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Show [ I96 J Edge over edge expands the hardening fcale, And !heaths his· {limy {kin in· G.lver mail. -Erewhile, emerging froln the brooding fand, With Tyger-paw He prints the brinele[s £\:rand, High on the flood with fpeckled bofom [wims, 435 Helm'd with broad tail, and oar'd with giant limbs Rolls his fierce eye-balls, clafps his iron claws, And cha1nps with gna{hing teeth his maffy jaws ; Old Nil us fighs along his cane-crown' d fum·es, And fwarthy Memphis tre1nbles and adores. 440 XI. "Come, YE soFT SYLPHS! who fan the Paphian groves, And bear on fportive wings the callow Loves; Call with fweet whifper, in each gale that blows, The {lumbering Snow-drop frotn her long repofe ; Charm the pale Primrofe from her clay-cold bed, 445 Unveil the bailiful Violet's tre1nulous head; While from her bud the playful Tulip breaks, And young Carnations peep with blufhing checks ; ( 197 J Bid the clofed Carol from noaurnal cold Curtain' d with :Glk the virgin Sti(J'ma fold ~ ' Shake into viewlefs air the morning dews, And wave in light its iridefcent hues. So £hall from high the burfiing Anther truft To the Jnild breezes the prolific dufi ; Or bo-w his waxen head with graceful pride, Watch the firft bluibes of his waking bride, Give tq her hand the honey' d cup, or fip Celeftiat neCtar from her fweeter lip ; Hang in foft raptures o'-er the yielding Fair, Love out his ho·ur, and leave his life in air. 45'5 H one_y'd cup. ]. 4-57. The neCtary or honey-gland fupplies food to the vegetable males and females; which like moths and butterflies live on the honey thus produced for them, till they have propagated their fpecies, and depofited their eggs, and then die, as explained in adJitiunal.note, No. XXXIX. The tops of the ftamens, or anthers, are covcre~ with wax to proteCt the prolific duft from the injury of fhowcrs and devvs, to which it is impervious. Love out his hour. 1. 460. The vegetable paffion of love is agreeably fecn in the flower of the parnailia, in which the males alternately approach and recede from the female, and in the flower of nigclla, or de·•il in the bu{h, in which the tall fem:des bend down to their dwarf hufbands. But I was this morning furprifcd to obfervc, amongft Sir Brooke Boothby's valuable colleCtion of plants at A{hbourn, the manifdl: adultery of fevcral females of the plant Cul\infonia, who h:d bent thcmfdves into contaCt wi th the males of other flowers of the fame plant in their vicinity, negleCtful of their own, Sept. 16. See ad litional notes, No. XXXVIII. |
