Now at th' appointed place and hour affign'd,
With fouls refolv'd the ravishers were join'd:
Three bands are form'd: the first is fent before
To favour the retreat, and guard the shore:
The fecond at the palace-gate is plac'd,
And up the lofty stairs afcend the last :
A peaceful troop they seem with fhining vefts,
But coats of mail beneath fecure their breasts.

Dauntless they enter, Cymon at their head,
And find the feast renew'd, the table spread:
Sweet voices mix'd with inftrumental founds
Afcend the vaulted roof, the vaulted roof rebounds.
When like the harpies rushing through the hall
The fudden troop appears, the tables fall,
Their fmoking load is on the pavement thrown;
Each ravisher prepares to seize his own :.
The brides invaded with a rude embrace
Shriek out for aid, confufion fills the place:
Quick to redeem the prey their plighted lords
Advance, the palace gleams with shining fwords."
But late is all defence; and fuccour vain,
The rape is made, the ravishers remain:
Two sturdy flaves were only fent before
To bear the purchas'd prize in fafety to the shore.
The troop retires, the lovers close the rear,
With forward faces not confeffing fear:
Backward they move, but fcorn their to mend,
pace
Then feek the stairs, and with flow hafte defcend.
Fierce Pafimond their paffage to prevent,
Thrust full on Cymon's back in his defcent,
The blade return'd unbath'd, and to the handle bent:

Stout Cymon foon remounts, and cleft in two
His rival's head with one defcending blow:
And as the next in rank Ormifda stood,

He turn'd the point: the fword enur'd to blood, Bor'd his unguarded breaft, which pour'd a purple flood.

With vow'd revenge the gath'ring crowd pursues, The ravishers turn head, the fight renews; The hall is heap'd with corps; the fprinkled gore Befmears the walls, and floats the marble floor. Difpers'd at length the drunken fquadron flies, The victors to their veffel bear the prize; And hear behind loud groans, and lamentable cries. The crew with merry shouts their anchors weigh, Then ply their oars, and brush the buxom fea, While troops of gather'd Rhodians crowd the key. What fhould the people do, when left alone? The governor, and government are gone. The public wealth to foreign parts convey'd; Some troops disbanded, and the rest unpaid. Rhodes is the fovereign of the fea no more; Their fhips unrigg'd, and spent their naval store; They neither could defend, nor can pursue, But grin'd their teeth, and cast a helpless view: In vain with darts a distant war they try, Short, and more short the miffive weapons fly. Mean while the ravishers their crimes enjoy, And flying fails, and fweeping oars employ; The cliffs of Rhodes in little space are lost, Jove's ifle they feek; nor Jove denies his coaft.

In fafety landed on the Candian shore,
With generous wines their fpirits they restore;
There Cymon with his Rhodian friend refides,
Both court, and wed at once their willing brides.
A war enfues, the Cretans own their cause,
Stiff to defend their hofpitable laws:

Both parties lose by turns; and neither wins,
'Till peace propounded by a truce begins.
The kindred of the flain forgive the deed,
But a fhort exile must for show precede;
The term expir'd, from Candia they remove;
And happy each at home, enjoys his love.

TINI S.

TAB L E.

VOL. II.

page

T

HE Cock and the Fox: or, the tale of the Nun's Prieft, from Chaucer. Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace.

Ceyx and Alcyone, out of the tenth book of Ovid's

3

32

Metamorphofes.

47

65

The Flower and the Leaf: or, the Lady in the Arbour. A Vifion out of Chaucer. Alexander's feast: or, the Power of Mufic. An Ode in honour of St. Cecilia.

81

The twelfth book of Ovid's Metamorphofes wholly tranflated.

95

The Speeches of Ajax and Ulyffes, from Ovid's Metamorphofes. Book the thirteenth.

125

147

The Wife of Bath, her tale, from Chaucer.
Of the Pythagorean Philofophy, from Ovid's Me-
tamorphofes. Book the fifteenth.

167

The Character of a good Parfon imitated, from
Chaucer, and enlarged.

593

The Monument of a Fair Maiden Lady, who dy'd
at the Bath, and is there interr'd.
Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace.

199

208