O happy youth! to thee, among the crowd
Of rival princes, Cupid fneez'd aloud;
And every lucky omen fent before,
To meet thee landing on the Spartan fhore.
Of all our heroes thou canft boast alone,
That Jove, whene'er he thunders, calls thee for:
Betwixt two fheets thou fhalt enjoy her bare,
With whom no Grecian virgin can compare ;
So foft, fo fweet, fo balmy and fo fair.
A boy, like thee, would make a kingly fine:
But oh, a girl like her must be divine.
Her equals, we, in years, but not in face,
Twelvefcore viragos of the Spartan race,
While naked to Eurota's banks we bend,
And there in manly exercife contend,
When the appears, are all eclips'd and loft,
And hides the beauties that we made our boaft.
So, when the night and winter disappear,
The purple morning rifing with the year,
Salutes the fpring, as her celeftial eyes
Adorn the world, and brighten all the skies:
So beauteous Helen fhines among the reft,
Tall, flender, ftraight, with all the Graces bleft.
As pines the mountains, or as fields the corn,
Or as Theffalian steeds the race adorn;
So rofy-colour'd Helen is the pride
Of Lacedæmon, and of Greece beside.
Like her no nymph can willing ofiers bend
In basket-works, which painted ftreaks commend:
With Pallas in the loom the may contend.
But none, ah! none can animate the lyre.
And the mute ftrings with vocal fouls inspire:
Whether the learn'd Minerva be her theme,
Or chafte Diana bathing in the ftream;
None can record their heavenly praise fo well
As Helen, in whofe eyes ten thousand Cupids dwell,
O fair, O graceful! yet with maids inroll'd,
But whom to-morrow's fun a matron fhall behold!
Yet ere to-morrow's fun fhall fhew his head,
The dewy paths of meadows we will tread,
For crowns and chaplets to adorn thy head.
Where all shall weep, and wish for thy return,
As bleating lambs their abfent mother mourn.
Our nobleft maids fhall to thy name bequeath
The boughs of Lotos, form'd into a wreath.
This monument, thy maiden beauties due,
High on a plane-tree fhall be hung to view :
On the smooth rind the passenger shall fee
Thy name engrav'd, and worship Helen's tree:
Balm, from a filver-box diftill'd around,
Shall all bedew the roots, and fcent the facred ground.
The balm, 'tis true, can aged plants prolong,
But Helen's name will keep it ever young.
Hail bride, hail bridegroom, fon-in-law to Jove!
With fruitful joys Latona bless your love;
Let Venus furnish you with full defires,
Add vigour to your wills, and fuel to your fires:
Almighty Jove augment your wealthy store,
Give much to you, and to his grandfons more.
From generous loins a generous race will spring,
Each girl, like her, a queen; each boy like you, a king.
Now fleep, if fleep you can; but while you reft,
Sleep close, with folded arms, and breast to breast:
Rife in the morn; but oh! before you rife,
Forget not to perform your morning facrifice.
We will be with you ere the crowing cock
Salutes the light, and ftruts before his feather'd flock.
Hymen, oh Hymen, to thy triumphs run,
And view the mighty spoils thou haft in battle won.
The DESPAIRING LOVER, from the 23d Idyllium of THEOCRITUS.
WITH inaufpicious love, a wretched swain
Purfu'd the faireft nymph of all the plain ;
Faireft indeed, but prouder far than fair,
She plung'd him hopeless in a deep despair
Her heav'nly form too haughtily the priz'd,.
His perfon hated, and his gifts defpis'd;
Nor knew the force of Cupid's cruel darts,
Nor fear'd his awful pow'r on human hearts;
But either from her hopelefs lover fled,
Or with disdainful glances fhot him dead.
No kifs, no look, to cheer the drooping boy;
No word fhe spoke, she scorn'd ev❜n to deny.
But, as a hunted panther cafts about
Her glaring eyes and pricks her lift'ning ears to fcout,
So fhe, to fhun his toils, her cares employ'd,
And fiercely in her favage freedom joy'd.
Her mouth she writh'd, her forehead taught to frown,
Her eyes to sparkle fires to love unknown:
Her fallow cheeks her envious mind did fhew,
And ev'ry feature spoke aloud the curftness of a fhrew,
Yet could not he his obvious fate escape;
His love ftill dress'd her in a pleasing shape;
And every fullen frown, and bitter fcorn
But fann'd the fuel that too fast did burn.
Long time, unequal to his mighty pain,
He ftrove to curb it, but he ftrove in vain :
At laft his woes broke out, and begg'd relief
With tears, the dumb petitioners of grief:
With tears fo tender, as adorn'd his love,
And any heart, but only hers, would move.
Trembling before her bolted doors he flood,
And there pour'd out th' unprofitable flood:
Staring his eyes, and haggard was his look;
Then, kiffing firft the threshold, thus he spoke.
Ah nymph, more cruel than of human race!
Thy tigress heart belies thy angel face:
Too well thou fhew'ft thy pedigree from ftone:
Thy grandame's was the firft by Pyrrha thrown:
Unworthy thou to be so long defir'd;
But fo my love, and fo my fate requir'd,
I beg not now (for 'tis in vain) to live;
But take this gift, the laft that I can give.
This friendly cord fhall foon decide the ftrife.
Betwixt my ling'ring love and loathfome life:
This moment puts an end to all my pain;
I shall no more despair, nor thou difdain.
Farewel, ungrateful and unkind! I go
Condemn'd by thee to thofe fad fhades below.
I go th' extremeft remedy to prove,
To drink oblivion, and to drench my
There happily to lofe my long defires:
But ah! what draught fo deep to quench my fires?
Farewel ye never-opening gates, ye ftones,
And threshold guilty of my midnight moans.
What I have fuffer'd here ye know too well;
What I fhall do the Gods and I can tell.
The role is fragrant, but it fades in time;
The violet fweet, but quickly paft the prime ;
White lillies hang their heads and foon decay,
And whiter fnow in minutes melts away:
Such is your blooming youth, and withering fo:
The time will come, it will, when you fhall know
The rage of love; your haughty heart fhall burn
In flames like mine, and meet a like return.
Obdurate as you are, oh! hear at least
My dying prayers, and grant my laft request.
VOL. II.
When firft you ope your doors, and paffing by
The fad ill-omen'd object meets your eye,
Think it not loft, a moment if you stay;
The breathless wretch, fo made by you, survey :
Some cruel pleasure will from thence arife,
To view the mighty ravage of your eyes.
I wish (but oh! my wifh is vain, I fear)
The kind oblation of a falling tear:
Then loofe the knot, and take me from the place,
And fpread your mantle o'er my grizly face;
Upon my livid lips beftow a kifs:
O envy not the dead, they feel not blifs!
Nor fear your kiffes can reflore my breath;
Even you are not more pitylefs than death.
Then for my corps a homely grave provide,.
Which love and me from public fcorn may hide.
Thrice call upon my name, thrice beat your breast,
And hail me thrice to everlafting reft:
Laft let my tomb this fad infcription bear:
A wretch whom love has kill'd lies buried here;
O paffengers, Aminta's eyes beware.
Thus having faid, and furious with his love, He heav'd with more than human force to move
A weighty ftone (the labor of a team)
And rais'd from thence he reach'd the neighbouring beam:
Around its bulk a fliding knot he throws,
And fitted to his neck the fatal noofe:
Then fpurning backward took a fwing, till death
Crept up, and ftopt the paffage of his breath.,
The bounce burft ope the door; the fcornful fair
Relentless look'd, and faw him beat his quivering feet in air;
Nor wept his fate, nor caft a pitying eye,
Nor took him down, but brush'd regardless by:
And, as the paft, her chance of fate was fuch,
Her garments touch'd the dead, polluted by the touch:
Next to the dance, thence to the bath did move;
The bath was facred to the God of love;
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