155

160

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 ensuing day
The fatal fecret must to light betray.
Then Telethufa had recourfe to prayer,
She and her daughter with difhevell❜d hair;
Trembling with fear, great Ifis they ador'd,
Embrac'd her altar, and her aid implor'd.
Fair queen, who doft on fruitful Egypt

165

171

fmile, Who sway'ft the fceptre of the Pharian isle, And feven-fold falls of difemboguing Nile; Relieve, in this our laft diftrefs, the faid, A fuppliant mother, and a mournful maid. Thou, goddess, thou wert prefent 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. 175 Thy words I noted, which I ftill retain; Let not thy facred oracles be vain. That Iphis lives, that I myself am free From fhame, and punishment, I owe to thee. On thy protection all our hopes depend: Thy counfel fav'd us, let thy power defend.

180

Her tears purfu'd her words, and while fhe

fpoke,

The goddess 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.

186

190

Some hopes these 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. 195. Her sparkling eyes with manly vigour shone; Big was her voice, audacious was her tone. The latent parts, at length reveal'd, began To fhoot, and fpread, and burnish into man. The maid becomes a youth; no more delay 200 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.

205

Now when the star of day had fhewn 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, 210
And the warm youth enjoys the lovely maid.

PYGMALION AND THE STATUE,

FROM THE TENTH BOOK OF

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

The Propœtides, for their impudent behaviour, being turned into flone 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 he marries. One of his defcendants is Cinyras, the father of Myrrha: the daughter incestuously loves her own father; for which fhe is changed into a tree which bears her name. Thefe 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 pleased to want a confort of his bed:
Yet fearing idleness, the nurse of ill,
In fculpture exercis'd his happy skill;

5

And carv'd in ivory fuch a maid, so fair,
As nature could not with his art compare,
Were fhe to work; but in her own defence,
Muft take her pattern here, and copy hence.
Pleas'd with his idol, he commends, admires,
Adores; and laft, the thing ador'd defires.
A very virgin in her face was feen,

10

And, had the mov'd, a living maid had been : One would have thought she could have stirr'd ; but ftrove

With modefty, and was asham'd to move.

15

Art, hid with art, fo well perform'd the cheat,
It caught the carver with his own deceit :
He knows 'tis madness, yet he must adore,
And ftill the more he knows it, loves the

more:

20

The flesh, or what fo feems, he touches oft, Which feels fo fmooth, that he believes it foft. Fir'd with this thought, at once he ftrain'd the breast,

26

And on the lips a burning kifs imprefs'd.
'Tis true, the harden'd breast resists the gripe,
And the cold lips return a kifs unripe :
But when retiring back, he look'd again,
To think it ivory was a thought too mean:
So would believe the kifs'd, and courting