58 PEXTANDRIA. 



Pope has thus translated this account. 



Three men were sent, deputed from the crew, 

 (An Herald one) the dubious coast to view, 

 And learn what habitants possest the place ? 

 They went and found an hospitable race*. 

 Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest, 

 They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast ; 

 The trees around them all their food produce, 

 Lotus the name, divine, nectareous juice ! 

 (Thence call'd Lotopbagi) which whoso tastes, 

 Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts, 

 Nor other home, nor other care intends, 

 But quits his house, his country, and his friends : 

 The three we sent from off th' enchanting ground 

 We dragg'd reluctant, and by force we bound : 

 The rest in haste forsook the pleasing shore, 

 Or, the charm tasted, had return'd no more. c 



PONTIC AZALIA, A%alia pontica. This is a shrub 

 growing from four to fourteen feet high, irregularly 

 branched, with a slender stem covered with a smooth 

 brown bark. The flowers appear before the leaves 

 are fully expanded ; of a fine yellow colour, and an 

 agreeable fragrance. It was first introduced into 

 England by Messieurs Lee and Kennedy, from some 

 seeds sent to them in a letter from the shores of the 

 Black Sea by Professor Pallas. He relates, that the 

 honey of bees frequenting the flowers of this plant 

 is supposed to be narcotic, and that goats, kine, and 

 sheep have been poisoned by eating its leaves. 



c Odyssey, Book IX. 



