before been reading made so strong an Impression on my Mind, that
Fancy seemed almost to fulfil to me the Wish of _Virgil_, in
presenting to me the following Vision.

'Methought I was on a sudden plac'd in the Plains of _Boeotia_, where
at the end of the Horizon I saw the Mountain _Parnassus_ rising before
me. The Prospect was of so large an Extent, that I had long wander'd
about to find a Path which should directly lead me to it, had I not
seen at some distance a Grove of Trees, which in a Plain that had
nothing else remarkable enough in it to fix my Sight, immediately
determined me to go thither. When I arrived at it, I found it parted
out into a great Number of Walks and Alleys, which often widened into
beautiful Openings, as Circles or Ovals, set round with Yews and
Cypresses, with Niches, Grotto's, and Caves placed on the Sides,
encompassed with Ivy. There was no Sound to be heard in the whole
Place, but only that of a gentle Breeze passing over the Leaves of the
Forest, every thing beside was buried in a profound Silence. I was
captivated with the Beauty and Retirement of the Place, and never so
much, before that Hour, was pleased with the Enjoyment of my self. I
indulged the Humour, and suffered my self to wander without Choice or
Design. At length, at the end of a Range of Trees, I saw three Figures
seated on a Bank of Moss, with a silent Brook creeping at their Feet.
I ador'd them as the tutelar Divinities of the Place, and stood still
to take a particular View of each of them. The Middlemost, whose Name
was _Solitude_, sat with her Arms across each other, and seemed rather
pensive and wholly taken up with her own Thoughts, than any ways
grieved or displeased. The only Companions which she admitted into
that Retirement, was the Goddess _Silence_, who sat on her right Hand
with her Finger on her Mouth, and on her left _Contemplation_, with
her Eyes fixed upon the Heavens. Before her lay a celestial Globe,
with several Schemes of Mathematical Theorems. She prevented my Speech
with the greatest Affability in the World: Fear not, said she, I know
your Request before you speak it; you would be led to the Mountain of
the Muses; the only way to it lies thro' this Place, and no one is so
often employ'd in conducting Persons thither as my self. When she had
thus spoken, she rose from her Seat, and I immediately placed my self
under her Direction; b