ote IV.]

"So still the Diodons, amphibious tribe,
With two-fold lungs the sea or air imbibe;
Allied to fish, the lizard cleaves the flood
With one-cell'd heart, and dark frigescent blood;
Half-reasoning Beavers long-unbreathing dart
Through Erie's waves with perforated heart;
With gills and lungs respiring Lampreys steer,
Kiss the rude rocks, and suck till they adhere;
The lazy Remora's inhaling lips,
Hung on the keel, retard the struggling ships; 360
With gills pulmonic breathes the enormous Whale,
And spouts aquatic columns to the gale;
Sports on the shining wave at noontide hours,
And shifting rainbows crest the rising showers.

[Footnote: _So still the Diodon_, l. 351. See Additional Note
V.]

[Footnote: _At noontide hours_, l. 363. The rainbows in our
latitude are only seen in the mornings or evenings, when the
sun is not much more than forty-two degrees high. In the more
northern latitudes, where the meridian sun is not more than
forty-two degrees high, they are also visible at noon.]

"So erst, ere rose the science to record
In letter'd syllables the volant word;
Whence chemic arts, disclosed in pictured lines,
Liv'd to mankind by hieroglyphic signs;
And clustering stars, pourtray'd on mimic spheres,
Assumed the forms of lions, bulls, and bears; 370
--So erst, as Egypt's rude designs explain,
Rose young DIONE from the shoreless main;
Type of organic Nature! source of bliss!
Emerging Beauty from the vast abyss!
Sublime on Chaos borne, the Goddess stood,
And smiled enchantment on the troubled flood;
The warring elements to peace restored,
And young Reflection wondered and adored."

[Footnote: _As Egypt's rude design_, l. 371. See Additional
Note VI.]

[Footnote: _Rose young Dione_, l. 372. The hieroglyphic
figure of Venus rising from the sea supported on a shell by
two tritons, as well as that of Hercules armed with a club,
appear to be remains of the most remote antiquity. As the
former is devoid of grace, and of the pictorial art of
design, as one half of the group exactly resembles the other;
and as that of Hercules is armed with a club, which was the
first weapon.

The Venus seems to have represented the beauty of organic
Nature r