39^ STtJDIES OF NATURE. 



" folitudes. A thoufand lamps and torches daz- 

 ft zled the eye. They made Ariadne feat herfelf 

 " in the midft of them on cufhions; they placed 

 " a coronet of ivy, with it's black clufters, upon 

 " her flaxen hair, and around her pale forehead; 

 " then they arranged, at her feet, urns of alabafter 

 i( replenished with the choicefl wines; they poured 

 " them out into cups of gold, which they pre- 

 " fented to her, faying; Drink, lovely daughter 

 " of Minos ; this ifland produces the richeft pre- 

 " fents of Bacchus. Drink, wine diffipates care. 

 " Ariadne, with a fmile, fuffered herfelf to be per- 

 " fuaded. In a little time, the rofes of health 

 " re- appeared on her countenance, and a report 

 " was immediately fpread over Naxos, that Bac- 

 i( chus was come to the relief of the miftrefs of 

 i( Thefeus. The inhabitants, tranfported with joy, 

 " reared a temple to that God, of which you ftill 

 " fee fome columns and the frontifpiece, on that 

 " rock, in the midft of the waves. But wine only 

 i( added fuel to the love of Ariadne. She gradu- 

 <c ally pined away, a victim to her fad regrets, and 

 cC even to her fond hopes. See there, at the ex- 

 " tremity of this valley, on a little hillock, co- 

 " vered with marine-wormwood, is her tomb, and 

 " her ftatue ftill looking toward the Sea. You 

 " can fcarcely now diftinguifh in it the figure of a 

 *« female ; but there is even now difcernible in it 

 " the reftlcfs attitude of a lover. This monument, 



"as 



