Now the bold Sailor, raised on pointed toe,
Whirls the wing'd harpoon on the slimy foe;
Quick sinks the monster in his oozy bed,
The blood-stain'd surges circling o'er his head,
455 Steers to the frozen pole his wonted track,
And bears the iron tempest on his back.

X. "On wings of flame, ETHEREAL VIRGINS! sweep
O'er Earth's fair bosom, and complacent deep;
Where dwell my vegetative realms benumb'd,
460 In buds imprison'd, or in bulbs intomb'd,
Pervade, PELLUCID FORMS! their cold retreat,
Ray from bright urns your viewless floods of _heat_;
From earth's deep wastes _electric_ torrents pour,
Or shed from heaven the scintillating shower;
465 Pierce the dull root, relax its fibre-trains,
Thaw the thick blood, which lingers in its veins;
Melt with warm breath the fragrant gums, that bind
The expanding foliage in its scaly rind;
And as in air the laughing leaflets play,
470 And turn their shining bosoms to the ray,
NYMPHS! with sweet smile each opening glower invite,
And on its damask eyelids pour the _light_.


[_In buds imprison'd_. l. 460. The buds and bulbs of plants constitute
what is termed by Linneus the Hybernaculum, or winter cradle of the
embryon vegetable. The buds arise from the bark on the branches of
trees, and the bulbs from the caudex of bulbous-rooted plants, or the
part from which the fibres of the root are produced, they are defended