Since Lydia knew the bloffom of fifteen;
No lovers now her morning hours molest,
And catch her at her Toilette half undrest;
The thund'ring knocker wakes the street no more,
No chairs, no coaches croud her filent door;
Her midnights once at cards and Hazard fled,
Which now, alas! fhe dreams away in bed.
Around her wait Shocks, monkeys and mockaws,
To fill the place of Fops, and perjur'd Beaus ;
In these she views the mimickry of man,
And fmiles when grinning Pug gallants her fan ;
When Poll repeats, the founds deceive her ear,
For founds, like his, once told her Damon's care.
With these alone her tedious mornings pafs;
Or at the dumb devotion of her glass,
She fmooths her brow, and frizles forth her hairs,
And fancys youthful dress gives youthful airs;
With crimson wool fhe fixes every grace,
That not a blush can discompose her face.
Reclin'd upon her arm she penfive fate,
And curs'd th' inconftancy of youth too late.
O Youth! O fpring of life! for ever lost !
No more my name fhall reign the fav'rite Toaft,
On glafs no more the di'mond grave my name,
And rhymes mifpell'd record a lover's flame:
Nor fhall fide-boxes watch my restless eyes,
And as they catch the glance in rows arise
With humble bows; nor white glov'd Beaus encroach
In crouds behind, to guard me to my coach.
Ah hapless nymph! fuch conquefts are no more,
For Chloe's now what Lydia was before!
"Tis true, this Chloe boafts the peach's bloom,
But does her nearer whisper breathe perfume?
I own her taper shape is form'd to please;
Yet if you saw her unconfin'd by ftays!
She doubly to fifteen may make pretence,
Alike we read it in her face and fenfe.
Her reputation! but that never yet
Could check the freedoms of a young Coquet.
Why will ye then, vain Fops, her eyes believe?
Her eyes can, like your perjur'd tongues, deceive.
What shall I do? how fpend the hateful day?
At chapel fhall I wear the morn away?
Who there frequents at these unmodish hours,
But antient matrons with their frizled tow'rs,
And gay religious maids? my presence there
Amid that fober train would own despair;
Nor am I yet fo old; nor is my glance
As yet fixt wholly to devotion's trance.
Straight then I'll drefs, and take my wonted range Through ev'ry Indian fhop, through all the Change ; Where the tall jar erects his coftly pride,
With antick shapes in China's azure dy'd ;
There careless lies the rich brocade unroll'd,
Here shines a cabinet with burnish'd gold;
But then remembrance will my grief renew,
'Twas there the raffling dice false Damon threw ;
The raffling dice to him decide the prize.
"Twas there he first convers'd with Chloe's eyes;
Hence fprung th' ill-fated caufe of all my fmart,
To me the toy he gave, to her his heart.
But foon thy perj'ry in the gift was found,
The fhiver'd China dropt upon the ground;
Sure omen that thy vows would faithless prove;
Frail was thy present, frailer is thy love.
O happy Pall, in wiry prifon pent;
Thou ne'er haft known what love or rivals meant,
And Pug with pleasure can his fetters bear,
Who ne'er believ'd the vows that lovers fwear!
How am I curft! (unhappy and forlorn)
With perjury, with love, and rival's fcorn!
False are the loofe Coquet's inveigling airs,
False is the pompous grief of youthful heirs,
False is the cringing courtier's plighted word,
False are the dice when gamesters stamp the board,
False is the sprightly widow's publick tear;
Yet these to Damon's oaths are all fincere.
Fly from perfidious man, the fex disdain; Let fervile Chloe wear the nuptial chain. Damon is practis'd in the modish life,
Can hate, and yet be civil to a wife.
'He games, he fwears; he drinks; he fights; he roves ;
Yet Chloe can believe he fondly loves.
Mistress and wife can well supply his need,
A mifs for pleasure, and a wife for breed.
But Chloe's air is unconfin'd and gay,
And can perhaps an injur'd bed repay;
Perhaps her patient temper can behold
The rival of her love adorn'd with gold,
Powder'd with di'monds; free from thought and care,
A hufband's fullen humours she can bear.
Why are these fobs? and why these streaming eyes ? Is love the caufe? no, I the fex defpife;
|