The Botanic Garden - A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation by Erasmus Darwin
page 58 of 441 (13%)
page 58 of 441 (13%)
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515 Where studs CASSIOPE with stars unknown
Her golden chair, and gems her sapphire zone; Where with vast convolution DRACO holds The ecliptic axis in his scaly folds, O'er half the skies his neck enormous rears, 520 And with immense meanders parts the BEARS; Onward, the kindred BEARS with footstep rude Dance round the Pole, pursuing and pursued. [_With stars unknown_. l. 515. Alluding to the star which appeared in the chair of Cassiopea in the year 1572, which at first surpassed Jupiter in magnitude and brightness, diminished by degrees and disappeared in 18 months; it alarmed all the astronomers of the age, and was esteemed a comet by some.--Could this have been the Georgium sidus?] "There in her azure coif and starry stole, Grey TWILIGHT sits, and rules the slumbering Pole; 525 Bends the pale moon-beams round the sparkling coast, And strews with livid hands eternal frost. There, NYMPHS! alight, array your dazzling powers, With sudden march alarm the torpid Hours; On ice-built isles expand a thousand sails, 530 Hinge the strong helms, and catch the frozen gales; The winged rocks to feverish climates guide, Where fainting Zephyrs pant upon the tide; Pass, where to CEUTA CALPE'S thunder roars, And answering echoes shake the kindred shores; 535 Pass, where with palmy plumes CANARY smiles, |
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