He has a lovely head of curling hair,
But saucy features, with a reckless stare.
His hands are tiny, but afar they throw
E'en down to Dis and Acheron below.
Naked his form, his mind in covert lies;
Winged as a feathered bird, he careless flies;
From girls to boys, from men to women flits,
Sports with their heart-strings, on their vitals sits.
Small is his bow, his arrow small to sight,
But to Jove's court it wings its ready flight.

Upon his back a golden quiver sounds,

Full of sharp darts, with which e'en me he wounds.

All cruel things by cruel Love are done;

His torch is small, yet scorches e'en the sun.

But should you take him — fast and safely bind him,

And bring him to me with his hands behind him.
If he should weep, take heed—he weeps at will;
But should he smile—then drag him faster still;
And should he offer you a kiss, beware!
Evil his kiss, his red lips poisoned are!
And should he say, with seeming friendship hot,
'Accept my bow and arrows,' touch them not!
Tears, smiles, words, gifts, deceitful wiles inspire,
And every thing he has is dipt in fire.

IDYL II.

EUROPA.

CYPRIS, when all but shone the dawn's glad beam, To fair Europa sent a pleasant dream;

When sleep, upon the close-shut eyelids sitting,
Sweeter than honey, is eye-fetters knitting,

The limb-dissolving sleep! when to and fro
True dreams, like sheep at pasture, come and go.
Europa, sleeping in her upper room,

The child of Phoenix, in her virgin bloom,
Thought that she saw a contest fierce arise

Betwixt two continents, herself the prize;
They to the dreamer seemed like women quite,

Asia, and Asia's unknown opposite.

This was a stranger, that a native seemed,

And closer hugged her-so Europa dreamed;

C C

And called herself Europa's nurse and mother,
Said that she bore and reared her; but that other
Spared not her hands, and still the sleeper drew,
With her good will, and claimed her as her due,
And said that Zeus Ægiochus gave her,
By Fate's appointment, that sweet prisoner.

Up-started from her couch the maiden waking, And felt her heart within her bosom quaking; She thought it true, and sat in hushed surpriseStill saw those women with her open eyes; Then to her timid voice at last gave vent:

"Which of the gods to me this vision sent?
What kind of dream is this that startled me,
And sudden made my pleasant slumber flee?
Who was the stranger that I saw in sleep?
What love for her did to my bosom creep!
And how she hailed me, as her daughter even !
But only turn to good my vision, Heaven!"

So said, and bounded up, and sought her train Of dear companions, all of noble strain,

Of equal years and stature; gentle, kind,

Sweet to the sight, and pleasant to the mind;

With whom she sported, when she led the choir,
Or in the river's urn-like reservoir

She bathed her limbs, or in the meadow stopt,
And from its bosom odorous lilies cropt.

And soon around her shone the lovely band,
Her flower-basket in each maiden's hand;
And to the meadows near the pleasant shore
They sped, where they had often sped before,
Pleased with the roses growing in their reach,
And with the waves that murmured on the beach.

A basket by Hephaestus wrought of gold,

Europa bore-a marvel to behold;

He gave it Libya, when a blooming bride

She went to grace the great Earth-shaker's side; She gave it Telephassa fair and mild,

Who now had given it to her virgin child.

Therein were many sparkling wonders wrought-
The hapless Iö to the sight was brought;

A heifer's for a virgin's form she wore ;
The briny paths she frantic wandered o'er,
And was a swimming heifer to the view,
While the sea round her darkened into blue.

Two men upon a promontory stood,

And watched the heifer traversing the flood.
Again where seven-mouthed Nile divides his strand,
Zeus stood and gently stroked her with his hand,
And from her horned figure and imbruted
To her original form again transmuted,

In brass the heifer-Zeus was wrought in gold;
Nile softly in a silver current rolled.

And to the life was watchful Hermes shown
Under the rounded basket's golden crown;

And Argus near him with unsleeping eyes

Lay stretched at length; then from his blood did rise

The bird, exulting in the brilliant pride

Of his rich plumes and hues diversified,

And like a swift ship with her out-spread sail,
Expanding proudly his resplendent tail,

The basket's golden rim he shadowed o'er:

Such was the basket fair Europa bore.

They reached the mead wlth vernal blossoms full,

And each began her favourite flowers to pull.
Narcissus one; another thyme did get;

This hyacinth, and that the violet