"Therefore, sweet Thisbe! let us meet this night "At Ninus' tomb, without the city wall,
"Under the mulberry-tree, with berries white "Abounding, there t' enjoy our wifh'd delight : "For mounting love stopp'd in its course doth fall, "And long'd-for, yet untasted, joys, kills all.
"What tho' our cruel parents angry be?
"What tho' our friends, alas! are, too, unkind?
"Time, that now offers, quickly may deny,
"And foon hold back fit opportunity.
"Who lets flip Fortune, he shall never find;
"Occafion once past by is bald behind."
She foon agreed to that which he requir'd,
For little wooing needs where both consent;
What he fo long had pleaded fhé defir'd ;
Which Venus feeing, with blind Chance confpir'd,
And many a charming accent to her fent,
That she, at last, would frustrate their intent.
Thus beauty is by Beauty's means undone,
Striving to close those eyes that make her bright;
Just like the moon, which feeks t'eclipse the fun,
Whence all her fplendour, all her beams, do come: ICO
So fhe who fetches luftre from their fight,
Doth purpose to deftroy their glorious light.
Unto the mulberry-tree fair Thisbe came,
Where having rested long, at last fhe 'gan
Against her dearest Pyramus t'exclaim,
Whilst various thoughts turmoil her troubled brain, And imitating thus the filver fwan,
A little while before her death, the fang.
"COME, Love! why stayeft thou? the night.
Will vanish ere we taste delight:
The moon obfcures herself from fight,
Thou abfent, whofe eyes give her light.
Come quickly, Dear! be brief as Time,
Or we by Morn fhall be o'erta'en,
Love's joys thine own as well as mine;
Spend not, therefore, the time in vain."
Here doubtful thoughts broke off her pleasant song, And for her lover's stay sent many a figh,
Her Pyramus he thought did tarry long,
And that his absence did her too much wrong: 120 Then, betwixt longing hope and jealousy
She fears, yet 's loath to tax his loyalty.
Sometimes the thinks that he hath her forfaken;
Sometimes that danger hath befallen him;
She fears that he another love hath taken;
Which being but imagin'd foon doth waken Numberless thoughts, which on her heart did fing Fears, that her future fate too truly fing.
While the thus musing sat, ran from the wood
An angry lion to the crystal springs
Near to that place, who coming from his food,
His chaps were all befmear'd with crimson blood:
Swifter than thought sweet Thisbe straight begins
To fly from him; fear gave her swallows' wings.
XXIL
As the avoids the lion, her defire
Bids her to stay, left Pyramus fhould come
And be devour'd by the stern lion's ire,
So the for ever burn in unquench'd fire;
But fear expels all reasons; she doth run
Into a darkfome cave ne'er feen by fun.
With hafte fhe let her loofer mantle fall;
Which when th' enraged lion did efpy,
With bloody teeth he tore in pieces small,
Whilft Thisbe ran and look'd not back at all:
For could the fenfeless beast her face defcry,
It had not done her fuch an injury.
The night half wafted, Pyramus did come;
Who seeing printed in the yielding fand
The lion's paw, and by the fountain fome
Of Thisbe's garment, forrow struck him dumb: 150
Just like a marble statue did he stand,
Cut by some skilful graver's artful hand.
XXV.
Recov'ring breath, at Fate he did exclaim,
Washing with tears the torn and bloody weed:
"I may," faid he, "myself for her death blame, 155
"Therefore my blood shall wash away that seame;
"Since she is dead, whose beauty doth exceed
"All that frail man can either hear or read."
This fpoke, he drew his fatal fword, and faid,
"Receive my crimson blood, as a due debt
"Unto thy conftant love, to which 'tis paid:
“ I straight will meet thee in the pleasant shade
"Of cool Elyfjum, where we being met,.
"Shall taste those joys that here we could not get."
XXVII.
Then thro' his breast thrusting his sword, life hies 165
From him, and he makes haste to seek his fair;
And as upon the colour'd ground he lies,
His blood had dropt upon the mulberries,
With which th' unfpotted berries stained were,
And ever fince with red they colour'd are.
At laft fair Thisbe left the den, for fear
Of disappointing Pyramus, fince the
Was bound by promife for to meet him there;
But when she saw the berries changed were
From white to black, fhe knew not certainly 175
It was the place where they agreed to be.
With what delight, thro' the dark cave fhe came,
Thinking to tell how she escap'd the beast;
But when she saw her Pyramus lie flain,
Ah! how perplex'd did her fad foul remain ! 180
She tears her golden hair, and beats her breast,
And every fign of raging grief express'd.
She blames all-pow'rful Jove, and strives to take
His bleeding body from the moisten'd ground;
She kiffes his pale face, till fhe doth make
It red with kiffing, and then seeks to wake
His parting foul with mournful words; his wound Washes with tears, that her sweet speech confound. XXXI.
But afterwards recov'ring breath, said she,
"Alas! what chance hath parted thee and me? 190 "O tell what evil hath befall'n to thee, "That of thy death I may a partner be; "Tell Thibe what hath caus'd this tragedy." He, hearing Thisbe's: name, lifts up his eyes,
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