MERCURY.

First, Mercury, amid full tides of light,

Rolls next the sun, through his small circle bright;

Our earth would blaze beneath so fierce a ray,

And all its marble mountains melt away.

Fair Venus next fulfills her larger round,

With softer beams and milder glory crowned;

Friend to mankind, she glitters from afar,

Now the bright evening, now the morning star.

—Baker.