CHAP. 4. 6'. OF PROGNOSTICS 157 



Lord Bacon, who was so well calculated to 

 observe and compare facts, collected numerous 



I DREAMT that I died, but that after my death, 



I still was percipient clay ; 

 The Earth was my body, the Air was my breathy 



And my Blood flow'd in rivers away : 

 Then Flora, who trod the gay flowery mead, 



With gay colours bespangled the ground ; 

 And what's more, my olfactory senses to feed. 



Shed the balm of sweet odours around ! 



And she call'd the gay nymphs that attend in her train, 



In colours so variously drest, 

 And, dotting the white shroud wherein I was lain,* 



They exultingly bloomed on my breast ! 

 And they took it in turn to figure away, 



As their showing-off season came round ; 

 While lady Arundo soft music did play,t 



And Diana beat time on the ground !^ 



But Thetis was heavier than the rest,|| 



And her weight I with agony bore ; 

 When she rose, the blood flowed up in my chest, 



As the tide rises up on the shore ; 

 But my heart was of rock in a mountain dell, 



Whence torrents of liquid did flow ; 

 And the nymphs as they danced, and sipp'd at the well, 



More blooming and fresher did grow ! 



" The Snow melting in Spring. 



f The music of Wind blowing into Reeds, which first suggested Flutes, 

 J Diana, or the Lunar influence measuring the time of the Seasons. 

 || Thetis, or the spring tide pressing on the shore. 



