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Show [ 176 ] So the pleafcd Linnet in the tnofs-wovc nefi, 435 Waked into life beneath its parent's breafl:, Chirps in the gaping ihell, burfis forth erelong, Shakes its new plutncs, and tries its tender fong.--- And now the talifman fhe :llrikcs, that charms Her hufband-Sylph,---and calls hitn to her arms.--- 440 Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord bcfirides, With cobweb !eins the flying courfer guides, Fro1n cryflal fl:eeps of viewlefs ether fprings, Cleaves the [oft air on fiill expanded wings; Darts like a funbeam o'er the boundlefs wave, 445 And feeks the beauty in her fecret cave. So with quick itnpulfe through all nature's frame Shoots the eleB:ric air its fubtle flame. So turns the impatient needle to the pole, Tho' mountains rife between, and oceans roll. 450 Where round the Orcades white torrents roar, Scooping with ceafelefs rage the incumbent fhore, [ 177 ] Wide o'er the deep a duiky cavern bends Its marble arms, and high in air impends; Ba:C.·lltic piers the ponderous roof fufiain, And .fieep their ma:ff,y fandals in the . 455 ma1n; Round the dim walls, and through the wl .ii . .I 11 pcnng at es Hoarfe breathes the wind, the glittering water boils. Here the charm'd Bvssus with his blooming bride Spreads his green fails, and braves the foaming t.d . 6 I .e' 4 o The !tar of Venus gilds the twilight wave, ·And lights her votaries to the fecret cave ; Light Cupids .Rutter round the nuptial bed, ~nd each coy Sea-maid hides her blufhing head. B(ljaltic piers. I. ~55· This ckfcription alludes to the cave of Fingal in the ifland of Staffa. The bafaltic columns, which compofc the Giants Caufeway on the coafl: of I r~l~nd, a~ well a.s thofe w~ich fupport the cave of Fingal, arc evidently of volcanic ong10, as ts ~ell dluflr:~ted 111 an ingenious p:1per of Mr. Keir, in the Philof. Tranf. who .obfcrved Ill the glafs, which had been long in a fufing heat at the bottom of the pots In the glafs-houfes at Stourbridge, that cryfbls were produced of a form fimilar to the parts of the baf<d tic clumns of the Giants Caufeway. . B;ffus .. 1. 459·. Clan.de~ine Marriage. It floats on the fea in the day, and finks a little dunng the n1ght; It 1s found in caverns on the northern fl10res, of a p:lle green colour, and as thi11 as paper. A a |