Wise Phidias thus, his skill to prove,
Through many a god advanced to Jove,
And taught the polished rocks to shine
With airs and lineaments divine;

Till Greece, amazed, and half afraid,
Th' assembled deities survey'd.

Great Pan, who wont to chace the fair,
And loved the spreading oak, was there;
Old Saturn too, with upcast eyes,

Beheld his abdicated skies;

And mighty Mars, for war renown'd,

In adamantine armour frown'd;

By him the childless goddess rose,

Minerva, studious to compose

Her twisted threads; the web she strung,

And o'er a loom of marble hung:

Line 8th, Alluding to the amorous disposition of Charles

II. and his concealment in the royal oak.

Line 10th, James the Second's abdication.

Line 12th, William III. a great warrior.

Line 16th, Queen Mary's unfruitful marriage, and her fondness for working tapestry.

10

Thetis, the troubled ocean's queen,
Match'd with a mortal, next was seen,
Reclining on a funeral urn,

Her short-lived darling son to mourn.
The last was he, whose thunder slew
The Titan race, a rebel crew,

That from a hundred hills, allied

In impious leagues, their king defied.

This wonder of the sculptor's hand
Produced, his art was at a stand:

For who would hope new fame to raise,
Or risk his well established praise,

That, his high genius to approve,

Had drawn a George, or carved a Jove?

Line 4th, Queen Anne, married to a husband of inferior rank and talents, lost in early life her only son, the Duke of Glou

cester.

Line 8th, In 1715 the Highland chiefs rebelled against George I. and were defeated,

XIX.

CUPID AND GANYMEDE.

PRIOR.

IN heaven, one holiday, you read
In wise Anacreon, Ganymede
Drew heedless Cupid in, to throw
A main, to pass an hour or so.

The little Trojan, by the way,
By Hermes taught, play'd all the play.

The God unhappily engaged,

By nature rash, by play enraged,

Complained, and sighed, and cried, and fretted,

Lost every earthly thing he betted:

In ready money, all the store

Picked up long since from Danäe's shower ;

A snuff-box, set with bleeding hearts,
Rubies, all pierced with diamond darts ;
His nine-pins made of myrtle wood
(The tree in Ida's forest stood ;)
His bowl, pure gold, the very same
Which Paris gave the Cyprian dame;
Two table books in shagreen covers,

Filled with good verse from real lovers ;
Merchandise rare! a billet-doux,

Its matter passionate, yet true;

Heaps of hair-rings, and cypher'd seals;

Rich trifles; serious bagatelles.

What sad disorders play begets!

Desperate and mad, at length he sets

Those darts, whose points make gods adore

His might, and deprecate his power;

Those darts, whence all our joy and pain

Arise; those darts-Come, seven's the main,

Cries Ganymede: the usual trick:

Seven, slur a six; eleven, a nick,

Ill news goes fast: 'twas quickly known That simple Cupid was undone.

Swifter than lightning Venus flew:

Too late she found the thing too true.

Guess how the Goddess greets her son!

Come hither, sirrah ;-no, begone;

And, hark

ye, is it so indeed?

A comrade you for Ganymede?

An imp as wicked, for his age,
As any earthly lady's page;

A scandal and a scourge to Troy;
A prince's son; a blackguard boy;
A sharper, that with box and dice
Draws in young deities to vice.

All heaven is by the ears together,

Since first that little rogue came hither:

Juno herself has had no peace;

And truly I've been favoured less:

For Jove, as fame reports, (but fame

Says things not fit for me to name,)

Has acted ill for such a god,

And taken ways extremely odd.