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Triumphant o'er him from his brow he tears
One bending horn, and as a trophy bears.
When now the Dryads, and the sylvan train,
Their wrongs avenged, and safe their green domain,
With grateful gifts the weary god surround,
With festoons shaded, and with garlands crowned;
Heap their glad favors in the smiling horn,
With fruits enrich it, and with flowers adorn.

EXPLANATION OF THE ALLEGORY OF ACHELOÏS.-LABOR
SUBDUES THE WANDERINGS AND FORCE OF THE WATERS,
AND THUS SECURES ABUNDANCE.

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,
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.

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,

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TRANSPORTATION OF SOILS BY WASHING AWAY.

Oft has the land, of loose and fragile mould,
Disparting sudden from its clay-formed hold,
Launched on the waters, which in triumph bore
The floating burden to the neighboring shore.
The new possessor, gifted by the main,
At sunrise finds a late-acquired domain,
Whilst the sad owner sees his lands retire,
His kindred land, bequeathed from sire to sire.

STORY OF ÆGERIA. THE ISLAND WASHED ASHORE. DE-
SCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND.

Soft be the strain that sings Ægeria's woes,
Egeria fair, whose bliss from sorrow rose.
'Midst Scotia's mountains, on a spreading lake,
Where moving isles the rising billows break,

A scanty farm her hoary sire possessed,

Raised o'er the waves, and floating on their breast.
Thus, like a flow'ret on the ocean thrown,
The Grecian bard the wandering isle 1 has shown,
Where erst Latona found a resting-place,
The hallowed cradle of her godlike race.
Capricious work of hazard and the surf,
Of boughs by age entwined, or mossy turf,
Whilst roots and falling leaves their succor threw,
By slow degrees Egeria's island grew.
Around were seen the willow and the reed;
No herds majestic did its pastures feed,
Nor sheep nor heifer bounded o'er the mead :
Some scattered kids, that o'er the island strayed,
The sole possession of Ægeria made.
Small though the wealth her subjects could assure,
How little forms the riches of the poor!
Oft would her father cling to her embrace,
And say, 'My child, that bearest thy mother's face,
The island, kids, and meadow, that I see,
Long has my heart in dowry given thee.'

DOLON. HIS PASSION.

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 NAIAD, 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,
Beauty's first prize the lovely Doris bore.
No brighter treasure did the silver waves
Hide in the bottom of their crystal caves.
'Midst azure tides her tresses shone with gold,
For her the stream in smoother murmurs rolled,
Proud of its charge, that, 'mongst the nymphs ad-
With softer strains Palemon's shell inspired. [mired,
Nor never yet, reclined on Thetis' breast,
Was fairer Naiad by the waves caressed.
The god whose power the winds impetuous own
Had vainly wooed her to his stormy throne;
But still she shrunk before the godhead's force,
Whose every sigh was as the tempest hoarse.
Experience knows, that, in the walks of love,
Few boisterous spirits shall affection move.

CUPID'S SCHEME TO UNITE DOLON AND ÆGERIA, DORIS AND EOLUS.

But Cupid now to Eolus repairs,
Entangled deeply in his wily snares,
And, Listen, Eolus; Ægeria fair,

And Dolon, long have breathed the mutual prayer.
Some other swain demands the promised maid;
Then join with me the lovely pair to aid.
Egeria's island, by the tempest tossed,
Drive o'er the lake, and fix on Dolon's coast.
Then shall their hands in happy wedlock join,
And, to reward thee, Doris shall be thine.
But, far removed from thy tempestuous reign,
Her charming grotto let her still retain,
Where, sheltered safely from the north wind's beat,
The western gale may fan her soft retreat.'
Thus Cupid spoke, and roused the godhead's heart,
That bliss to hasten where his own had part.
One dreadful morn, the winds' tempestuous shock
Bent on the isle, which swelling billows rock ;
At length it yields, before the tempest driven,
With force unequalled, that deforms the heaven.
See sad Ægeria on the bank remain,
With tears recall her fugitive domain,
And fears unjust a while to Dolon's view,
Lest with her dower she lose her lover too.
Afflicted maid! thy causeless dread forbear;
For Love and Fortune, to each other dear,
From mutual blindness mutual succor lend,
And guide thy island to a prosperous end.

ÆGERIA'S FLOATING ISLAND LODGES ON DOLON'S FARM.
Through many a course it verges to the shore,
Where pensive Dolon hears the tempest roar.
Long time in mute astonishment he sees
The moving island, and the floating trees;
But what new wonder o'er his senses moves,
When, nearer borne, he views the isle he loves!
His anxious eye pursues the swimming wreck,
Dreads lest the wave or rock its progress check.
Long at the mercy of the wind and tides,
At length in safety to the shore it rides,
And fixes there; and now, with eager pace,
How Dolon hurries o'er the much-loved place!

He seeks the silent grot and secret grove,
Where no profaner eye had traced their love.
Has the wild wave's impetuous fury spared
The flowers he watered, and the trees he reared?
Still shall he find, of love the tender mark,
Their names united on the wounded bark?
Each well-known scene his soul's emotion moves,
That equal care and equal terror proves,
With yon sad friend, who, from the howling storm,
Of some loved friend surveys the shipwrecked form.

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,
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.

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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!
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 not 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!

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 !
Hence, buried deep, those heaps of blackened wood,
Teeming with fire; the red volcano's food!
Hence secret layers, within their earthy bed,
Bear one world's ruins on the other's spread.

DEPOSIT OF STRATA FROM SOLUTIONS.

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 flood,
Stamped perfect forms upon the gathered mud.

FOSSIL IMPRESSIONS OF PLANTS. TIME.

Thrown amongst us, or by the raging tide
Of rolling lake, or stream, or ocean wide,
What though these relics 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.

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 event.

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!

The wild eruption of the roaring tide
Formed other lakes, and other streams supplied.
Seest thou yon mount, against whose barren sides
The bleak north-east eternal warfare guides ?
The weeping sky, detaching with the rain
Its loosened soil, conveyed it to the plain,
And left its summits, towering to the air,
Despoiled of riches, and of verdure bare!
Far from the prospect of these naked rocks,
Whose gloomy scene th' afflicted eyesight shocks,
Turn we our footsteps to the fields below,
Each varied soil remarking as we go.
See on those hills that culture never knew,
Where first the gods its simple substance threw,
The virgin earth its pureness still retain,
Though changed its kind, as verging to the plain.
Each varied turn let observation's view,
From shade to shade, from vein to vein, pursue.

THE HURRICANE. ITS EFFECTS.

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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.
With silent awe th' astonished eye shall scan
This buried monument of arts and man;
Of antique domes the unaccustomed sight,
The circus, palace, and the temple's height;
The schools or porches, where the sage of old
To listening crowds the moral lesson told!
Where human figures every dwelling fill,
Their looks unaltered, as if breathing still:
Light forms! that now would crumble at a breath,
Fixed in the posture as surprised by death!
Some anxious bear their children or their gold;
And some their works, their richest treasure, hold;
Yon pious man his guardian god defends;
Yon duteous son beneath his parent bends.
One lifts the goblet; who, with garland crowned,
His latest hour, his latest banquet found.

EULOGY OF BUFFON.- EPOCHS OF NATURE.

Glory to Buffon! who, to guide the sage,
Raised seven beacons o'er the sea of age!
The world's historian, in his efforts grand,
He drew its changes with a master hand;
Yet scarcely moving from his loved retreat,
He judged the globe from Montbar's shady seat.
Like potent kings he sought his envoy's aid,
And on their faith he Nature's work displayed.

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,
Again the ocean threw it on the shore,
In change succeeding change; thus worn by age,
It stood the billows' and the whirlwinds' rage.
The rise of worlds within this marble read;
This marble was a rock; the rock a seed,
Offspring of time, of sea, of air, and land,
Modest coeval of these mountains grand!

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,
The world its age in Time's abyss would hide.

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.

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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 have ruled your
Romantic scenes, sublimer prospects yield.
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 move,
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:

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