"Preferves the beauteous youth from being feen,
"No mountains rife, nor oceans flow between.
"A shallow water hinders my embrace;
"And yet the lovely mimic wears a face

"That kindly fmiles, and when I bend to join (550 "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 easy conqueft have obtain'd "O'er other hearts, by thee alone difdain'd.

555

"But why should I despair? I'm fure he burns

"With equal flames, and languishes by turns. "Whene'er I ftoop he offers at a kifs,

"And when my arms I stretch, he stretches his : "His eye with pleasure on my face he keeps, 560 "He fmiles my fmiles, and when I weep he weeps: "Whene'er I fpeak his moving lips appear "To utter fomething which I cannot hear. "Ah, wretched me! now begin too late "To find out all the long-perplex'd deceit ; "It is myself I love, myself I fee;

565

"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 Should I court? how utter my complaint? "Enjoyment but produces my restraint,

571

"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 breast is warm'd with fuch unusual fire,

"I wish him abfent whom I most defire

575

"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 should with joy my latest breath refign! "But, oh! I fee his fate involv'd in mine.”

This faid, the weeping youth again return'd

580

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:

585

And now the lovely face but half appears,
O'errun with wrinkles, and deform'd with tears:
"Ah! whither," cries Narciffus, "dost thou fly?
"Let me still feed the flame by which I die;
"Let me still fee, tho I'm no further bleft;"

590

Then rends his garment off, and beats his breast;

His naked bofom reddens with the blow,
In fuch a blush as purple clusters show,

Ere yet the fun's autumnal heats refine

Their fprightly juice, and mellow it to wine.
The glowing beauties of his breast 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,

595

бсо

And none of thofe attractive charms remain

To which the flighted Echo fu'd in vain.
She faw him in his prefent mifery,

605

Whom, fpite of all her wrongs, the griev'd to fee;
She anfwer'd fadly to the lover's moan,

Sigh'd back his fighs, and groan'd to ev'ry groan:
"Ah! youth belov'd in vain," Narciffus cries;
"Ah! youth belov'd in vain," the nymph replies. 6 10
"Farewell," fays he: the parting found scarce fell
From his faint lips, but the reply'd, "Farewell:"
Then on th' unwholsome earth he gasping lies,
Till Death huts up those self-admiring eyes;
To the cold fhades his flitting ghost retires,
And in the Stygian waves itself admires.

615

For him the Naïads 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 620 A rising stalk with yellow bloffoms crown'd.

The ftory of Pentheus.

THIS fad event gave blind Tirefias fame,
Thro' Greece eftablish'd in a prophet's name.

Th' unhallow'd Pentheus only durft deride
The cheated people and their eyelefs guide;
To whom the prophet in his fury faid,
Shaking the hoary honours of his head,

625

"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,
"Thy impious carcafs, into pieces torn,

630

"Shall strew the woods, and hang on ev'ry thorn. "Then, then, remember what I now foretell, 635 "And own the blind Tirefias faw too well." Still Pentheus fcorns him and derides his skill, But time did all the prophet's threats fulfil :

For now thro' proftrate Greece young Bacchus rode, Whilft howling matrons celebrate the god.

640

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 fouls poffefs'd? "Can hollow timbrels, can a drunken fhout,

"And the lewd clamours of a beastly rout,

"Thus quell your courage? can the weak alarmı

645

"Of women's yells thofe ftubborn fouls disarm,
"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 stroke your city yield,
"And poorly quit an undisputed field?

650

"But you, whofe youth and vigour should inspire 655 "Heroic warmth, and kindle martial fire, "Whom burnish'd arms and crested helmets grace, "Not flow'ry 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 conquest o'er a feeble foe.

660

"If Thebes muft fall, oh might the Fates afford "A nobler doom from famine, fire, or fword! "Then might the Thebans perish with renown; 665 "But now a beardlefs victor facks the town, "Whom nor the prancing steed nor pond'rous fhield, "Nor the hack'd helmet nor the dufty field, "But the foft joys of luxury and ease,

"The purple vefts and flow'ry garlands please. 670 "Stand then afide, I'll make the counterfeit "Renounce his godhead, and confefs the cheat. "Acrifius from the Grecian walls repell'd

"This boafted pow'r; why then should Pentheus yield? "Go quickly; drag th' impoftor boy to me; 675 "I'll try the force of his divinity."

Thus did th' audacious wretch those rites profane, His friends diffuade the audacious wretch in vain; In vain his grandfire urg'd him to give o'er

His impious threats; the wretch but raves the more.
So have I feen a river gently glide,

In a fmooth courfe, and inoffenfive tide,
But if with dams its current we restrain,

It bears down all, and foams along the plain.

681

But now his fervants came befmear'd with blood, Sent by their haughty prince to seize the ged; 686