adventurers, under Cortez, invaded America, intelligence of
their debarkation and movements was daily transmitted to
Montezuma, by drawings, which corresponded with the Egyptian
hieroglyphics. The antiquity of statuary appears from the
Memnon and sphinxes of Egypt; that of casting figures in
metals from the golden calf of Aaron; and that of carving in
wood from the idols or household gods, which Rachel stole
from her father Laban, and hid beneath her garments as she
sat upon the straw. Gen. c. xxxi. v. 34.]

"Waked by thy voice, transmuted by thy wand,
Their lips shall open, and their arms expand;
The love-lost lady, and the warrior slain,
Leap from their tombs, and sigh or fight again.
--So when ill-fated ORPHEUS tuned to woe
His potent lyre, and sought the realms below;
Charm'd into life unreal forms respir'd,
And list'ning shades the dulcet notes admir'd.--

"LOVE led the Sage through Death's tremendous porch,
Cheer'd with his smile, and lighted with his torch;-- 190
Hell's triple Dog his playful jaws expands,
Fawns round the GOD, and licks his baby hands;
In wondering groups the shadowy nations throng,
And sigh or simper, as he steps along;
Sad swains, and nymphs forlorn, on Lethe's brink,
Hug their past sorrows, and refuse to drink;
Night's dazzled Empress feels the golden flame
Play round her breast, and melt her frozen frame;
Charms with soft words, and sooths with amorous wiles,
Her iron-hearted Lord,--and PLUTO smiles.-- 200
His trembling Bride the Bard triumphant led
From the pale mansions of the astonish'd dead;
Gave the fair phantom to admiring light,--
Ah, soon again to tread irremeable night!"

[Footnote: _Love led the Sage_, l. 189. This description is
taken from the figures on the Barbarini, or Portland Vase,
where Eros, or Divine Love, with his torch precedes the manes
through the gates of Death, and reverting his smiling
countenance invites him into the Elysian fields.]

[Footnote: _Fawns round the God_, l. 192. This idea is copied
from a painting of the descent of Orpheus, by a celebrated
Parisian artist.]

IV. HER snow-white arm, indulgent to my song,
Waves the fair Hierophant, and moves along.--
High plumes, that bending shade her amber hair,
Nod, as