The Botanic Garden. Part 2, Containing the Loves of the Plants. A Poem.: With Philosophical Notes.Darwin, Erasmus
History
The Botanic Garden. Part 2, Containing the Loves of the Plants. A Poem.: With Philosophical Notes.
Darwin, Erasmus
Natural history; Plants -- Poetry
175 So WRIGHT's bold pencil from Vesuvio's hight
Hurls his red lavas to the troubled night;
From Calpè starts the intolerable flash,
Skies burst in flames, and blazing oceans dash;--
Or bids in sweet repose his shades recede,
180 Winds the still vale, and slopes the velvet mead;
On the pale stream expiring Zephyrs sink,
And Moonlight sleeps upon its hoary brink.
Gigantic Nymph! the fair KLEINHOVIA reigns,
The grace and terror of Orixa's plains;
[_Hurls his red lavas_. l. 176. Alluding to the grand paintings of the
eruptions of Vesuvius, and of the destruction of the Spanish vessels
before Gibraltar; and to the beautiful landscapes and moonlight scenes,
by Mr. Wright of Derby.]
[_Kleinhovia_. l. 183. In this class the males in each flower are
supported by the female. The name of the class may be translated
"Viragoes," or "Feminine Males."
The largest tree perhaps in the world is of the same natural order as
Kleinhovia, it is the Adansonia, or Ethiopian Sour-gourd, or African
Calabash tree. Mr. Adanson says the diameter of the trunk frequently
exceeds 25 feet, and the horizontal branches are from 45 to 55 feet long,
and so large that each branch is equal to the largest trees of Europe.
The breadth of the top is from 120 to 150 feet. And one of the roots
bared only in part by the wasting away of the earth by the river, near
which it grew, measured 110 feet long; and yet these stupendous trees
never exceed 70 feet in height. Voyage to Senegal.]
O'er her warm cheek the blush of beauty swims,
And nerves Herculean bend her sinewy limbs;
With frolic eye she views the affrighted throng,
190 And shakes the meadows, as she towers along,
With playful violence displays her charms,
And bears her trembling lovers in her arms.
So fair THALESTRIS shook her plumy crest,
And bound in rigid mail her jutting breast;
195 Poised her long lance amid the walks of war,
And Beauty thunder'd from Bellona's car;
Greece arm'd in vain, her captive heroes wove
The chains of conquest with the wreaths of love.
When o'er the cultured lawns and dreary wastes
200 Retiring Autumn flings her howling blasts,
Bends in tumultuous waves the struggling woods,
And showers their leafy honours on the floods,
In withering heaps collects the flowery spoil,
And each chill insect sinks beneath the soil;
205 Quick flies fair TULIPA the loud alarms,
And folds her infant closer in her arms;
In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies,
And waits the courtship of serener skies.--
So, six cold moons, the Dormouse charm'd to rest,
210 Indulgent Sleep! beneath thy eider breast,
In fields of Fancy climbs the kernel'd groves,
Or shares the golden harvest with his loves.--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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