For Daphne's laurel Phœbus gave his voice,
The towering poplar charmed stern Hercules,
The myrtle sweet, whose gifted flowers rejoice
Young hearts in love, did most warm Venus please;
The lithe green willow is my Flerid's choice,
She gathers it amidst a thousand trees:
Thus laurel, poplar, and sweet myrtle now,
Where'er it grows, shall to the willow bow.
ALCINO.
All know that in the woods the ash reigns queen,
In graceful beauty soaring to the sky,
And that in grandeur and thick shade the green
And lofty beech all sylvans does outvie;
But whoso sees the beauty of thy mien,
Thy comely shape and austere dignity,
Will own, fair Phyllis, that thy charms impeach
The ash's grace and grandeur of the beech.
Thus sang the youths in challenge and reply,
And having finished now their rural hymn,
With blythe attention to their charge apply,
Pacing with faster steps the pastures dim;
The Sisters, hearing now the rumour nigh,
Threw themselves forth into the stream to swim;
The shaded waves with froth were whitened o'er,
And murmurs spread along the silent shore.
