ALCESTIS.

METHOUGHT I saw my late espouséd saint

Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave, Rescued from death by force, though pale and faint.

MILTON.

THE PILLARS OF HERCULES.

LAST with wide arms the solid earth he tears,
Piles rock on rock, on mountain mountain rears:
Heaves up huge Abyla on Afric's sand,

Crowns with high Calpe Europe's salient strand,
Crests with opposing towers the splendid scene,
And pours

from urns immense the sea between.

DARWIN.

THE GARDENS OF THE HESPERIDES, WATCHED BY A DRAGON.

So, borne on brazen talons, watched of old

The sleepless dragon o'er his fruits of gold;
Bright beamed his scales, his eyeballs blazed with ire,
And his wide nostrils breathed enchanted fire.

DARWIN.

BEAUTY, like the fair Hesperian tree,

Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon-watch with unenchanted eye,
To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold incontinence.

MILTON.

HYLAS.

HYLAS, the daintie boy, that was so dear
To great Alcides, that whenas he died,
He wailed, woman-like, with many a tear,
And every wood and every valley wide
He filled with Hylas' name;·

"Hylas " cried.

the nymphs too

SPENSER.

WHEN Hylas was sent with his urn to the fount, Through fields full of light, and with heart full of

play,

Light rambled the boy over meadow and mount, And neglected his task for the flowers in the way.

Thus

many, like: me, who in youth should have tasted The fountain that runs by Philosophy's shrine,

Their time with the flowers on the margin have

wasted,

And left their light urns all as empty as mine.

Moore.

GANYMEDE.

SWIFT from the chase Jove's towering eagle bears,
On golden wings, the Phrygian to the stars;
Still, as he rises in the ethereal height,
His native mountains lessen to his sight;
While all his sad companions upward gaze,
Fixed on the glorious scene in wild amaze.
His favorite hound entranced his master views,
With timid howl and anxious eye pursues;
The rest, low cowering, frightened as he flies,
Run to the shade, and bark against the skies.

THERE, too, flushed Ganymede, his rosy thigh Half buried in the eagle's down,

Sole as a flying star shot through the sky

Above the pillared town.

TENNYSON.

Pour forth heaven's wine, Idæan Ganymede,
And let it fill the Dædal cups like fire.

SHELLEY

MERCURY.

On his blooming face

Youth smiles celestial with each opening grace.
Despatched by Jove, he mounts the winged winds,
Fast to his feet the golden pinions binds,

That high through fields of air his flight sustain,
O'er the wide earth, and o'er the boundless main.
He grasps the wand * that causeth sleep to fly,
Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eye.

A PORTRAIT.

SEE what a grace was seated on this brow
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury,
New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form, indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man.

SHAKESPEARE.

*The caduceus.

IRIS.

HAIL, many-colored messenger, that ne'er

Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter;

Who, with thy saffron wings, upon the flowers
Diffusest honey dews, refreshing showers;

And with each end of thy bright bow dost crown
The tufted meadows, and the unshrubbed down.
Rich scarf to the proud earth!

SHAKESPEARE.

HEBE.

WHERE high Olympus' shining gates unfold,

And gods, with Jove, rest on their thrones of gold,
Immortal Hebe, fresh with bloom divine,
The golden goblet crowns with purple wine.

MERCURY AND CUPID.

IN sullen humor, one day, Jove,
Sent Hermes down to Ida's grove,
Commanding Cupid to deliver

His store of darts, his total quiver,