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The Gods of Marriage lend their mutual Aid;
And the warm Youth enjoys the lovely Maid.

ESACUS transformed into a Cormorant. From the eleventh Book of

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

TH

Hefe fome old Man fees wanton in the Air,
And praises the unhappy conftant Pair.

Then to his Friend the long-neck'd Corm'rant shows,
The former Tale reviving others Woes :

That fable Bird, he cries, which cuts the Flood
With flender Legs, was once of Royal Blood;
His Ancestors from mighty Tros proceed,
The brave Laomedon, and Ganymede,
(Whose Beauty tempted Jove to steal the Boy)
And Priam, hapless Prince! who fell with Troy :
Himself was Hector's Brother, and (had Fate
But giv'n this hopeful Youth a longer Date)
Perhaps had rival'd warlike Hector's Worth,
Tho' on the Mother's Side of meaner Birth;
Fair Alyxothoé, a Country Maid,
Bare facus by stealth in Ida's Shade.
He fled the noify Town, and pompous Court,
Lov'd the lone Hills, and fimple rural Sport,
And feldom to the City would resort.
Yet he no ruftick Clownishness profeft,
Nor was foft Love a Stranger to his Breaft:
The Youth had long the Nymph Hefperia woo'd,
Oft thro' the Thicket, or the Mead pursu'd ;
Her haply on her Father's Bank he spy'd,
While fearless fhe her filver Treffes dry'd;

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Away

Away fhe filed: Not Stags with half fuch Speed,
Before the prowling Wolf, fcud o'er the Mead ;
Not Ducks, when they the safer Flood forfake,
Purfu'd by Hawks, so swift regain the Lake.
As faft he follow'din the hot Career;

Defire the Lover wing'd, the Virgin Fear.

A Snake unseen now pierc'd her heedless Foot;
Quick thro' the Veins the venom'd Juices shoot:
She fell, and 'fcap'd by Death his fierce Pursuit.
Her lifeless Body, frighted, he embrac'd,
And cry'd, Not this I dreaded, but thy Hafte:
O had my Love been lefs, or less thy Fear!
The Victory thus bought is far too dear.
Accurfed Snake! yet I more curs'd than he !

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He gave
the Wound; the Cause was given by me.
Yet none fhall fay, that unreveng'd you dy'd.
He spoke; then climb'd a Cliff's o'er-hanging Side,
And, refolute, leap'd on the foaming Tide.
Tethys receiv'd him gently on the Wave;
The Death he fought deny'd, and Feathers gave.
Debarr'd the fureft Remedy of Grief,

And forc'd to live, he curft th' unask'd Rehef.
Then on his Airy Pinions upward flies,
And at a fecond Fall fuccefsless tries;
The downy Plume a Quick Defcent denies.
Enrag'd, he often dives beneath the Wave,
And there in vain expects to find a Grave.
His ceaseless Sorrow for th' unhappy Maid
Meager'd his Look, and on his Spirits prey'd.
Still near the founding Deep he lives; his Name
From frequent Diving and Emerging came.

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The

The Story of ACIS, POLYPHEMUS, and GALA TE A.

From the thirteenth Book of Ovid's Metamorphofes

A

CIS, the lovely Youth, whofe Lofs I mourn, From Faunus, and the Nymph Symethis born, Was both his Parents Pleafure; but to me Was all that Love could make a Lover be. The Gods our Minds in mutual Bands did join : I was his only Joy, and he was mine.

;

Now fixteen Summers the fweet Youth had seen;
And doubtful Down began to fhade his Chin:
When Polyphemus first disturb'd our Joy,
And lov'd me fiercely, as I lov'd the Boy.
Ask not which Paffion in my Soul was high'r,
My laft Averfion, or my first Defire:
Nor this the greater was, nor that the less
Both were alike, for both were in Excess.
Thee, Venus, thee, both Heav'n and Earth obey
Immenfe thy Pow'r, and boundless is thy Sway.
The Cyclops, who defy'd th' Ætherial Throne,
And thought no Thunder louder than his own,
The Terror of the Woods, and wilder far
Than Wolves in Plains, or Bears in Forefts are,
Th' inhuman Hoft, who made his bloody Feafts
On mangl'd Members of his butcher'd Guests,
Yet felt the force of Love, and fierce Defire,
And burnt for me, with unrelenting Fire :
Forgot his Caverns, and his woolly Care,
Affum'd the Softness of a Lover's Air ;

And comb'd, with Teeth of Rakes, his rugged Hair.

V.O L. II.

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Now with a crooked Scythe his Beard he fleeks,
And mows the ftubborn Stubble of his Cheeks:
Now in the Crystal Stream he looks, to try
His Simagres, and rowls his glaring Eye.
His Cruelty and Thirft of Blood are loft;
And Ships fecurely fail along the Coast.

The Prophet Telemus (arriv'd by chance
Where Atna's Summits to the Seas advance,
Who mark'd the Tracks of ev'ry Bird that flew,
And fure Prefages from their Flying drew)
Foretold the Cyclops, that Ulysses Hand

In his broad Eye shou'd thrust a flaming Brand.
The Giant, with a scornful Grin, reply'd,
Vain Augur, thou haft falfly prophefy'd ;
Already Love his flaming Brand has toft ;
Looking on two fair Eyes, my Sight I loft.
Thus, warn'd in vain, with ftalking Pace he ftrode,
And ftamp'd the Margin of the briny Flood
With heavy Steps; and, weary, fought agen
The cool Retirement of his gloomy Den.
A Promontory, fharp'ning by degrees,
Ends in a Wedge, and overlooks the Seas:
On either Side, below, the Water flows :
This airy Walk the Giant Lover chose ;
Here on the midft he fate; his Flocks, unled,
Their Shepherd follow'd, and fecurely fed.
A Pine fo burly, and of Length so vast,
That failing Ships requir'd it for a Mast,
He wielded for a Staff, his Steps to guide:
But laid it by, his Whistle while he try'd.
A hundred Reeds, of a prodigious Growth,
Scarce made a Pipe proportion'd to his Mouth:
Which when he gave it Wind, the Rocks around,
And wat'ry Plains, the dreadful Hiss resound.

I heard the Ruffian Shepherd rudely blow,
Where, in a hollow Cave, I fat below;
On Acis' Bofom I my Head reclin'd:
And still preserve the Poem in my Mind.
Oh lovely Galatea, whiter far

Than falling Snows, and rifing Lilies are;
More flow'ry than the Meads, as Crystal bright;
Erect as Alders, and of equal Height:

More wanton than a Kid; more fleek thy Skin,
Than Orient Shells, that on the Shores are feen:
Than Apples fairer, when the Boughs they lade;
Pleafing, as Winter Suns, or Summer Shade:
More grateful to the Sight, than goodly Plains;
And fofter to the Touch, than Down of Swans,
Or Curds new turn'd ; and sweeter to the Taste,
Than fwelling Grapes, that to the Vintage hafte :
More clear than Ice, or running Streams, that stray
Through Garden Plots, but ah ! more swift than they.
Yet, Galatea, harder to be broke

Than Bullocks, unreclaim'd to bear the Yoke :
And far more ftubborn than the knotted Oak :
Like fliding Streams, impoffible to hold;
Like them, fallacious; like their Fountains, cold:
More warping, than the Willow, to decline

My warm Embrace; more brittle than the Vine;
Immoveable, and fixt in thy Disdain :

Rough, as thefe Rocks, and of a harder Grain ;
More violent, than is the rifing Flood :
And the prais'd Peacock is not half fso proud :
Fierce as the Fire, and sharp as Thistles are;
And more outragious, than a Mother Bear :
Deaf as the Billows to the Vows I make;
And more revengeful than a troden Snake:

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