DR. DARWIN. 317 



tain it's more juft pilure on his poetic 

 page. He faid, the defcription in the note 

 was accurate ; but that truth in this, as in 

 many other inftances, being lefs favourable 

 to poetry than ficlion, he did not chofe to 

 alter the text. 



The Lepfana, the Nymphea alba, and 

 the Calendula, whofe flowers, as do many 

 other flowers, open and fhut at certain 

 hours of the rifing and declining day, are 

 transformed into elegant female watch- 

 makers. Linneus calls the forty-fix flow- 

 ers of this order, the Horologe, orWatch of 

 Flora. This transformation involves an 

 highly poetic defcription of the art that 

 traces the march of Time. The progreffivc 

 mechanifm which completes a watch, is 

 traced with accuracy, and, in the men- 

 tion of it's ornamental trophies, we meet 



iublime imagery; fuch as Time dafhing 

 Superftition from it's baft, and the Hours 

 leading their trains around the wreck ; but 



die 



