Triumphant o'er him from his brow he tears EXPLANATION OF THE ALLEGORY OF ACHELOÏS.-LABOR Delightful tale! whose allegoric charm Alike the painter and the bard shall warm! Mark, in the serpent, and his mazy fold, The winding streams, in various circles rolled. The roaring bull, with imitative sound, Describes the billows dashing to the mound. His bending horns the branching streamlets show ; The one Alcides ravished from his brow, That richest fruits and blushing flow'rets heapThat marks the recompense which mortals reap From streams subdued, in emblematic guise, The joys of plenty to mankind supplies. CONQUESTS OVER THE SEA IN HOLLAND. DIKES; MEADOWS; PASTURES. Does this surprise? The bold Batavian see, A barrier sure, the oak presents his trunk ; STREAMS TO BE CURBED BY ART. Thy scant domains may no such wonders show, Yet they, e'en they, their miracles may know. Exert thy skill, and learn by hardy force To reap advantage from the river's course. Whether its current, warring with thy land, Eat through its borders, and consume the strand; Or whether now, by lawless freedom led, The flying stream forget its native bed, And, wildly ravaging the neighbor-field, TRANSPORTATION OF SOILS BY WASHING AWAY. Oft has the land, of loose and fragile mould, STORY OF ÆGERIA. THE ISLAND WASHED ASHORE. DE- Soft be the strain that sings Ægeria's woes, A scanty farm her hoary sire possessed, Raised o'er the waves, and floating on their breast. DOLON. HIS PASSION. On the adverse shore, of woods and mead possessed, A softer charm our youthful lovers bound; THE NAIAD, DORIS, AND THE GOD EOLUS. 1 Delos, or Ortygia, in the centre of the Cyclades. Amongst the Naiads, which those isles adore, CUPID'S SCHEME TO UNITE DOLON AND ÆGERIA, DORIS AND EOLUS. But Cupid now to Eolus repairs, And Dolon, long have breathed the mutual prayer. ÆGERIA'S FLOATING ISLAND LODGES ON DOLON'S FARM. He seeks the silent grot and secret grove, HAPPY ISSUE OF THE LOVES OF DOLON AND EGERIA. Scarce does the tempest into peace subside, Ere eager Dolon launches on the tide, And near the spot where stood the isle before He finds Ægeria weeping on the shore, In grief more lovely still her isle she sought, That, once her portion, now but sorrow brought. See ardent Dolon, kneeling at their feet, Each tender parent with his tears entreat': 'O! grieve no more; inexorable Fate, In taking yours, has given you my estate; Then come with me.' And o'er the watery plain His bark conveys them to their joint domain. At first the sudden change their sight deceived: But scarce Ægeria had the spot perceived, 'And, lo! our isle.' 'Yes,' cries the grateful swain, 'Moved by the storm, Love gives it you again. Though great the sorrow thou wast doomed to feel, Great as it was, my bliss is greater still! So may the favoring gods, our shores that joined, Our hands and hearts in blissful Hymen bind !' Each weeping parent joins the assenting voice, Egeria's blushes indicate her choice. Still shall the isle, to Dolon justly dear, Its pristine verdure and appearance wear. One sloping bridge unites each meeting shore, By grief made sacred, but by Cupid more : Sustained by art, against its steepy side With feeble fury breaks the roaring tide; Thus,'midst the waves, the wandering isle was bound, Where Bliss a refuge, Love a Delos found! CANTO III. ARGUMENT. Nature, different views of. The deluge. Plants, relics of. Rivers, course of choked. Hurricane, effects of. Volcanoes. Cities, subterraneous. Sea, its wonders, productions of. Effects of. Bathing places. Mountains, variously formed. Jura and Montanverts, description of. Avalanche, description of one. Botany, study of. Botanists, party of. Subject continued. Natural curiosities, cabinet of. Birds, beasts, etc. Insects. Order recommended. Objects, choice of. Author's cat, description of. THE SOUL ELEVATED BY A VIEW OF NATURE. I love the man, that, noble in his views, The culture of his land and soul pursues; Unlike the vulgar wretch, whose darksome mind, By error shrouded, and to Nature blind, Still vainly tries to lift the grovelling sight, Through all his works, to God's celestial height. VULGAR IGNORANCE, ITS DISADVANTAGES. Vainly for him, in landscapes wide displayed, He heeds not whence the crystal waters rise, THE ENJOYMENTS OF THE EDUCATED. The Sage alone, who studies Nature's laws, Sincerest pleasures from the country draws, And, while the Arts his friendly aid receive, For him, and him alone, does Nature live. From cares important, that your hours employ, The fertile source of all domestic joy, Breath'st thou a while? with learning's richest store Your leisure soothe, and make enjoyment more. Three reigns distinct their mysteries display, And call their lord his subjects to survey: With me advance, where Nature's gifts are seen, With me arise, with me enjoy the scene. THE STUDENT OF NATURE INVITED TO A SURVEY OF HER CONTRASTS AND HARMONIES. What varied beauties shine upon her face! But shouldst thou dare thy bold inquiry urge, BUFFON'S COSMOGONY.-EFFECTS OF THE DELUGE. Of old, the deluge, in its dreadful course, Loosing the waves, left man without resource! In one vast ocean bade the flood expand The rains of heaven and rivers of the land! Where mountains stood, a level champaign spread! And where the vales, the mountain reared its head! Beneath one tomb two continents it hurled, Scattering the ruins of the ravaged world! [break; Raised lands o'er waves; o'er land bade waters While second chaos rolled upon the wreck ! DEPOSIT OF STRATA FROM SOLUTIONS. By milder process to each other bound, FOSSIL IMPRESSIONS OF PLANTS. TIME. Thrown amongst us, or by the raging tide RUIN CAUSED BY THE OUTBURSTING OF LAKES. Remark yon hamlet, that, in mouldering wrecks, The source of future streams lay buried deep; EFFECTS OF SUDDEN MOUNTAIN-TORRENTS; LAND-SLIDES.- Poured from the summit of yon darksome brow, Rushed sudden torrents on the vale below! The wild eruption of the roaring tide THE HURRICANE. ITS EFFECTS. [air; But see the hurricane his flight prepare! 'Midst darksome clouds he wings his speed through With tempest, night, and thunder, in his train, Sweeps towns and forests from the ravaged plain; Drives back the river to its trembling bed, And lifts the ocean to the mountain's head; Hence fields o'er fields, by force resistless, ranged! Hence streams and hills their first position changed! Th' afflicted earth, bereft of fruit and flowers, In weeds of sorrow mourns her gayer hours. VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS. EFFECTS. The impetuous fire shall equal fury pour, When Etna's torrents and its tempest roar ! The pregnant earth, within whose womb is fed The black bitumen, and the sulphured bed, Fires, air, and tide, and from its darksome caves O'er its own offspring sheds the boiling waves. Too striking emblem of the furious heat That fires the heart, when warring passions meet, When, bursting sudden from the inmost soul, O'er life's fair produce they destruction roll! Yon calcined rock, and yonder blackened ground, Too well announce where raged, the plains around, Volcanic flames- though now their rage is dead, And Ceres smiles, and Flora's blossoms spread. Of yonder steeps, whose sides each other face, Though one has lost, one still retains the trace. The lava here its fiery torrent poured! On yonder bed the rushing billows roared! Till, further on, the tide's expansive force Exhausted stood, and sudden checked its course. What potent streams this dire misfortune dried! What mountains sunk! what wretched mortals died! THE BURIED CITY. The imperfect tale has reached these later years From times of old, and gives us all their fears! Here shall the farmer, on some future day, Where towns immersed beneath the torrent lay, Strike on the ruins with his driving share, The gulf discover, and its secrets bare. EULOGY OF BUFFON.- EPOCHS OF NATURE. Glory to Buffon! who, to guide the sage, LIMAGNA. ITS EXTINCT VOLCANOES. O, had his footsteps trod Limagna's ground, My native soil, with gladsome pleasure crowned, That Time's wide annals to the sight unroll, What raptures new had opened on his soul! There three volcanoes rise upon the view, Distinct their beds, distinct their currents too; In dreadful marks, the yawning lands display The countless years that since have rolled away! While some lie buried in the sea profound, Some gained the seat where ocean dashed around. The first from side to side its torrents shed; The next in waves of fire its fury spread. In yon deep trenches, deeper still from time, Where other days present their scenes sublime, Those dreadful fires, in different ages lost, Seas o'er volcanoes, or beneath them tossed; There primal chaos to the mind is brought, And endless ages weigh upon the thought. MARBLE.ITS FORMATION DESCRIBED. Yet ere we quit the mountain and the plain, Of broken marble take the lightest grain; In rich memorial from its veins are shown The varied ages that its form has known; Raised from deposits of the living world, By Ruin's self 't was into being hurled. To shape its form, cemented by the tide, What races fell, what generations died! How long the sea upon its substance pressed! How oft the waves have rolled it in their breast! Of old, descending to his steepy bed, The ocean left it on the mountain's head; Again the tempest to the ocean bore, WONDERS OF OCEAN. What fertile source of study and of joy, [ploy, With thoughts unnumbered, would your time emShould the vast ocean, from his rich domain, Still nearer show the wonders of his reign! Tremendous sea! what mortal at thy sight Feels not his bosom seized with awful fright? My infant eyes were struck with early dread, When first I saw thy boundless surface spread! How man and art thy varied scenes enrich ! There human genius reached its noblest pitch; Made countless vessels, hanging on the main, Of states and worlds the medium and the chain. Deep as the sea itself, thy thoughts demand The hidden wrecks of many a warlike land; Whole streets immersed within the briny grave, And troops and treasures buried in the wave. OCEAN VEGETATION. RIVERS. SEA MONSTERS. Or with Linnæus, plunging to his bed, Mark where the groves of reed and fucus spread, By us unseen, till by the tempest thrown, That for the seas another Flora own; The sponge, the coral, and the polype's nest, Strange work of seas and insects in their breast, What streams from hence derive their secret source, What floods renowned achieve their mighty course. Sometimes thine eye those monsters shall pursue, Like distant rocks, that rise upon the view; CHANGES OF OCEAN. ALTERNATIONS OF SEA AND LAND. Or now thy thoughts, with Buffon's aid, explain The many changes of its noisy reign; Its grand events; its tides, that rise or fall, As on its axle turns the rolling ball; Those dread volcanoes, that, from earth's abodes, Of old defied the thunder of the gods; Or those, whose ardent fires, profoundly placed Beneath the bottom of his briny waste, Some future day, the burning rock shall urge, In smoky ruins, o'er the foaming surge. — Remark yon capes, that o'er the tide impend, Those gulfs, whose shores the waves alternate rend; Those mountains, buried in the ocean vast, The Alps of future or of ages past, Whilst hill and valley, smiling to the eye, Must in their turn beneath the waters lie. Thus earth and sea, in endless changes hurled, Seem each to claim the ruin of the world. Thus bites the anchor, where the cattle fed, And rolls the chariot, where the sail was spread ; Worn by the ravage of the breaking tide, WATER-COURSES. HACKNEYED STRAINS. Turned from the sea, whose billows ever move, Thine eye the river and the stream shall love; Not those our witlings sing in numbers cold, Whose hackneyed strains have made the Naiads old; Turn we to those, whose docile waves prepare Effects distinguished, or some wonder rare ; Or trace the river to its distant source, Or through its mazes mark its changing course, As winding on, and spread from side to side, Inward or salient angles mark its tide. WATERING PLACES DESCRIBED. - VARIETY OF VISITORS. The stream, the well, the fountains, shall I sing, That soft relief to sorrowing sickness bring? Amongst whose scenes appears a mingled train, In joy and grief, in pleasure and in pain, That, when the spring resumes its verdant sway, True to the time, their annual visit pay. Here limping sires each other's ailments soothe, And here exults the giddy train of youth; The old splenetic, and the vapored fair, To the same spot in mingled crowds repair; Anna renews the blushes of her cheeks, While healing for his wound the warrior seeks; The glutton here for past indulgence pays; Each on the shrine of Health his offering lays. Their ills, whose burden long their servants bore And friends, here seek relief, but pity more. At morning creeps the melancholy throng, At night is heard the banquet and the song; Here thousand joys 'midst thousand sorrows dwell, Like glad Elysium, in the midst of hell. A VISIT TO THE MOUNTAINS; FAVORABLE TO GENIUS AND WISDOM. [field, These scenes forsaking, and their noisy train, VARIED CHARACTERISTICS AND FORMATION OF MOUNTAINS. |