Prefix’d by Fate’s irrevocable Doom,
    When the great Mother of the Gods was free
    To save her Ships, and finish_ Jove’s Decree. 
    First, from the Quarter of the Morn, there sprung
    A Light that sign’d the Heavens, and shot along: 
    Then from a Cloud, fring’d round with Golden Fires,
    Were Timbrels heard, and Berecynthian Quires: 
    And last a Voice, with more than Mortal Sounds,
    Both Hosts in Arms oppos’d, with equal Horror wounds. 
      O Trojan Race, your needless Aid forbear;
    And know my Ships are my peculiar Care. 
    With greater Ease the bold Rutulian may,
    With hissing Brands, attempt to burn the Sea,
    Than singe my sacred Pines.  But you my Charge,
    Loos’d from your crooked Anchors launch at large,
    Exalted each a Nymph:  Forsake the Sand,
    And swim the Seas, at Cybele’s Command. 
    No sooner had the Goddess ceas’d to speak,
    When lo, th’ obedient Ships their Haulsers break;
    And, strange to tell, like Dolphins in the Main,
    They plunge their Prows, and dive, and spring again: 
    As many beauteous Maids the Billows sweep,
    As rode before tall Vessels on the Deep.’

    Dryden’s Virg.

’The common Opinion concerning the Nymphs, whom the Ancients called Hamadryads, is more to the Honour of Trees than any thing yet mentioned.  It was thought the Fate of these Nymphs had so near a Dependance on some Trees, more especially Oaks, that they lived and died together.  For this Reason they were extremely grateful to such Persons who preserved those Trees with which their Being subsisted. Apollonius tells us a very remarkable Story to this Purpose, with which I shall conclude my Letter.

’A certain Man, called Rhoecus, observing an old Oak ready to fall, and being moved with a sort of Compassion towards the Tree, ordered his Servants to pour in fresh Earth at the Roots of it, and set it upright.  The Hamadryad or Nymph who must necessarily have perished with the Tree, appeared to him the next Day, and after having returned him her Thanks, told him, she was ready to grant whatever he should ask.  As she was extreamly Beautiful, Rhoecus desired he might be entertained as her Lover.  The Hamadryad, not much displeased with the Request, promis’d to give him a Meeting, but commanded him for some Days to abstain from the Embraces of all other Women, adding that she would send a Bee to him, to let him know when he was to be Happy. Rhoecus was, it seems, too much addicted to Gaming, and happened to be in a Run of ill Luck when the faithful Bee came buzzing about him; so that instead of minding his kind Invitation, he had like to have killed him for his Pains.  The Hamadryad was so provoked at her own Disappointment, and the ill Usage of her Messenger, that she deprived Rhoecus of the Use of his Limbs.  However, says the Story, he was not so much a Criple, but he made a shift to cut down the Tree, and consequently to fell his Mistress.

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