitted flashes, more or less vivid, in this order: 1. The Marigold, _(Calendula Officinalis)_. 2. Garden Nasturtion, _(Tropæolum majus)_. 3. Orange Lily, _(Lilium bulbiferum)_. 4. The Indian Pink, _(Tagetes patula et erecta)_. Sometimes it was also observed on the Sun-flowers, _(Helianthus annuus)_. But bright yellow, or flame colour, seemed in general necessary for theproduction of this light; for it was never seen on the flowers of anyother colour. To discover whether some little insects, or phosphoric worms, might notbe the cause of it, the flowers were carefully examined even with amicroscope, without any such being found. From the rapidity of the flash, and other circumstances, it might beconjectured, that there is something of electricity in this phaenomenon. It is well known, that when the _pistil_ of a flower is impregnated, the_pollen_ bursts away by its elasticity, with which electricity may becombined. But M. Haggren, after having observed the slash from theOrange-lily, the _anthers_ of which are a considerable space distant fromthe _petals, _ found that the light proceeded from the _petals_ only;whence he concludes, that this electric light is caused by the _pollen_, which in flying off is scattered upon the _petals. _ Obser. Physìque parM. Rozier, Vol. XXXIII. P. Iii. P. 153. _Addition to Avena. _ The following lines were by mistake omitted;they were designed to have been inserted after l. 102, p. 153. Green swells the beech, the widening knots improve, So spread the tender growths of culture'd love; Wave follows wave, the letter'd lines decay, So Love's soft forms neglected melt away. P. 157. _Additional note to Bellis. _ Du Halde gives an account of a whitewax made by small insects round the branches of a tree in China in greatquantity, which is there collected for economical and medical purposes:the tree is called Tong-tsin. Description of China, Vol. I. P. 230. _Description of the Poison-Tree in the Island of JAVA. Translated fromthe original Dutch of_ N. P. Foerich. This destructive tree is called in the Malayan language _Bohon-Upas, _and has been described by naturalists; but their accounts have beenso tinctured with the _marvellous, _ that the whole narration has beensupposed to be an ingenious fiction by the generality of readers. Noris this in the least degree surprising, when the circumstances which weshall faithfully relate in this description are considered. I must acknowledge, that I long doubted the existence of this tree, untila stricter enquiry convinced me of my error. I shall now only relatesimple unadorned facts, of which I have been an eye-witness. My readersmay depend upon the fidelity of this account. In the year 1774 I wasstationed at Batavia, as surgeon, in the service of the Dutch East-IndiaCompany. During my residence there I received several different accountsof the Bohon Upas, and the violent effects of its poison. They all thenseemed incredible to me, but raised my curiosity in so high a degree, that I resolved to investigate this subject thoroughly, and to trust onlyto _my own observations. _ In consequence of this resolution, I applied tothe Governor-General, Mr. Petrus Albertus van der Parra, for a pass totravel through the country: my request was granted; and, having procuredevery information. I set out on my expedition. I had procured arecommendation from an old Malayan priest to another priest, who liveson the nearest inhabitable spot to the tree, which is about fifteen orsixteen miles distant. The letter proved of great service to me in myundertaking, as that priest is appointed by the Emperor to reside there, in order to prepare for eternity the souls of those who for differentcrimes are sentenced to approach the tree, and to procure the poison. The _Bohon-Upas_ is situated in the island of _Java, _ about twenty-sevenleagues from _Batavia, _ fourteen from _Soura Charta, _ the seat of theEmperor, and between eighteen and twenty leagues from _Tinksor, _ thepresent residence of the Sultan of Java. It is surrounded on all sides bya circle of high hills and mountains; and the country round it, to thedistance of ten or twelve miles from the tree, is entirely barren. Nota tree, nor a shrub, nor even the least plant or grass is to be seen. I have made the tour all around this dangerous spot, at about eighteenmiles distant from the centre, and I found the aspect of the country onall sides equally dreary. The easiest ascent of the hills is from thatpart where the old ecclesiastick dwells. From his house the criminals aresent for the poison, into which the points of all warlike instruments aredipped. It is of high value, and produces a considerable revenue to theEmperor. _Account of the manner in which the Poison it procured. _ The poison which is procured from this tree is a gum that issues outbetween the bark and the tree itself, like the _camphor. _ Malefactors, who for their crimes are sentenced to die, are the only persons who fetchthe poison; and this is the only chance they have of saving their lives. After sentence is pronounced upon them by the judge, they are asked incourt, whether they will die by the hands of the executioner, or whetherthey will go to the Upas tree for a box of poison? They commonly preferthe latter proposal, as there is not only some chance of preservingtheir lives, but also a certainty, in case of their safe return, that aprovision will be made for them in future by the Emperor. They are alsopermitted to ask a favour from the Emperor, which is generally of atrifling nature, and commonly granted. They are then provided with asilver or tortoiseshell box, in which they are to put the poisonous gum, and are properly instructed how to proceed while they are upon theirdangerous expedition. Among other particulars, they are always told toattend to the direction of the winds; as they are to go towards the treebefore the wind, so that the effluvia from the tree are always blown fromthem. They are told, likewise, to travel with the utmost dispatch, asthat is the only method of insuring a safe return. They are afterwardssent to the house of the old priest, to which place they are commonlyattended by their friends and relations. Here they generally remainsome days, in expectation of a favourable breeze. During that timethe ecclesiastic prepares them for their future fate by prayers andadmonitions. When the hour of their departure arrives, the priest putsthem on a long leather-cap, with two glasses before their eyes, whichcomes down as far as their breast; and also provides them with a pair ofleather-gloves. They are then conducted by the priest, and their friendsand relations, about two miles on their journey. Here the priest repeatshis instructions, and tells them where they are to look for the tree. Heshews them a hill, which they are told to ascend, and that on the otherside they will find a rivulet, which they are to follow, and which willconduct them directly to the Upas. They now take leave of each other;and, amidst prayers for their success, the delinquents hasten away. Theworthy old ecclesiastic has assured me, that during his residence there, for upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above seven hundredcriminals in the manner which I have described; and that scarcely twoout of twenty have returned. He shewed me a catalogue of all the unhappysufferers, with the date of their departure from his house annexed; anda list of the offences for which they had been condemned: to which wasadded, a list of those who had returned in safety. I afterwards sawanother list of these culprits, at the jail keeper's at _Soura-Charta, _and found that they perfectly corresponded with each other, and with thedifferent informations which I afterwards obtained. I was present at someof these melancholy ceremonies, and desired different delinquents tobring with them some pieces of the wood, or a small branch, or someleaves of this wonderful tree. I have also given them silk cords, desiring them to measure its thickness. I never could procure move thantwo dry leaves that were picked up by one of them on his return; and allI could learn from him, concerning the tree itself, was, that it stood onthe border of a rivulet, as described by the old priest; that it was of amiddling size; that five or six young trees of the same kind stood closeby it; but that no other shrub or plant could be seen near it; and thatthe ground was of a brownish sand, full of stones, almost impracticablefor travelling, and covered with dead bodies. After many conversationswith the old Malayan priest, I questioned him about the first discovery, and asked his opinion of this dangerous tree; upon which he gave me thefollowing answer: "We are told in our new Alcoran, that, above an hundred years ago, thecountry around the tree was inhabited by a people strongly addicted tothe sins of Sodom and Gomorrha; when the great prophet Mahometdetermined not to suffer them to lead such detestable lives any longer, he applied to God to punish them: upon which God caused this tree togrow out of the earth, which destroyed them all, and rendered thecountry for ever uninhabitable. " Such was the Malayan opinion. I shall not attempt a comment; but mustobserve, that all the Malayans consider this tree as an holy instrumentof the great prophet to punish the sins of mankind; and, therefore, todie of the poison of the Upas is generally considered among them as anhonourable death. For that reason I also observed, that the delinquents, who were going to the tree, were generally dressed in their best apparel. This however is certain, though it may appear incredible, that fromfifteen to eighteen miles round this tree, not only no human creature canexist, but that, in that space of ground, no living animal of any kindhas ever been discovered. I have also been assured by several persons ofveracity, that there are no fish in the waters, nor has any rat, mouse, or any other vermin, been seen there; and when any birds fly so near thistree that the effluvia reaches them, they fall a sacrifice to the effectsof the poison. This circumstance has been ascertained by differentdelinquents, who, in their return, have seen the birds drop down, andhave picked them up _dead, _ and brought them to the old ecclesiastick. I will here mention an instance, which proves them a fact beyond alldoubt, and which happened during my stay at Java. In the year 1775 a rebellion broke out among the subjects of the Massay, a sovereign prince, whose dignity is nearly equal to that of the Emperor. They refused to pay a duty imposed upon them by their sovereign, whomthey openly opposed. The Massay sent a body of a thousand troops todisperse the rebels, and to drive them, with their families, out ofhis dominions. Thus four hundred families, consisting of above sixteenhundred souls, were obliged to leave their native country. Neither theEmperor nor the Sultan would give them protection, not only because theywere rebels, but also through fear of displeasing their neighbour, theMassay. In this distressful situation, they had no other resource than torepair to the uncultivated parts round the Upas, and requested permissionof the Emperor to settle there. Their request was granted, on conditionof their fixing their abode not more than twelve or fourteen miles fromthe tree, in order not to deprive the inhabitants already settled thereat a greater distance of their cultivated lands. With this they wereobliged to comply; but the consequence was, that in less than two monthstheir number was reduced to about three hundred. The chiefs of thosewho remained returned to the Massay, informed him of their losses, and intreated his pardon, which induced him to receive them again assubjects, thinking them sufficiently punished for their misconduct. Ihave seen and conversed with several of those who survived soon aftertheir return. They all had the appearance of persons tainted with aninfectious disorder; they looked pale and weak, and from the accountwhich they gave of the loss of their comrades, of the symptoms andcircumstances which attended their dissolution, such as convulsions, andother signs of a violent death, I was fully convinced that they fellvictims to the poison. This violent effect of the poison at so great a distance from the tree, certainly appears surprising, and almost incredible; and especially whenwe consider that it is possible for delinquents who approach the tree toreturn alive. My wonder, however, in a great measure, ceased, after I hadmade the following observations: I have said before, that malefactors are instructed to go to the treewith the wind, and to return against the wind. When the wind continues toblow from the same quarter while the delinquent travels thirty, or sixand thirty miles, if he be of a good constitution, he certainly survives. But what proves the most destructive is, that there is no dependence onthe wind in that part of the world for any length of time. --There are noregular land-winds; and the sea-wind is not perceived there at all, thesituation of the tree being at too great a distance, and surrounded byhigh mountains and uncultivated forests. Besides, the wind there neverblows a fresh regular gale, but is commonly merely a current of light, soft breezes, which pass through the different openings of the adjoiningmountains. It is also frequently difficult to determine from what part ofthe globe the wind really comes, as it is divided by various obstructionsin its passage, which easily change the direction of the wind, and oftentotally destroy its effects. I, therefore, impute the distant effects of the poison, in a greatmeasure, to the constant gentle winds in those parts, which have notpower enough to disperse the poisonous particles. If high winds are morefrequent and durable there, they would certainly weaken very much, andeven destroy the obnoxious effluvia of the poison; but without them, theair remains infested and pregnant with these poisonous vapours. I am the more convinced of this, as the worthy ecclesiastick assured me, that a dead calm is always attended with the greatest danger, as there isa continual perspiration issuing from the tree, which is seen to rise andspread in the air, like the putrid steam of a marshy cavern. _Experiments made with the Gum of the UPAS TREE. _ In the year 1776, in the month of February, I was present at theexecution of thirteen of the Emperor's concubines, at _Soura-Charta, _who were convicted of infidelity to the Emperor's bed. It was in theforenoon, about eleven o'clock, when the fair criminals were led intoan open space within the walls of the Emperor's palace. There the judgepassed sentence upon them, by which they are doomed to suffer death by alancet poisoned with Upas. After this the Alcoran was presented to them, and they were, according to the law of their great prophet Mahomet, toacknowledge and to affirm by oath, that the charges brought against them, together with the sentence and their punishment, were fair and equitable. This they did, by laying their right hand upon the Alcoran, their lefthands upon their breast, and their eyes lifted towards heaven; the judgethen held the Alcoran to their lips, and they kissed it. These ceremonies over, the executioner proceeded on his business in thefollowing manner:--Thirteen posts, each about five feet high, had beenpreviously erected. To these the delinquents were fastened, and theirbreasts stripped naked. In this situation they remained a short time incontinual prayers, attended by several priests, until a signal wasgiven by the judge to the executioner; on which the latter produced aninstrument, much like the spring lancet used by farriers for bleedinghorses. With this instrument, it being poisoned with the gum of the Upas, the unhappy wretches were lanced in the middle of their breasts, and theoperation was performed upon them all in less than two minutes. My astonishment was raised to the highest degree, when I beheld thesudden effects of that poison, for in about five minutes after they werelanced, they were taken with a _tremor, _ attended with a _subsultustendinum, _ after which they died in the greatest agonies, crying out toGod and Mahomet for mercy. In sixteen minutes by my watch, which I heldin my hand, all the criminals were no more. Some hours after their death, I observed their bodies full of livid spots, much like those of the_Petechiæ, _ their faces swelled, their colour changed to a kind of blue, their eyes looked yellow, &c. &c. About a fortnight after this, I had an opportunity of seeing such anotherexecution at Samarang. Seven Malayans were executed there with the sameinstrument, and in the same manner; and I found the operation of thepoison, and the spots in their bodies exactly the same. These circumstances made me desirous to try an experiment with someanimals, in order to be convinced of the real effects of this poison; andas I had then two young puppies, I thought them the fittest objects formy purpose. I accordingly procured with great difficulty some grains ofUpas. I dissolved half a grain of that gum in a small quantity of arrack, and dipped a lancet into it. With this poisoned instrument I made anincision in the lower muscular part of the belly in one of the puppies. Three minutes after it received the wound the animal began to cry outmost piteously, and ran as fast as possible from one corner of the roomto the other. So it continued during six minutes, when all its strengthbeing exhausted, it fell upon the ground, was taken with convulsions, anddied in the eleventh minute. I repeated this experiment with two otherpuppies, with a cat, and a fowl, and found the operation of the poisonin all of them the same: none of these animals survived above thirteenminutes. I thought it necessary to try also the effect of the poison giveninwardly, which I did in the following manner. I dissolved a quarter ofa grain of the gum in half an ounce of arrack, and made a dog of sevenmonths old drink it. In seven minutes a retching ensued, and I observed, at the same time, that the animal was delirious, as it ran up and downthe room, fell on the ground, and tumbled about; then it rose again, cried out very loud, and in about half an hour after was seized withconvulsions, and died. I opened the body, and found the stomach very muchinflamed, as the intestines were in some parts, but not so much as thestomach. There was a small quantity of coagulated blood in the stomach;but I could discover no orifice from which it could have issued; andtherefore supposed it to have been squeezed out of the lungs, by theanimal's straining while it was vomiting. From these experiments I have been convinced that the gum of the Upas isthe most dangerous and most violent of all vegetable poisons; and I amapt to believe that it greatly contributes to the unhealthiness of thatisland. Nor is this the only evil attending it: hundreds of the nativesof Java, as well as Europeans, are yearly destroyed and treacherouslymurdered by that poison, either internally or externally. Every man ofquality or fashion has his dagger or other arms poisoned with it; and intimes of war the Malayans poison the springs and other waters with it; bythis treacherous practice the Dutch suffered greatly during the last war, as it occasioned the loss of half their army. For this reason, they haveever since kept fish in the springs of which they drink the water; andsentinels are placed near them, who inspect the waters every hour, to seewhether the fish are alive. If they march with an army or body of troopsinto an enemy's country, they always carry live fish with them, whichthey throw into the water some hours before they venture to drink it; bywhich means they have been able to prevent their total destruction. This account, I flatter myself, will satisfy the curiosity of my readers, and the few facts which I have related will be considered as a certainproof of the exigence of this pernicious tree, and its penetratingeffects. If it be asked why we have not yet any more satisfactory accounts of thistree, I can only answer, that the object to most travellers to that partof the world consists more in commercial pursuits than in the study ofNatural History and the advancement of Sciences. Besides, Java is souniversally reputed an unhealthy island, that rich travellers seldommake any long stay in it; and others want money, and generally are tooignorant of the language to travel, in order to make enquiries. Infuture, those who visit this island will probably now be induced to makeit an object of their researches, and will furnish us with a fullerdescription of this tree. I will therefore only add, that there exists also a sort of Cajoe-Upat onthe coast of Macassar, the poison of which operates nearly in the samemanner, but is not half so violent or malignant as that of Java, andof which I shall likewise give a more circumstantial account in adescription of that island. --_London Magazine_. CATALOGUE OF THE POETIC EXHIBITION. CANTO I. Group of insects--Tender husband--Self-admirer--Rival lovers--Coquet--Platonic wife--Monster-husband--Rural happiness--Clandestine marriage--Sympathetic lovers--Ninon d'Enclos--Harlots--Giants--Mr. Wright'spaintings--Thalestris Autumnal scene--Dervise procession--Lady in fulldress--Lady on a precipice--Palace in the sea--Vegetable lamb--Whale--Sensibility--Mountain-scene by night--Lady drinking water--Lady andcauldron--Medea and Æson--Forlorn nymph Galatea on the sea--Lady frozento a statue CANTO II. Air-balloon of Mongolfier--Arts of weaving and spinning--Arkwright'scotton mills--Invention of letters, figures and crotchets--Mrs. Delany'spaper-garden--Mechanism of a watch, and design for its case--Time, hours, moments--Transformation of Nebuchadnazer--St. Anthony preaching to fishSorceress--Miss Crew's drawing--Song to May--Frost scene--Discovery of thebark--Moses striking the rock--Dropsy--Mr. Howard and prisons CANTO III. Witch and imps in a church--Inspired Priestess--Fusseli's night-mare--Caveof Thor and subterranean Naïads--Medea and her children--Palmira weepingGroup of wild creatures drinking--Poison tree of Java--Time and hours--Ladyshot in battle--Wounded deer--Harlots--Laocoon and his sons--Drunkards anddiseases--Prometheus and the vulture--Lady burying her child in the plagueMoses concealed on the Nile--Slavery of the Africans--Weeping Muse CANTO IV. Maid of night Fairies--Electric lady--Shadrec, Meshec, and Abednego, inthe fiery furnace--Shepherdesses--Song to Echo--Kingdom of China--Lady anddistaff--Cupid spinning--Lady walking in snow--Children at play--Venus andLoves--Matlock Bath--Angel bathing--Mermaid and Nereids--Lady in salt--Lot's wife--Lady in regimentals--Dejanira in a lion's skin--Offspring fromthe marriage of the Rose and Nightingale--Parched deserts in Africa--Turkish lady in an undress--Ice-scene in Lapland--Lock-lomond by moonlight--Hero and Leander--Gnome-husband and Palace under ground--Ladyinclosed in a fig--Sylph-husband--Marine cave--Proteus-lover--Lady on aDolphin--Lady bridling a Pard--Lady saluted by a Swan--Hymeneal procession--Night CONTENTS OF THE NOTES. * * * * * Seeds of Canna used for prayer-beads Stems and leaves of Callitriche so matted together, as they float on thewater, as to bear a person walking on them The female in Collinsonia approaches first to one of the males, and thento the other Females in Nigella and Epilobium bend towards the males for some days, and then leave them The stigma or head of the female in Spartium (common broom) is producedamongst the higher set of males; but when the keal-leaf opens, the pistilsuddenly twists round like a French-horn, and places the stigma amidstthe lower set of males The two lower males in Ballota become mature before the two higher; and, when their dust is shed, turn outwards from the female The plants of the class Two Powers with naked seeds are all aromatic Of these Marum and Nepeta are delightful to cats The filaments in Meadia, Borago, Cyclamen, Solanum, &c. Shewn _byreasoning_ to be the most unchangeable parts of those flowers Rudiments of two hinder wings are seen in the class Diptera, ortwo-winged insects Teats of male animals Filaments without anthers in Curcuma, Linum, &c. And styles withoutstigmas in many plants, shew the advance of the works of nature towardsgreater perfection Double flowers, or vegetable monsters, how produced The calyx and lower series of petals not changed in double flowers Dispersion of the dust in nettles and other plants Cedar and Cypress unperishable Anthoxanthum gives the fragrant scent to hay Viviparous plants: the Aphis is viviparous in summer, and oviparous inautumn Irritability of the stamen of the plants of the class Syngenesia, orConfederate males Some of the males in Lychnis, and other flowers arrive sooner at theirmaturity Males approach the female in Gloriosa, Fritillaria, and Kalmia Contrivances to destroy insects in Silene, Dionæa muscipula, Arummuscivorum, Dypsacus, &c. Some bell-flowers close at night; others hang the mouths downwards;others nod and turn from the wind; stamens bound down to the pistil inAmaryllis formofissima; pistil is crooked in Hemerocallis flava, yellowday-lily Thorns and prickles designed for the defence of the plant; tallHollies have no prickles above the reach of cattle Bird-lime from the bark of Hollies like elastic gum Adansonia the largest tree known, its dimensions Bulbous roots contain the embryon flower, seen by dissecting a tulip-root Flowers of Colchicum and Hamamelis appear in autumn, and ripen their seedin the spring following Sunflower turns to the sun by nutation, not by gyration Dispersion of seeds Drosera catches flies Of the nectary, its structure to preserve the honey from insects Curious proboscis of the Sphinx Convolvoli Final cause of the resemblance of some flowers to insects, as theBee-orchis In some plants of the class Tetradynamia, or Four Powers, the two shorterstamens, when at maturity, rise as high as the others Ice in the caves on Teneriff, which were formerly hollowed by volcanicfires Some parasites do not injure trees, as Tillandsia and Epidendrum Mosses growing on trees injure them Marriages of plants necessary to be celebrated in the air Insects with legs on their backs Scarcity of grain in wet seasons Tartarian lamb; use of down on vegetables; air, glass, wax, and fat, arebad conductors of heat; snow does not moisten the living animals buriedin it, illustrated by burning camphor in snow Of the collapse of the sensitive plant Birds of passage The acquired habits of plants Irritability of plants increased by previous exposure to cold Lichen produces the first vegetation on rocks Plants holding water Madder colours the bones of young animals Colours of animals serve to conceal them Warm bathing retards old age Male flowers of Vallisneria detach themselves from the plant, and floatto the female ones Air in the cells of plants, its various uses How Mr. Day probably lost his life in his diving-ship Air-bladders of fish Star-gelly is voided by Herons Intoxicating mushrooms Mushrooms grow without light, and approach to animal nature Seeds of Tillandsia fly on long threads, like spiders on the gossamer Account of cotton mills Invention of letters, figures, crotchets Mrs. Delany's and Mrs. North's paper-gardens The horologe of Flora The white petals of Helleborus niger become first red, and then changeinto a green calyx Berries of Menispernum intoxicate fish Effects of opium Frontispiece by Miss Crewe Petals of Cistus and Oenanthe continue but a few hours Method of collecting the gum from Cistus by leathern throngs Discovery of the Bark Foxglove how used in Dropsies Bishop of Marseilles, and Lord Mayor of London Superstitious uses of plants, the divining rod, animal magnetism Intoxication of the Pythian Priestess, poison from Laurel-leaves, andfrom cherry-kernels Sleep consists in the abolition of voluntary power; nightmare explained Indian fig emits slender cords from its summit Cave of Thor in Derbyshire, and sub-terraneous rivers explained The capsule of the Geranium makes a hygrometer; Barley creeps out of abarn Mr. Edgeworth's creeping hygrometer Flower of Fraxinella flashes on the approach of a candle Essential oils narcotic, poisonous, deleterious to insects Dew-drops from Mancinella blister the skin Uses of poisonous juices in the vegetable economy The fragrance of plants a part of their defence The sting and poison of a nettle Vapour from Lobelia suffocative; unwholesomness of perfumed hair-powder Ruins of Palmira The poison-tree of Java Tulip roots die annually Hyacinth and Ranunculus roots Vegetable contest for air and light Some voluble stems turn E. S. W. And others W. S. E. Tops of white Bryony as grateful as asparagus Fermentation converts sugar into spirit, food into poison Fable of Prometheus applied to dram-drinkers Cyclamen buries its seeds and trifolium subterraneum Pits dug to receive the dead in the plague Lakes of America consist of fresh water The seeds of Cassia and some others are carried from America, and thrownon the coasts of Norway and Scotland Of the gulf-stream Wonderful change predicted in the gulph of Mexico In the flowers of Cactus grandiflorus and Cistus some of the stamens areperpetually bent to the pistil Nyctanthes and others are only fragrant in the night; Cucurbita lagenariacloses when the sun shines on it Tropeolum, nasturtian, emits sparks in the twilight Nectary on its calyx Phosphorescent lights in the evening Hot embers eaten by bull-frogs Long filaments of grasses, the cause of bad seed-wheat Chinese hemp grew in England above 14 feet in five months Roots of snow-drop and hyacinth insipid like orchis Orchis will ripen its seeds if the new bulb be cut off Proliferous flowers The wax on the candle-berry myrtle said to be made by insects The warm springs of matlock produced by the condensation of steam raisedfrom great depths by subterranean fires Air separated from water by the attraction of points to water being lessthan that of the particles of water to each other Minute division of sub-aquatic leaves Water-cress and other aquatic plants inhabit all climates Butomus esculent; Lotus of Egypt; Nymphæa Ocymum covered with salt every night Salt a remote cause of scrophula, and immediate cause of sea-scurvy Coloured spatha of Arum, and blotched leaves, if they serve the purposeof a coloured petal Tulip-roots with a red cuticle produce red flowers Of vegetable mules the internal parts, at those of fructification, resemble the female parent; and the external parts, the male one The same occurs in animal mules, as the common mule and the hinnus, andin sheep The wind called Harmattan from volcanic eruptions; some epidemic coughsor influenza have the same origin Fish killed in the sea by dry summers in Asia Hedysarum gyrans perpetually moves its leaves like the respiration ofanimals Plants possess a voluntary power of motion Loud cracks from ice-mountainsexplained Muschus corallinus vegetates below the snow, where the heat is alwaysabout 40. Quick growth of vegetables in northern latitudes after the solution ofthe snows explained The Rail sleeps in the snow Conserva ægagropila rolls about the bottom of lakes Lycoperdon tuber, truffle, requires no light Account of caprification Figs wounded with a straw, and pears and plumbs wounded by insects ripensooner, and become sweeter Female figs closed on all sides, supposed to be monsters Basaltic columns produced by volcanoes shewn by their form Byssus floats on the sea in the day, and sinks in the night Conserva polymorpha twice changes its colour and its form Some seed-vessels and seeds resemble insects Individuality of flowers not destroyed by the number of males or femaleswhich they contain Trees are swarms of buds, which are individuals INDEX OF THE NAMES OF THE PLANTS AdonisAegragrópilaÁlceaAmarýllisAnemóneAnthoxánthumArumAvéna BárometzBéllisByssus CáctusCaléndulaCallítricheCánnaCánnabisCápri-fícusCarlínaCaryophýllusCáffiaCéreusChondríllaChundaCinchónaCircæaCistusCócculusCólchicumCollinsóniaConsérvaCupréssusCurcúmaCuscútaCýclamenCypérus DiánthusDictámnusDigitálisDodecátheonDrábaDróseraDýpsacus FícusFúcusFraxinélla GalánthusGenístaGloriósaGossýpium HedýsarumHeliánthusHelléborusHippómaneIlexImpátiensIris Kleinhóvia LápsanaLáuro-cérasusLíchenLínumLobéliaLonicéraLychnisLycopérdon MancinéllaMéadiaMelíssaMenispérmumMimósaMúschus Nymphæa ÓcymumOrchisOsmúndaOsýris PapáverPapýrusPlantágoPolymórphaPolypódiumPrúnus Rúbia Siléne TrápaTreméllaTropáeolumTrufféliaTúlipa UlvaUpasUrtíca VallisnériaVíscumVítis Zostéra * * * * * FINIS DIRECTIONS to the BINDER. Please to place the print of Flora and Cupid opposite to the Title-page. The two prints of flowers in small compartments both facing the last pageof the Preface. The print of Meadia opposite to p. 6. Gloriosa opposite p. 14. Dionaea p. 16. Amaryllis p. 17. Vallisneria p. 40. Hedysarum p. 172. Apocynum p. 185.