Betwixt two sheets thou shalt enjoy her

bare,

With whom no Grecian virgin can compare;

So soft, so sweet, so balmy, and so fair.
A boy, like thee, would make a kingly line;
But O, a girl like her must be divine.
Her equals we, in years, but not in face,
Twelvescore viragoes of the Spartan race,
While naked to Eurotas' banks we bend, 40
And there in manly exercise contend,
When she appears, are all eclips'd and lost,
And hide the beauties that we made our
boast.

So, when the night and winter disappear,
The purple Morning, rising with the year,
Salutes the Spring, as her celestial eyes
Adorn the world, and brighten all the
skies:

So beauteous Helen shines among the rest, Tall, slender, straight, with all the graces blest.

As pines the mountains, or as fields the

Our noblest maids shall to thy name bequeath

70

The boughs of lotos, form'd into a wreath. This monument, thy maiden beauties' due, High on a plane tree shall be hung to view; On the smooth rind the passenger shall see Thy name ingrav'd, and worship Helen's tree;

Balm, from a silver box distill'd around, Shall all bedew the roots, and scent the sacred ground.

The balm, 't is true, can aged plants prolong,

But Helen's name will keep it ever young. "Hail bride, hail bridegroom, son-in-law

to Jove!

80

With fruitful joys Latona bless your love! Let Venus furnish you with full desires, Add vigor to your wills, and fuel to your fires!

Almighty Jove augment your wealthy store,

Give much to you, and to his grandsons

His person hated, and his gifts despis'd;
Nor knew the force of Cupid's cruel darts,
Nor fear'd his awful pow'r on human hearts;
But either from her hopeless lover fled,
Or with disdainful glances shot him dead. 10
No kiss, no look, to cheer the drooping boy;
No word she spoke, she scorn'd ev'n to deny.
But, as a hunted panther casts about
Her glaring eyes, and pricks her list'ning
ears to scout,

So she, to shun his toils, her cares imploy'd,

And fiercely in her savage freedom joy'd. Her mouth she writh'd, her forehead taught

Trembling before her bolted doors he stood, And there pour'd out th' unprofitable flood: Staring his eyes, and haggard was his look; Then, kissing first the threshold, thus he spoke:

"Ah, nymph, more cruel than of human race!

Thy tigress heart belies thy angel face: Too well thou show'st thy pedigree from stone;

Thy grandame's was the first by Pyrrha thrown:

Unworthy thou to be so long desir'd;
But so my love, and so my fate requir❜d.
I beg not now (for 't is in vain) to live; 41
But take this gift, the last that I can give.
This friendly cord shall soon decide the
strife

Betwixt my ling'ring love and loathsome life:

This moment puts an end to all my pain; I shall no more despair, nor thou disdain.

A weighty stone, (the labor of a team,) 90 And rais'd from thence he reach'd the neighboring beam;

Around its bulk a sliding knot he throws,
And fitted to his neck the fatal noose;
Then, spurning backward, took a swing,
till death

Crept up, and stopp'd the passage of his breath.

The bounce burst ope the door; the scornful fair

Relentless look'd, and saw him beat his quivering feet in air;

Nor wept his fate, nor cast a pitying eye, Nor took him down, but brush'd regardless by;

And, as she pass'd, her chance or fate was such,

100

Her garments, touch'd the dead, polluted by

CHLORIS

Kisses are empty joys, and soon are o'er.

DAPHNIS

A kiss betwixt the lips is something more.

CHLORIS

I wipe my mouth, and where 's your kissing

then?

DAPHNIS

I swear you wipe it to be kiss'd again.

CHLORIS

Go, tend your herd, and kiss your cows at home;

I am a maid, and in my beauty's bloom. 10 DAPHNIS

"T is well remember'd; do not waste your time,

But wisely use it ere you pass your prime.

CHLORIS

Blown roses hold their sweetness to the last, And raisins keep their luscious native taste.

DAPHNIS

The sun's too hot; those olive shades are near;

I fain would whisper something in your ear.

CHLORIS

'Tis honest talking where we may be

seen;

God knows what secret mischief you may mean;

I doubt you'll play the wag, and kiss again.

DAPHNIS

By force away, and then by force enjoy'd;
But I by free consent can boast a bliss,
A fairer Helen, and a sweeter kiss.

CHLORIS

I shall have chaste Diana still to friend.