The flavour of this species was so nice!"
Alas, to that peculiar zest
The other Sparrow fell a sacrifice!
(La Fontaine, Fables, Vol. XII, No. 2. Translated by Paul Hookham.)
DAN CUPID'S all a mystery—
His Arrows, Quiver, Torch and Infancy;
'Tis not the study of an hour
Can trace the secrets of his power;
Nor to unwind the tangle do I boast;
My humble Muse can tell at most
How the small God by chance unkind
Came to be blind.
Whether for men this proved a curse or blessing
Is matter for a Lover's guessing.
Love with Folly on a day
Passed in sport the time away;
He had not then in any wise
Lost the use of his bright eyes,
But a quarrel rose and Love
Would have moved the courts above
To settle it in legal fashion;
But Folly in a fit of passion
Dealt him a blow of such despite
As plunged his pretty eyes in night.
Venus raged to see the cruel
