Page images
PDF
EPUB

Promised the sun, ere day began to spring;

The tuneful lark already stretch'd her wing,
And, flickering on her nest, made short essays to
When wakeful Palamon, preventing day,

Took to the royal lists his early way,

[sing:

To Venus at her fane, in her own house to pray.
There falling on his knees before her shrine,
He thus implored with prayers her power divine:-
'Creator Venus! genial power of love!

The bliss of men below and gods above!
Beneath the sliding sun thou run'st thy race,
Dost fairest shine and best become thy place :
For thee the winds their eastern blasts forbear;
Thy month reveals the spring, and opens all the year.
Thee, goddess! thee the storms of winter fly;
Earth smiles with flowers renewing; laughs the sky;
And birds to lays of love their tuneful notes apply.
For thee the lion loathes the taste of blood,
And, roaring, hunts his female through the wood:
For thee the bulls rebellow through the groves,
And tempt the streams, and snuff their absent loves.
"Tis thine whate'er is pleasant, good, or fair;
All nature is thy province, life thy care:

Thou madest the world, and dost the world repair.
Thou gladder of the mount of Cytheron,
Increase of Jove, companion of the sun!
If e'er Adonis touch'd thy tender heart,
Have pity, goddess, for thou know'st the smart.
Alas! I have not words to tell my grief;
To vent my sorrow would be some relief:
Light sufferings give us leisure to complain;
We groan, but cannot speak, in greater pain.
O goddess! tell thyself what I would say;
Thou know'st it, and I feel too much to pray.

[ocr errors]

So grant my suit as I enforce my might,

In love to be thy champion and thy knight;
A servant to thy sex, a slave to thee,

A foe profess'd to barren chastity.
Nor ask I fame or honour of the field;
Nor choose I more to vanquish than to yield :
In my divine Emilia make me bless'd,

Let fate or partial chance dispose the rest :
Find thou the manner and the means prepare;
Possession, more than conquest, is my care.
Mars is the warrior's god; in him it lies,
On whom he favours to confer the prize;
With smiling aspect you serenely move
In your fifth orb, and rule the realm of love.
The Fates but only spin the coarser clue;
The finest of the wool is left for you.
Spare me but one small portion of the twine,
And let the Sisters cut below your line;
The rest among the rubbish may they sweep,
Or add it to the yarn of some old miser's heap.
But if you this ambitious prayer deny,
(A wish, I grant, beyond mortality)

Then let me sink beneath proud Arcite's arms,
And I once dead, let him possess her charms!'
Thus ended he: then, with observance due,

The sacred incense on her altar threw :

The curling smoke mounts heavy from the fires;
At length it catches flame, and in a blaze expires:
At once the gracious goddess gave the sign,
Her statue shook, and trembled all the shrine.
Pleased, Palamon the tardy omen took;

For, since the flames pursued the trailing smoke,
He knew his boon was granted: but the day
To distance driven, and joy adjourn'd with long
delay.

Now morn with rosy light had streak'd the sky,
Up rose the sun, and up rose Emily;
Address'd her early steps to Cynthia's fane,
In state, attended by her maiden train,
Who bore the vests that holy rites require,
Incense, and odorous gums, and cover'd fire.
The plenteous horns with pleasant mead they crown,
Nor wanted aught besides in honour of the moon.
Now, while the temple smoked with hallow'd steam,
They wash the virgin in a living stream.
The secret ceremonies I conceal,

Uncouth, perhaps unlawful, to reveal :
But such they were as pagan use required,
Perform'd by women when the men retired;
Whose eyes profane, their chaste mysterious rites
Might turn to scandal or obscene delights.
Well-meaners think no harm; but for the rest,
Things sacred they pervert, and silence is the best.
Her shining hair, uncomb'd, was loosely spread,
A crown of mastless oak adorn'd her head,
When, to the shrine approach'd, the spotless maid
Had kindling fires on either altar laid :

(The rites were such as were observed of old,
By Statius in his Theban story told)

Then kneeling, with her hands across her breast, Thus lowly she preferr❜d her chaste request :

[ocr errors]

"O goddess! haunter of the woodland-green, To whom both heaven, and earth, and seas are seen; Queen of the nether skies, where half the year Thy silver beams descend, and light the gloomy sphere;

Goddess of maids! and conscious of our hearts,
So keep me from the vengeance of thy darts,
Which Niobe's devoted issue felt, [were dealt;
When hissing through the skies the feather'd deaths

As I desire to live a virgin life,

Nor know the name of mother or of wife.

Thy votaress from my tender years I am,
And love, like thee, the woods and silvan game.
Like death, thou know'st, I loathe the nuptial state;
And man, the tyrant of our sex, I hate;

A lowly servant, but a lofty mate.

Where love is duty on the female side,

[pride.

On their's mere sensual gust, and sought with surly
Now by thy triple shape, as thou art seen

In heaven, earth, hell, and every where a queen,
Grant this, my first desire: let discord cease,
And make betwixt the rivals lasting peace;
Quench their hot fire, or far from me remove
The flame, and turn it on some other love.
Or if my frowning stars have so decreed,
That one must be rejected, one succeed,
Make him my lord, within whose faithful breast
Is fix'd my image, and who loves me best.
But, O! ev'n that avert! I choose it not;
But take it as the least unhappy lot.
A maid I am, and of thy virgin train;
O, let me still that spotless name retain !
Frequent the forests, thy chaste will obey,
And only make the beasts of chase my prey!'
The flames ascend on either altar clear,

While thus the blameless maid address'd her prayer.
When lo! the burning fire, that shone so bright,
Flew off, all sudden, with extinguish'd light,
And left one altar dark, a little space,

Which turn'd, self-kindled, and renew'd the blaze:
The other victor-flame a moment stood,

Then fell, and lifeless left the extinguish'd wood; For ever lost, the irrevocable light

Forsook the blackening coals and sunk to night:

[graphic]

At either end it whistled as it flew,

And as the brands were green, so dropp'd the dew, Infected, as it fell, with sweat of sanguine hue.

The maid from that ill omen turn'd her eyes, And with loud shrieks and clamours rent the skies; Nor knew what signified the boding sign,

But found the powers displeased, and fear'd the wrath divine.

Then shook the sacred shrine, and sudden light Sprung through the vaulted roof, and made the temple bright.

The power, behold! the power in glory shone,
By her bent bow and her keen arrows known :
The rest, a huntress issuing from the wood,
Reclining on her cornel spear she stood;
Then gracious thus began:-'Dismiss thy fear,
And Heaven's unchanged decrees attentive hear:
More powerful gods have torn thee from my side,
Unwilling to resign, and doom'd a bride:
The two contending knights are weigh'd above;
One Mars protects, and one the queen of Love;
But which the man, is in the Thunderer's breast,
This he pronounced-'tis he who loves thee best.
The fire that once extinct revived again,

Foreshows the love allotted to remain :

Farewell!' she said; and vanish'd from the place: The sheaf of arrows shook, and rattled in the case. Aghast at this, the royal virgin stood

Disclaim'd, and now no more a sister of the wood; But to the parting goddess thus she pray'd: Propitious still be present to my aid,

Nor quite abandon your once-favour'd maid!' Then, sighing, she return'd; but smiled betwixt, With hopes and fears, and joys with sorrows mix'd.

« PreviousContinue »