Memoirs of Erasmus Darwin y M. D. 47 



Dim, distant towers ! whose ample roof protects 

 All that my beating bosom holds so dear. 



Far shining lake ! whose silver wave reflects 

 Of Nature's fairest forms, the form most fair ; 



Groves, where at noon the sleeping beauty lies ; 



Lawns, where at eve her graceful footsteps rove ; 

 For ye full oft have heard my secret sighs. 



And caught, unseen, the tear of hopeless love j 



•Farewell ! a long farewell ! — your shades among 

 No more these eyes shall drink Eliza's charms; 



No more these ears the music of her tongue ! 

 O ! doora'd for ever to another's arms ! 



Fly, gentle steeds ! — my bleeding heart convey- 

 Where brighter scenes and milder planets shine ; 



Where Joy's white pinion glitters in the ray. 

 And Love sits smiling on his crystal sluine ! 



These lines were composed and never sent, but locked 

 up, with others, in a bureau, and afterwards, as will be seen, 

 presented to the fair lady. 



Near Lichfield Dr. Darwin purchased a beautifulsylvan 

 spot, which he cultivated as his garden, and which was soon, 

 celebrated by Miss Anna Seward, of Lichfield, a sweet poet, 

 atid the lines presented to Dr. Darwin. He said ** thaf 

 these should be the exordium of a poem M'hich should be 

 called The Botanic Garden, or Loves of the Plants;" and 

 advised this lady to undertake such a poem. This she de- 

 clined, but pressed it on the doctor, who had never yet 

 composed a whole poem, but only fugitive pieces, such as 

 we have given a specimen of; and he immediately from that 

 instant commenced the execution of The Botanic Garden, 

 which astonished an admiring world, and procured for the 

 doctor the appellation of the English Lucretius. 



Whilst busied on this poem, the antiquated colonel Pole 

 died. The widow, then in the zenith of her beauty, and 

 still alive to the world, had scarce laid aside her weeds when 

 many suitors came to solicit her hand and fortune. The 

 doctor was turned of fifty, rather corpulent, somewhat lame, 



had 



