In friendship and affection nearer bound;
He left the cities and the realms he own'd,

Through pathless fields and lonely fhores to range,
And woods, made thicker by the fifters' change.
Whilft here, within the difmal gloom, alone,
The melancholy monarch made his moan,
His voice was leffen'd, as he try'd to speak,
And iffued through a long-extended neck;
His hair transforms to down, his fingers meet.
In skinny films, and fhape his oary feet;

From both his fides the wings and feathers break g
And from his mouth proceeds a blunted beak :
All Cycnus now into a Iwan was-turn'd,
Who, till remembering how his kinfman burn'd,
To folitary pools and lakes retires,

And loves the waters as oppos'd to fires..
Mean-while Apollo iu a gloomy shade
(The native luftre of his brows decay'd)
Indulging forrow, fickens at the fight
Of his own fun-fhine, and abhors the light:
The hidden griefs, that in his bosom rise,
Sadden his looks, and overcaft his eyes,
As when fome dufky orb obftructs his ray,
And fullies, in a dim eclipfe, the day.

Now fecretly with inward griefs he pin'd,
Now warm resentments to his griefs he join'd,
And now renounc'd his office to mankind.

<E'er fince the birth of time, faid he, I've borne
"A long ungrateful toil without return;
"Let now fome other manage, if he dare,

"The fiery steeds, and mount the burning car,

حلم

"Or, if none elfe, let Jove his fortune try,
"And learn to lay his murdering thunder by;
"Then will he own, perhaps, but own too late,
"My fon deferv'd not so severe a fate."

The gods ftand round him, as he mourns, and pray He would resume the conduct of the day,

Nor let the world be loft in endless night:
Jove too himself, defcending from his height,
Excuses what had happen'd, and intreats,
Majestically mixing prayers and threats.
Prevail'd upon at length, again he took

The harnafs'd fteeds, that ftill with horror fhook,
And plies them with the lash, and whips them on,
And, as he whips, upbraids them with his fon.

THE STORY OF CALISTO..

THE day was fettled in its course; and Jove -
Walk'd the wide circuit of the heavens above,
To fearch if any cracks or flaws were made;
But all was fafe: the earth he then survey'd, ́.
And caft an eye on every different coast,
And every land; but on Arcadia most.

Her fields he cloath'd, and chear'd her blafted face
With running fountains, and with fpringing grafs.
No tracts of heaven's destructive fire remain;

The fields and woods revive, and nature smiles again
But, as the god walk'd to and fro the earth,
And rais'd the plants, and gave the spring its birth,
By chance a fair Arcadian nymph he view'd,
And felt the lovely charmer in his blood.

The

The nymph nor fpun, nor dress'd with artful pride;
Her veft was gather'd up, her hair was ty'd;
Now in her hand a flender fpear the bore,
Now a light quiver on her fhoulders wore ;
To chafte Diana from her youth inclin'd,
The sprightly warriors of the wood she join'd.
Diana too the gentle huntress lov'd,

Nor was there one of all the nymphs that rov'd
O'er Mænalus, amid the maiden throng,
More favour'd once; but favour lasts not long.
The fun now fhone in all its strength, and drove
The heated virgin panting to a grove;
The grove around a grateful shadow caft:
She dropt her arrows, and her bow unbrac'd;
She flung herself on the cool graffy bed;
And on the painted quiver rais'd her head,
Jove faw the charming huntress unprepar'd,
Stretch'd on. the verdant turf, without a guard.
"Here I am fafe, he cries, from Juno's eye;
"Or fhould my jealous queen the theft descry,
"Yet would I venture on a theft like this,
"And ftand her rage for fuch, for fuch a blifs !"
Diana's shape and habit straight he took,

Soften'd his brows, and smooth'd his awful look,
And mildly in a female accent spoke.

}

"How fares my girl? How went the morning chace ??? To whom the virgin, starting from the grafs,

All hail, bright deity, whom I prefer

"To Jove himself, though Jove himself were here." The god was nearer than she thought, and heard Well-pleas'd himself before himself preferr❜d.

He

He then falutes her with a warm embrace ;:
And, ere the half had told the morning chace,
With love inflam'd, and eager on his blifs,
Smother'd her words,, and stop'd her with a kiss ;:
His kiffes with unwonted ardour glow'd,

Nor could Diana's shape conceal the God,
The virgin did whate'er a virgin cou'd

(Sure. Juno must have pardon'd, had she view'd);
With all her might against his force she strove:
But how can mortal maids contend with Jove!
Poffeft at length of what his heart defir'd,
Back to his heavens th' insulting god retir'd.
The lovely huntress, rifing from the grafs,
With down-caft eyes, and with a blushing face,
By shame confounded, and by fear difmay'd,.
Flew from the covert of the guilty fhade,
And almoft, in the tumult of her mind,
Left her forgotten bow and fhafts behind.
But now Diana, with a fprightly train
Of quiver'd virgins, bounding o'er the plain,
Call'd to the nymph? The nymph began to fear
A fecond fraud, a Jove difguis d in her;
But, when fhe faw the fifter nymphs, fupprefs'd
Her rifing fears, and mingled with the reft.
How in the look does confcious guilt appear!
Slowly the mov`d, and loiter d in the rear;
Nor lightly tripp'd, nor by the goddef's ran,
As once the us'd, the foremost of the train.
Her looks were flufh'd, and fullen was her mien,
That fure the virgin goddefs (had she been
Aught but a virgin) must the guilt have seen..

'Tis faid the nymphs faw all, and guess'd aright:
And now the moon had nine times lost her light,
When Dian fainting, in the mid day beams,
Found a cool covert, and refreshing streams,
That in foft murmurs through the foreft flow'd,
And a smooth bed of fhining gravel show'd.

A covert fo obscure, and streams fo clear,

The goddefs prais'd: "And now no fpies are near,
"Let's ftrip, my gentle maids, and wash," fhe cries.
Pleas'd with the motion, every maid complies;
Only the blushing huntress stood confus'd,
And form'd delays, and her delays excus'd :
In vain excus'd; her fellows round her prefs'd,
And the reluctant nymph by force undress'd.
The naked huntress all her fhame reveal'd,
In vain her hands the pregnant womb conceal'd;
"Begone! the goddess cries with stern disdain,
"Begone! nor dare the hallow'd stream to stain ;
She fled, for-ever banith'd from the train.

This Juno heard, who long had watch'd her time To punish the detested rival's crime;

The time was come: for, to enrage her more,
A lovely-boy the teeming rival bore.

The goddess caft a furious look, and cry'd, "It is enough! I'm fully fatisfy'd !

"This boy shall stand a living mark, to prove "My husband's bafenefs, and the ftrumpet's love: "But vengeance fhall awake thofe guilty charms, "That drew the thunderer from Juno's arms, “No longer shall their wonted force retain, *Nor please the god, nor make the mortal vain.”

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