O Extreme Cruelty! O un∣grateful Heart! O un∣grateful Maid! O Thrice and more ungrateful Sex; and you, Nature, negli∣gent Mistress! wherefore have you plac'd in the Face, and the Out-side of Wo∣men, all that is gentle, kind, and courteous in them, and have quite for∣got the other Part? Alas! the miserable Wretch has perhaps kill'd himself: he is not to be found; I have been seeking him a∣gain and again, for these three Hours, in the Place where I left him, and all there∣abouts, I can neither find him, nor the Trace of his Footsteps; alas! he has cer∣tainly killed himself. I'll go and ask Tidings of him of those Shepherds that I see yonder. Page  79 Friends! Have ye seen Aminta, or heard by chance any Tidings of him?

You appear to me somewhat disturb'd: what is the Oc∣casion of your Uneasiness? whence proceed that Sweat and Haste of yours? has any Misfortune befallen you? let us know it.

I fear some Misfortune has befallen Aminta, have you seen him?

We have not seen him, since he went away with you a good while ago; but what is your Fear for him?

That he has kill'd himself with his own Hand.

Kill'd himself, for what? what do you guess to be the Reason of it?

Hatred and Love.

What can't Two such powerful Enemies do, when join'd together? But speak more clearly.

Loving a Nymph too well, and being too much Hated by her.

Pray tell us the whole: this Place is a common Path, per∣haps in the mean while you'll see somebody, who may tell you some News of him, or perhaps he may come hither himself.

I will tell you willingly, for 'tis not Just that so great and so strange Ingratitude should go without its deserv'd Infamy. Aminta was inform'd (and I, alas! was the Person that told him and conducted him, which now I repent of) that Sylvia was to go with Daphne to Bath herself at a Fountain: Thither he went doubtful and uncertain, not from the Motion of his own Mind, but only through my importunate Encouragment, and was Page  81 often in suspence, whether he should turn back, and I still urged his going forward: Now when we approach'd the Fountain, we heard the Lamentation of a Woman; and as it were at the same Time we saw Daphne, striking her Hands one against another, who seeing us, rais'd her Voice, and cried, Ah! Run, Sylvia is Ravish'd. The inamour'd Aminta hearing this, flew like a Leopard, and I follow'd him: behold, we saw the Maid fasten'd to a Tree, Naked as she was born, her own Hair serv'd for a Cord to bind her, her own Hair in a Thousand Knots was wreath'd about the Tree; and her beautiful Girdle, which was before the Guardian of her Virgin Breast, became an Instrument in her Ravishment, and bound both her Hands to the hard Trunk: The Tree itself afforded Fetters to bind her, for the Twigs of a pliant Bough were twisted round both her tender Legs. Before her stood a villanous Satyr, we saw him, who had just then bound her. She made as great Resistance as she could, but in length of Time what could she have done? Aminta, with a Dart, which he held in his Right-Hand, rush'd upon the Satyr like a Lion, and I, in the mean while, fill'd my Lap with Stones; whereat he fled: As the other's Flight gave him Time to look, he turn'd his greedy Eyes on those beautiful Limbs, Page  83 which trembl'd like the unpress'd Curds, and appear'd as delicate and white: and I saw him all inflam'd at the Sight: after that he softly accosted her with modest Looks, and said: O, lovely Sylvia! pardon these Hands for daring to approach thy beautiful Limbs, since hard Necessity obliges them; Necessity to unloose those Bands of yours; neither let this Favour, which Fortune is willing to grant them, cause your Displea∣sure.

Words that might soften a Heart of Stone, but what did she answer then?

She answer'd nothing, but disdainful and blushing, she inclin'd her Face towards the Earth, and conceal'd her delicate Bo∣som, as much as she could, by bending. He standing before her began to disintangle her beautiful Hair, and said the while: This rugged Trunk was not worthy of such lovely Knots; now what Advantage have the Votaries of Love; if those precious Chains are common to them and the Plants? Cruel Tree, could'st thou injure that lovely Hair, which did thee so much Honour? Then with his Hands he untied her Hands in such a Manner, that he seem'd afraid to touch them, and yet at the same Time de∣sir'd it; after that he stoop'd down to un∣tie her Feet. But, as Sylvia saw that her own Hands were at Liberty, she said, with a disdainful Air, Shepherd, touch me not: I am Diana's: I can unbind my Feet my Page  85 self.

Could such Pride be harbour'd in the Breast of a Maid? alas! ungrateful Return to a gracious Action.

He withdrew with Reverence; not so much as daring to raise his Eyes to look on her; de∣nying himself his own Pleasure, that he might rid her of the Trouble of denying it. I, who was hid hard by, and saw and heard the whole, was ready to upbraid her, but that I curb'd my self. Hear now a strange Thing. When, with much trouble, she had loos'd herself, she was scarce free, before, without saying so much as Adieu, she be∣gan to fly like a Deer; tho' she had no Reason to be afraid, after such a Trial of Aminta's Respect.

Why then did she fly?

Because she would be oblig'd to her own Flight; and not to the modest Love of another.

And in this she is still more Ungrateful. But what did the wretched Aminta do then, or what did he say?

I can't tell, for full of Anger I ran to overtake her, and detain her, but in vain, for I soon lost her: then returning to the Fountain, where I left Aminta, I found him not: But my Heart presages some Evil. I know that he was disposed to Die before this happen'd.

It is the Custom and the Art of every one that is in Love, to threaten his own Death, but the Effect very seldom follows.

Heavens grant that he mayn't be one of those rare Ones.

He won't Page  87 be, no.

I'll go to the Cave of Sage Elpin, there, if he is alive, perhaps he is re∣treated; where he is often wont to solace his most bitter Pains with the sweet sound of his melodious Pipe, which draws the listning Rocks from the steep Mountains, causeth Rivers to flow with pure Milk; and distills Honey from our hard Trees.