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Show [ 68 On fpiral brafs is {l:retch' d the wiry thong Tooth urges tooth, and wheel drives wheel along; In diamond-eyes the poli{h' d axles flow, Smooth flides the hand, the balance pants below: Round the white circlet in relievo bold, A Serpent twines his fcal y length in gold ; And brightly pencil' d on the enamel' d fphere Live the fair trophies of the palling year. -Here Time's huge fingers grafp his giant 1nacc, And dafh proud Superfiition frorn her bafe; 1 75 180 Rend her {hong towers and gorgeous fanes, and {hed I 8 5 ~he crumbling fragments round her guilty head. There the gay Hours, whom wreaths of rofes deck, Lead their young trains amid the cu1nberous wreck, · Ai1d, :flowly purpling o'er the mighty wafie, Plant the fair growths of Science and of Tail:e. While each light Moment, as it dances by 'Yith feathery foot and pleafure:.twinkling eye, Feeds from its baby-hand, with n1any a kifs, The ·ca low nefl:lings of dome:fl:ic Blifs. [ 69 As yon gay clouds, which canopy the ikies, Change their thin forms, andlofe their lucid dyes ; So the foft bloom of Beauty's vernal charn1s Fades in our eyes, 'and withers in our arms. -Bright as the :Glvery plume, or pearly iliell, The fnow-white rofe, or lily's virgin bell, The fair HELLEBORAS attraCtive {hone, W ann' d every Sage, and every Shepherd won.Round the gay :Gfiers prefs the enamour' d bands, And feek with foft folicitude their hands. -Erewhile how chang' d !-in dim fuffufion lies The glance divine, that lighten' d in their eyes ; Cold are thofe lips, where frr1iles feduttive hung, And the weak accents linger on their tongue ; 1 95 200 H elleborus . 1. 201. Many males, many females. The Hclleborus niger, or Chriftmas rofc, has a large beautiful white flower, adorned with a circle of tububr twolipp'd neCl:aries. After impregnation the flower nndergoes a remarkable change, the ne8:aries drop off, but the white corol remains, anJ gradually becomes quite green. This curious metamorphofe of the corol, when the neCl:aries fall off, feems to fhew that the white jnices of the corol were before c.urieJ to the neCl:arics, fflr the purpofe of producing honey: becaufe when thefe neCl:aries fall off, no more of the white juice is fecretecl in the corol, but it becomes green, and degenerates into a calyx. See not~ on Lonicera. The neCl:ary of the Tropa:olum, garden nafl:urtion, is a coloured horn. growing from the calyx. |