By these mysterious ties, [Endnote JJ] the busy power Of Memory her ideal train preserves Entire; or when they would elude her watch, 350 Reclaims their fleeting footsteps from the waste Of dark oblivion; thus collecting all The various forms of being to present, Before the curious aim of mimic art, Their largest choice; like Spring's unfolded blooms Exhaling sweetness, that the skilful bee May taste at will, from their selected spoils To work her dulcet food. For not the expanse Of living lakes in Summer's noontide calm, Reflects the bordering shade, and sun-bright heavens, 360 With fairer semblance; not the sculptured gold More faithful keeps the graver's lively trace, Than he whose birth the sister powers of Art Propitious view'd, and from his genial star Shed influence to the seeds of fancy kind, Than his attemper'd bosom must preserve The seal of Nature. There alone unchanged, Her form remains. The balmy walks of May There breathe perennial sweets; the trembling chord Resounds for ever in the abstracted ear, 370 Melodious; and the virgin's radiant eye, Superior to disease, to grief, and time, Shines with unbating lustre. Thus at length Endow'd with all that nature can bestow, The child of Fancy oft in silence bends O'er these mix'd treasures of his pregnant breast With conscious pride. From them he oft resolves To frame he knows not what excelling things, And win he knows not what sublime reward Of praise and wonder. By degrees, the mind 380 Feels her young nerves dilate: the plastic powers Labour for action: blind emotions heave His bosom; and with loveliest frenzy caught, From earth to heaven he rolls his daring eye, From heaven to earth. Anon ten thousand shapes, Like spectres trooping to the wizard's call, Flit swift before him. From the womb of earth, From ocean's bed they come: the eternal heavens Disclose their splendours, and the dark abyss Pours out her births unknown. With fixed gaze 390 He marks the rising phantoms. Now compares Their different forms; now blends them, now divides, Enlarges and extenuates by turns; Opposes, ranges in fantastic bands, And infinitely varies. Hither now, Now thither fluctuates his inconstant aim, With endless choice perplex'd. At length his plan Begins to open. Lucid order dawns; And as from Chaos old the jarring seeds Of Nature at the voice divine repair'd 400 Each to its place, till rosy earth unveil'd Her fragrant bosom, and the joyful sun Sprung up the blue serene; by swift degrees Thus disentangled, his entire design Emerges. Colours mingle, features join, And lines converge: the fainter parts retire; The fairer eminent in light advance; And every image on its neighbour smiles. Awhile he stands, and with a father's joy Contemplates.