Whom thus the Calydonian Stream address'd,
Rais'd high to speak, the Couch his Elbow press'd.
Some, when transform'd, fix in the lasting Change;
Some with more Right, thro' various Figures range.
Proteus, thus large thy Privilege was found,
Thou Inmate of the Seas, which Earth surround.
Sometimes a blooming Youth you grac'd the Shore;
Oft a fierce Lion, or a furious Boar:
With glist'ring Spires now seem'd an hissing Snake,
The Bold would tremble in his Hands to take:
With Horns assum'd a Bull; sometimes you prov'd
A Tree by Roots, a Stone by Weight unmov'd:
Sometimes two wav'ring Contraries became,
Flow'd down in Water, or aspir'd in Flame.
The Story of Erisichthon.
In various Shapes thus to deceive the Eyes,
Without a settled Stint of her Disguise,
Rash Erisichthon's Daughter had the Pow'r,
And brought it to Autolicus in Dow'r.
Her Atheist Sire the slighted Gods defy'd,
And ritual Honours to their Shrines deny'd.
As Fame reports, his Hand an Ax sustain'd,
Which Ceres' consecrated Grove prophan'd;
Which durst the venerable Gloom invade,
And violate with Light the awful Shade.
An ancient Oak in the dark Center stood,
The Covert's Glory, and it self a Wood:
Garlands embrac'd its Shaft, and from the Boughs
Hung Tablets, Monuments of prosp'rous Vows.
In the cool Dusk its unpierc'd Verdure spread,
The Dryads oft their hallow'd Dances led;
And oft, when round their gaping Arms they cast,
Full fifteen Ells it measur'd in the Waste:
