flowers, and are ſubject to the vulgar fate of the daughters of Eve.
‘However marvellous it may ſeem to you, ſir knight, it is nevertheleſs true, that the pedigree of the beautiful Zoe aſcends as high as Leda’s eggs. As the moſt certain proof of this, ſhe becomes a ſwan once every year, or, as ſhe expreſſes it, puts on her ſwan’s dreſs; for Leda’s daughters do not, like thoſe of common mortals, make their entry into the world ſtark naked, but have their delicate bodies cloathed in an aerial garment, formed of condenſed light, which expands in proportion to their growth, and not only poſſeſſes all the properties of the pureſt phlogiſton, ſo as to overcome the weight of groſs earthy matter, and elevate it rapidly to the clouds, but alſo changes the wearer into a ſwan, as ſoon as ſhe puts it on. The annual flight to the bath of beauty takes nine days; and when it is not prevented or omitted, it confers on female vanity
