Her looks were flush'd, and fullen was her mein,
That fure the virgin goddess (had the been

Aught but a virgin) muft the guilt have seen.
'Tis faid the nymphs faw all, and guefs'd aright:
And now the moon had nine times loft her light,
When Dian, fainting in the mid-day beams,
Found a cool covert, and refreshing streams,
That in soft murmurs through the forest flow'd,
And a smooth bed of shining gravel ihow'd.

A covert fo obfcure, and streams fo clear,

The goddess prais'd: "And now no spies are near,
"Let's ftrip, my gentle maids, and wash, she cries,"
Pleas'd with the motion, every maid complies ;
Only the blufhing huntress stood confus'd,
And form'd delays, and her delays excus'd:
In vain excus'd; her fellows round her prefs'd,
And the reluctant nymph by force undress'd.
The naked huntress all her shame reveal'd,

In vain her hands the pregnant womb conceal'd;
"Begone! the goddess cries with stern disdain,

Begone! nor dare the hallow'd ftream to ftain ;" She fled, for ever banish'd from the train.

This Juno heard, who long had watch'd her time To punish the detested rival's crime;

'The time was come: for, to enrage

A lovely-boy the teeming rival bore.

her more,

}

The

The goddess cast a furious look, and cry'd, "It is enough! I'm fully satisfy'd!

"This boy fhall stand a living mark, to prove

"My husband's bafenefs, and the ftrumpet's love:
"But vengeance shall awake; thofe guilty charms,
"That drew the thunderer from Juno's arms,
"No longer fhall their wonted force retain,
"Nor please the God, nor make the mortal vain."
This faid, her hand within her hair fhe wound,
Swung her to earth, and drag'd her on the ground:
The proftrate wretch lifts up her arms in prayer;
Her arms grow fhaggy, and deform'd with hair,
Her nails are sharpen'd into pointed claws,

Her hands bear half her weight, and turn to paws;
Her lips, that once could tempt a God, begin
To grow diftorted in an ugly grin.

And, left the fupplicating brute might reach
The ears of Jove, she was depriv'd of fpeech:
Her furly voice thro' a hoarfe paffage came
In favage founds: her mind was ftill the fame.
The furry monfter fix'd her eyes above,
And heav'd her new unwieldy paws to Jove,
And beg'd his aid with inward groans; and tho'
She could not call him false, she thought him fo.
How did fhe fear to lodge in woods alone,
And haunt the fields and meadows once her own!

How

How often would the deep-mouth'd dogs purfue,
Whilft from her hounds the frighted huntress flew!
How did fhe fear her fellow brutes, and fhun
The shaggy bear, tho' now herself was one!
How from the fight of rugged wolves retire,
Although the grim Lycaon was her fire!

But now her fon had fifteen fummers told,
Fierce at the chace, and in the foreft bold;
When, as he beat the woods in queft of prey,
He chanc'd to rouse his mother where the lay.
She knew her fon, and kept him in her fight,
And fondly gaz'd: The boy was in a fright,
And aim'd a pointed arrow at her breaft;
And would have flain his mother in the beaft;
But Jove forbad, and snatch'd 'em through the air
In whirlwinds up to heav'n, and fix'd 'em there:
Where the new conftellations nightly rise,

And add a luftre to the northern (kies.

When Juno faw the rival in her height, Spangled with stars, and circled round with light, She fought old Ocean in his deep abodes,

And Tethys; both rever'd among the Gods.

They ask what brings her there: "Ne'er afk, fays fhe, "What brings me here, Heav'n is no place for me. "You'll fee, when night has cover'd all things o'er, "Jove's ftarry bastard and triumphant whore,

• Ufurp

"Ufurp the heavens; you'll fee 'em proudly roll
"In their new orbs, and brighten all the pole.
"And who shall now on Juno's altar wait,
"When those she hates grow greater by her hate?
"I on the nymph a brutal form imprefs'd,
"Jove to a goddess has transform'd the beast:
"This, this was all my weak revenge could do:
"But let the God his chafte amours pursue,
"And, as he acted after lo's rape,'

"Reftore th' adult'refs to her former shape;
"Then may he caft his Juno off, and lead
"The great Lycaon's offspring to his bed.
"But you, ye venerable powers, be kind,
"And, if my wrongs a due refentment find,
"Receive not in your waves their settled beams,
"Nor let the glaring ftrumpet taint your ftreams."
The goddess ended, and her wish was given,
Back she return'd in triumph up to heaven;
Her gaudy peacocks drew her through the skies;
The tails were spotted with a thousand eyes;
The eyes of Argus on their tails were rang'd,
At the fame time the raven's colour chang'd.

The

The Story of CORONIS, and Birth of ESCULAPIUS.

[The raven once in fnowy plumes was drest, White as the whiteft dove's unfully'd breaft, Fair as the guardian of the capitol,

Soft as the fwan; a large and lovely fowl;

His tongue, his prating tongue had chang'd him quite To footy blackness from the pureft white.

The ftory of his change fhall here be told;

In Theffaly there liv'd a nymph of old,
Coronis nam'd; a peerless maid she shin'd,

Confeft the fairest of the fairer kind.

Apollo lov'd her, 'till her guilt he knew,

While true she was, or whilft he thought her true.

But his own bird the raven chanc'd to find

The falfe one with a secret rival join❜d.
Coronis begg'd him to suppress the tale,
But could not with repeated pray'rs prevail.
His milk white pinions to the God he ply'd;
The bufy daw flew with him fide by side,
And by a thousand teizing questions drew
Th' important fecret from him as they flew,
The daw gave honeft counsel, tho' defpis'd,
And, tedious in her tattle, thus advis'd.

"Stay,