CANTO i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 15 



Pleas'd to their dazzled eyes in part unshrouds 

 The goddess-form; the rest is hid in clouds. 



" PRIESTESS OF NATURE! while with pious awe 

 Thy votary bends, the mystic veil withdraw; 

 Charm after charm, succession bright, display, 

 And give the GODDESS to adoring day! 170 



So kneeling realms shall own the Power divine, 

 And heaven and earth pour incense on her shrine. 



** Oh grant the MUSE with pausing step to press 

 Each sun-bright avenue, and green recess; 

 Led by thy hand survey the trophied walls, 

 The statued galleries, and the pictur'd halls; 



The statued galleries, 1. 176. The art of painting has appeared in 

 the early state of all societies before the invention of the alphabet.. 

 Thus when the Spanish adventurers, under Cortez, invaded America, 

 intelligence of their debarkation and movements was daily trans- 

 mitted to Montezuma, by drawings, which corresponded with the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphics. The antiquity of statuary appears from the 

 Memnon and sphinxes of Egypt; that of casting figures in metals 

 from the golden calf of Aaron; and that of carving in wood from 

 the idols or household gods, \vhich Rachel stole from her father 



