knowledge, and a nobler destiny. The opening of the work frames the design: Fantasy’s herald summons a weary populace to a hidden palace, where a page attires them and a saloon of living tapestries sets the tone for a grand imaginative voyage. Dan Fantasy addresses the crowd with compassion and assigns the Bard to lead them first through subterranean caverns and grottoes to marvels of the earth, then out to vast prospects. The path forks into four domains; beginning with Nature, the Bard swiftly paints Alpine heights, polar ice, torrents and ocean storms, basalt caves, island lakes, and deep forests, mixing awe with moral reflection and a hope of future peace. Turning to Art, the tour surveys ancient wonders and ruins, then a gallery of masters, music, and sculpture, and glimpses of Milton, Newton, and Shakespeare, before celebrating modern invention from steam power to the printing press. In Learning, the company wanders academies and libraries among the great names of philosophy and letters. In Science, they ascend a night-tower to read the heavens—moon, planets, comets, and the milky way—and the Bard closes this opening movement with reflections on cosmic order and the earth’s harmonious course. (This is an automatically generated summary.)