Geological Poems. 283 



He on his sparkling front and polished face 



Mix'd with his father's strength his mother's grace. 



Young Felspar tlourish'd, and in early life 



With pale Magnesia lived like man and wife. 



From this soft union sprang a sprightly dame, 



Sparkling with life — and Mica^ was her name. 



Then Silex, Felspar, Mica, dwelt alone, 



The triple deities on Terra's throne. 



For he, stern Silex, all access denied 



To other gods, or other powers beside^. 



Oft when gay Flora and Pomona strove 



To land their stores, their. bark he rudely drove 



Far from his coast ; and in his wrath he swore 



They ne'er should land them on his flinty shore. 



Fired at this harsh refusal, angry Jove, 



In terrors clad, descended from above ; 



His glory and his vengeance he enshrouds, 



Involved in tempests and a night of clouds : 



O'er Mica's head the livid lightning play'd. 



And peals of thunder scared the astonished maid. 



To seek her much-loved parents quick she flew ; 



Her arms elastic round their necks she threw, — 



" Thus may I perish, never more to part, 



Press'd to my much lov'd sire's and grand-sire's heart !" 



So spoke the maid. The thunder-bolt had fled, 



And all were number'd with the silent dead. 



But, interfused and changed to stone, they rise 



A mass of Granite'' towering to the skies. 



O'er the whole globe this ponderous mass extends, 



Round either pole its might arms it bends ; 



And thus was doom'd to bear in after time 



All other rocks of every class and clime. 



So sings the bard that Granite first had birth, 



And form'd the solid pavement of the earth : 



And minor bards may sing, whene'er they list, 



Of Argillaceous or Micaceous Schist. 



5 Mica. — The descent of mica may be rather dubious : the quantity of 

 Magnesia which enters into the composition of this mineral, as given in 

 some analyses, is very small. 



6 Siliceous earth alone is extremely unfavourable to vegetation, and 

 granitic rocks, in v?hich this earth abounds, remain for ages denuded and 

 barren. 



7 Granite forms the summits and peaks of lofty mountains. It is also 

 supposed by geologists to be the lowest rock with which we are acquainted, 

 forming a foundation for other rocks in every part of the globe. 



