"Tell me, if e'er within your fhades did lie

"A youth fo tortur'd, fo perplex'd as I!

"I who before me fee the charming fair,

"Whilft there he stands, and yet he ftands not there: "In fuch a maze of love my thoughts are loft; "And yet no bulwark'd town, nor diftant coaft, "Preferves the beauteous youth from being feen, "No mountains rife, nor oceans flow between. "A fhallow water hinders my embrace; "And yet the lovely mimic wears a face

"That kindly fmiles, and when I bend to join

My lips to his, he fondly bends to mine. "Hear, gentle youth, and pity my complaint, "Come from thy well, thou fair inhabitant. "My charms an eafy conqueft have obtain'd "O'er other hearts, by thee alone difdain'd. "But why should I despair? I'm sure he burns "With equal flames, and languishes by turns. "When e'er I ftoop he offers at a kiss, "And when my arms I ftretch, he ftretches his. "His eye with pleasure on my face he keeps,

He fmiles my fmiles, and when I weep he weeps. "When-e'er I fpeak, his moving lips appear "To utter fomething, which I cannot hear. "Ah wretched me! I now begin too late "To find out all the long perplex'd deceit ;

"It is myself I love, myself I see ;

"The gay delufion is a part of me..
"I kindle up the fires by which I burn,

And my own beauties from the well return.

"Whom shou'd I court? how utter my complaint? "Enjoyment but produces my restraint,

"And too much plenty makes me die for want. "How gladly would I from myself remove!

"And at a distance fet the thing I love.

"My breaft is warm'd with fuch unusual fire,

"I with him abfent whom I most defire.

"And now I faint with grief; my fate draws nigh;
"In all the pride of blooming youth I die.
"Death will the forrows of my heart relieve.
"O might the visionary youth survive,
"I thould with joy my latest breath refign!
"But oh! I fee his fate involv'd in mine."

This faid, the weeping youth again return'd:
To the clear fountain, where again he burn'd;
His tears defac'd the furface of the well,

With circle after circle, as they fell:

And now the lovely face but half

appears,

O'er run with wrinkles, and deform'd with tears. "Ah whither, cries Narciffus, dost thou fly? Let me ftill feed the flame by which I die;

}

"Let

"Let me ftill fee, tho' I'm no further bleft."

Then rends his garment off, and beats his breaft:

His naked bofom redden'd with the blow,

In fuch a blush as purple colours fhow,
Ere yet the fun's autumnal heats refine
Their fprightly juice, and mellow it to wine.
The glowing beauties of his breaft he spies,
And with a new redoubled paffion dies.
As wax diffolves, as ice begins to run,
And trickle into drops before the fun,
So melts the youth, and languishes away:
His beauty withers, and his limbs decay,
And none of those attractive charms remain,
To which the flighted Echo fu'd in vain.
She faw him in his prefent mifery,

Whom, fpite of all her wrongs, she griev❜d to see.
She answer'd fadly to the lover's moan,
Sigh'd back his fighs, and groan'd to every groan;
"Ah youth! belov'd in vain, Narciffus cries;
"Ah youth! belov'd in vain, the nymph replies.
"Farewel," fays he: the parting found scarce fell
From his faint lips, but the reply'd, "Farewel."
Then on th' unwholfom earth he gasping lies,
"Till death fhuts up thofe felf-admiring eyes.
To the cold fhades his flitting ghoft retires,
And in the Stygian waves itself admires.

For

For him the Naiads and the Dryads mourn,
Whom the fad Echo answers in her turn:
And now the fifter-nymphs prepare his urn;
When, looking for his corpfe, they only found
A rifing stalk, with yellow bloffoms crown'd.

The Story of PENTHEUS.

This fad event gave blind Tirefias fame,
Through Greece establish'd in a prophet's name.
Th' unhallow'd Pentheus only durft deride
The cheated people, and their eyeless guide.
To whom the prophet in his fury faid,
Shaking the hoary honours of his head;

}

" "Twere well, prefumptuous man, 'twere well for thee, "If thou wert eyelefs too, and blind, like me : "For the time comes, nay, 'tis already here, "When the young god's folemnities appear; "Which if thou doft not with just rites adorn, 66 Thy impious carcafe, into pieces torn,

"Then, then, remember what I now foretel, “And own the blind Tirefias saw too well." Still Pentheus fcorns him, and derides his skill;

But time did all the prophet's threats fulfil.

For

For now thro' proftrate Greece young Bacchus rode,

Whilft howling matrons celebrate the god.
All ranks and fexes to his Orgies ran,

To mingle in the pomps, and fill the train. When Pentheus thus his wicked rage exprefs'd; "What madness, Thebans, has your foul poffefs'd? "Can hollow timbrels, can a drunken fhout, "And the lewd clamour of a beastly rout, "Thus quell your courage? can the weak alarm "Of womens yell those stubborn fouls difarm, "Whom nor the fword nor trumpet e'er could fright, "Nor the loud din and horror of a fight?

"And you, our fires, who left your old abodes, "And fix'd in foreign earth your country gods;

"Will you without a ftroke your city yield, "And poorly quit an undifputed field?

"But you, whofe youth and vigour should infpire "Heroic warmth, and kindle martial fire,

"Whom burnifh'd arms and crefted helmets g

s grace,

"Not flowery garlands and a painted face;
"Remember him to whom you stand ally'd:
"The ferpent for his well of waters dy'd.
"He fought the strong; do you his courage show,
"And gain a conqueft o'er a feeble foe.
"If Thebes muft fall, oh might the fates afford
"A nobler doom from famine, fire, or fword!

"Then