Crete, fam'd for monfters, wanted of her ftore,
Till my new love produc'd one monster more.
The daughter of the fun a bull defir'd,
And yet ev'n then a male a female fir'd:
Her paffion was extravagantly new:
But mine is much the madder of the two.
To things impoffible she was not bent,
But found the means to compafs her intent.
To cheat his eyes, fhe took a different shape;
Yet ftill fhe gain'd a lover, and a leap.
Should all the wit of all the world confpire,
Should Doedalus affift my wild defire,
What art can make me able to enjoy,
Or what can change Ianthe to a boy?
Extinguish then thy paffion, hopeless maid,
And recollect thy reafon for thy aid.
Know what thou art, and love as maidens ought,
And drive these golden wishes from thy thought.
Thou canst not hope thy fond defires to gain;
Where hope is wanting, wishes are in vain.
And yet no guards againft our joys confpire;
No jealous husband hinders our defire;
My parents are propitious to my wish,
And the herself confenting to the bliss.
All things concur to profper our defign;
All things to prosper any love but mine.
And yet I never can enjoy the fair;
'Tis paft the power of heaven to grant my prayer.
Heaven has been kind, as far as heaven can be ;
Our parents with our own defires agree ;
But Nature, ftronger than the Gods above,
Refufes her affiftance to my love;
She fets the bar that causes all my pain :
One gift refus'd makes all their bounty vain.
And now the happy day is just at hand,
To bind our hearts in Hymen's holy band:
Our hearts, but not our bodies: Thus accurs'd,
In midft of water I complain of thirst.
Why com'ft thou, Juno, to these barren rites,
To blefs a bed defrauded of delights?
And why should Hymen lift his torch on high,
To fee two brides in cold embraces lie?
Thus love-fick Iphis her vain paffion mourns ;
With equal ardor fair Ianthe burns,
Invoking Hymen's name, and Juno's power,
To speed the work, and haste the happy hour.
She hopes, while Telethufa fears the day,
And strives to interpose some new delay :
Now feigns a fickness, now is in a fright
For this bad omen, or that boding fight.
But, having done whate'er fhe could devife,
And empty'd all her magazine of lies,
The time approach'd; the next enfuing day
The fatal fecret must to light betray.
Then Telethufa had recourse to prayer,
She and her daughter with dishevel'd hair;
Trembling with fear, great Ifis they ador'd,
Embrac'd her altar, and her aid implor'd.
Fair queen, who dost on fruitful Egypt smile,
Who fway'ft the fceptre of the Pharian ifle,
And feven-fold falls of difemboguing Nile;
Relieve, in this our last distress, she said,
A fuppliant mother, and a mournful maid.
Thou, Goddefs, thou wert present to my fight;
Reveal'd I faw thee by thy own fair light:
I faw thee in my dream, as now I fee,
With all thy marks of awful majesty:
The glorious train that compass'd thee around;
And heard the hollow timbrel's holy found.
Thy words I noted; which I ftill retain ;
Let not thy facred oracles be vain.
That Iphis lives, that I myself am free
From shame, and punishment, I owe to thee.
On thy protection all our hopes depend :
Thy counsel fav'd us, let thy power
Her tears pursued her words; and while the spoke The Goddefs nodded, and her altar fhook :
The temple doors, as with a blast of wind,
Were heard to clap; the lunar horns that bind
The brows of Ifis caft a blaze around;
The trembling timbrel made a murmuring found.
Some hopes thefe happy omens did impart;
Forth went the mother with a beating heart,
Not much in fear, nor fully fatisfy'd;
But Iphis follow'd with a larger ftride:
The whiteness of her fkin forfook her face;
Her looks embolden'd with an awful grace;
Her features and her ftrength together grew,
And her long hair to curling locks withdrew.
Her fparkling eyes with manly vigour fhone;
Big was her voice, audacious was her tone.
The latent parts, at length reveal'd, began
To fhoot, and spread, and burnish into man.
The maid becomes a youth; no more delay
Your vows, but look, and confidently pay.
Their gifts the parents to the temple bear:
The votive tables this infcription wear :
Iphis, the man, has to the Goddess paid
The vows, that Iphis offer'd when a maid.,
Now when the star of day had shewn his face,
Venus and Juno with their prefence grace
The nuptial rites, and Hymen from above
Defcended to complete their happy love;
The Gods of marriage lend their mutual aid;
And the warm youth enjoys the lovely maid.
PYGMALION and the STATUE.
The Propatides, for their impudent behaviour, being turned into tone by Venus, Pygmalion, prince of Cyprus, detefted all women for their fake, and refolved never to marry. He falls in love with a ftatue of his own making, which is changed into a maid, whom be marries. One of his defcendants is Cinyras, the father of Myrrha: the daughter incestuously loves her own father; for which he is changed into a tree which bears her name. These two ftories immediately follow each other, and are admirably well connected.
Pygmalion, loathing their lascivious life,
Abhorr'd all womankind, but most a wife :
So fingle chose to live, and fhunn'd to wed,
Well pleas'd to want a confort of his bed:
Yet, fearing idleness, the nurse of ill,
In fculpture exercis'd his happy skill;
And carv'd in ivory fuch a maid, so fair,
As nature could not with his art compare,
Were the to work; but, in her own defence,
Muft take her pattern here, and copy hence.
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