the mechanical and rhythmic beating of the monster's scaly tail, Mede'a took a phial from her bosom, filled with some mysterious fluid, broke a branch from a neighboring tree, and, muttering spells and incantations, moved boldly forward.

The dragon darted forth his tongue at her approach, but made no other motion. Then she poured the contents of the phial upon the branch and waved the latter above the creature's head; and, while Or'pheus played a lullaby, Mede'a sang:

66

Hear, mighty Sleep! the Col'chian virgin's call
Where'er thou lingerest on this earthly ball.

I bid thee haste from all beneath the pole,
And rush collected on the serpent's soul!

Oft have I poured thy horn's oblivious dew
To still the rapid lightning as it flew;
The surging seas; the turbid clouds on high;
The sparkling stars, and meteors of the sky.
I call thee now in all thy mightiest power:
Come like thy brother Death, in this momentous hour.

Guard of the Golden Fleece! let Sleep allay
Thy restless watching: turn thine eyes away!

Myself will guard the grove, and watch the while;
Then let repose thy long, long toils beguile."

He not relaxed his weary folds; but feared
The rest permitted, and by toil endeared:
Yet shuddering felt the cloud of slumber creep,
And from the branches shook the balm of sleep.

The Col'chian maid her foaming venoms threw,
And waved the bough, immersed in Lethe's dew:
With chanted rhyme she lulls his drooping eyes,
With hand and tongue the Styg'ian charm she plies,
And still persists, till1

even dragon-nature could not longer struggle against such sweet, somniferous spells; for those tired eyelids, that had never drooped before, closed tightly and the creature slept.

66

Quick, now, my love!" exclaimed Mede'a, and Ja'son breathlessly stepped over the recumbent form of the sleeping sentinel and touched the Golden Object of his golden dreams.

1 Appendix, Note 43.

He not relaxed his weary folds: hur feared
The rest permitted, and by toil endeare:
Yet shuddering felt the cloud of stunte
And from the branches shook the bat este

The Col'chian maid her foaming vend
And waved the bough, immerse 1.2.2
With chanted rhyme she iulis his drone
With hand and tongue the Star, she
And still persists, till

even dragon-nature conic ne
against such sweet, som
those tired eyelids, dat ban
fore, closed tightly and the
"Quick, now, my love
and Ja'son breathlesshyster
bent form of the secon
the Golden Object of

id,

pre

sum

em to

$, some urried to

ht of find

arrange the

seeing that the rmoorings and was oward the sea. Nor stern stood Ja'son, with a's waist. while on the he believe his eyes? — the

quickly spread, and Ee'tes was

u in his fastest boat, with a hundred

CHAPTER XVI.

BLACK ART MAKES A BLACK HEART.

And at the twilight hour the sacred oak
In Ar'go's keel Fate's will predestined spoke:-
"Far must ye rove o'er the vexed seas, nor rest
Till reached, long sought, the 'a of the West
Where Cir'ce dwells; there shall ye lay aside
Your guilt's sore burden, and be purified."

EARL OF CRAWFORD. - Argo., B. IX. 309.

NTOXICATING though Mede'a's spell had been, it possessed but a fleeting virtue; and, though Ja'son tore away the Fleece with feverish fingers, and all sped backward to the ship as fast as possible, they had not reached it when a terrific roaring fell upon their ears.

The watch-dragon had awakened from his

slumber, and discovered that his charge was