"What new defires are thefe? I long to pace "O'er flow'ry meadows, and to feed on grafs; "I hasten to a brute, a maid no more; "But why, alas! am I transform'd all o'er? "My fire does half a human shape retain, "And in his upper parts preferves the man. Her tongue no more diftinct complaints affords, But in fhrill accents and mis-shapen words Pours forth fuch hideous wailings, as declare The human form confounded in the mare: 'Till by degrees accomplish'd in the beast, She neigh'd outright, and all the steed exprest. Her ftooping body on her hands is borne,

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

And in a flowing tail fhe 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 Touchflone.

Sore wept the centaur, and to Phabus pray'd; But how could Phabus give the centaur aid? Degraded of his pow'r 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 thepherd's cloke;
On feven compacted reeds he us'd to play,
And on his rural pipe to waste the day.

As once, attentive to his pipe, he play'd,

The crafty Hermes from the God convey'd.
A drove, that sep'rate from their fellows stray'd..
The theft an old infidious peafant 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 thievifh God fufpected him, and took
The hind afide, and thus in whispers fpoke;
"Discover not the theft, whoe'er thou be,
"And take that milk-white heifer for thy fee.

"Go,

"Go, ftranger, cries the clown, fecurely on, "That stone shall fooner tell;" and fhow'd a stone.

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

And cries out," Neighbour, haft thou feen a ftray "Of bullocks and of heifers pafs this way? "In the recovery of my cattle join,

"A bullock and a heifer fhall be thine.

The peasant quick replies, "You'll find 'em 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, fmil'd;
"And doft thou thus betray myself to me?
"Me to myself doft thou betray? fays he:

Then to a Touch-ftone 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, whilft his eyes furvey

All the vast 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 shining virgins fill'd the plain.
The God well-pleas'd beheld the pompous show,
And saw the bright proceffion pafs below;
Then veer'd about, and took a wheeling flight,
And hover'd o'er them: As the fpreading kite,
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 Phabe Lucifer;
So much did Hersè all the reft outvy,
And gave a grace to the folemnity.

Hermes

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 sky.

At length he pitch'd upon the ground, and show'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 loofe, and fets to show
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 fhin'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 firft th' approaching God descry'd,