And thus; while Hermes on his pinions lay, Like a stoop'd falcon ere he takes his prey:

'Fair Hermes! crown'd with feathers, fluttering light,

70

I had a splendid dream of thee last night:
I saw thee sitting, on a throne of gold,
Among the Gods, upon Olympus old,
The only sad one; for thou didst not hear
The soft, lute - finger'd Muses chanting
clear,

Nor even Apollo when he sang alone,
Deaf to his throbbing throat's long, long
melodious moan.

I dreamt I saw thee, robed in purple flakes, Break amorous through the clouds, as morning breaks,

And, swiftly as a bright Phœbean dart, Strike for the Cretan isle; and here thou art!

Too gentle Hermes, hast thou found the maid?'

80

From weary tendrils, and bow'd branches

green,

She plucks the fruit unseen, she bathes un

seen:

100

And by my power is her beauty veil'd
To keep it unaffronted, unassail'd
By the love-glances of unlovely eyes,
Of Satyrs, Fauns, and blear'd Silenus' sighs.
Pale grew her immortality, for woe
Of all these lovers, and she grieved so
I took compassion on her, bade her steep
Her hair in weird syrops, that would keep
Her loveliness invisible, yet free
To wander as she loves, in liberty.
Thou shalt behold her, Hermes, thou alone,
If thou wilt, as thou swearest, grant my
boon!'

III

Sweet days a lovely graduate, still unshent. And kept his rosy terms in idle languish

ment.

Why this fair creature chose so fairily By the wayside to linger, we shall see; 201 But first 't is fit to tell how she could muse And dream, when in the serpent prisonhouse,

Of all she list, strange or magnificent: How, ever, where she will'd, her spirit went;

Whether to faint Elysium, or where Down through tress-lifting waves the Nereids fair

Wind into Thetis' bower by many a pearly stair;

Or where God Bacchus drains his cups divine,

Stretch'd out, at ease, beneath a glutinous

tone,

As those who, safe together met alone

For the first time through many anguish'd days,

Use other speech than looks; bidding him raise

So threw the goddess off, and won his heart More pleasantly by playing woman's part, With no more awe than what her beauty gave,

That, while it smote, still guaranteed to

save.

But wept alone those days, for why should she adore?

Lycius from death awoke into amaze,
To see her still, and singing so sweet lays;
Then from amaze into delight he fell
To hear her whisper woman's lore so well;
And every word she spake enticed him on
To unperplex'd delight and pleasure known.
Let the mad poets say whate'er they please
Of the sweets of Fairies, Peris, Goddesses,
There is not such a treat among them
all,

Haunters of cavern, lake, and waterfall,
As a real woman, lineal indeed

330

From Pyrrha's pebbles or old Adam's seed. Thus gentle Lamia judged, and judged aright,

340

Marrying to every word a twin-born sigh: And last, pointing to Corinth, ask'd her sweet,

If 't was too far that night for her soft feet.

The way was short, for Lamia's eagerness
Made, by a spell, the triple league decrease
To a few paces; not at all surmised
By blinded Lycius, so in her comprised:
They pass'd the city gates, he knew not how,
So noiseless, and he never thought to know.

As men talk in a dream, so Corinth all, 350
Throughout her palaces imperial,
And all her populous streets and temples
lewd,

Mutter'd, like tempest in the distance brew'd,

To the wide-spreaded night above her

towers.

Men, women, rich and poor, in the cool hours,

Shuffled their sandals o'er the pavement white,

Companion'd or alone; while many a light Flared, here and there, from wealthy festivals,

And threw their moving shadows on the walls,

Or found them cluster'd in the corniced shade 360

Of some arch'd temple door, or dusky colonnade.

Muffling his face, of greeting friends in

fear,

Her fingers he press'd hard, as one came

near

With curl'd gray beard, sharp eyes, and smooth bald crown,