Triumphant o'er him from his brow he tears EXPLANATION OF THE ALLEGORY OF ACHELOCS. - LABOR SUBDUES THE WANDERINGS AND FORCE OF THE WATERS, AND THUS SECURES ABUNDANCE. ASHORE. --DE 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. TRANSPORTATION OF SOILS BY WASHING AWAY. SCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. CONQUESTS OVER THE SEA IN HOLLAND. - DIKES ; MEADOWS ; PASTURES. Does this surprise? The bold Batavian see, With potent toil, enchain the subject sea. Deep in the bosom of the ocean sunk, A barrier sure, the oak presents his trunk ; No more his boughs, that proudly waved on high, The spring embellish, or the storm defy ; For, destined now a different power to brave, He breaks the fury of the rushing wave. Yon side, a rushy fence, that bends along, By art made potent, and in weakness strong, Where the rough surge its dreadful fury sends, Eludes its rage, resisting as it bends. From hence the conquered soil, and fertile plain, Offspring of Art, emerging from the main ; Near flowery meads, with grazing flocks around, The traveller, passing by the rampart's bound, Astonished, listens, roaring o'er his head, The stormy billows, and the tempest dread. Hence o'er the land, where toil forgets repose, Nature is Art, and Art enchantment grows. DOLOX, HIS PASSION. 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, To you the booty of his warfare yield, Receive its presents, and its bank protect, The usurping billows in their course direct ; Rule o'er the willing or the rebel wave, Thy tributary now, and now thy slave. On the adverse shore, of woods and mead possessed, Dolon had long Ægeria's charms confessed ; But, for another destined by her sire, His thwarting will had damped the rising fire : Yet potent love, with persevering skill, Their woes to soften, was ingenious still ; And oft the billows to each other's shore Or fruits or flowers in mutual presents bore ; Oft too would Dolon, launching on the tide, His light-oared vessel to the island guide, By Love directed ; for, in every date, Love amidst isles has fixed his favorite seat. What though not here was seen the magic land, Emerging sudden from Armida's wand, A softer charm our youthful lovers bound; To see and love, were all the spells they owned ; And if condemned of absence to complain, Though pleasure fled, yet hope would still remain. THE NALAD, DORIS, AND THE GOD EOLUS. But Love determined, to their passion kind, To join their hands whose hearts before he joined. 1 Delos, or Ortygia, in the centre of the Cyclades. Amongst the Naiads, which those isles adore, He seeks the silent grot and secret grove, HAPPY ISSTE OF THE LOVES OF DOLON AXD ÆGERIA. CUPID'S SCHEME TO UNITE DOLON AND GERIA, DORIS AND EOLUS. But Cupid now to Eolus repairs, Through many a course it verges to the shore, 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': 0! 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, Ægeria'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. While second chaos rolled upon the wreck ! DEPOSIT OF STRATA FROM SOLUTIONS. VULGAR IGNORANCE, ITS DISADVANTAGES. Vainly for him, in landscapes wide displayed, Contrasted harmony of light and shade ! He knows not how, in secret channels fed, From root to trunk the wandering sap is led ; Thence through the boughs its liquid virtue sends, Till in the leaves its raising effort ends. He heeds not whence the crystal waters rise, Or the rich tints of Nature's varied dyes : And, still a stranger to his trees and flowers, Knows not their name, their lineage, and their Sad Philomela mourns her callow young, (powers. Spoiled by his boorish hand, and Spring, its song. By milder process to each other bound, In different parts are different layers found ! The waves, that lead along the winding shore To distant seas their tributary store, Have varied matter carried with their tide, That ne'er by Nature had been yet allied : Each weighty substance found a sudden grave, Whilst others lightly hung upon the wave ; Till, from the stream to heavier matter grown, They to the first deposit joined their own ; The gathering slime, upon their surface spread, Raised layer on layer, and added bed to bed, While shrubs, unbroken by the dashing food, Stamped perfect forms upon the gathered mud. THE EXJOYMEXTS 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 CON TRASTS AND HARMONIES. FOSSIL IMPRESSIONS OF PLANTS. -TIME. Thrown amongst us, or by the raging tide Of rolling lake, or stream, or ocean wide, What though these relies to the sight display Plants amongst us that never saw the day, Their forms unaltered, and their beds profound, That stopped the billows as they beat around ; Or oft two lay’rs, that o'er each other rest, With the same branches upon each impressed, Convince the sage ; whose nice discernment sees A cause in all, that works by slow degrees. Incurious he to draw their distant source From the wild ravage of the deluge, course ; Effects consistent his researches trace In Nature's walk, and Time's progressive pace. RUIN CAUSED BY THE OUTBURSTING OF LAKES. What varied beauties shine upon her face ! Here all is beauty, harmony, and grace ! Here the thick verdure of the freshened grass, Where bubbling streams in soothing murmurs pass ! There uplands slope, or woods majestic wave ! Here the soft shelter of the mossy cave ! There dreadful rents, that yawn upon the land, Bear the rude mark of Time's destructive hand ! Here sterile sands, that whirlwinds scatter wide ! Here the rough torrent rolls its rebel tide! Or wild-grown moss, and heath, and rugged thorn, Show the sad image of a soil forlorn ! All ill or good ! a blessing or a scourge! But shouldst thou dare thy bold inquiry urge, And deeply search the causes and effect, Let pot that doubtful wit thy zeal direct, That now affirms disorder rules the ball, And now that harmony presides in all ! Of real genius wouldst thou knowledge gain, The sect of Buffon shall thy doubts explain ! Remark yon hamlet, that, in mouldering wrecks, Some dire disaster mournfully bespeaks ! What evils caused it, let our zeal inquire, Or from the place itself or village sire. Within the hollow of the rocky steep The source of future streams lay buried deep ; The assiduous waters, slowly filtering through, Aided by time, their reservoirs o'erthrew. Sudden the hills, with dreadful noise that broke, Fill up the river, and its basin choke : While, thrown with fury from their native bounds, The waters rise in mass, and break their mounds; With scattered fragments of the rock and wood, They sweep whole cities in the furious flood ! Within the concave of yon hollowed space, Still may the eye its dreadful ravage trace, Where oft the hermit, o'er the ruins bent, In lengthened tale relates the dire ovent. EFFECTS OF SUDDEN MOUNTAIN-TORRENTS ; LAND-SLIDES. – VARYING APPEARANCE OF SOILS. Poured from the summit of yon darksome brow, Rushed sudden torrents on the vale below! 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 THE HURRICANE. ITS EFFECTS. The wild eruption of the roaring tide The gulf discover, and its secrets bare. Formed other lakes, and other streams supplied. With silent awe th' astonished eye shall scan Seest thou yon mount, against whose barren sides This buried monument of arts and man ; The bleak north-east eternal warfare guides ? Of antique domes the unaccustomed sight, The weeping sky, detaching with the rain The circus, palace, and the temple's height; Its loosened soil, conveyed it to the plain, The schools or porches, where the sage of old And left its summits, towering to the air, To listening crowds the moral lesson told ! Despoiled of riches, and of verdure bare ! Where human figures every dwelling fill, Far from the prospect of these naked rocks, Their looks unaltered, as if breathing still : Whose gloomy scene th' afflicted eyesight shocks, Light forms! that now would crumble at a breath, Turn we our footsteps to the fields below, Fixed in the posture as surprised by death ! Each varied soil remarking as we go. Some anxious bear their children or their gold ; See on those hills that culture never knew, And some their works, their richest treasure, hold ; Where first the gods its simple substance threw, Yon pious man his guardian god defends ; The virgin earth its pureness still retain, Yon duteous son beneath his parent bends. Though changed its kind, as verging to the plain. One lifts the goblet ; who, with garland crowned, Each varied turn let observation's view, His latest hour, his latest banquet found. From shade to shade, from vein to vein, pursue. EULOGY OF BUFFOX.EPOCHS OF NATURE. Glory to Buffon ! who, to guide the sage, Raised seven beacons o'er the sea of age ! Yet scarcely moving from his loved retreat, He judged the globe from Montbar's shady seat. And lifts the ocean to the mountain's head; Like potent kings he sought his envoy's aid, Hence fields o'er fields, by force resistless, ranged ! And on their faith he Nature's work displayed. Hence streams and hills their first position changed ! LIMAGNA. -- ITS EXTINCT VOLCANOES. O, had his footsteps trod Limagna's ground, My native soil, with gladsome pleasure crowned, VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS. - EFFECTS. That Time's wide annals to the sight unroll, The impetuous fire shall equal fury pour, What raptures new had opened on his soul ! When Ætna's torrents and its tempest roar ! There three volcanoes rise upon the view, The pregnant earth, within whose womb is fed Distinct their beds, distinct their currents too ; The black bitumen, and the sulphured bed, In dreadful marks, the yawning lands display Fires, air, and tide, and from its darksome caves The countless years that since have rolled away! O'er its own offspring sheds the boiling waves. While some lie buried in the sea profound, Too striking emblem of the furious heat Some gained the seat where ocean dashed around. rage Seas o'er volcanoes, or beneath them tossed ; MARBLE. — ITS FORMATION DESCRIBED. Yet ere we quit the mountain and the plain, Till, further on, the tide's expansive force Of broken marble take the lightest grain ; Exhausted stood, and sudden checked its course. In rich memorial from its veins are shown What potent streams this dire misfortune dried ! The varied ages that its form has known ; Raised from deposits of the living world, To shape its form, cemented by the tide, How oft the waves have rolled it in their breast ! Where towns immersed beneath the torrent lay, Of old, descending to his steepy bed, Strike on the ruins with his driving share, The ocean left it on the mountain's head; THE BURIED CITY. Worn by the ravage of the breaking tide, The world its age in Time's abyss would hide. WATER-COURSES. - HACK EYED STRAINS. Again the tempest to the ocean bore, 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 straius 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. WONDERS OF OCEAN. WATERING PLACES DESCRIBED. - VARIETY OF VISITORS. 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. 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. 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 ; A VISIT TO THE MOUNTAINS FAVORABLE TO GESICS AXD WISDOM. 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 ; These scenes forsaking, and their noisy train, Once more return we to your green domain; High to its magic palace let us trace The watery source that feeds the river's space, Where yonder mounts, that long bave ruled your Romantic scenes, sublimer prospects yield. [field, O'er their vast rocks, that scattered rise in air, Methinks that Genius bids the Arts repair ; Where, to the painter thousand tints displayed, Afford him flood of light or mass of shade ; Whence to the bard sublimer strains arise, And where the sage pure Nature's law descries ; Dear to the freeborn man and bird of Jove, Their brow has seen whole ages round it more, Now seeming as an hour. VARIED CHARACTERISTICS AND FORMATION OF MOUNTAINS. Here learn to scan Th’ eternal God through all his mighty plan, Where Time's wide annals, opened to the view, Display the mountains from the waves that grew; Those, that by sudden fires in air were thrown, Or primal mounts, that with the world have grown: |