be pricked with a straw dipped in olive-oil. Plumbs and pears punctured
by some insects ripen sooner, and the part round the puncture is sweeter.
Is not the honey-dew produced by the puncture of insects? will not
wounding the branch of a pear-tree, which is too vigorous, prevent the
blossoms from falling off; as from some fig-trees the fruit is said to
fall off unless they are wounded by caprification? I had last spring six
young trees of the Ischia fig with fruit on them in pots in a stove; on
removing them into larger boxes, they protruded very vigorous shoots, and
the figs all fell off; which I ascribed to the increased vigour of the
plants.]

So sleeps in silence the Curculio, shut
410 In the dark chambers of the cavern'd nut,
Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted shell,
And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell.
So the pleased Linnet in the moss-wove nest,
Waked into life beneath its parent's breast,
415 Chirps in the gaping shell, bursts forth erelong,
Shakes its new plumes, and tries its tender song.--
--And now the talisman she strikes, that charms
Her husband-Sylph,--and calls him to her arms.--
Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord bestrides,
420 With cobweb reins the flying courser guides,
From crystal steeps of viewless ether springs,
Cleaves the soft air on still expanded wings;
Darts like a sunbeam o'er the boundless wave,
And seeks the beauty in her _secret_ cave.
425 So with quick impulse through all nature's frame
Shoots the electric air its subtle flame.
So turns the impatient needle to the pole,
Tho' mountains rise between, and oceans roll.
Where round the Orcades white torrents roar,
430 Scooping with ceaseless rage the incumbent shore,
Wide o'er the deep a dusky cavern bends
Its marble arms, and high in air impends;
Basaltic piers the ponderous roof sustain,
And steep their massy sandals in the main;
435 Round the dim walls, and through the whispering ailes
Hoarse breathes the wind, the glittering water boils.
Here the charm'd BYSSUS with his blooming bride
Spreads his green sails, and braves the foaming tide;
The star of Venus gilds the twilight wave,
440 And lights her votaries to the _secret_ cave;
Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed,
And each coy sea-maid hides her