360 



From Ovid's elegant fable of Dryope, we 

 learn from whence this tree is supposed to have 

 derived its name. 



Not distant far a wat'ry lotus grows; 



The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs, 



Adorn'd with blossoms, promis'd fruits that vie, 



In glowing colours with the Tyrian dye. 



#######* 



Upon the tree I cast a frightful look, 



The trembling tree with sudden horror shook. 



Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true,) 



As from Priapus* lawless lust she flew, 



Forsook her form ; and fixing, there became 



A flow'ry plant, which still preserves her name. 



Theophrastus mentions the lotus fruit in 

 his 4th book, where he says, that it is of 

 the size of a bean, and changes it's colour as 

 it ripens. This author affirms, that the tree 

 is by it's nature everlasting. 



Strabo, in his 17th book, informs us, that 

 Syrtis as well as Menynx was said to be 

 Lotophagitis. The compass of the gulph, 

 says this geographer, where the lotus grows, 

 is almost 1600 furlongs; the breadth of the 

 mouth 600: by the capes there are islands 

 near to the main land. It is thought, con- 

 tinues he, that Menynx was the country 

 of the Lotophagi, or those that feed on the 

 lotus-trees, of which country Homer makes 

 mention; and there are certain monuments 



