Which in a fimple knot was ty'd above,
Sweet negligence, unheeded bait of love!
Her founding quiver on her fhoulder ty'd,
One hand a dart, and one a bow fupply'd.
Such was her face, as in a nymph difplay'd
A fair fierce boy, or in a boy betray'd
The blufhing beauties of a modest maid.
The Caledonian chief at once the dame
Beheld, at once his heart receiv'd the flame,
With heavens averfe. O happy youth, he cry'd;
For whom thy fates reserve so fair a bride!
He figh'd, and had no leifure more to say:
His honour call'd his eyes another way,
And forc'd him to pursue the now neglected prey.
There ftood a foreft on the mountain's brow,
Which over-look'd the fhaded plains below,
No founding ax prefum'd thofe trees to bite;
Coeval with the world, a venerable fight.
The heroes there arriv'd, fome fpread around
The toils, fome fearch the footsteps on the ground,
Some from the chains the faithful dogs unbound.
Of action eager, and intent on thought,
The chiefs their honourable danger fought:
A valley flood below; the common drain
Of waters from above, and falling rain:
The bottom was a moift and marshy ground,
Whofe edges were with bending ofiers crown'd;
The knotty bulrush next in order stood,
And all within of reeds a trembling wood.

}

}

From

From hence the boar was rous'd, and fprung amain, Like lightning fudden on the warrior-train;

Beats down the trees before him, shakes the ground,
The foreft echoes to the crackling found:

Shout the fierce youth, and clamours ring around.
All food with their protended fpears prepar'd,
With broad fteel heads the brandish'd weapons glar'd.
The beast impetuous with his tusks aside

Deals glancing wounds; the fearful dogs divide:
All spend their mouth aloft, but none abide.
Echion threw the firft, but mifs'd his mark,
And ftuck his boar-fpear on a maple's bark,
Then Jafon; and his javelin feem'd to take,

}

But fail'd with over-force, and whizz'd above his back.
Mopfus was next; but ere he threw, addrefs'd
To Phœbus thus: O patron, help thy priest.
If I adore, and ever have ador'd

Thy power divine, thy prefent aid afford;

That I may reach the beaft. The God allow'd

His

prayer, and, smiling, gave him what he could: He reach'd the favage, but no blood he drew, Dian unarm'd the javelin as it flew.

This chaf'd the boar, his noftrils flames expire,
And his red eye-balls roll with living fire.
Whirl'd from a fling, or from an engine thrown,
Amidst the foes, fo flies a mighty stone,
As flew the beast; the left wing put to flight,
The chiefs o'erborn, he rushes on the right.
Empalamos and Pelagon he laid

In duft, and next to death, but for their fellows aid.

Onefimus far'd worse, prepar'd to fly;
The fatal fang drove deep within his thigh,

And cut the nerves; the nerves no more fuftain

The bulk; the bulk unprop'd falls headlong on the plain.

Neftor had fail'd the fall of Troy to see,

But, leaning on his lance, he vaulted on a tree;
Then, gathering up his feet, look'd down with fear,
And thought his monftrous foe was still too near.
Against a stump his tufk the monfter grinds,
And in the fharpen'd edge new vigour finds;
Then, trufting to his arms, young Othrys found,
And ranch'd his hips with one continu'd wound.
Now Leda's twins, the future ftars, appear:
White were their habits, white their horfes were;
Confpicuous both, and both in act to throw,
Their trembling lances brandifh'd at the foe:
Nor had they mifs'd; but he to thickets fled,
Conceal'd from aiming fpears, not pervious to the fteed..
But Telamon rush'd in, and happ'd to meet

A rifing root, that held his faften'd feet;

So down he fell, whom, fprawling on the ground,
His brother from the wooden gyves unbound.
Mean time the virgin-huntress was not flow
'T' expel the fhaft from her contracted bow:
Beneath his ear the faften'd arrow ftood,

And from the wound appear'd the trickling blood.
She blush'd for joy: But Meleagrus rais'd

His voice with loud applause, and the fair archer prais'd.

He

He was the first to fee, and firft to show
His friends the marks of the fuccefsful blow.
Nor fhall thy valour want the praises due,
He faid; a virtuous envy feiz'd the crew.
They shout; the fhouting animates their hearts,
And all at once employ their thronging darts;
But, out of order thrown, in air they join;
And multitude makes fruftrate the defign.
With both his hands the proud Ancæus takes,
And flourishes his double-biting ax:

Then, forward to his fate, he took a stride
Before the reft, and to his fellows cry'd,

Give place, and mark the difference, if you can,
Between a woman-warrior and a man;

The boar is doom'd; nor, though Diana lend
Her aid, Diana can her beaft defend.

Thus boasted he; then ftretch'd, on tiptoe stood,
Secure to make his empty promife good.
But the more wary beaft prevents the blow,
And upward rips the groin of his audacious foe.
Ancæus falls; his bowels from the wound
Rush out, and clotted blood diftains the ground.
Pirithous, no fmall portion of the war,

Prefs'd on, and fhook his lance: to whom from far,
Thus Thefeus cry'd: O ftay, my better part,

My more than mistress; of my heart, the heart.
The ftrong may fight aloof: Ancæus try'd
His force too near, and by prefuming dy'd:
He faid, and while he spake, his javelin threw;
Hiffing in air th' unerring weapon flew;
B 4

But

But on an arm of oak, that flood betwixt
The marks-man and the mark, his lance he fixt.
Once more bold Jason threw, but fail'd to wound
The boar, and flew an undeferving hound;
And through the dog the dart was nail'd to ground.
Two fpears from Meleager's hand were sent,
With equal force, but various in th' event:
The firft was fix'd in earth, the fecond flood

On the boar's briftled back, and deeply drank his blood.
Now while the tortur'd favage turns around,
And flings about his foam impatient of the wound,
The wound's great author close at hand provokes-
His rage, and plies him with redoubled strokes;
Wheels as he wheels; and with his pointed dart
Explores the nearest paffage to his heart.
Quick and more quick he fpins in giddy gires,
Then falls, and in much foam his foul expires.
This act with shouts heaven-high the friendly band
Applaud, and ftrain in theirs the victor's hand.
Then all approach the flain with vaft furprize,
Admire on what a breadth of earth he lies;

And, fcarce fecure, reach out their fpears afar,

And blood their points, to prove their partnership of

war.

But he, the conquering chief, his foot imprefs'd

On the ftrong neck of that deftructive beast;
And, gazing on the nymph with ardent eyes,
Accept, faid he, fair Nonacrine, my prize,
And, though inferior, fuffer me to join
My labours, and my part of praise, with thine:

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