The prince, wrapt in astonishment, would ask Of foreign climes, their manners and array; Now burn’d to crush the Persian basilisk, Reserved for the crusades of latter day— Now sought to know if the world’s barriers lay Where Alps lie pillow’d till they prop the skies! And much he long’d to pierce the milky-way, Even as an eagle; while, before his eyes Fair pictured in the sand, the zodiac’s splendour lies.