246 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



*' in the foft bofom of his fair confort, while gentle 

 *' fleep ftole upon every limb." 



Virgil always employs conformities in the midd 

 of contrafls. He chufes the night feafon for in- 

 troducing Venus to pradlife her bewitching arts on 

 Vulcan, becaufe the power of Venus is greateft in 

 the night. It was impoffible for me to convey, in 

 a feeble profe verfion, all the graces of the lan- 

 guage of the Goddefs of Beauty. There is in her 

 didiion, a delightful mixture of elegance, of ne- 

 gligence^ of addrefs, and of timidity. I fhall con- 

 fine myfelf to only a few ftrokes of her charafter, 

 which appear to me capable of being moft eafily 

 hit. At firft, flie lays great ftrefs on the obligations 

 which fhe was under to Pn'aw's faipily. The chief, 

 and, I believe, the only one, was the apple, ad- 

 judged in her favour, by Paris, one of the fons of 

 Priam, in prejudice of juno and Minerva. But 

 that apple, which had declared her the molt beau- 

 tiful of the three, and which had, moreover, hum- 

 bled her rivals, was every thing to Venus : Ilie, 

 accordingly, calls it Plurima, and extends her gra- 

 titude on that account, not to Paris only, but to 

 Jill the fons of Priam : 



Quatnvis et Priami deberefnrLpsiMA mtis. 



As 



