The humour of Italy; . d At once, conversing ; and the God of OceanUpon a dolphins back his form upreared, THE ASSEMBLY OF THE GODS. 43 Floating through waves of air with graceful motion;Naked, all sea-weed, and with mud besmeared; For whom his mother Rhea feels emotion,Reproaching his proud brother,1 when she meets him,Because so like a fisherman he treats him. Diana, the sweet virgin, was not there; She had risen early, and oer woodland greenHad gone to wash her clothes in fountain fair Upon the Tuscan shore—romantic not returning till the northern star Had rolled through dusky air
The humour of Italy; . d At once, conversing ; and the God of OceanUpon a dolphins back his form upreared, THE ASSEMBLY OF THE GODS. 43 Floating through waves of air with graceful motion;Naked, all sea-weed, and with mud besmeared; For whom his mother Rhea feels emotion,Reproaching his proud brother,1 when she meets him,Because so like a fisherman he treats him. Diana, the sweet virgin, was not there; She had risen early, and oer woodland greenHad gone to wash her clothes in fountain fair Upon the Tuscan shore—romantic not returning till the northern star Had rolled through dusky air and lost its sheen,Her mother made excuses, quite provoking,Knitting, at the same time, a worsted stocking. Juno-Lucina did not go—and why ? She anxious wished to wash her sacred , Joves chief taster, standing by, For the disastrous Fates excuses had much tow to spin, and lint to dry, And they were also busy baking cellarman, Silenus, kept away,To water the domestics wine that 1 Jupiter. 44 ITALIAN HUMOUR. On starry benches sit the famous warriors Of the immortal kingdom, in a ring;Now drums and cymbals, echoing to the barriers, Announce the coming of the gorgeous king;A hundred pages, valets, napkin-carriers Attend, and their peculiar offerings after them, armed with his club so hard,Alcides, captain of the city guard. And as the madness which his brain affectedWas not quite cured, officiously he strode, And swung aloft his club, and blows directedAlong the crowd to clear the royal road. Like drunken Swiss he looked, and seemed connectedWith ruffians low who hire themselves abroad On festal days, before the Pope to bluster, Breaking of arms and skull-caps in a fluster. With Joves broad hat and spectacles arrivedThe light-heeled Mercury; in his hand he bore A sack, in which, of other means deprived, He damned poor mortals prayers, some million score; Those he disposed in vessels, well contrived,Which graced his fathers cabin
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