out a thicket, where it hissing lay,
          And hoped to drive the countryman away: 
          Our knight his object asked; the clown replied,
          To slay the reptile anxiously I tried;
          Wherever met, an adder I would kill: 
          The race should be extinct if I’d my will.

          Whywould’st thou, friend, said Atis, these destroy? 
          God meant that all should freely life enjoy. 
          The youthful knight for reptiles had, we find,
          Less dread than what prevails with human kind;
          He bore them in his arms:—­they marked his birth;
          From noble Cadmus sprung, who, when on earth,
          At last, to serpent was in age transformed;
          The adder’s bush the clown no longer stormed;
          No more the spotted reptile sought to stay,
          But seized the time, and quickly crept away.

          Atlength our lover to a wood retired;
          To live concealed was what the youth desired;
          Lorn silence reigned, except from birds that sang,
          And dells that oft with sweetest echo rang. 
          There happiness and frightful MIS’RY lay,
          Quite undistinguished:  classed with beasts of prey;
          That growling prowled in search of food around: 
          There Atis consolation never found. 
          Love thither followed, and, however viewed,
          ’Twas vain to hope his passion to elude;
          Retirement fed the tender, ardent flame,
          And irksome ev’ry minute soon became. 
          Let us return, cried he, since such our fate: 
          ’Tis better, Atis, bear her frowns and hate,
          Than of her beauteous features lose the view;
          Ye nightingales and streams, ye woods adieu! 
          When far from her I neither see nor hear: 
          ’Tis she alone my senses still revere;
          A slave I am, who fled her dire disdain;
          Yet seek once more to wear the cruel chain.

          Asnear some noble walls our knight arrived,
          Which fairy-hands to raise had once contrived,
          His eyes beheld, at peep of early morn,
          When bright Aurora’s beams the earth adorn,
          A beauteous nymph in royal robes attired,
          Of noble mien, and formed to be admired,
          Who t’ward him drew, with pleasing, gracious air,
          While he was wrapped in thought, a prey to care.

          Saidshe, I’d have you, Atis, happy be;
          ’Tis in my pow’r, and this I hope to see;
          A fairy greet me, Manto is my name:—­
          Your friend, and one you’ve served unknown:—­the same
          My fame you’ve heard, no doubt; from me proceeds
          The Mantuan town, renowned for ancient deeds;
          In days of yore I these foundations laid,