Wondering with peeping eyes, while they deplore
Their neighbours fate, and country now no more,
Their little shed scarce large enough for two,
Seems, from the ground increas'd, in height and bulk to grow.
A ftately temple fhoots within the skies:
The crotchets of their cot in columns rife:
The pavement polifh'd marble they behold,
The gates with fculpture grac'd, the fpires and tiles of gold.
Then thus the fire of Gods, with looks ferene,
Speak thy defire, thou only just of men ;
And thou, O woman, only worthy found
To be with such a man in marriage bound.
A while they whifper; then, to Jove addrefs'd,
Philemon thus prefers their joint request.
We crave to ferve before your facred fhrine,
And offer at your altars rites divine:
And fince not any action of our life
Has been polluted with domeftic ftrife,
We beg one hour of death; that neither fhe
With widow's tears may live to bury me,
Nor weeping I, with wither'd arms, may bear
My breathless Baucis to the fepulchre.
The Godheads fign their fuit. They run their race
In the fame tenor all th' appointed space;
Then, when their hour was come, while they relate
These paft adventures at the temple-gate,
Old Baucis is by old Philemon seen
Sprouting with fudden leaves of fprightly green :
Old Baucis look'd where old Philemon ftood,
And faw his lengthen'd arms a sprouting wood:
New roots their fasten'd feet begin to bind;
Their bodies fliffen in a rifing rind :
Then, ere the bark above their fhoulders grew,
They give and take at once their laft adieu;
At once, farewel, O faithful spouse, they faid;
At once th' incroaching rinds their closing lips invade.
Ev'n yet, an ancient Tyanæan shows
A fpreading oak, that near a linden grows;
The neighbourhood confirm the prodigy,
Grave men, not vain of tongue, or like to lie. I faw myself the garlands on their boughs, And tablets hung for gifts of granted vows; | And offering frefner up, with pious prayer, The good, faid I, are God's peculiar care, And fuch as honour heaven, fhall heavenly honour fhare.
THE fame of this, perhaps, through Crete had
But Crete had newer wonders of her own,
In Iphis chang'd; for near the Gnoffian bounds, (As loud report the miracle refounds)
At Phæftus dwelt a man of honest blood,
But meanly born, and not so rich as good;
Efteem'd and lov'd by all the neighbourhood;
Who to his wife, before the time affign'd
For child-birth came, thus bluntly fpoke his mind.
If heaven, faid Lygdus, will vouchsafe to hear,
I have but two petitions to prefer ;
Short pains for thee, for me a fon and heir.
Girls coft as many throes in bringing forth;
Befide, when born, the tits are little worth ;
Weak puling things, unable to sustain
Their fhare of labour, and their bread to gain.
If, therefore, thou a creature shalt produce,
Of fo great charges, and fo little use,
(Bear witness, heaven, with what reluctancy)
Her hapless innocence I doom to die.
He faid, and tears the common grief display,
Of him who bad, and her who must obey.
Yet Telethufa ftill perfifts, to find
Fit arguments to move a father's mind ;
T'extend his wishes to a larger scope,
And in one veffel not confine his hope.
Lygdus continues hard: her time drew near,
And she her heavy load could fcarcely bear;
When flumbering, in the latter fhades of night,
Before th' approaches of returning light,
She faw, or thought she saw, before her bed,
A glorious train, and Ifis at their head :
Her moony horns were on her forehead plac'd,
And yellow fheaves her fhining temples grac'd:
A mitre, for a crown, fhe wore on high;
The dog and dappled bull were waiting by;
Ofiris, fought along the banks of Nile;
The filent God; the facred Crocodile ;
And, last, a long proceffion moving on,
With timbrels, that affift the labouring moon.
Her flumbers feem'd difpell'd, and, broad awake,
She heard a voice, that thus diftinctly fpake.
My votary, thy babe from death defend,
Nor fear to fave whate'er the Gods will fend.
Delude with art thy husband's dire decree:
When danger calls, repofe thy trust on me;
And know thou haft not ferv'd a thankless Deity.
This promife made, with night the Goddess fled :
With joy the woman wakes, and leaves her bed;
Devoutly lifts her fpotlefs hands on high,
And prays the powers their gift to ratify.
Now grinding pains proceed to hearing throes,
Till its own weight the burden did disclose.
'Twas of the beauteous kind, and brought to light
With fecrecy, to fhun the father's fight.
Th' indulgent mother did her care employ,
And pafs'd it on her husband for a boy.
The nurse was confcious of the fact alone;
The father paid his vows as for a fon;
And call'd him Iphis, by a common name,
Which either fex with equal right may claim.
Iphis his grandfire was; the wife was pleas'd,
Of half the fraud by Fortune's favour eas'd :
The doubtful name was us'd without deceit,
And truth was cover'd with a pious cheat.
The habit fhew'd a boy, the beauteous face
With manly fiercenefs mingled female grace.
Now thirteen years of age were swiftly run,
When the fond father thought the time drew on
Of fettling in the world his only fon.
Ianthe was his choice; fo wondrous fair,
Her form alone with Iphis could compare;
A neighbour's daughter of his own degree,
And not more blefs'd with Fortune's goods than he.
They foon efpous'd: for they with ease were join'd,
Who were before contracted in the mind.
Their age the fame, their inclinations too;
And bred together in one school they grew.
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