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But if he be indeed the thundering Jove,

"Bid him, when next he courts the rites of love,
"Defcend triumphant from th' ethereal ský,
"In all the pomp of his divinity;

Encompass'd round by those celestial charms, "With which he fills th' immortal Juno's arms.” Th' unwary nymph, enfnar'd with what she said, Defir'd of Jove, when next he fought her bed, To grant a certain gift which she would choose; "Fear not, replied the God, that I'll refuse "Whate'er you afk: may Styx confirm my voice, "Choose what you will, and you fhall have your choice. "Then, fays the nymph, when next you feek my arms "May you defcend in thofe celeftial charms "With which your Juno's bofom you inflame,

"And fill with transport heaven's immortal dame.” The God furpriz'd would fain have ftopp'd her voice: But he had fworn, and fhe had made her choice.

To keep his promife, he afcends, and fhrouds
His awful brow in whirlwinds and in clouds;
Whilft all around, in terrible array,
His thunders rattle, and his lightnings play.
And yet, the dazzling luftre to abate,
He fet not out in all his pomp and state,
Clad in the mildeft lightning of the skies,
And arm'd with thunder of the smallest fize:
Not thofe huge bolts, by which the giants flain
Lay overthrown on the Phlegrean plain.
Twas of a leffer mold, and lighter weight;
They call it thunder of a fecond rate,

For

For the rough Cyclops, who by Jove's command
Temper'd the bolt, and turn'd it to his hand,
Work'd up lefs flame and fury in its make,
And quench'd it sooner in the standing lake.
Thus dreadfully adorn'd, with horror bright,
Th' illuftrious God, defcending from his height,
Came rushing on her in a storm of light.
The mortal dame, too feeble to engage
The lightning's flashes and the thunder's rage,
Confum'd amidst the glories fhe defir'd,
And in the terrible embrace expir'd.

But, to preferve his offspring from the tomb,
Jove took him smoking from the blasted womb;
And, if on ancient tales we may rely,
Inclos'd th' abortive infant in his thigh.

Here, when the babe had all his time fulfill'd,
Ino first took him for her fofter-child;
Then the Nifeans, in their dark abode,
Nurs'd fecretly with milk the thriving God.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF
TIRESIAS.

}

'TWAS now, while these transactions past. on earth, And Bacchus thus procur'd a fecond birth, When Jove, difpos'd to lay afide the weight Of public empire, and the cares of state; As to his Queen in nectar bowls he quaff'd, "In troth, fays he, (and as he spoke he laugh'd,) "The fenfe of pleasure in the male is far

"More dull and dead, than what you females share.”

Jun

Juno the truth of what was said deny'd;
Tirefias therefore muft the caufe decide;
For he the pleasure of each sex had try’d.

It happen'd once, within a fhady wood,
Two twisted snakes he in conjunction view'd;
When with his staff their flimy folds he broke,
And loft his manhood at the fatal stroke,
But, after seven revolving years, he view'd
The felf-fame ferpents in the felf-fame wood;
And if, fays he, fuch virtue in you lie,
"That he who dares your flimy folds untye
"Muft change his kind, a fecond stroke I 'll try."
Again he struck the fnakes, and stood again
New-fex'd, and straight recover'd into man.
Him therefore both the Deities create

The fovereign umpire in their grand debate:
And he declar'd for Jove: when Juno, fir'd,
More than fo trivial an affair requir'd,
Depriv'd him, in her fury, of his fight,
And left him groping round in fudden night.
But Jove (for so it is in heaven decreed,
That no one God repeal another's deed)
Irradiates all his foul with inward light,

And with the prophet's art relieves the want of fight.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF ECHO.

Fam'd far and near for knowing things to come, From him th' enquiring nations fought their doom; The fair Liriope his answers try'd,

And firft th' unerring prophet juftify'd

This nymph the God Cephifus had abus'd,
With all his winding waters circumfus'd,
And on the Nereid got a lovely boy,

Whom the foft maids ev'n then beheld with joy.
The tender dame, folicitous to know
Whether her child fhould reach old age or no,
Confults the fage Tirefias, who replies,
"If e'er he knows himself, he furely dies."
Long liv'd the dubious mother in fufpenfe,
Till time unriddled all the prophet's fenfe.

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Narciffus now his fixteenth year began,

Just turn'd of boy, and on the verge of man;
Many a friend the blooming youth caress'd,
Many a love-fick maid her flame confefs'd.
Such was his pride, in vain the friend carefs'd,
The love-fick maid in vain her flame confefs'd.
Once, in the woods, as he purfued the chace,
The babbling Echo had descry'd ́his face;
She, who in others' words her filence breaks,
Nor fpeaks herself but when another speaks.
Echo was then a maid, of fpeech bereft,
Of wonted speech; for though her voice was left,
Juno a curfe did on her tongue impose,
To sport with every fentence in the close.
Full often, when the goddess might have caught
Jove and her rivals in the very fault,

This nymph with subtle ftories would delay
Her coming, till the lovers flipp'd away.
The Goddess found out the deceit in time,
And then the cry'd, "That tongue, for this thy crime,
"Which could fo many fubtle tales produce,

Shall be hereafter but of little.ufe."

Hence

Hence 'tis fhe prattles in a fainter tone,
With mimic founds, and accents not her own.
This love-fick virgin, over-joy'd to find
The boy alone, ftill follow'd him behind;
When glowing warmly at her near approach,
As fulphur blazes at the taper's touch,
She long'd her hidden passion to reveal,
And tell her pains, but had not words to tell :
She can't begin, but waits for the rebound,
To catch his voice, and to return the found.
The nymph, when nothing could Narciffus move,
Still dafh'd with blushes for her flighted love,
Liv'd in the shady covert of the woods,
In folitary caves and dark abodes;
Where pining wander'd the rejected fair,
Till, harafs'd out, and worn away with care,
The founding fkeleton, of blood bereft,
Befides her bones and voice had nothing left.
Her bones are petrify'd, her voice is found
In vaults, where still it doubles every found.

THE STORY OF NARCISSUS.

THUS did the nymph in vain caress the boy, He still was lovely, but he ftill was coy : When one fair virgin of the flighted train Thus pray'd the gods, provok'd by his disdain, "Oh may he love like me, and love like me in vain!" Rhamnufia pity'd the neglected fair,

And with juft vengeance anfwer'd to her prayer.

There stands a fountain in a darkfome wood, Nor ftain'd with falling leaves nor rifing mud;

Untroubled

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