"Pleased as they pass along the breezy shore
In twinkling shoals the scaly realms adore,
Move on quick fin [with undulating train],
Or lift their slimy foreheads from the main.
High o'er their heads [on pinions broad display'd]
The feather'd nations shed a floating shade;
Pair after pair enamour'd shoot along,
And trill in air the gay impassion'd song.
With busy hum in playful swarms around
Emerging insects leave the peopled ground, 380
Rise in dark clouds, and borne in airy rings
Sport round the car, and wave their golden wings.
Admiring Fawns pursue on dancing hoof,
And bashful Dryads peep from shades aloof;
Emerging Nereids rise from coral cells,
Enamour'd Tritons sound their twisted shells;
From sparkling founts enchanted Naiads move,
And swell the triumph of despotic Love.
"Delighted Flora, gazing from afar,
Greets with mute homage the triumphal car; 390
On silvery slippers steps with bosom bare,
Bends her white knee, and bows her auburn hair;
Calls to her purple heaths, and blushing bowers,
Bursts her green gems, and opens all her flowers;
O'er the bright Pair a shower of roses sheds,
And crowns with wreathes of hyacinth their heads.—
—Slow roll the silver wheels with snowdrops deck'd,
And primrose bands the cedar spokes connect;
Round the fine pole the twisting woodbine clings,
And knots of jasmine clasp the bending springs; 400
Bright daisy links the velvet harness chain,
And rings of violets join each silken rein;
Festoon'd behind, the snow-white lilies bend,
And tulip-tassels on each side depend.
—Slow rolls the car,—the enamour'd Flowers exhale
Their treasured sweets, and whisper to the gale;
Their ravelled buds, and wrinkled cups unfold,
Nod their green stems, and wave their bells of gold;
Breathe their soft sighs from each enchanted grove,
And hail The Deities of Sexual Love. 410
"Onward with march sublime in saffron robe
Young Hymen steps, and traverses the globe;
O'er burning sands, and snow-clad mountains, treads,
Blue fields of air, and ocean's briny beds;
Flings from his radiant torch celestial light
O'er Day's wide concave, and illumes the Night.
With dulcet eloquence his tuneful tongue
Convokes and captivates the Fair and Young;
His golden lamp with ray ethereal dyes
The blushing cheek, and lights the laughing eyes; 420
With secret flames the virgin's bosom warms,
And lights the impatient bridegroom to her arms;
With lovely life all Nature's frame inspires,
And, as they sink, rekindles all her fires."
VII. Now paused the beauteous Teacher, and awhile
Gazed on her train with sympathetic smile.
'Beware of Love! she cried, ye Nymphs, and hear
'His twanging bowstring with alarmed ear;
'Fly the first whisper of the distant dart,
'Or shield with adamant the fluttering heart; 430
'To secret shades, ye Virgin trains, retire,
'And in your bosoms guard the vestal fire.'
—The obedient Beauties hear her words, advised,
And bow [with laugh repress'd], and [smile chastised].
Now at her nod the Nymphs attendant bring
Translucent water from the bubbling spring;
In crystal cups the waves salubrious shine,
Unstain'd untainted with immodest wine.
Next, where emerging from its ancient roots
Its widening boughs the Tree of Knowledge shoots; 440
Pluck'd with nice choice before the Muse they placed
The now no longer interdicted taste.
Awhile they sit, from higher cares released,
And pleased partake the intellectual feast.
Of good and ill they spoke, effect and cause,
Celestial agencies, and Nature's laws.
So when angelic Forms to Syria sent
Sat in the cedar shade by Abraham's tent;
A spacious bowl the admiring Patriarch fills
With dulcet water from the scanty rills; 450
Sweet fruits and kernels gathers from his hoard,
With milk and butter piles the plenteous board;
While on the heated hearth his Consort bakes
Fine flour well kneaded in unleaven'd cakes.
The Guests ethereal quaff the lucid flood,
Smile on their hosts, and taste terrestrial food;
And while from seraph-lips sweet converse springs,
Lave their fair feet, and close their silver wings.
END OF CANTO II.
ORIGIN OF SOCIETY.
CANTO III.
PROGRESS OF THE MIND.
CONTENTS.
[I]. Urania and the Muse converse [1]. Progress of the Mind [42]. [II]. The Four sensorial powers of Irritation, Sensation, Volition, and Association [55]. Some finer senses given to Brutes [93]. And Armour [108]. Finer Organ of Touch given to Man [121]. Whence clear ideas of Form [125]. Vision is the Language of the Touch [131]. Magic Lantern [139]. Surprise, Novelty, Curiosity [145]. Passions, Vices [149]. Philanthropy [159]. Shrine of Virtue [160]. [III]. Ideal Beauty from the Female Bosom [163]. Eros the God of Sentimental Love [177]. Young Dione idolized by Eros [186]. Third chain of Society [206]. [IV]. Ideal Beauty from curved Lines [207]. Taste for the Beautiful [222]. Taste for the Sublime [223]. For poetic Melancholy [231]. For Tragedy [241]. For artless Nature [247]. The Genius of Taste [259]. [V]. The Senses easily form and repeat ideas [269]. Imitation from clear ideas [279]. The Senses imitate each other [293]. In dancing [295]. In drawing naked Nymphs [299]. In Architecture, as at St. Peter's at Rome [303]. Mimickry [319]. [VI]. Natural Language from imitation [335]. Language of Quails, Cocks, Lions, Boxers [343]. Pantomime Action [357]. Verbal Language from Imitation and Association [363]. Symbols of ideas [371]. Gigantic form of Time [385]. Wings of Hermes [391]. [VII]. Recollection from clear ideas [395]. Reason and Volition [401]. Arts of the Wasp, Bee, Spider, Wren, Silk-Worm [411]. Volition concerned about Means or Causes [435]. Man distinguished by Language, by using Tools, labouring for Money, praying to the Deity [438]. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil [445]. [VIII]. Emotions from Imitation [461]. The Seraph; Sympathy [467]. Christian Morality the great bond of Society [483]-496.