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Show [ 104 ] -So when proud Rome the Afric Warrior braved, And hjgh on Alps his critnfon banner waved; 5 30 \Vhile Rocks on Rocks their beetling brows oppofe Vlith piny forefis, and unfathotn' d fnows; Onward he march'd) to Latiun1's velvet ground With fires and acids budt the obdurate bound, Wide o'er the weeping Vales defirutl:ion hurl' d, And !hook the rifing e1npire of the world. 535 XI. " Go, gentle GNOMEs! refume your vernal toil, Seek tny chill tribes, which :fleep beneath the foil ; On grey-tuofs banks, green meads, or furrow' d lands Spread the dark mould, white lime, and crumbling fands; With fires and acids. I. 534· Hannibal was faid to erode his way over the Alps by fire and vinegar. The latter is fuppofed to allude to the vinegar and water which was the beverage of his army. In refpeC\: to the former it is not improbable, but where wood wa~ to be had in great abundance, that fires made round lime-fl:one precipices would calcine them to a conflderable depth, the night-dews or mountain-mifls wou]J renetrate thefe calcined parts and pulverize them by the force of the fleam which the generated heat would produce, the winds would difperfe this lime-powder, and thus by repeated fires a precipice of lime-fl:one might be defl:royed and a paffage opened. It {hould be arlded, that according to Ferber's obfervations, thefe Alps confifl: of Jime-ne. Letters from Italy. [ 105 ) Each budling bud . with healthier juices feed, 541 Etnerging fcion, or awaken' d feed. So, in defccnding {heams, the :Glver Chyle Streaks with white clouds the golden floods of Bile; Through each nice valve the mingling currents glide, 545 Join their fine rills, and f well the fanguine tide i Each countlefs cell, and view lefs fibre feek, Nerve the fl:rong arm, a~d tinge the bluiliing cheek. " Oh, watch, where bofom' d in the teeming earth, Green fwells the germ, impatient for its birth; 55e Guard froln rapacious wonns its tender !hoots, And drive the mining beetle from its roots; With ceafelefs efforts rend the obdurate clay, And give my vegetable babes to .day! -Thus when an Angel-form, in light array' d, 55 5 Like HowARD pierced the prifon's noifome fuade; Where chain' d .to earth, with eyes to heaven upturn' d, The kneeling Saint in holy anguifh mourn'.d ;- PART I. p |
