ΧΧΧ. Now are the last important days at hand- The wealth with which diaphanous they shine! Eager they look around-imploring look, For branch or bush, their tissue to entwine; Some rudimental threads they seek to hook, And dearly love to find some hospitable nook. XXXI. Anticipate their wishes, gentle maid! Hie to their help; the fleeting moment catch. Quick be the shelves with wicker-work o'er-laid; Let osier, broom, and furze, their workshop thatch, With fond solicitude and blithe despatch. So may they quickly, mid the thicket dense, Find out a spot their purposes to match; So may they soon their industry commence, And of the round cocoon plan the circumference. XXXII. Their hour is come. See how the yellow flood How the recondite gold transparent gleams, XXXIII. Say, hast thou ever mark'd the clustering grape Soon in their web they'll find a bane and antidote." XXXIV. See! round and round, in many a mirthful maze, The wily workman weaves his golden gauze ; And while his throat the twisted thread purveys, New lines with labyrinthine labour draws, Plying his pair of operative jaws. From morn to noon, from noon to silent eve, His monumental trophy to achieve, And his sepulchral sheet of silk resplendent weave! XXXV. Approach, and view thy artisans at work; Who would not live the life and die the death of those!+ Mostly they spin their solitary shroud From such communing be they not debarred, The task is done, the work is now complete; To life a winged thing from monumental urn. Fain would I pause, and of my tuneful text *Query, without paws?—P. Devil. Mille legunt releguntque vias, atque orbibus orbes Thus may I bear me up th' adventurous road VENUS it was who first invented SILK- No better sort of clothing had devised- The blind man eloquent: nor less renown'd Were "Troy's proud dames," whose robes of linen "swept the ground." XL. ; Thus the first female fashion was for flax Fair ones were not, I ween, more prude and chaste, Or stays-Honi soi the rogue qui mal y pense. XLI. WOOL, by MINERVA manufactured, met With blithe encouragement and brisk demand; "Orders from foreign houses" kept her hand She was of woollen stuffs the sole provider, A female called ARACHNE thus defied her, But soon gave up the trade, being turned into a spider. Thus a complete monopoly in wool, "Almost amounting to a prohibition," Enabled her to satisfy in full The darling object of her life's ambition, • Tantùm nuda Venus morebat muneris expers |