3^4 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



" affiftance from her father Bacchus, and from Ce- 

 " res, her niiftrefs. They both Hftened to her pe- 

 *' tition. At the moment that Neptune was ex- 

 *' tending his arms to catch her, the whole body 

 *' of Seine n\t\x.Qà into water; her veil, and her 

 " green robes, which the wind wafted before her, 

 *' became waves of an emerald colour. She was 

 " transformed into a river of that hue, which ftill 

 /* delights to ramble over the places ir^ which (lie 

 *' delighted while a nymph. What renders this 

 ** more remarkable is, that Neptune, notwithftand- 

 *' ing her metamorphofis, has not ceafed to be 

 *' enamoured of her, as it is faid, the river Al- 

 " pheus, in Sicily, ftill continues to be, of the 

 •' fountain Arethufa. But, if the Sea-god has pre- 

 ** ferved his afîeétion for Seine, flie ftill continues 

 *' to retain heraverfion for him. Twice every day 

 " he purfues her, with a loud and roaring noife, 

 "^ and asofte^i Seine fxies to the meadows, afcending 

 '^ toward her fource, contrary to the natural courfe 

 " of rivers. At all feafons (he feparates her green 

 *' waves from the azure billows of Neptune. 



^^ Heva died with regret for the lofs of her mif- 

 *' trefs ; but the Nereids, as a reward to her fide- 

 ■*Mity, erefted to her memory, upon the (liore, 

 *' a monument compofed of black and white ftones, 

 , *' which may be perceived at a very great diftance. 

 " By w (kill divine, they have even enclofed in it 

 " an echo, in order that Hcz:û, after her death, 



" might 



