You bid me ufe th' occafion while I can,
Put in our hands by the good easy man.

I would, and yet I doubt 'twixt love and fear;
One draws me from you, and one brings me near,
Our flames are mutual, and my husband's gone :
The nights are long; I fear to lie alone;
One house contains us, and weak walls divide,
And you 're too preffing to be long deny`d.
Let me not live, but every thing confpires

To join our loves, and yet my fear retires.

You court with words, when you should force employ; A rape is requifite to fhame-fac'd joy :

Indulgent to the wrongs which we receive,

Our fex can fuffer what we dare not give.
What have I faid! for both of us 't were best,
Our kindling fire if each of us fuppreft.

The faith of ftrangers is too prone to change,

And, like themselves, their wandering paffions range.
Hypfipyla, and the fond Minoian maid,

Were both by trufting of their guest betray'd:
How can I doubt that other men deceive,
When you yourself did fair Oenone leave?
But, left I should upbraid your treachery,
You make a merit of that crime to me.
You grant you were to faithful love inclin❜d,
Your weary Trojans wait but for a wind.
Should you prevail, while I affign the night,
Your fails are hoisted, and you take your flight;
Some bawling mariner our love destroys,
And breaks afunder our unfinish'd joys.

But

But I with you may leave the Spartan port,
To view the Trojan wealth and Priam's court.
Shown while I fee, I fhall expofe my fame,
And fill a foreign country with my shame,
In Afia what reception fhall I find?

And what dishonour leave in Greece behind?
What will your brothers, Priam, Hecuba,
And what will all your modest matrons say?
Ev'n you, when on this action you reflect,
My future conduct juftly may suspect;
And whate'er ftranger lands upon your coast,
Conclude me, by your own example, loft.
I, from your rage, a ftrumpet's name shall hear,
While you forget what part in it you bear:
You, my crime's author, will my crime upbraid:
Deep under ground, oh! let me first be laid!
You boaft the pomp and plenty of your land,
And promife all fhall be at my command:
Your Trojan wealth, believe me, I defpife;
My own poor native land has dearer ties.
Should I be injur'd on your Phrygian shore,
What help of kindred could I there implore?
Medea was by Jafon's flattery won;

1

may, like her, believe and be undone.

Plain honeft hearts, like mine, fufpect no cheat,
And love contributes to its own deceit,

The fhips, about whofe fides loud tempefts roar,
With gentle winds were wafted from the shore.
Your teeming mother dreamt a flaming brand,
Sprung from her womb, confum'd the Trojan land;

T.

will take,

To fecond this, old prophecies confpire,
That Ilium fhall be burnt with Grecian fire:
Both give me fear, nor is it much allay'd,
That Venus is oblig'd our loves to aid.
For they who loft their cause, revenge
And for one friend two enemies you make.
Nor can I doubt but, fhould I follow you,
The fword would foon our fatal crime pursue:
A wrong fo great my husband's rage would rouze,
And my relations would his cause espouse.
You boast your strength and courage; but, alas!
Your words receive fmall credit from your face.
Let heroes in the dusty field delight,

Those limbs were fashion'd for another fight.
Bid Hector fally from the walls of Troy;
A fweeter quarrel fhould your arms employ.
Yet fears like these should not my mind perplex,
Were I as wife as many of my fex:

But time and you may bolder thoughts infpire;
And I, perhaps, may yield to your defire.
You laft demand a private conference:

These are your words; but I can guess your fenfe.
Your unripe hopes their harvest must attend :
Be rul'd by me, and Time may be your friend.
This is enough to let you understand,
For now my pen has tir'd my tender hand;
My woman knows the fecret of my heart,
And may hereafter better news impart.

PART OF THE STORY

O F

ORPHEU S.

BEING A TRANSLATION OUT OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF VIRGIL'S GEORGIC.

'T

IS not for nothing when juft heaven does frown; The injur'd Orpheus calls thefe judgments down; Whose spouse, avoiding to become thy prey, And all his joys at once were fnatch'd away; The nymph, fore-doom'd that fatal way to pass, Spy'd not the ferpent lurking in the grafs : A mournful cry the fpacious valley fills, With echoing groans from all the neighbouring hills; The Dryades roar out in deep defpair,

And with united voice bewail the fair.

For fuch a lofs he fought no vain relief,
But with his lute indulg'd the tender grief;
Along the fhore he oft' would wildly ftray,
With doleful notes begin and end the day.
At length to hell a frightful journey made,
Pafs'd the wide-gaping gulph and difmal shade;
Vifits the ghofts, and to that king repairs
Whofe heart's inflexible to human prayers.
All hell is ravish'd with so sweet a fong;
Light fouls and airy fpirits glide along

In troops, like millions of the feather'd kind,

Driven home by night, or fome tempeftuous wind:
Matrons and men, raw youths and unripe maids;
And mighty heroes' more majestic shades;
And fons entomb'd before their parents face;
These the black waves of bounding Styx embrace
Nine times circumfluent; clogg'd with noifome weeds,
And all that filth which standing water breeds.
Amazement reach'd ev'n the deep caves of death;
The fifters with blue fnaky curls took breath;
Ixion's wheel awhile unmov'd remain'd,

}

And the fierce dog his three-mouth'd voice reftrain'd.
When fafe return'd, and all these dangers paft,
His wife, reftor'd to breathe fresh air at last,
Following (for fo Proferpina was pleas'd)
A fudden rage th' unwary lover feiz'd,
He, as the first bright glimpse of day-light fhin'd,
Could not refrain to caft one look behind;
A fault of love! could hell compaffion find.
A dreadful found thrice fhook the Stygian coast,
His hopes quite fled, and all his labour loft!
Why haft thou thus undone thyself and me?
What rage is this? oh, I am fnatch'd from thee!
(She faintly cry'd) Night and the powers of hell
Surround my fight; oh, Orpheus! oh, farewell!
My hands ftretch forth to reach thee as before;
But all in vain, for I am thine no more;
No more allow'd to view thy face, or day !---
Then from his eyes, like fmoke, fhe fleets away.