Loft by the glories of her lover's state, Deluded Semele bewails her fate,
and feems to burn, the flames arise,
And fan with idle furies as fhe flies.
The lovely Caenis, whofe transforming shape
Secur'd her honour from a fecond rape,
Now moans the first, with ruffl'd dress appears,
Feels her whole fex return, and bathes with tears.
The jealous Procris wipes a feeming wound,
Whofe trickling crimson dyes the bushy ground,
Knows the fad fhaft, and calls before she go,
To kifs the fav'rite hand that gave the blow.
O'er a feign'd Ocean's rage the Seftian Fair
Holds a dim taper from a tow'r of air;
A noifelefs wind affaults the wav'ring light,
The beauty tumbling, mingles with the night.
Where curling shades for rough Leucate rose,
With love distracted tuneful Sappho goes;
Sings to mock-cliffs a melancholy lay,
And with a Lover's leap affrights the fea.
The fad Eriphyle retreats to moan
What wrought her husband's death, and caus'd her own;
Surveys the glitt'ring veil, the bribe of fate,
And tears the fhadow, but fhe tears too late.
In thin design and airy picture fleet
The tales that flain the royal house of Crete:
To court a lovely bull Pafiphae flies,
The fnowy phantom feeds before her eyes;
Loft Ariadne raves, the thread she bore
Trails on unwinding as the walks the shore;
And defp'rate Phaedra feeks the lonely groves
To read her guilty letter while fhe roves;
Red shame confounds the firft, the second wears
A ftarry crown, the third a halter bears.
Fair Laodamia mourns her nuptial night
Of love defrauded by the thirst of fight;
Yet for another as delusive cries,
And dauntless fees her hero's ghost arise.
Here Thisbe, Canace, and Dido stand
All arm'd with swords, a fair but angry
This fword a lover own'd, a father gave
The next, the last a stranger chanc'd to leave.
And there ev'n fhe, the Goddess of the grove,
Join'd with the phantom Fair, affects to rove,
As once for Latmos fhe forfook the plain,
To steal the kiffes of a flumb'ring fwain;
Around her head a starry fillet twines,
And at the front a filver crefcent shines.
These, and a thousand, and a thousand more,
With facred rage recal the pangs they bore,
Strike the deep dart afresh, and ask relief,
Or footh the wound with foft'ning words of grief.
At fuch a tide unheedful Love invades
The dark receffes of the madding shades,
Thro' long defcent he fans the fogs around,
His purple feathers as he flies refound.
The nimble beauties crouding all to gaze,
Confefs the common trouble of their eafe;
Tho' dulling mifts and dubious day destroy
The fine appearance of the flutt'ring boy,
Tho' all the pomp that glitters at his fide,
The gold n belt, the clafp and quiver hid,
And tho' the torch appear a gleam of white
That faintly spots and moves thro' haizy night;
Yet ftill they know the God, the gen'ral foe,
And threat'ning lift their airy hands below.
As mindless of their rage he flowly fails
On pinions cumber'd in the misty vales;
(Ah! fool to light) the nymphs no more obey,
Nor was this region ever his to fway;
Caft in a deepen'd ring they close the plain,
And feize the God reluctant all in vain.
From hence they lead him where a myrtle flood, The faddeft myrtle in the mournful wood, Devote to vex the God, 'twas here before Hell's awful emprefs foft Adonis bore, When the young hunter fcorn'd her graver air, And only Venus warm'd his shadow there. Fix'd to the trunk the tender boy they bind, They cord his feet beneath, his hands behind; He mourns, but vainly mourns his angry fate, For beauty still relentless acts in hate; Tho' no offence be done, no judge be nigh, Love must be guilty by the comnion cry;
For all are pleas'd, by partial paffion led,
To shift their follies on another's head.
Now sharp Reproaches ring their fhrill alarms,
And all the heroines brandifh all their arms,
And ev'ry heroine makes it her decree,
That Cupid fuffer just the fame as fhe;
To fix the defp'rate halter one essay'd;
One feeks to wound him with an empty blade;
Some headlong hang the nodding rocks of air,
They fall in fancy, and he feels defpair;
Some tofs the hollow feas around his head,
(The feas that want a wave afford a dread)
Or fhake the torch, the sparkling fury flies,
And flames that never burn'd, afflict his eyes.
The groaning Myrrha bursts her rinded womb,
And drowns his vifage in the moift perfume;
While others, seeming mild, advise to wound
With hum'rous pains, by fly derifion found;
That prickling bodkins teach the blood to flow,
From whence the roses firft begin to glow;
Or in the flames to finge the boy prepare,
That all fhou'd chufe by wanton fancy where.
The lovely Venus, with a bleeding breast,
She too fecurely thro' the circle prest,
Forgot the parent, urg'd his hafty fate,
And fpurr'd the female rage beyond debate;
O'er all her scenes of frailty fwiftly runs,
Abfolves herself, and makes the crime her fon's;
That clafp'd in chains with Mars she chanc'd to lye,
A noted fable of the laughing fky;
That from her Love's intemp'rate heat began
Sicanian Eryx, born a favage man ;
The loose Priapus, and the monster-wight
In whom the fexes fhamefully unite.
Nor words fuffice the Goddess of the Fair,
She fnaps the rofy wreath that binds her hair,
Then on the God who fear'd a fiercer woe,
Her hands unpitying dealt the frequent blow;
From all his tender skin, a purple dew
The dreadful scourges of the chaplet drew;
From whence the rofe by Cupid ting'd before,
Now doubly tinged, flames with luftre more.
Here ends their wrath; the parent seems severe,
The strokes unfit for little Love to bear;
To fave their foe the melting beauties fly,
"And cruel mother! spare thy child, they cry;
To Love's account they plac'd their deaths of late,
And now transfer the fad account to fate;
The mother pleas'd beheld the storm affuage,
Thank'd the calm mourners, and dismiss'd her rage.
Thus Fancy once in dusky fhade expreft,
With empty terrors work'd the time of rest,
Where wretched Love endur'd a world of woe,
For all a Winter's length of night below;
Then foar'd, as fleep diffolv'd, unchain'd awaya
And thro' the port of Iv'ry reach'd the Day.
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