CANTO ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 45 



Self-moving Engines by unbending springs 

 May walk on earth, or flap their mimic wings; 

 In tubes of glass mercurial columns rise, 

 Or sink, obedient to the incumbent skies; 

 Or, as they touch the figured scale, repeat 

 The nice gradations of circumfluent heat. 

 But REPRODUCTION, when the perfect Elf 

 Forms from fine glands another like itself, 

 Gives the true character of life and sense, 

 And parts the organic from the chernic Ens. 30 

 Where milder skies protect the nascent brood, 

 And earth's warm bosom yields salubrious food; 

 Each new Descendant with superior powers 

 Of sense and motion speeds the transient hours; 

 Braves every season, tenants every clime, 

 And Nature rises on the wings of Time. 



*' As LIFE discordant elements arrests, 

 Rejects the noxious, and the pure digests; 



Unbending springs, 1. 21. See Additional Note 1. 4. 



