says, "Sable-winged Night produced an egg, from which sprung
up like a blossom Eros, the lovely, the desirable, with his
glossy golden wings." See Botanic Garden, Canto I. l. 412.
Note. The other deity of Love, Cupido, seems of much later
date, as he is not mentioned in the works of Homer, where
there were so many apt situations to have introduced him.]

[Footnote: _Earth at his feet_, l. 181.

Te, Dea, te fugiunt venti, te nubila coeli,
Adventumque tuum; tibi suaves daedala tellus
Submittit flores; tibi rident aequora ponti;
Placatumque nitet diffuso lumine coelum.
LUCRET.]

"Warm as the sun-beam, pure as driven snows,
The enamour'd GOD for young DIONE glows;
Drops the still tear, with sweet attention sighs,
And woos the Goddess with adoring eyes; 190
Marks her white neck beneath the gauze's fold,
Her ivory shoulders, and her locks of gold;
Drinks with mute ecstacy the transient glow,
Which warms and tints her bosom's rising snow.
With holy kisses wanders o'er her charms,
And clasps the Beauty in Platonic arms;
Or if the dewy hands of Sleep, unbid,
O'er her blue eye-balls close the lovely lid,
Watches each nascent smile, and fleeting grace,
That plays in day-dreams o'er her blushing face; 200
Counts the fine mazes of the curls, that break
Round her fair ear, and shade her damask cheek;
Drinks the pure fragrance of her breath, and sips
With tenderest touch the roses of her lips;--
O'er female hearts with chaste seduction reigns,
And binds SOCIETY in silken chains.

IV. "IF the wide eye the wavy lawns explores,
The bending woodlands, or the winding shores,
Hills, whose green sides with soft protuberance rise,
Or the blue concave of the vaulted skies;-- 210
Or scans with nicer gaze the pearly swell
Of spiral volutes round the twisted shell;
Or undulating sweep, whose graceful turns
Bound the smooth surface of Etrurian urns,
When on fine forms the waving lines impress'd
Give the nice curves, which swell the female breast;
The countless joys the tender Mother pours
Round the soft cradle of our infant hours,
In lively trains of unextinct delight
Rise in our bosoms _recognized by sight_; 220
Fond Fancy's eye recalls