YOUR ardent troops pursued the flying sphere,
30 Circling the starry girdle of the year;
While sweet vicissitudes of day and clime
Mark'd the new annals of enascent Time.

II. "You trod with printless step Earth's tender globe,
While Ocean wrap'd it in his azure robe;
35 Beneath his waves her hardening strata spread,
Raised her PRIMEVAL ISLANDS from his bed,
Stretch'd her wide lawns, and sunk her winding dells,
And deck'd her shores with corals, pearls, and shells.


[_While ocean wrap'd_. l. 34. See additional notes, No. XVI. on the
production of calcareous earth.]

[_Her hardening srata spread_. l. 35. The granite, or moor-stone, or
porphory, constitute the oldest part of the globe, since the limestone,
shells, coralloids, and other sea-productions rest upon them; and upon
these sea-productions are found clay, iron, coal, salt, and siliceous
sand or grit-stone. Thus there seem to be three divisions of the globe
distinctly marked; the first I suppose to have been the original nucleus
of the earth, or lava projected from the sun; 2. over this lie the
recrements of animal and vegetable matter produced in the ocean; and, 3.
over these the recrements of animal and vegetable matter produced upon
the land. Besides these there are bodies which owe their origin to a
combination of those already mentioned, as siliceous sand, fluor,
alabaster; which seem to have derived their acids originally from the
vegetable kingdom, and their earthy bases from sea-productions. See
additional notes, No. XVI. on calcareous earth.]