MEMOIRS OF 



LOVES OF THE PLANTS, 



In which the Poet ordains that the Mufe 

 of Botany fhall fucceed to it's afcended 

 Emprefs, as hiftorian of the fcene, and 

 didlatrefs to it's dramatis perfonas. He 

 introduces her by invoking, in his own per- 

 fbn, the attentive filence of the winds, the 

 waters, and the trees, and by requefting the 

 infefts to paufe upon their wings. Eight 

 different infecls are mentioned, and each 

 forms a ftriking picture of it's whole fpe- 

 cies, by the Poet having feized and exhi- 

 bited it's mofl characleriftic feature. He 

 next apoftrophifes the Mufe who " led the 

 " Swedim Sage by her airy hand," intreating 

 her to fay how tiny Graces dwell on every 

 leaf, and how the Pleafures laugh in the 

 bell of a bloflbm. 



The Ovidian metamorphofis of the 



flowers then commences. The floral ladies, 



and their harems, rife to the amufed eye 



7 in 



