In nature's loveliness like thine, And wore that clear, celestial sign, Which seems to mark the brow that's fair For destiny's peculiar care! Whose bosom too was once a zone, Where the bright gem of virtue shone; Whose eyes were talismans of fire Against the spell of man's desire! Yet, hapless girl, in one sad hour, Her eyes have lost their chastening ray; Like some wave-beaten, mouldering stone, That there some loved friend was lost! M M ΤΟ 'Tis time, I feel, to leave thee now, Oh! thou art every instant dearer— Every chance that brings me nigh thee, Brings my ruin nearer, nearer, I am lost, unless I fly thee! Nay, if thou dost not scorn and hate me, Duties, fame and hopes await me, Oh! that eye would blast them all! Yes, yes, it would-for thou'rt as cold Yet-could I think that, truly fond, Oh! but to win it, night and day, But no, no, no-farewell-we part, Thy coldness has undone for ever! FROM THE HIGH-PRIEST OF APOLLO ΤΟ A VIRGIN OF DELPHI'. CUM DIGNO DIGNA...... Sulpicia. но WHO is the maid, with golden hair, any fair This poem requires a little explanation. It is well known that, in the ancient temples, whenever a reverend priest, like the supposed author of the invitation before us, was inspired with a tender inclination towards visitor of the shrine, and, at the same time, felt a diffidence in his own powers of persuasion, he had but to proclaim that the God himself was enamoured of her, and had signified his divine will that she should sleep in the interior of "Twas thus the deity, who treads "Who is the maid, with golden hair, Aphelia is the Delphic fair2, With eyes of fire and golden hair, the temple. Many a pious husband connived at this divine assignation, and even declared himself proud of the selection, with which his family had been distinguished by the deity. In the temple of Jupiter Belus there was a splendid bed for these occasions. In Egyptian Thebes the same mockery was practised, and at the oracle of Patara in Lycia, the priestess never could prophesy till an interview with the deity was allowed her. The story which we read in Josephus (Lib. xviii. cap. 3) of the Roman matron Paulina, whom the priests of Isis, for a bribe, betrayed in this manner to Mundus, is a singular instance of the impudent excess to which credulity suffered these impostures to be carried. This story has been put into the form of a little novel, under the name of "La Pudicitia Schernita," by the licentious and unfortunate Pallavicino. See his Opere Scelte, Tom. i. I have made my priest here prefer a cave to the temple. 2 In the 9th Pythic of Pindar, where Apollo, in the same manner, requires of Chiron some information respecting the fair Cyrene, the Centaur, in obeying, |