In airy fields ye fields of bliss below
Where woods of Myrtle sett by Maro grow
Where grass beneath & shade diffusd above
Refresh the feavour of distracted Love
There at a solemn tide ye Beautys slain
By tender passion act their fates again
Through gloomy light that Just betrays ye grove
In orgys all disconsolately rove
They range the reeds & ore ye poppys Sweep
That nodding bend beneath their load of Sleep
By lakes subsiding with an easy face
By rivers stealing with a silent pace
Where kings & swains of ancient Authors sung
Now changd to flowrets ore ye margin hung
The self-admirer white Narcissus so
Fades at ye brink his picture fades below
In Bells of Azure Hyacynth arose
In crimson painted young Adonis glows
The Fragrant Crocus shines with golden flame
And leaves inscribe with Ajax haughty name
A sad remembrance brings their lives to view
And with their passion makes their tears renew
Unwinds ye years & lays ye former scene
Where after death they live for deaths again
Deluded Semele bewailes her fate
Lost by the glorys of her Lovers state
She runs & seems to burn the flames arise
And fan with Idle furys as she flys
The lovely Cænis whose transforming shape
Securd her honour from a second rape
Now moans ye first with ruffled garb appears
Feeles her whole sex return & baths with tears
The Jealous Procris wipes a seeming wound
Whose trickling Crimson dyes ye bushy ground
Knows the sad shaft & calls before she goe
To kiss ye favrite hand that gave ye blow
Ore well-dissembled waves ye Sestian fair
Holds forth a taper from a towr of air
A noiseless wind assaults ye wav'ring light
The Damsel tumbling mingles with ye night
Where Curling shades for rough Leucate rose
With love distracted tunefull Sappho goes
Sings to mock cliffs a melancholy lay
And with a Lovers leap affrights ye Sea
The sad Eryphile retreats to moan
What wrought her husbands death & causd her own
Surveys ye glitt'ring Vail ye bribe of fate
& tears ye shadow but she tears too late
Here three that brand ye royal house of Crete
In thin design & airy picture fleet.
To court a bull the mad Pasiphae flys
The snowy Phantome feeds before her eyes
Left Ariadne raves the thread she bore
Trailes on unwinding as she walks ye shore
And desp'rate Phædra seeks ye lonely groves
To read her guilty letter while she roves
Red shame confounds ye first ye second wears
A starry crown the third a halter bears.
Here Laodamia mourns her nuptial night
Of Love defrauded by the thirst of fight
Yet for another as delusive crys
And dauntless sees her Heroes ghost arise
There Thisbe Canace & Dido stand
All armd with swords a fair but angry band
This sword a Lover ownd A Father gave
The next a stranger chancd ye last to leave
And there evn she the Goddess of ye grove
Joynd with the Phantome fairs affects to rove
As once for Latmos she forsook ye plain
To steal the Kisses of a slumbring swain
Around her head a starry fillet twines
And at ye front a silver Crescent shines
These & a thousand & a thousand more
With sacred rage recall ye pangs they bore
Strike ye deep dart afresh & ask relief
Or sooth the wound with softning words of grief.
At Such a tide Unheedfull Love invades
The dark recesses of the Madding shades
Through long descent he fans ye foggs around
His purple feathers as he flyes resound
The Phrantick Beautys thickning all to gaze
Perceive the common troubler of their ease
Tho Dulling Mists & dubious day destroy
The fine appearance of ye fluttering Boy
Tho all ye Pomp that glitters at his Side
The golden belt ye clasp & quiver hide
& tho the torch appear a gleam of white
That faintly spots & moves in haizy night
Yet still they know ye Boy ye gen'rall foe
& threatning lift their airy hands below
As mindless of their rage he slowly sailes
On pinnions cumberd in ye misty vales.
Ah fool to light, the nymphs no more obey,
Nor was this region ever his to sway
Cast in the deepend ring they close ye plain
& seize the God reluctant all in vain
From hence they lead him where a myrtle stood
The saddest Myrtle in ye darkling wood
Devote to vex ye Gods. To this before
Hells awfull Empress soft Adonis bore
When the Young Hunter scornd her graver air
And onely Venus warmd his shadow there
Fixd to ye trunk ye tender Boy they bind
They cord his feet beneath his hands behind
He mourns but Vainly mourns his angry fate
For Beauty still relentless acts in hate
Tho no offence be don No Judge be nigh
Love must be guilty by ye common cry
For all are pleasd by partial passion led
To shift their follys on anothers head
Now Sharp reproaches ring their shrill alarms
And all the Heroins brandish all their arms
And evry Heroin makes it her decree
That Cupid suffer Just the same as she
To fix the desp'rate halter one essaid
One Seekes to wound him with an empty blade
Some headlong hang the nodding rocks of air
They fall in fancy & he feels despair
Some toss their hollow seas around his head
The seas that want a wave afford a dread
Or shake ye torch ye sparkling fury flys
And flames that never burnd afflict his eyes
The Mournfull Myrrha bursts her rinded womb
& drowns his Visage in ye moist perfume
While others Seeming mild advise to wound
With hum'rous pains by sly derision found
That prickling bodkins teach ye blood to flow
From whence the roses first began to glow
Or when their flames to singe ye boy prepare
That all shoud chuse by wanton fancy where
The lovely Venus with a bleeding breast
She too Securely through ye Circle presst
Forgot ye Mother urgd his hasty fate
& spurrd the female rage beyond debate
Ore all her scenes of frailty swift she runs
Absolves her self & makes ye crime her sons
That claspd in chains with Mars she chanc'd to ly
A noted fable of the laughing sky
That from her loves intemp'rate heat began
Sicanian Eryx born a savage man
The loose Priapus & ye monster wight
In whom the sexes shamefully unite
Nor words suffice ye Goddess of ye fair
She snaps the rosy wreath yt binds her hair
Then on the God who feard a fiercer woe
Her hands upittying dealt the frequent blow
From all his tender skin a purple dew
The dreadfull Scourges of ye Chaplet drew
From whence the rose by Cupid tingd before
Now doubly tinging flames with lustre more
Here ends their wrath ye Parent seems severe
The strokes unfit for little love to bear
To Save their foe the melting Beautys fly
& Cruel Mother spare thy Child they cry
To loves account they placd their deaths of late
& now transferr the sad account to fate
The Mother pleasd beheld ye storm aswage
Thankd ye calmd mourners & dismissd her rage
Thus Fancy once in dusky shade expresst
With empty terrours workd ye time of rest
Where wretched Love endurd a world of woe
For all a winters length of night below
Then soard as sleep dissolvd unchaind away
& through ye port of Iv'ry reachd ye day.
