"E'en on the day when Youth with Beauty wed, The flames surprized them in their nuptial bed;-- 435 Seen at the opening sash with bosom bare, With wringing hands, and dark dishevel'd hair, The blushing Beauty with disorder'd charms Round her fond lover winds her ivory arms; Beat, as they clasp, their throbbing hearts with fear, 440 And many a kiss is mix'd with many a tear;-- Ah me! in vain the labouring engines pour Round their pale limbs the ineffectual shower!-- --Then crash'd the floor, while shrinking crouds retire, And Love and Virtue sunk amid the fire!-- 445 With piercing screams afflicted strangers mourn, And their white ashes mingle in their urn. XII. "PELLUCID FORMS! whose crystal bosoms show The shine of welfare, or the shade of woe; Who with soft lips salute returning Spring, 450 And hail the Zephyr quivering on his wing; Or watch, untired, the wintery clouds, and share With streaming eyes my vegetable care; Go, shove the dim mist from the mountain's brow, Chase the white fog, which floods the vale below; 455 Melt the thick snows, that linger on the lands, And catch the hailstones in your little hands; Guard the coy blossom from the pelting shower, And dash the rimy spangles from the bower; From each chill leaf the silvery drops repel, 460 And close the timorous floret's golden bell. [_Shove the dim mist_. l. 453. See note on l. 20 of this Canto.] [_Catch the hail-stones_. l. 456. See note on l. 15 of this Canto.] [_From each chill leaf_. l. 459. The upper side of the leaf is the organ of vegetable respiration, as explained in the additional notes, No. XXXVII, hence the leaf is liable to injury from much moisture on this surface, and is destroyed by being smeared with oil, in these respects resembling the lungs of animals or the spiracula of insects. To prevent these injuries some leaves repel the dew-drops from their upper surfaces as those of cabbages; other vegetables close the upper surfaces of their leaves together in the night or in wet weather, as the sensitive plant; others only hang their leaves downwards so as to shoot the wet from them, as kidney-beans, and many trees. See note on l. 18 of this Canto.]