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Her ftooping body on her hands is borne,

Her hands are turn'd to hoofs, and fhod in horn;
Her yellow treffes ruffle in a mane,

And in her flowing tail she frisks her train.
The mare was finish'd in her voice and look,
And a new name from the new figure took.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF BATTUS TO
A TOUCHSTONE.

SORE wept the centaur, and to Phoebus pray'd;
But how could Phoebus give the centaur aid?
Degraded of his power by angry Jove,
In Elis then a herd of beeves he drove ;
And wielded in his hand a staff of oak,
And o'er his fhoulders threw the fhepherd's cloak
On seven compacted reeds he us'd to play,
And on his rural pipe to waste the day.

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As once, attentive to his pipe, he play'd, The crafty Hermes from the god convey'd A drove that separate from their fellows stray'd, The theft an old infidious peasant view'd (They call'd him Battus in the neighbourhood); Hir'd by a wealthy Pylian prince to feed His favourite mares, and watch the generous breed. The thievith god fufpected him, and took The hind afide, and thus in whispers spoke; "Discover not the theft, whoe'er thou be, "And take that milk-white heifer for thy fee. "Go, ftranger, cries the clown, fecurely on, "That stone shall fooner tell;" and show'd a stone.

The

The god withdrew, but straight return'd again,
In fpeech and habit like a country swain;

And cried out, "Neighbour, haft thou seen a stray
❝ Of bullocks and of heifers pass this way?
"In the recovery of my cattle join,

"A bullock and a heifer fhall be thine."

The peafant quick replies, "You'll find them there "In yon dark vale :" and in the vale they were. The double bribe had his false heart beguil'd: The god, fuccessful in the trial, smil'd; "And doft thou thus betray myself to me?

Me to myself dost thou betray ?” says he : Then to a Touch-fione turns the faithless spy, And in his name records his infamy.

THE STORY OF AGLAUROS, TRANSFORM'D INTO A STATUE.

THIS done, the god flew up on high, and pass'd O'er lofty Athens, by Minerva grac'd,

And wide Munichia, whilst his eyes survey

All the vaft region that beneath him lay.

Twas now the feaft, when each Athenian maid

Her yearly homage to Minerva paid;

In canisters, with garlands cover'd o'er ;
High on their heads their myftic gifts they bore;
And now, returning in a folemn train,
The troop of fhining virgins fill'd the plain.

The god well-pleas'd beheld the pompous show,
And faw the bright proceffion pafs below;
Then veer'd about, and took a wheeling flight,
And hover'd o'er them; as the fpreading kite,
K4

That

That smells the flaughter'd victim from on high,
Flies at a distance, if the priests are nigh,
And fails around, and keeps it in her eye!
So kept the god the virgin choir in view,
And in flow winding circles round them flew.
As Lucifer excels the meaneft ftar,
Or, as the full-orb'd Phoebe Lucifer;
So much did Hersè all the reft outvy,
And gave a grace to the folemnity.

Hermes was fir'd, as in the clouds he hung:
So the cold bullet, that with fury flung
From Balearic engines mounts on high,

Glows in the whirl, and burns along the fky.
At length he pitch'd upon the ground, and fhow'd
The form divine, the features of a god.
He knew their virtue o'er a female heart,
And yet he strives to better them by art.
He hangs his mantle loose, and fets to fhow
The golden edging on the feam below;
Adjufts his flowing curls, and in his hand
Waves with an air the fleep-procuring wand :
The glittering fandals to his feet applies,
And to each heel the well-trim'd pinion ties.
His ornaments with niceft art display'd,
He feeks th' apartment of the royal maid.
The roof was all with polish'd ivory lin❜d,
That, richly mix'd, in clouds of tortoife thin'd.
Three rooms contiguous in a range were plac'd;
The midmoft by the beauteous Hersè grac'd;
Her virgin fifters lodg'd on either fide.
Aglauros first th' approaching god defcry'd,

And

And, as he crofs'd her chamber, afk'd his name,
And what his bufinefs was, and whence he came.
"I come, reply'd the god, from heaven to woo
"Your fifter, and to make an aunt of you;
"I am the fon and meffenger of Jove,

My name is Mercury, my bufinefs love;
"Do you, kind damfel, take a lover's part,
"And gain admittance to your fifter's heart."
She ftar'd him in the face with looks amaz'd,
As when the on Minerva's fecret gaz'd,
And asks a mighty treasure for her hire,
And, till he brings it, makes the god retire.
Minerva griev'd to see the nymph succeed;
And now remembring the late impious deed,
When, difobedient to her strict command,
She touch'd the cheft with an unhallow'd hand;
In big-fwoln fighs her inward rage exprefs'd,
That heav'd the rifing Ægis on her breast;
Then fought out Envy in her dark abode,
Defil'd with ropy gore and clots of blood :
Shut from the winds, and from the wholesome skies,
In a deep vale the gloomy dungeon lies,

Dismal and cold, where not a beam of light
Invades the winter, or difturbs the night.
Directly to the cave her course the steer'd;
Against the gates her martial lance the rear'd;
The gates flew open, and the fiend appear❜d.
A poisonous morfel in her teeth the chew'd,
And gorg'd the flesh of vipers for her food.
Minerva, loathing, turn'd away her eye;
The hideous monfter, rifing heavily,

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Came

Came ftalking forward with a fullen pace,
And left her mangled offals on the place.
Soon as she faw the goddess gay and bright,
She fetch'd a groan at, such a chearful fight.
Livid and meagre were her looks, her eye
In foul distorted glances turn'd awry ;

A hoard of gall her inward parts poffefs'd,

And spread a greennefs o'er her canker'd breast;
Her teeth were brown with ruft; and from her tongue,
In dangling drops, the stringy poifon hung,
She never fmiles but when the wretched weep,
Nor lulls her malice with a moment's fleep.
Restless in spite: while, watchful to deftroy,
She pines and fickens at another's joy;
Foe to herself, diftreffing and distrest,
She bears her own tormenter in her breast.
The goddess gave (for the abhorr'd her fight)
A fhort command: "To Athens speed thy flight;
"On curft Aglauros try thy utmost art,

"And fix thy rankest venoms in her heart."
This faid, her fpear the pufh'd against the ground,
And, mounting from it with an active bound,
Flew off to heaven: The hag with eyes askew
Look'd up, and mutter'd curfes as fhe flew;
For fore the fretted, and began to grieve
At the fuccefs which the herself must give.

Then takes her staff, hung round with wreaths of thorn,
And fails along, in a black whirlwind borne,

O'er fields and flowery meadows where the steers

:

Her baneful course a mighty blast

appears,

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