Oebalifque madent juvenis fragrante cruore ; Qualis uterque liquor, cùm cecidisset, erat ; Nectareque ætherio medicatus, et aëre puro, Impleret foetu versi-colore solum.

[Fœtu versi-colore, &c.] This is certainly a metamorphosis of Secundus's own invention: he must mean flowers variegated with red and white in géneral, and not any variegated flower in particular; for we no where read, in the classics, of any such to have sprung from the tears of Narcissus, mixed with the blood of Hyacinthus. Narcissus, according to Ovid, was turned into a daffodil; and the blood of Hyacinthus produced the hyacinth. Vide Ovid. Metam. Lib. ii. Fab. 6. and Lib. x. Fab. 5. However this may be, Secundus, beyond a doubt, is indebted for the poetical imagery he makes use of, to the following lines of Ovid, in the story of Adonis being transformed to an anemone, by Venus sprinkling his blood with nectar :

Sic fata, cruorem

Nectare odorato spargit, qui tactus ab illo
Intumuit: sic ut pluvio perlucida cœlo

Surgere bulla solet: nec plenâ longior horâ

Facta mora est, cùm filos è sanguine concolor ortus.

OVID. METAM. LIB. X.

Which Mr. Eusden thus prettily turns into English :

Then, on the blood sweet nectar she bestows;
The scented blood in little bubbles rose,

Little as rainy drops which flutt'ring fly,

Borne by the winds, along a low'ring sky.

Short time ensu'd, till where the blood was shed
A flow'r began to rear its purple head.

EUSDEN.

Thence catch the fragrance of the blushing rose; Thence sip that dew which from the vi'let flows; Thence the rich odours of the anise steal; And thence the blossom'd thyme's perfume inhale : Lips! where those tears in genuine moisture dwell, That from Narcissus self-enamour'd fell; Lips! deeply-ting'd with Hyacinthus' blood, Which, with the tears in one commingled flood, Impregnating the fertile womb of earth, First gave the variegated flow'r its birth: Soon, by the nectar'd show'rs that heav'n bestow'd, With fanning gales, the motley offspring blow'd: For drops of blood, lo! crimson streaks appear; And streaks uncolour'd for each lucid tear.

Nectar, according to the ancient poets, seemed a principal requisite for working any supernatural change in the vegetable world. Nectar produced the rose, as the Teian Bard sings:

Μακάρων θεῶν δ ̓ ὅμιλος,
Ρόδον ως γένοιτο, νεκταρ
Επιτέγξας, ἀνέτειλεν
Αγέρωχον ἐξ ἀκάνθης

Φυτὸν ἄμβροτον Λυαίο.

ANAC. OD. LIII.

But, first, th' assembled Gods debate
The future wonder to create :

Agreed at length from heav'n they threw
A drop of rich nectareous dew;
A bramble-stem the drop receives,
And straight the rose adorns the leaves.
The Gods to Bacchus gave the flower,
To grace him in the genial hour.

TAWKES.

Sed me, jure meo libantem mellea labra,
Ingratæ, socium ne prohibete fuvis.

Non etiam totas, avidæ, distendite cellas
Arescant dominæ ne semel ora meæ ;

Basiaque impressans siccis sitientia labris,.
Garrulus indicii triste feram pretium.

Heu! non et stimulis compungite molle labellum :
Ex oculis stimulos vibrat et illa pareis.
Credite, non ullum patietur vulnus inultum :
Leniter ́innocuæ mella legatis apes.

At the end of these Poems it may not be improper to remark, that, though Secundus seems to make an indiscriminate use of the three Latin words, signifying a kiss, Osculuni, Basium, and Suavium, yet they had different significa tions among the ancient classics: Osculum was the kiss of duty, or of friendship; Basium was the kiss of affection, and of love: Suavium was the kiss of wantonness, the libidinous kiss; though some will have it that Basium is used in this last sense, and that Suavium is the kiss of chaster love.—A celebrated grammarian of antiquity has the following words upon this subject: "Oscula officiorum sunt basia pudicorum affectuum, suavia libidinum vel amorum." Ælius Donatus.

But still, ye

bees well-favour'd, grateful prove;

Let no unkind refusals pay my love,

If e'er I claim (what's sure my rightful due)

To share those lips, those honied lips! with you:
Nor suck insatiate all their balm away,

And to your bursting cells the sweets convey:
Lest when to cool my fever'd lips I try,
Neæra's lips no cooling dews supply;
Then shall I justly reap the sad reward
Of what misguided confidence declar'd.

And oh to wound her tender lips forbear;
Or dread the fatal vengeance of the fair:
Tho' sharp your stings, her eyes can scatter round
Darts that with more tormenting stings may wound!
Nor as ye sip, inflict the slightest pain,
For unreveng'd the wrong will ne'er remain;
But gently gather, from those precious rills,
Th' ambrosial drops each humid lip distils.

EPITHALAMIUM.

HORA suavicula, et voluptuosa;
Hora blanditiis, lepore, risu ;

Hora deliciis, jocis, susurris;

Hora suavio, parique magnis
Cum Diis et Jove transigenda sorte:

Hora quâ poterat beatiorem

[Hora quâ poterat, &c.] Bonefonius thus imitates this

passage:

Nox felicibus invidenda Divis,

Quâ nec Juno mihi beatiorem,

Nec possit Venus ipsa polliceri.

BONEFON. PANCHARIS.

Thus rendered by an anonymous imitator :

That night,

Which Gods would envy if they knew ;

A night so pleasant Juno can't bestow,
Nor could the Queen of love with Mars a better know.

ANONYM.