X.

Her Cupid lov'd, whom Pfyche lov'd again.
He, like her parent and her belamour,
Sought how the mote in fickerness remain,
From all malengine fafe, and evil ftour.
"Go tender coffet, faid he, forray ore

"Thefe walks and lawnds; thine all these buskets are;
"Thine ev'ry shrub, thine ev'ry fruite and flower:
"But 'oh! I charge thee, love, the rose forbear;
"For prickles fharp do arm the dangʼrous rofiere.

XI.

"Prickles will pain, and pain will banish love:
"I charge thee, Pfyche, then the rose forbear.
"When faint and fick, thy languors to remove,
"To yon ambrofial fhrubs and plants repair;
"Thou weetest not what med'cines in them are:
"What wonders follow their repeated use

"N'ote thy weak sense conceive, fhould I declare;
"Their labour'd balm, and well-concocted juice,

"New life, new forms, new thews, new joys, new worlds

XII.

"Thy term of tryal paft with conftancy,

[produce.

"That wimpling flough fhall fall like filth away;
"On pinions broad, uplifted to the sky,
"Thou shalt, aftert, thy ftranger felf furvey.

Together, Pfyche, will we climb and play; "Together wander through the fields of air,

Beyond where funs and moons mete night and day. "I charge thee, O my love, the rose forbear,

"If thou wouldft fcathe avoid. Pfyche, forewarn'd, beware! XIII.

"How sweet thy words to my enchanted ear! (With grateful, modest confidence she said)

66

If Cupid fpeak, I could for ever hear :

"Trust me, my love, thou shalt be well obey'd. "What rich purveyance for me haft thou made, "The prickly rose alone denied! the rest "In full indulgence giv'n! 'twere to upbraid "To doubt compliance with this one requeft: "How small, and yet how kind, Cupid, is thy beheast! XIV.

"And is that kindness made an argument

"To raise me still to higher scenes of blifs ?
"Is the acceptance of thy goodness meant
"Merit in me for farther happiness?
"No merit and no argument, I wifs,
"Is there befides in me unworthy maid:

Thy gift the very love I bear thee is.

"Truft me, my love, thou shalt be well obey'd;

"To doubt compliance here, Cupid, were to upbraid.

XV. With

XV.

Withouten counterfefance thus the spoke;
Unweeting of her frailty. Light uprofe
Cupid on eafy wings: yet tender look,
And oft reverted eye on her beftows;
Fearfull, but not distrustful of her vows.
And mild regards the back reflects on him:
With aching eye pursues him as he goes;
With aching heart marks each diminish'd limb
Till indistinct, diffus'd, and loft in air he seem.

XVI.

He went to fet the watches of the east,

;

That none mote rush in with the tyde of wind:
He went to Venus to make fond request
From fleshly ferm to loosen Pfyche's mind,
And her eftfoons tranfmew. She forelore pin'd;
And mov'd for folace to the glaffy lake,

To view the charms that had his heart entwin'd. She faw, and blush'd and smil'd; then inly spake: "These charms I cannot chufe but love, for Cupid's fake.”

But fea-born Venus 'gan with envy stir

At bruite of their great happiness; and fought
How she might wreak her fpight: then call'd to her
Her fons, and op'd what rankled in her thought;

Asking who'd venture ore the mounds to vau't
To breed them fcathe unwares; to damp the joy
Of blissful Venus, or to bring to nought
The liefeft purpose of her darling boy,

Or urge them both their minion Pfyche to destroy.

XVIII.

Eros recul'd, and noul'd the work atchieve.
"Behold is th' attempt, faid he, averse from love:
"If love infpires I could derreign to reave

"His spear from Mars, his levin-brond from Jove.”
Him Anteros, fneb'd furly. "Gallefs dove!

"Than love's, fpight's mightier prowess understond: "If fpight infpires I dare all dangers prove :

"And if fuccessful, ftand the levin-brond,

"When hurlen angry forth from Jove's avenging hond."

XIX.

He faid, and defy t'wards the gardens flew ;

Horribly smiling at his foul emprise.

When, nearer still and nearer as he drew,

Unfufferable brightness wounds his eyes

Forth beaming from the crystal walls; he tries

Arrear to move, averted from the blaze.

But now no longer the pure æther buoys
His groffer body's disproportion'd peaze;

Down drops, plumb from his tow'ring path, the treachor base.

XX. So

XX.

So ore Avernus, or the Lucrine lake,
The wistless bird pursues his purpos'd flight:
Whether by vapours noy'd that thenceforth break,
Or elfe deferted by an air too light,

Down tumbles the fowl headlong from his height.'
So Anteros aftonied fell to ground,

Provok'd, but not accoid at his ftraunge plight.
He rofe, and wending coafts it round and round
To find unguarded pafs, hopeless to leap the mound.

XXI.

As on the margin of a stream he flood,
Slow rolling from that paradife within,
A fnake's out-cafe untenanted he view'd:
Seizing the spoil, albeit it worthless been,
He darts himself into the vacant skin.
In borrow'd gear, th' exulting lofel glides,
Whose faded hues with joy flush bright again;
Triumphant ore the buoyant flood he rides ;
And fhoots th' important gulph, borne on the gentle tydes.

XXII.

So fhone the brazen gates of Babylon ;

Armies in vain her muniments affail :

So ftrong, no engines could them batter down:

So high, no ladders could the ramparts scale;

Se