Page:The Amyntas of Tasso (1770) - Percival Stockdale.djvu/48

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AMYNTAS.
Roamed through the lonely woods, to feed his passion,
Object of pity to the nymphs, and swains:
And so extravagant his passion was,
Their pity was accompanied with mirth.
But his warm verse was not ridiculous.
I read the lines myself, which he had written
On many a tree; and with the trees they grew.
"Destructive eyes, false mirrors of her heart!
“I, to my sorrow know the lies you've told me:
“Yet what avails it me to know your lies,
“If I still wish to view the basilisk,
“And catch fresh ruin from your fatal rays?"

SYLVIA.
Daphne, I'm wasting here my precious time,
Harangued, in vain, by thy luxurious fancy.
I had forgotten that in Elicetum
A numerous hunting party meets to-day.
Thither I go; but in the wonted stream
First will I bathe, and cleanse me from the dust
Of yesterday; 'twas a fatiguing chace;

The