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dew;-- If she had passed her grot she slept the while.
    Ino.
Alas! Alas! I see the golden car, And hear the flapping of the dragons wings, Ceres descends to Earth. I dare not stay, I dare not meet the sorrow of her look[,] The angry glance of her severest eyes. [14]
    Eun.
Quick up the mountain! I will search the dell, She must return, or I will never more.
    (
Exit.
)
    Ino.
And yet I will not fly, though I fear much Her angry frown and just reproach, yet shame Shall quell this childish fear, all hope of safety For her lost child rests but in her high power, And yet I tremble as I see her come.
    Enter Ceres.
    Cer.
Where is my daughter? have I aught to dread? Where does she stray? Ino, you answer not;-- She was aye wont to meet me in yon field,-- Your looks bode ill;--I fear my child is lost.
    Ino.
Eunoe now seeks her track among the woods; Fear not, great Ceres, she has only strayed.
    Cer.
Alas! My boding heart,--I dread the worst. Oh, careless nymphs! oh, heedless Proserpine! And did you leave her wandering by herself? She is immortal,--yet unusual fear Runs through my veins. Let all the woods be sought, Let every dryad, every gamesome faun [Footnote: MS.
fawn.
] Tell where they last beheld her snowy feet Tread the soft, mossy paths of the wild wood. But that I see the base of Etna firm I well might fear that she had fallen a prey To Earth-born Typheus, who might have arisen [15] And seized her as the fairest child of heaven, That in his dreary caverns she lies bound; It is not so: all is as safe and calm As when I left my child. Oh, fatal day! Eunoe does not return: in vain she seeks Through the black woods and down the darksome glades, And night is hiding all things from our view. I will away, and on the highest top Of snowy Etna, kindle two clear flames. Night shall not hide her from my anxious search, No moment will I rest, or sleep, or pause Till she returns, until I clasp again My only loved one, my lost Proserpine.
    END OF ACT FIRST.
----
    ACT II
    _Scene. The Plain of Enna as before. Enter Ino & Eunoe._
    Eun.
How weary am I! and the hot sun flushes My cheeks that else were white with fear and grief[.] E'er since that fatal day, dear sister nymph, On which we lost our lovely Proserpine, I have but wept and watched the livelong night And all the day have wandered through the woods[.]
    Ino.
How all is changed since that unhappy eve! Ceres forever weeps, seeking her child, And in her rage has struck the land with blight; Trinacria mourns with her;--its fertile fields Are dry and barren, and all little brooks Struggling scarce creep within their altered banks; The flowers that erst were wont with bended heads, To gaze within the clear and glassy wave, Have died, unwatered by the failing stream.-- And yet their hue but mocks the deeper grief Which is the fountain of these bitter tears. But who is this, that with such eager looks Hastens this way?-- [17]
    Eun.
'Tis fairest Arethuse, A stranger naiad, yet you know her well.
    Ino.
My eyes were blind with tears.
    Enter Arethusa.
    Dear Arethuse, Methinks I read glad tidings in your eyes, Your smiles are the swift messengers that bear A tale of coming joy, which we, alas! Can answer but with tears, unless you bring To our grief solace, Hope to our Despair. Have you found Proserpine? or know you where The loved nymph wanders, hidden from our search?
    Areth.
Where is corn-crowned Ceres? I have hastened To ease her anxious heart.
    Eun.
Oh! dearest Naiad, Herald of joy! Now will great Ceres bless Thy welcome coming & more welcome tale.
    Ino.
Since that unhappy day when Ceres lost Her much-loved child, she wanders through the isle; Dark blight is showered from her looks of sorrow;-- And where tall corn and all seed-bearing grass Rose from beneath her step, they wither now Fading under the frown of her bent brows: [18] The springs decrease;--the fields whose delicate green Was late her chief delight, now please alone, Because they, withered, seem to share her grief.
    Areth.
Unhappy