}

" Whom should I court? how utter my complaint ?

Enjoyment but produces my restraint, “ And too much plenty makes me die for want. “ How gladly would I from myself remove ! “ And at a distance set the thing I love.

My breast is warm’d with such unusual fire, " I wish him abfent whom I most defire. “ And now I faint with grief; my fate draws nigh; “ In all the pride of blooming youth I die : “ Death will the forrows of

my

heart relieve.
“ Oh might the visionary youth furvive,
“ I should with joy my latest breath resign!
" But oh! I see his fate involved in mine."

This said, the weeping youth again return'd
To the clear fountain, where again he burn'd;
His tears defac'd the surface of the well,
With circle after circle, as they fell :
And now the lovely face but half appears,
O'er-run with wrinkles, and deform’d with tears.

Ah whither, cries Narcissus, doft thou fly?
“ Let me still feed the flame by which I die ;
• Let me still fee, tho’ I'm no further bleft."
Then rends his garment off, and beats his brealt;
His naked bosom redden'd with the blow,
In such a blush as purple clusters show,
Ere yet the sun's autumnal heats refine
Their sprightly juice, and mellow it to wine.
The glowing beauties of his breast he spies,
And with a new redoubled passion dies.

As

As wax diffolves, as ice begins to run,
And trickle into drops before the sun,
So melts the youth, and languishes away :
His beauty withers, and his limbs decay,
And none of those attractive charms remain,
To which the flighted echo su'd in vain.

She saw him in his present misery, Whom, spite of all her wrongs, she griev'd to see. She answer'd sadly to the lover's mban, Sigh'd back his fighs, and groan’d to ev'ry groan: “ Ah youth! belov'd in vain,” Narcissus cries ; « Ah youth! belov'd in vain," the nymph replies.

Farewel,” says he ; the parting found scarce fell From his faint lips, but she reply'd,

"5 Farewel.”
Then on th' unwhoisome earth he gasping lies,
Till death shuts up those self-admiring eyes.
To the cold shades his flitting ghost retires,
And in the Stygian waves itself admires.

For him the Naiads and the Dryads mourn,
Whom the fad echo answers in her turn;
And now the sister nymphs prepare his urn :
When, looking for his corps, they only found
A rising stalk, with yellow blossoms crown'd.

The Story of CEYX and ALCYONE,

from OVID.

Translated by Mr. DR YDEN.

}

HESE prodigies affect the pious prince ;
But more perplex'd with those that happen'd

since,
He purposes to seek the Clarian God,
Avoiding Delphi, his more fam'd abode,
Since Phrygian robbers made unsafe the road.
Yet could he not from her he lov’d so well,
The fatal voyage, he resolv'd, conceal;
But when she saw her Lord prepar'd to part,
A deadly cold ran fhiv'ring to her heart;
Her faded cheeks are chang’d to boxen hue,
And in her eyes the tears are ever new.
She thrice essay'd to speak; her accents hung,
And falt'ring dy'd unfinish'd on her tongue,
Or vanish'd into fighs : with long delay
Her voice return’d and found the wonted way.

Tell me, my Lord, she said, what fault unknown
Thy once belov’d Alcyonè has done ?
Whither, ah, whither, is thy kindness gone !
Can Ceyx then sustain to leave his wife,
And unconcern'd forsake the sweets of life?
What can thy mind to this long journey move ?
Or need'st thou absence to renew thy love?

Yet

}

a

Yet if thou go'st by land, tho' grief possess
My soul ev’n then, my fears will be the less.
But ah! be warn'd to thun the watry way,
The face is frightful of the stormy sea :
For late I saw a-drift disjointed planks,
And empty tombs erected on the banks.
Nor let false hopes to trust betray thy mind,
Because

my

fire in caves constrains the wind,
Can with a breath their clam'rous rage appeare,
They fear his whistle, and forsake the seas :
Not fo; for once indulg'd, they sweep the main ;
Deaf to the call, or hearing, hear in vain ;
But bent on mischief bear the waves before,
And not content with seas, insult the shore,
When ocean, air, and earth at once engage,
And rooted forests fly before their rage :
At once the clashing clouds to battle move,
And lightnings run across the fields above :

know them well, and mark'd their rude comport,
While
yet a child within

my

father's court :
In times of tempests they command alone,
Ard he but fits precarious on the throne :
The more I know, the more my fears

augment;
And fears are oft prophetic of th’evěnt.
But if not fears, or reasons will prevail,
If fate has fix'd thee obstinate to fail,
Go not without thy wife, but let me bear
My part of danger with an equal share
And present, what I suffer only fear :

Then

}

H 2

Then o’er the bounding billows shall we fly;
Secure to live together, or to die.

These reasons mov'd her starlike husband's heart,
But still he held his purpose to depart:
For as he lov'd her equal to his life,
He would not to the seas expose his wife;
Nor could be wrought his voyage to refrain,
But sought by arguments to footh her pain :
Nor these avail'd; at length he lights on one,
With which so difficult a cause he won :
My love, so short an absence cease to fear,
For by my father's holy flame I swear,
Before two moons their orb with light adorn,
If heav'n allow me life, I will return.

This promise of fo short a ftay prevails;
He foon equips the ship, fupplies the fails,
And gives the word to launch; the trembling views
This
pomp

of death, and parting tears renews :
Last with a kiss she took a long farewel,
Sigh’d with a fad presage, and swooning fell :
While Ceyx seeks delays, the lusty crew,
Rais'd their banks, their oars in order drew
To their broad breasts, the ship with fury flew.

The queen recover'd, rears her humid eyes,
And first her husband on the poop espies,
Shaking his hand at distance on the main ;
She took the fign, and shook her hand again.
Still as the ground recedes, contracts her view
With sharpen'd fight, 'till she no longer knew

The

.

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on