And ftraining hard the ftatue, was afraid
His hands had made a dint, and hurt the

maid:

Explor'd her, limb by limb, and fear'd to find So rude a gripe had left a livid mark behind:

With flattery now he feeks her mind to move, And now with gifts, the powerful bribes of

love:

He furnishes her closet firft; and fills

The crowded fhelves with rarities of shells:

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Adds orient pearls, which from the conchs he drew,

And all the sparkling ftones of various hue: 40
And parrots, imitating human tongue,
And finging-birds in filver cages hung;

And every fragrant flower, and odorous green, Were forted well, with lumps of amber laid between :

Rich, fashionable robes her perfon deck,

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Pendents her ears, and pearls adorn her neck :

Her taper'd fingers too with rings are grac'd, And an embroider'd zone furrounds her flender

wafte.

Thus like a queen array'd, fo richly drefs'd, Beauteous fhe fhew'd, but naked fhew'd the

best.

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Then from the floor, he rais'd a royal bed,
With coverings of Sidonian purple spread :
The folemn rites perform'd, he calls her bride,
With blandifhments invites her to his fide,
And as the were with vital fenfe poffefs'd,
Her head did on a plumy pillow reft.

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The feaft of Venus came, a folemn day, To which the Cypriots due devotion pay; With gilded horns the milk-white heifers led, Slaughter'd before the facred altars, bled: Pygmalion offering, first approach'd the shrine, And then with prayers implor'd the powers divine:

Almighty gods, if all we mortals want,

If all we can require, be yours to grant; Make this fair ftatue mine, he would have

faid,

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But chang'd his words for fhame, and only pray'd,

Give me the likeness of my ivory maid.
The golden goddess, prefent at the prayer,
Well knew he meant the inanimated fair,
And
gave the fign of granting his defire;
For thrice in chearful flames afcends the fire.
The youth, returning to his mistress, hies,
And, impudent in hope, with ardent eyes,
And beating breaft, by the dear ftatue.

lies.

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He kiffes her white lips, renews the blifs,
And looks and thinks they redden at the kiss :
He thought them warm before; nor longer
flays,

But next his hand on her hard bofom lays:
Hard as it was, beginning to relent,

It seem'd the breast beneath his fingers bent;
He felt again, his fingers made a print,

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'Twas flesh, but flesh fo firm, it rose against the dint.

The pleafing task he fails not to renew :

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Soft, and more foft at every touch it
grew:
Like pliant wax, when chafing hands reduce
The former mass to form, and frame to use.
He would believe, but yet is still in pain,
And tries his argument of fenfe again,
Preffes the pulfe, and feels the leaping vein.
Convinc'd, o'erjoy'd, his ftudied thanks and
praise,

To her who made the miracle, he pays:

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Then lips to lips he join'd; now freed from fear,

He found the favour of the kifs fincere:

eyes,

At this the waken'd image op'd her
And view'd at once the light and lover, with

furprise.

The goddess prefent at the match fhe made, So blefs'd the bed, fuch fruitfulness convey'd,

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That ere ten moons had sharpen'd either horn, To crown their blifs, a lovely boy was born; Paphos his name, who, grown to manhood,

wall'd

The city Paphos, from the founder call'd.

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CINYRAS AND MYRRHA,

OUT OF THE TENTH BOOK OF

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

There needs no connexion of this story with the former: for the beginning of this immediately follows the end of the laft: the reader is only to take notice, that Orpheus, who relates both, was by birth a Thracian; and his country far diftant from Cyprus, where Myrrha was born, and from Arabia, whither he fled. You will fee the reason of this note, foon after the firft lines of this fable.

NOR him alone produc'd the fruitful queen ;
But Cinyras, who like his fire had been
A happy prince, had he not been a fire.
Daughters and fathers from my fong retire:
I fing of horror; and, could I prevail,
You should not hear, or not believe my

tale.

Yet if the pleasure of my fong be fuch,
That you will hear, and credit me too much,
Attentive liften to the last event,

And with the fin believe the punishment:

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