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Show XlV ] Tho' here her new-found art, as that of yore, The fpinfter Goddefs to thy rule afllgns; Tho', where her temples crowd thy peopled fhore, Wealth gilds thy urn, and Fame thy chaplet twines. Ah, while thy nymphs in Derby's towered vale Lead their fad ~ires around MrLCENA's bier, What foothing fweetnefs breathes along the gale, Comes o'er the confort's heart, and balms a brother's tear ! Her newfound art, &c. Alluding to the numerous cotton mills on and near the river Derwent. Milcena's bier. Mrs. French, fifl:er to Mrs. Mundy. Part I. Canto III. I. 308. [ xvii ] APOLOGr. IT may be proper here to apologize for many of the fubfequent conj~ctures on fome articles of natural philofophy, as not being fupported by accurate invefiigation or conclufive experiments. Extravagant theories however in thofe part~ of philofophy. where our knowledge is yet imperfeCt, are not without their ufe; as they encourage the execution of laborious experiments, or the inveftigation of ingenious deductions, to confirm or refute them. And fince natural objects are allied to each oth~r by many affinities, every kind of theoretic diftribution of them adds to our knowledge by developing fome of their analogies. The Roficrucian doctrine of Gnomes, Sylphs, Nymphs, and Salamanders, was thought to afford a proper machinery for a Botanic poem ; as it is probable, that they were originally the names of hieroglyphic figures reprefenting the elements. • Many of the important operations of Nature \vere fhadowed or allegorized in the heathen mythology, as the firft Cupid fpringing from the Egg of Night, the marriage of Cupid and Pfyche, the Rape of Proferpine, the Congrcfs of Jupiter and Juno, The Death and Refufcitation of Adonis, &c. many of which arc ingenioufly explained in the works of Bacon, Vol. V. p. -1-7· 4th Edit. London, c |