Hence then the primeval islands had their gradual origin, were raised but a few feet above the level of the sea, and were not exposed to the great or sudden variations of heat and cold, as is so well explained in Mr. Whitehurst"s Theory of the Earth, chap. xvi. Whence the paradise of the sacred writers, and the golden age of the profane ones, seems to have had a real existence. As there can be no rainbow, when the heavens are covered with clouds, because the sun-beams are then precluded from falling upon the rain-drops opposite to the eye of the spectator, the rainbow is a mark of gentle or partial showers. Mr. Whitehurst has endeavoured to show that the primitive islands were only moistened by nocturnal dews and not by showers, as occurs at this day to the Delta of Egypt; and is thence of opinion, that the rainbow had no existence till after the production of mountains and continents. As the salt of the sea has been gradually acc.u.mulating, being washed down into it from the recrements of animal and vegetable bodies, the sea must originally have been as fresh as river water; and as it is not yet saturated with salt, must become annually more saline. See note on l. 119 of this Canto.]
"O"er those blest isles no ice-crown"d mountains tower"d, 40 No lightnings darted, and no tempests lower"d; Soft fell the vesper-drops, condensed below, Or bent in air the rain-refracted bow; Sweet breathed the zephyrs, just perceiv"d and lost; And brineless billows only kiss"d the coast; 45 Round the bright zodiac danced the vernal hours, And Peace, the Cherub, dwelt in mortal bowers!
"So young DIONE, nursed beneath the waves, And rock"d by Nereids in their coral caves, Charm"d the blue sisterhood with playful wiles, 50 Lisp"d her sweet tones, and tried her tender smiles.
Then, on her beryl throne by Triton"s borne, Bright rose the G.o.ddess like the Star of morn; When with soft fires the milky dawn He leads, And wakes to life and love the laughing meads;-- 55 With rosy fingers, as uncurl"d they hung Round her fair brow, her golden locks she wrung; O"er the smooth surge on silver sandals flood, And look"d enchantment on the dazzled flood.-- The bright drops, rolling from her lifted arms, 60 In slow meanders wander o"er her charms, Seek round her snowy neck their lucid track, Pearl her white shoulders, gem her ivory back, Round her fine waist and swelling bosom swim, And star with glittering brine each crystal limb.-- 65 --The immortal form enamour"d Nature hail"d, And Beauty blazed to heaven and earth, unvail"d.
[_So young Dione_. l. 47. There is an antient gem representing Venus rising out of the ocean supported by two Tritons. From the formality of the design it would appear to be of great antiquity before the introduction of fine taste into the world. It is probable that this beautiful allegory was originally an hieroglyphic picture (before the invention of letters) descriptive of the formation of the earth from the ocean, which seems to have been an opinion of many of the most antient philosophers.]
III. "You! who then, kindling after many an age, Saw with new fires the first VOLCANO rage, O"er smouldering heaps of livid sulphur swell 70 At Earth"s firm centre, and distend her sh.e.l.l, Saw at each opening cleft the furnace glow, And seas rush headlong on the gulphs below.-- GNOMES! how you shriek"d! when through the troubled air Roar"d the fierce din of elemental war; 75 When rose the continents, and sunk the main, And Earth"s huge sphere exploding burst in twain.-- GNOMES! how you gazed! when from her wounded side Where now the South-Sea heaves its waste of tide, Rose on swift wheels the MOON"S refulgent car, 80 Circling the solar orb; a sister-star, Dimpled with vales, with shining hills emboss"d, And roll"d round Earth her airless realms of frost.
[_The first volcano_. l. 68. As the earth before the existence of earthquakes was nearly level, and the greatest part of it covered with sea; when the first great fires began deep in the internal parts of it, those parts would become much expanded; this expansion would be gradually extended, as the heat increased, through the whole terraqueous globe of 7000 miles diameter; the crust would thence in many places open into fissures, which by admitting the sea to flow in upon the fire, would produce not only a quant.i.ty of steam beyond calculation by its expansion, but would also by its decomposition produce inflammable air and vital air in quant.i.ties beyond conception, sufficient to effect those violent explosions, the vestiges of which all over the world excite our admiration and our study; the difficulty of understanding how subterraneous fires could exist without the presence of air has disappeared since Dr. Priestley"s discoveries of such great quant.i.ties of pure air which const.i.tute all the acids, and consequently exist in all saline bodies, as sea-salt, nitre, lime-stone, and in all calciform ores, as manganese, calamy, ochre, and other mineral substances. See an ingenious treatise by Mr. Michel on earthquakes in the Philos. Trans.
In these first tremendous ignitions of the globe, as the continents were heaved up, the vallies, which now hold the sea, were formed by the earth subsiding into the cavities made by the rising mountains; as the steam, which raised them condensed; which would thence not have any caverns of great extent remain beneath them, as some philosophers have imagined.
The earthquakes of modern days are of very small extent indeed compared to those of antient times, and are ingeniously compared by M. De Luc to the operations of a mole-hill, where from a small cavity are raised from time to time small quant.i.ties of lava or pumice stone. Monthly Review, June, 1790.]
[_The moon"s refulgent car_. l. 79. See additional notes, No. XV. on solar volcanos.]
[_Her airless realms of frost_. l. 82. If the moon had no atmosphere at the time of its elevation from the earth; or if its atmosphere was afterwards stolen from it by the earth"s attraction; the water on the moon would rise quickly into vapour; and the cold produced by a certain quant.i.ty of this evaporation would congeal the remainder of it. Hence it is not probable that the moon is at present inhabited, but as it seems to have suffered and to continue to suffer much by volcanos, a sufficient quant.i.ty of air may in process of time be generated to produce an atmosphere; which may prevent its heat from so easily escaping, and its water from so easily evaporating, and thence become fit for the production of vegetables and animals.
That the moon possesses little or no atmosphere is deduced from the undiminished l.u.s.tre of the stars, at the instant when they emerge from behind her disk. That the ocean of the moon is frozen, is confirmed from there being no appearance of lunar tides; which, if they existed, would cover the part of her disk nearest the earth. See note on Canto III. l.
61.]
"GNOMES! how you trembled! with the dreadful force When Earth recoiling stagger"d from her course; 85 When, as her Line in slower circles spun, And her shock"d axis nodded from the sun, With dreadful march the acc.u.mulated main Swept her vast wrecks of mountain, vale, and plain; And, while new tides their shouting floods unite, 90 And hail their Queen, fair Regent of the night; Chain"d to one centre whirl"d the kindred spheres, And mark"d with lunar cycles solar years.
[_When earth recoiling_. l. 84. On supposition that the moon was thrown from the earth by the explosion of water or the generation of other vapours of greater power, the remaining part of the globe would recede from its...o...b..t in one direction as the moon receded in another, and that in proportion to the respective momentum of each, and would afterwards revolve round their common centre of gravity.
If the moon rose from any part of the earth except exactly at the line or poles, the shock would tend to turn the axis of the earth out of its previous direction. And as a ma.s.s of matter rising from deep parts of the globe would have previously acquired less diurnal velocity than the earth"s surface from whence it rose, it would receive during the time of its rising additional velocity from the earth"s surface, and would consequently so much r.e.t.a.r.d the motion of the earth round its axis.
When the earth thus receded the shock would overturn all its buildings and forests, and the water would rush with inconceivable violence over its surface towards the new satellite, from two causes, both by its not at first acquiring the velocity with which the earth receded, and by the attraction of the new moon, as it leaves the earth; on these accounts at first there would be but one tide till the moon receded to a greater distance, and the earth moving round a common centre of gravity between them, the water on the side furthest from the moon would acquire a centrifugal force in respect to this common centre between itself and the moon.]
IV. "GNOMES! you then bade dissolving Sh.e.l.lS distil From the loose summits of each shatter"d hill, 95 To each fine pore and dark interstice flow, And fill with liquid chalk the ma.s.s below.
Whence sparry forms in dusky caverns gleam With borrow"d light, and twice refract the beam; While in white beds congealing rocks beneath 100 Court the nice chissel, and desire to breathe.--
[Footnote: _Dissolving sh.e.l.ls distil_. l. 93. The lime-stone rocks have had their origin from sh.e.l.ls formed beneath the sea, the softer strata gradually dissolving and filling up the interstices of the harder ones, afterwards when these acc.u.mulations of sh.e.l.ls were elevated above the waters the upper strata became dissolved by the actions of the air and dews, and filled up the interstices beneath, producing solid rocks of different kinds from the coa.r.s.e lime-stones to the finest marbles. When those lime-stones have been in such a situation that they could form perfect crystals they are called spars, some of which possess a double refraction, as observed by Sir Isaac Newton. When these crystals are jumbled together or mixed with some colouring impurities it is termed marble, if its texture be equable and firm; if its texture be coa.r.s.e and porous yet hard, it is called lime-stone; if its texture be very loose and porous it is termed chalk. In some rocks the sh.e.l.ls remain almost unchanged and only covered, or bedded with lime-stone, which seems to have been dissolved and sunk down amongst them. In others the softer sh.e.l.ls and bones are dissolved, and only sharks teeth or harder echini have preserved their form inveloped in the chalk or lime-stone; in some marbles the solution has been compleat and no vestiges of sh.e.l.l appear, as in the white kind called statuary by the workmen. See addit. notes, No. XVI.]
"Hence wearied HERCULES in marble rears His languid limbs, and rests a thousand years; Still, as he leans, shall young ANTINOUS please With careless grace, and unaffected ease; 105 Onward with loftier step APOLLO spring, And launch the unerring arrow from the string; In Beauty"s bashful form, the veil unfurl"d, Ideal VENUS win the gazing world.
Hence on ROUBILIAC"S tomb shall Fame sublime 110 Wave her triumphant wings, and conquer Time; Long with soft touch shall DAMER"S chissel charm, With grace delight us, and with beauty warm; FOSTER"S fine form shall hearts unborn engage, And MELBOURN"s smile enchant another age.
[_Hence wearied Hercules_. l. 101. Alluding to the celebrated Hercules of Glyco resting after his labours; and to the easy att.i.tude of Antinous; the lofty step of the Apollo of Belvidere; and the retreating modesty of the Venus de Medici. Many of the designs by Roubiliac in Westminster Abbey are uncommonly poetical; the allegory of Time and Fame contending for the trophy of General Wade, which is here alluded to, is beautifully told; the wings of Fame are still expanded, and her hair still floating in the air; which not only shews that she has that moment arrived, but also that her force is not yet expended; at the same time, that the old figure of Time with his disordered wings is rather leaning backwards and yielding to her impulse, and must apparently in another instant be driven from his attack upon the trophy.]
[_Foster"s fine form_. l. 113. Alluding to the beautiful statues of Lady Elizabeth Foster and of Lady Melbourn executed by the ingenious Mrs.
Damer.]
115 V. GNOMES! you then taught transuding dews to pa.s.s Through time-fall"n woods, and root-inwove mora.s.s Age after age; and with filtration fine Dispart, from earths and sulphurs, the saline.
[_Root-inwove mora.s.s_. l. 116. The great ma.s.s of matter which rests upon the lime-stone strata of the earth, or upon the granite where the lime- stone stratum has been removed by earthquakes or covered by lava, has had its origin from the recrements of vegetables and of air-breathing animals, as the lime-stone had its origin from sea animals. The whole habitable world was originally covered with woods, till mankind formed themselves into societies, and subdued them by fire and by steel. Hence woods in uncultivated countries have grown and fallen through many ages, whence mora.s.ses of immense extent; and from these as the more soluble parts were washed away first, were produced sea-salt, nitre, iron, and variety of acids, which combining with calcareous matter were productive of many fossil bodies, as flint, sea-sand, selenite, with the precious stones, and perhaps the diamond. See additional notes, No. XVII.]
1. "HENCE with diffusive SALT old Ocean steeps 120 His emerald shallows, and his sapphire deeps.
Oft in wide lakes, around their warmer brim In hollow pyramids the crystals swim; Or, fused by earth-born fires, in cubic blocks Shoot their white forms, and harden into rocks.
[_Hence with diffusive salt_. l. 119. Salts of various kinds are produced from the recrements of animal and vegetable bodies, such as phosphoric, ammoniacal, marine salt, and others; these are washed from the earth by rains, and carried down our rivers into the sea; they seem all here to decompose each other except the marine salt, which has therefore from the beginning of the habitable world been perpetually acc.u.mulating.
There is a town in the immense salt-mines of Cracow in Poland, with a market-place, a river, a church, and a famous statue, (here supposed to be of Lot"s wife) by the moist or dry appearance of which the subterranean inhabitants are said to know when the weather is fair above ground. The galleries in these mines are so numerous and so intricate, that workmen have frequently lost their way, their lights having been burnt out, and have perished before they could be found. Essais, &c. par M. Macquart. And though the arches of these different stories of galleries are boldly executed, yet they are not dangerous; as they are held together or supported by large ma.s.ses of timber of a foot square; and these vast timbers remain perfectly sound for many centuries, while all other pillars whether of brick, cement, or salt soon dissolve or moulder away. Ibid. Could the timbers over water-mill wheels or cellars, be thus preserved by occasionally soaking them with brine? These immense ma.s.ses of rock-salt seem to have been produced by the evaporation of sea-water in the early periods of the world by subterranean fires. Dr.
Hutton"s Theory of the Earth. See also Theorie des Sources Salees, par Mr. Struve. Histoire de Sciences de Lausanne. Tom. II. This idea of Dr.
Hutton"s is confirmed by a fact mentioned in M. Macquart"s Essais sur Minerologie, who found a great quant.i.ty of fossil sh.e.l.ls, princ.i.p.ally bi-valves and madre-pores, in the salt-mines of Wialiczka near Cracow.
During the evaporation of the lakes of salt-water, as in artificial salt-works, the salt begins to crystallize near the edges where the water is shallowest, forming hollow inverted pyramids; which, when they become of a certain size, subside by their gravity; if urged by a stronger fire the salt fuses or forms large cubes; whence the salt shaped in hollow pyramids, called flake-salt, is better tasted and preserves flesh better, than the basket or powder salt; because it is made by less heat and thence contains more of the marine acid. The sea- water about our island contains from about one twenty-eighth to one thirtieth part of sea-salt, and about one eightieth of magnesian salt.
See Brownrigg on Salt. See note on Ocymum, Vol. II. of this work.]
125 "Thus, cavern"d round in CRACOW"S mighty mines, With crystal walls a gorgeous city shines; Scoop"d in the briny rock long streets extend Their h.o.a.ry course, and glittering domes ascend; Down the bright steeps, emerging into day, 130 Impetuous fountains burst their headlong way, O"er milk-white vales in ivory channels spread, And wondering seek their subterraneous bed.
Form"d in pellucid salt with chissel nice, The pale lamp glimmering through the sculptured ice, 135 With wild reverted eyes fair LOTTA stands, And spreads to Heaven, in vain, her gla.s.sy hands; Cold dews condense upon her pearly breast, And the big tear rolls lucid down her vest.
Far gleaming o"er the town transparent fanes 140 Rear their white towers, and wave their golden vanes; Long lines of l.u.s.tres pour their trembling rays, And the bright vault returns the mingled blaze.
2. "HENCE orient NITRE owes it"s sparkling birth, And with prismatic crystals gems the earth, 145 O"er tottering domes in filmy foliage crawls, Or frosts with branching plumes the mouldering walls.
As woos Azotic Gas the virgin Air, And veils in crimson clouds the yielding Fair, Indignant Fire the treacherous courtship flies, 150 Waves his light wing, and mingles with the skies.
[_Hence orient Nitre_. l. 143. Nitre is found in Bengal naturally crystallized, and is swept by brooms from earths and stones, and thence called sweepings of nitre. It has lately been found in large quant.i.ties in a natural bason of calcareous earth at Molfetta in Italy, both in thin strata between the calcareous beds, and in efflorescences of various beautiful leafy and hairy forms. An account of this nitre-bed is given by Mr. Zimmerman and abridged in Rozier"s Journal de Physique Fevrier. 1790. This acid appears to be produced in all situations where animal and vegetable matters are compleatly decomposed, and which are exposed to the action of the air as on the walls of stables, and slaughter-houses; the crystals are prisms furrowed by longitudinal groves.
Dr. Priestley discovered that nitrous air or gas which he obtained by dissolving metals in nitrous acid, would combine rapidly with vital air, and produce with it a true nitrous acid; forming red clouds during the combination; the two airs occupy only the s.p.a.ce before occupied by one of them, and at the same time heat is given out from the new combination. This dimunition of the bulk of a mixture of nitrous gas and vital air, Dr. Priestley ingeniously used as a test of the purity of the latter; a discovery of the greatest importance in the a.n.a.lysis of airs.
Mr. Cavendish has since demonstrated that two parts of vital air or oxygene, and one part of phlogistic air or azote, being long exposed to electric shocks, unite, and produce nitrous acid. Philos. Trans. Vols.
LXXV. and LXXVIII.
Azote is one of the most abundant elements in nature, and combined with calorique or heat, it forms azotic gas or phlogistic air, and composes two thirds of the atmosphere; and is one of the princ.i.p.al component parts of animal bodies, and when united to vital air or oxygene produces the nitrous acid. Mr. Lavoisier found that 211/2 parts by weight of azote, and 431/2 parts of oxygene produced 64 parts of nitrous gas, and by the further addition of 36 parts of oxygene nitrous acid was produced. Traite de Chimie. When two airs become united so as to produce an unelastic liquid much calorique or heat is of necessity expelled from the new combination, though perhaps nitrous acid and oxygenated marine acid admit more heat into their combinations than other acids.]
"So Beauty"s G.o.dDESS, warm with new desire, Left, on her silver wheels, the G.o.d of Fire; Her faithless charms to fiercer MARS resign"d, Met with fond lips, with wanton arms intwin"d.
155 --Indignant VULCAN eyed the parting Fair, And watch"d with jealous step the guilty pair; O"er his broad neck a wiry net he flung, Quick as he strode, the tinkling meshes rung; Fine as the spider"s flimsy thread He wove 160 The immortal toil to lime illicit love; Steel were the knots, and steel the twisted thong, Ring link"d in ring, indissolubly strong; On viewless hooks along the fretted roof He hung, unseen, the inextricable woof.-- 165 --Quick start the springs, the webs pellucid spread, And lock the embracing Lovers on their bed; Fierce with loud taunts vindictive VULCAN springs, Tries all the bolts, and tightens all the strings, Shakes with incessant shouts the bright abodes, 170 Claps his rude hands, and calls the festive G.o.ds.-- --With spreading palms the alarmed G.o.ddess tries To veil her beauties from celestial eyes, Writhes her fair limbs, the slender ringlets strains, And bids her Loves untie the obdurate chains; 175 Soft swells her panting bosom, as she turns, And her flush"d cheek with brighter blushes burns.
Majestic grief the Queen of Heaven avows, And chaste Minerva hides her helmed brows; Attendant Nymphs with bashful eyes askance 180 Steal of intangled MARS a transient glance; Surrounding G.o.ds the circling nectar quaff, Gaze on the Fair, and envy as they laugh.
3. "HENCE dusky IRON sleeps in dark abodes, And ferny foliage nestles in the nodes; 185 Till with wide lungs the panting bellows blow, And waked by fire the glittering torrents flow; --Quick whirls the wheel, the ponderous hammer falls, Loud anvils ring amid the trembling walls, Strokes follow strokes, the sparkling ingot shines, 190 Flows the red slag, the lengthening bar refines; Cold waves, immersed, the glowing ma.s.s congeal, And turn to adamant the hissing Steel.
[_Hence dusky Iron_. l. 183. The production of iron from the decomposition of vegetable bodies is perpetually presented to our view; the waters oozing from all mora.s.ses are chalybeate, and deposit their ochre on being exposed to the air, the iron acquiring a calciform state from its union with oxygene or vital air. Where thin mora.s.ses lie on beds of gravel the latter are generally stained by the filtration of some of the chalybeate water through them. This formation of iron from vegetable recrements is further evinced by the fern leaves and other parts of vegetables, so frequently found in the centre of the k.n.o.bs or nodules of some iron-ores.