P L U T O.
———
The name of Pluto, as god of the kingdom of hell, and whatever is under the earth, where
"——————Cerberus, the cruel worm of death,
Keeps watchful guard, and with his iron throat,
Affrights the spirits in their pale sojourn,"
Thurlow.
is as well known to the readers of Mythology as that of his brother Jupiter.
The place of his residence being gloomy, and consequently unbearable to those goddesses whose hand he sought in marriage, and who looked for a gayer life than he could offer them, they all refused to become the sharer of his possessions. Pluto, however, was by no means willing to sit quietly down in single blessedness, thinking, perhaps, that the very reason which they assigned for their refusal, was an additional one in his favour for wishing a soother of his lot.
It was in his visit to the island of Sicily, that the God saw and became enamoured of Proserpine, as she gathered flowers in the plains of Enna.