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Show r 62 J II. " You trod with printlefs fiep Earth's tender globe, \Vhile Ocean wrap' d it in his azure robe ; Beneath his ·waves her hardening firata fpread, 35 Raifed her PRIMEVAL IsLANDS fro1n his bed, !?hilt ocean wrap'd. 1. 3 '~· See additional notes, No. XVI. on the production of calcareous earth. . Her hardening )lrata jprtad. 1. 35· The granite, or moor-fl:one, or porphory, confiittJte the oldeO: part of the globe, fince the limeO:one, fhells, coralloids, and other fea· productions refl upon them; and upon thefe fea-produetions are found clay, iron, coal~ f~lt~ and filiceous land or grit-O:one. Thus there feem to be three divifion~ of the globe, ddbnctly marked; the firO: I fuppofe to have been the original nucleus of the earth, or lava projected f~om the fun; 2. over this lie the recrements of animal and vegetable matter produced 111 the ocean; and, 3· over thefe the recrements of animal and vegetable matter pr~euc.ed upon the land. Befides thefe there are bodies which own tlieir origin to a comb1nat10n of thofe already mentioned, as filiceous fand, fluor, alabaO:er; which, fcem to have derived th.eir acids originally from the vegetable kingdom, and their earthy baft:s from fea--productwns. See additional notes, No. XVI. on calcareous earth. Raijed hrrprimt!val ijlands. 1. 36. The nucleus of the earth fiill c~vered with water . ' ' t-cce ived perpetual increafe by the immenfe quantities of fhells and coralloids either annually produced and relinqui!hed, or left after the death of the animals. Thefe would gradually by their different degrees of cohefion be fome of them more and others lefs removable by the influence of folar tides, and gentle tropical breezes, which then mull have probably extended from one pole to the other; for it is fuppofed the moon was not yet produced, and that no O:orms or unequal winds had yet exiflence. H ence th en the primeval iflands had their gradual origin, were railed but a few feet above the level of the fea, and were not expofed to the great or fudden variations of heat and cold, as is fo well explained in Mr. Whitehurfl's Theory of the Earth, chap. xvi. \iVhence the paradife. of the fac r ed wn' te rs, an d t h e goJ d en age o f the profane ones, feems to. have had a real ex1flence. As there can be no rainbow, when the heavens are covered wuh clouds, becaufe the fun-beams are then precluded from falling upon the rain-drops oppoflte ~o the eye of the fpectator, the rainbow is a mark of gentle or partial fhowers. ~Ir. Whitehura has endeavoured to fhow that the primitive iflands were only moificned [ 63 ] Stretch' d her wide lawns, and funk her winding dells, And deck' d her fhores with corals, pearls, and iliells. '' Oe' r thofe blefi if1es no ice-crown' d mountains tower' d No lightenings darted, and no tempefis lower' d ; 40 Soft fell the vefper-drops, condenfed below, Or bent in air the rain-refracted bow, Sweet breathed the zephyrs, jufi perceiv' d and loft; And brinelefs billows only kifs' d the coafi ; Round the bright zodiac danced the vernal hours, 45 And Peace, the Cherub, dwelt in mortal bowers! " So young DroNE, nurfed beneath the waves, And rock' d by Nereids in their coral caves, by noCturnal dews and not by fhowers, as occurs at this day to the Delta of Egypt ; and is thence of opinion, that the rainbow had no exiO:ence till after the produCtion of mountains and continents. As the falt of the fea has been gradually accumulating, being wafhed down into it from the recrements of animal and vegetable bodies, the fca mufl originally have been as frefh as river water; and as it is not yet faturated with fait, muft become annually more faline. See note on 1. 117 of this Canto. So young Dione. 1. 47· There is an antient gem reprefenting Venus rifing out of the ocean fnpported by !WO Tritons. From the fonnality of the defign it would appear to ,, |
