'Twas time to call; no longer I forebore,
Dreading the Day's Approach, my Father more.
Wake, Linus, wake, I cry'd; O quickly wake,
Or fleep for ever here! Th' Alarm you take,
Start up; afk twenty Questions in one Breath:
To all I answer thus Delay is Death;

Fly while 'tis dark, and 'scape eternal Night.
While it was dark you made a happy Flight:
I ftay'd to meet the Terrors of the Light.
With Day my Father comes, the Dead to view ;
And finds the difmal Sum one short, by you.
Enrag'd to fee his Treachery betray'd,
By his Command, I'm thus in Fetters laid.
Is this Reward due to my Love from Fate?
Ah, wretched Flame! Paffion unfortunate!
Since lo feffer'd under Juno's Rage,
Nothing that rivall'd Goddess can affwage.
Th' unhappy Miftrefs of the mighty Jove,
Chang'd to a Cow, a Form unapt for Love,
Views in her Father's Streams her Head's Array,
Sees her own Horns, and frighted, ftarts away.
When she'd complain, fhe lows; and equal Fears
From her new felf furprise her Eyes and Ears.
In vain to lose the frightful Shape she tries,
For lo follows ftill, where Io flies.

In vain she wanders over Lands and Seas;
Can fhe find Cure whofe felf is the Disease?
Sadly fevere the Change in her appear'd,
Whofe Beauty Jove has lov'd, and Juno fear'd:
Grafs and the Springs her Food and Drink supply:
Her only Lodging's the unfheltring Sky.

}

What

What need I urge Antiquity? my Fate
Is a fresh Instance of the Goddess' Hate.
A double ftock of Tears by me are fpilt,
Both for my Brothers Death, and Sifters Guilt.
Yet, as if that were finall, these Chains arrive,
'Caufe I, alone, am guiltlefs, you alive.

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But, my dear Lord, if any Thought you have,
Or of the Love, or of the Life I gave :
If any Memory with you does last,
Or of the Pleasures, or the Dangers past,
Now, Linus, now fome Help to her afford,
Who wants the Liberty fhe gave her Lord.
If Life forfake me ere I you can fee,
And Death, before my Linus, fet me free,
Yet my unhappy Earth from hence remove,
And give thofe Obfequies are due to Love.
When I'm interr'd I know fome Tears will fall:
Then let this little Epitaph be all.

Here lies a Love compleat, tho' hapless Wife,
Who catch'd the Death aim'd at her Husband's Life.
Here I must reft my Hand, tho' much remains, ›
'Tis quite difabled with the Weight of Chains.

ARIADNE TO

THESEU S.

The ARGUMENT.

Minus, King of Crete, by a sharp War compelled the Athenians, (who had treacherously flain his Son Androgeos) to fend yearly feven young Men, and as many Virgins, to be devour'd by the Minotaure; a Monster begotten by a Bull upon his Wife Pafipha, while he was engaged in that War. The Chance at last fell upon Thefeus to be fent among those Youths; who by the Inftruction of Ariadne escaped out of the Labyrinth, after he had kill'd the Minotaure, and, together with her, fled to the Ifle of Naxos. But, being commanded by Bacchus, he forfook her, while he Slept. When he awak'd, and found her self deferted, She writes this Letter.

T

*Han savage Beasts more fierce, more to be fear'd; Expos'd by thee, by them I yet am spar'd! These Lines from that unhappy Shore I write, Where you forfook me in your faithlefs Flight, And the most tender Lover did betray, While lock'd in Sleep, and in your Arms the lay. When Morning Dew on all the Fields did fall, And Birds with early Songs for Day did call ; Then I, half fleeping, ftretch'd me tow'rds your Place, And fought to prefs you with a new Embrace:

of

Oft fought to prefs you close, but still in vain;
My folding Arms came empty back again.
Startled, I rofe, and found that you were gone,
Then on my widow'd Bed fell raging down:
Beat the fond Breast, where, spight of me, you dwell,
And tore that Hair, which you once lik'd fo well.
By the Moon's Light I the wide Shore did view,
But all was Defart, and no Sight of you.
Then every Way with Love's mad Haste I fly,
But ill my Feet with my Defires comply;
Weary they fink in the deep yielding Sands,
Refufing to obey fuch wild Commands.

To all the Shore of Thefeus I complain,

The Hills and Rocks send back that Name again:
Oft they repeat aloud the mournful Noife,
And kindly aid a hoarfe and dying Voice.

Tho' faint, yet ftill impatient, next I try

To climb a rough fteep Mountain which was nigh:
(My furious Love unufual Strength fupply'd :)
From thence, cafting my Eyes on every Side,
Far off the flying Veffel I espy'd.

In fwell'd Sails the wanton Winds did play,
your

(They court you fince they fee you falfe as they.)
I faw, or fancy'd that I faw you there,

And my chill Veins froze up with cold Despair:
Thus did I languish, 'till returning Rage
In new Extreams did fir'd Soul engage.

my

Thefeus, I cry, perfidious Thefeus stay!
(But you are deaf, deaf as the Winds, or Sea!)
Stay your falfe Flight, and let your Veffel bear
Hence the whole Number which the landed here!

}

That

In loud and doleful Shrieks I tell the reft;
And with fresh Fury wound my hated Breast.
Then all my fhining Ornaments I tear,
And with ftretch'd Arms wave them in open Air,
you might see her whom you could not hear.
But when out of my Sight the Veffel flew,
And the Horizon fhut me from the View;
From my fad Eyes, what Floods of Tears did fall?
('Till then Rage would not let me weep at all.)
Still let them weep, for lofing Sight of you,
'Tis the whole Bufinefs which they ought to do.
Like Bacchus' raving Priests fometimes I go:
With fuch wild Haste, with Hair dishevel'd fo.
Then on fome craggy Rock fit filent down,
As cold, unmov'd, and senseless as the Stone.
To our once happy Bed I often fly;

(No more the Place of mutual Love and Joy.)
See where my much-lov'd Thefeus once was laid,
And kifs the Print which his dear body made.
Here we both lay, I cry, false Bed restore
My Thefeus, kind and faithful as before.

}

I brought him here, here loft him while I slept.
How well, falfe Bed, you have my Lover kept! I'
Alone and helpless in this defart Place,

The Steps of Man or Beast I cannot trace;
On every fide the foaming Billows beat,
But no kind Ship does offer a Retreat.

And fhould the Gods fend me fome lucky Sail,
Calm Seas, good Pilots, and a profp❜rous Gale;

Yet then my Native Soil I durft not see,

But a fad Exile muft for ever be.

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