CANTO in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 91 



Converge reflected light- with nicer eye 



The midnight owl, and microscopic fly; 100 



With finer ear pursue their nightly course 



f 



The listening lion, and the alarmed horse. 



" The branching forehead with diverging horns 

 Crests the bold bull, the jealous stag adorns; 

 Fierce rival boars with side4ong fury wield 

 The pointed tusk, and guard with shoulder- shield; 

 Bounds the dread tiger o'er the affrighted heath 

 Arm'd with sharp talons, and resistless teeth; 

 The pouncing eagle bears in clinched claws 

 The struggling lamb, and rends with ivory jaws; 110 

 The tropic eel, electric in his ire, 

 Alarms the waves with unextinguish'd fire; 



The branching forehead, 1. 103. The peculiarities of the shapes of 

 animals which distinguish them from each other, are enumerated in 

 Zoonomia, Sect. XXXIX. 4. 8. on Generation, and are believed to . 

 have been gradually formed from similar living fibres, and are varied 

 by reproduction. Many of these parts of animals are there shown 

 to have arisen from their three great desires of lust, hunger, and 

 security. 



The tropic eel, 1. 111. Gymnotus electricus. 



