"LOVE STILL HAS SOMETHING."

BY SIR CHARLES SEDLEY.

[SIR CHARLES SEDIEY was born at Aylesford, in Kent, in 1639, and was educated at Oxford. He was one of the leading wits of the Court of Charles II., where he squandered his estate, his time, and his moral character. But in his latter years he redeemed his reputation; and opposed, in Parliament, the arbitrary measures of James II. His daughter was the mistress of that monarch, who made her Countess of Dorchester; and when Sedley was asked why he promoted the revolution, he replied that he did it out of gratitude; for since the king made his daughter a countess, it was fit that he should make the king's daughter a queen. He died in 1701.]

LOVE still has something of the sea,

From whence his mother rose;

No time his slaves from doubt can free,
Nor give their thoughts repose.

They are becalm'd in clearest days,

And in rough weather toss'd;
They wither under cold delays,

Or are in tempests lost.

One while they seem to touch the port,
Then straight into the main
Some angry wind, in cruel sport,

The vessel drives again.

At first disdain and pride they fear,
Which, if they chance to 'scape,
Rivals and falsehood soon appear
In a more cruel shape.

A hundred thousand oaths your fears

Perhaps would not remove;

And if I gazed a thousand years,

I could not deeper love.

THE CHOICE.

BY JOHN POMFRET.

[JOHN POMFRET was born at Luton, in Bedfordshire, in 1667, and educated at Cambridge. He took orders, and obtained the living of Malden, in Bedfordshire. But going to London, in 1703, to vindicate himself to the Bishop from a charge of having introduced immoral sentiments into his poem of "The Choice," this amiable and unfortunate man took the small-pox and died. This piece, from which we have selected an extract, derives most of its charms from the delightful images of a country life which it calls up in the mind; but its beauties in this way have been thrown into the shade by similar efforts of Thomson and Cowper, and hence it is, in a great degree, forgotten.]

IF Heaven the grateful liberty would give
That I might choose my method how to live ;
And all those hours propitious fate should lend,
In blissful ease and satisfaction spend;

Near some fair town I'd have a private seat,

Built uniform, not little, nor too great;

Better, if on a rising ground it stood;

On this side fields, on that a neighbouring wood.
It should within no other things contain
But what are useful, necessary, plain ;

Methinks 'tis nauseous; and I'd ne'er endure

The needless pomp of gaudy furniture.

A little garden grateful to the eye,

And a cool rivulet run murmuring by;
On whose delicious banks a stately row
Of shady limes or sycamores should grow.
At th' end of which a silent study placed,
Should be with all the noblest authors graced :
Horace and Virgil, in whose mighty lines
Immortal wit and solid learning shines;

Sharp Juvenal, and amorous Ovid too,
Who all the turns of love's soft passion knew :
He that with judgment reads his charming lines,
In which strong art with stronger nature joins,
Must grant his fancy does the best excel;
His thoughts so tender, and express'd so well :
With all those moderns, men of steady sense,
Esteem'd for learning and for eloquence.

In some of these, as fancy should advise,
I'd always take my morning exercise;
For sure no minutes bring us more content
Than those in pleasing useful studies spent.
I'd have a clear and competent estate,
That I might live genteely, but not great;
As much as I could moderately spend ;

A little more, sometimes t'oblige a friend.
Nor should the sons of poverty repine

Too much at fortune; they should taste of mine;
And all that objects of true pity were

Should be relieved with what my wants could spare ;

For that our Maker has too largely given
Should be return'd in gratitude to Heaven.
A frugal plenty should my table spread;
With healthy, not luxurious, dishes spread;
Enough to satisfy, and something more,

To feed the stranger, and the neighbouring poor.
Strong meat indulges vice, and pampering food
Creates diseases, and inflames the blood.

But what's sufficient to make nature strong,
And the bright lamp of life continue long,
I'd freely take; and, as I did possess,
The bounteous Author of my plenty bless.