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Wide, o'er the land, did hovering filence reign,"
Wide o'er the blue diffufion of the main;
When lo! before me, on the fouthern fhore,
Stood forth the power, whom Albion's fons adore;
Bleft Liberty! whofe charge is Albion's ifle;
Whom Reafon gives to bloom, and Truth to fmile;
Gives Peace to gladden, fheltering Law to fpread,
Learning to lift aloft her laurel'd head,
Rich induftry to view, with pleafing eyes,
Her fleets, her cities, and her harvests rife.
In curious emblems every art, expreít,

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Kind Safety waits, to waft thee gently o'er,

Glow'd from the loom, and brighten'd on his veft. And Joy to greet thee on the Belgic fhore.

Science in various lights attention won,
Wav'd on his robe, and glitter'd in the fun.

15

May future times, when their fond praise would

tell

So great! fo bleft!—such Anne and Nassau were.

E GRÆCORU F.

My words, he cried, my words obfervance claim:How moft their favourite characters excel; 80 Refound, ye Mufes; and receive them, Fame! How bleft! how great !-then may their fongs Here was my ftation, when, o'er ocean wide, [20 declare, The great, third William, ftretch'd his naval pride: I with my facred influence fwell'd his foul; Th' enflav'd to free, th' enflaver to control. In vain did waves difperfe, and winds detain : He came, he fav'd; in his was feen my reign. How juft, how great, the plan his foul defign'd, 25 To humble tyrants, and fecure mankind! Next Marlborough in his fteps fuccefsful trod : This, godlike plann'd; that, finish'd like a god! And, while Oppreffion fled to realms unknown, Europe was free, and Britain glorious fhone.

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Where Naffau's race extensive growth display'd,
There Freedom ever found a fheltering fhade.
Still heaven is kind!-See, from the princely root,
Millions to blefs, the BRANCH aufpicious fhoot!
He lives, he flourishes, his honours fpread;
Fair virtues blooming on his youthful head:
Nurfe him, ye heavenly dews, ye funny rays,
Into firm health, fair fame, and length of days!

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He paus'd, and cafting o'er the deep his eye,
Where the laft billow fwells into the sky,
Where, in gay vifion, round th' horizon's line,
'The moving clouds with various beauty shine;
As dropping from their bofom, ting'd with gold,
Shoots forth a fail, amufive to behold!
Lo! while its light the glowing wave returns,
Broad like a fun the bark approaching burns.
Near, and more near, great Naffau foon he spy'd,
And beauteous Anna, Britain's eldeft pride!
Thus fpoke the Genius, as advanc'd the fail-
Hail, blooming hero! high-born princefs, hail! 50
Thy charms thy mother's love of truth display,
Her light of virtue, and her beauty's ray;
Her dignity; which, copying the divine,
Soften'd, through condefcenfion, learns to shine. [55
Greatness of thought, with prudence for its guide;
Knowledge, from nature and from art supply'd :
To nobleft objects pointed various ways;
Pointed by judgment's clear, unerring rays.

60

What manly virtues in her mind excel!
Yet on her, heart what tender paffions dwell!
For ah! what pangs did late her peace destroy,
To part with thee, fo wont to give her joy!
How heav'd her breaft, how fadden'd was her mien!
All in the mother then was loft the queen.
The fwelling tear then dimmi'd her parting view, 65
The ftruggling figh ftopp'd fhort her last adieu:
Ev'n now thy fancied perils fill her mind;

The fecret rock, rough wave, and rising wind;

QUI TE VIDET BEATUS EST,
BEATIOR QUI TE AUDIET,
QUI BASIAT SEMIDEUS EST,
QUI TE POTITUR EST DEUS.

BUCHANAN.

THE FOREGOING LINES PARAPHRASED.
I.

APPY the man, who, in thy fparkling eyes,
Sees little laughing Cupids, glancing, rife,
H
His amorous wifhes fees, reflecting, play;
And, in foft-fwimming languor, die away.

II.

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Firft your fair feet they fhape, and fhape to please; | Let thefe, the temperate fenfe of tafte reveal, Each ftands defign'd for dignity and cafe. Firm, on thefe curious pedestals, depend Two polish'd pillars; which, as fair, afcend; From well-wrought knees, more fair, more large, they rife; 15

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Seen by the Mufe, though hid from mortal eyes. More polish'd yet, your fabric each fuftains; That pureft temple where perfection reigns, A fmall, fweet circle forms your faultless waist, By Beauty fhap'd, to be by Love embrac❜d. Beyond that leffening waift, two orbs devife, What fwelling charms, in fair proportion, rife! Fresh peeping there, two blushing buds are found, Each like a rofe, which lilies white furround. There feeling fenfe, let pitying fighs infpire, Till panting pity fwells to warm defire: Defire, though warm, is chafte; each warmest kifs, All rapture chaste, when Hymen bids the blifs. Rounding and soft, two taper arms descend; Two fnow-white hands, in taper fingers, end. 30 Lo! cunning Beauty, on each palm, designs Love's fortune and your own, in myftic lines; And lovely whiteness, either arm contains, Diverfified with azure-wandering veins; The wandering veins conceal a generous flood, 35 The purple treasure of celeftial blood. Rounding and white your neck, as curious, rears O'er all a face, where Beauty's felf appears. Her foft attendants smooth the spotless skin, And, fmoothly-oval, turn the fhapely chin; The fhapely chin, to Beauty's rifing face, Shall, doubling gently, give a double grace, And foon fweet-opening, rofy lips difclofe The well-rang'd teeth, in lily-whitening rows; Here life is breath'd, and florid life affumes A breath, whofe fragrance vies with vernal blooms; And two fair cheeks give modefty to raise A beauteous blush at praife, though just the praife. And nature now, from each kind ray, fupplies Soft, clement smiles, and love-infpiring eyes; 50 New Graces, to thofe eyes, mild shades, allow; Fringe their fair lids, and pencil either brow. While fenfe of vifion lights up orbs fo rare, May none, but pleafing objects, vifit there! Two little porches, (which, one fense empowers, To draw rich fcent from aromatic flowers)

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In structure neat, and deck'd with polifh'd grace,
Shall equal firft, then heighten, Beauty's face.
To fmelling fenfe, oh, may the flowery year
It's first, laft, choiceft incenfe, offer here!
Transparent next, two curious crefcents bound
The two-fold entrance of infpiring found,
And, granting a new power of fense to hear,
New finer organs form each curious ear;
Form to imbibe what moft the foul can move,
Mufic and Reason, Poefy and Love.
Next, on an open front, is plealing wrought
A penfive fweetnefs, born of patient thought:
Above your lucid fhoulders locks display'd,
Prone to defcend, shall soften light with fhade. 70
All, with a nameless air and mein, unite,
And, as you move, each movement is delight.
Tun'd is your melting tongue and equal mind,
At once by knowledge heighten'd and refin'd.
The Virtues next to Beauty's nod incline;
For, where they lend not light, fhe cannot shine;

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And give, while nature fpreads the simple meal,
The palate pure, to relish health design'd,
From luxury as thintlefs as your mind.
The Virtues, Chaftity and Truth, impart,
And mould to fweet benevolence your heart.

Thus Beauty finifh'd-Thus fhe gains the fway, And Love ftill follows where the leads the way. From every gift of heaven, to charm is thine; 85 To love, to praife, and to adore, be mine.

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SURE Curft,

Scandals, from falfe hiftorians, spot the worst.
In queft of these the Muse shall first advance,
Bold, to explore the regions of romance;
Romance, call'd Hiftory-Lo! at once the skims 5
The vifionary world of monkish whims;
Where fallacy, in legends, wildly fhines,
And vengeance glares from violated shrines;
Where faints perform all tricks, and startle thought
With many a miracle that ne'er was wrought; 10
Saints that never liv'd, or fuch as juftice paints,
Jugglers, on fuperftition palm'd for faints.
Here, canoniz'd, let creed-mongers be shown,
Red-letter'd faints, and red affaffins known ;
While those they martyr'd, fuch as angels rofe! 15
All black enroll'd among religion's foes,
Snatch'd by fulphureous clouds, a LYE proclaims
Number'd with fiends, and plung'd in endless

flames.

Hiftory, from air or deep draws many a fpright, Such as, from nurfe or prieft, might boys affright; | Or fuch as but o'er feverish flumbers fly,

21

And fix in melancholy phrenfy's eye.
Now meteors make enthusiast-wonder ftare,
And image wild portentous wars in air!
Seers fall intranc'd! fome wizard's lawless skill 25
Now whirls, now fetters nature's works at will!
Thus Hiftory, by machine, mock-epic, feems,
Not from poetic, but from monkish dreams.

The devil, who priest and forcerer must obey, The forcerer us'd to raife, the parfon lay, 30 When Echard wav'd his pen, the history shows, The parfon conjur'd, and the fiend uprofe.

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But dufky phantoms, Mufe, no more pursue ! Now clearer objects open-yet untrue. Awful the genuine historian's name! Falfe ones with what materials build they fame; Fabricks of fame, by dirty means made good, As nefts of martins are compil'd of mud. Peace be with Curll-with him I wave all strife, Who pens each felon's, and each actor's life; Biography that cooks the devil's martyrs, 55 And lards with luscious rapes the cheats of Chartres. Materials, which belief in gazettes claim, Loose-ftrung, run gingling into History's name. Thick as Egyptian clouds of raining flies; As thick as worms where man corrupting lies; 60 As pefts obfcene that haunt the ruin'd pile; As monfters floundering in the muddy Nile; Minutes, Memoirs, Views and Reviews appear, Where flander darkens each recorded year. In a paft reign is feign'd fome amorous league; 65 Some ring or letter now reveals th' intrigue: Queens, with their minions, work unfeemly things, And boys grow dukes, when catamites to kings. Does a prince die? What poisons they furmife! No royal mortal fure by nature dies.

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Is a prince born? What birth more base believ'd?
Or, what's more ftrange, his mother ne'er conceiv'd!
Thus flander popular o'er truth prevails,
And easy minds imbibe romantic tales.
Thus, ftead of history, fuch authors raise
Mere crude wild novels of bad hints for plays.

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Some ufurp names-an English garreteer, From Minutes forg'd, is Monfieur Mefnager.* Some, while on good or ill fuccefs they stare, Give conduct a complexion dark or fair: Others, as little to enquiry prone, Account for actions, though their spring's unknown. One statesman vices has, and virtues too; Hence will contested character enfue. View but the black, he 's fiend; the bright but He's angel: view him all-he's still a man. But fuch hiftorians all accuse, acquit; No virtue these, and those no vice admit ; For either in a friend no fault will know, And neither own a virtue in a foe.

[85 fcan,

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THE MINUTES OF MONS. MESNAGER; a book calculated to vilify the administration in the four laft years of queen Anne's reign. The truth is, that this libel was not written by Monf. Mefnager, neither was any fuch book ever printed in the French tongue, from which it is impudently faid in the title-page to be tranflated. SAVAGE,

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Where hear-fay knowledge fits on public names, And bold conjecture or extols or blames, Spring party libels; from whofe afhes dead, A monster, mifnam'd History, lifts its head. Contending factions croud to hear its roar ! But when once heard, it dies to noife no more. From thefe no anfwer, no applaufe from thofe, O'er half they fimper, and o'er half they doze. So when in fenate, with egregious pate, Perks up Sir..... in fome deep debate; He hems, looks wife, tunes thin his labouring throat,

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To prove black white, poftpone or palm the vote: In fly contempt, fome, Hear him! Hear him! cry; Some yawn, fome fneer; none second, none reply.

But dare fuch mifcreants now rush abroad, 105 By blanket, cane, pump, pillory, unaw’d? Dare they imp falfehood thus, and plume her wings, From prefent characters and recent things? Yes: What untruths! or truths in what disguise! What Boyers and what Oldmixons arife! 110 What facts from all but them and Slander screen'd! Here meets a council, no where else conven'd; There, from originals, come, thick as fpawn, Letters ne'er wrote, memorials never drawn ; To fecret conference never held they yoke, Treaties ne'er plann'd, and speeches never spoke. From, Oldmixon, thy brow, too well we know, Like Sin from Satan's far and wide they go.

115

In vain may St. John safe in conscience fit ; In vain with truth confute, contemn with wit: 120 Confute, contemn, amid selected friends; There finks the justice, there the satire ends, Here, though a century scarce fuch leaves unclose, From mould and duft the flander facred grows. Now none reply where all defpife the page; 125 But will dumb fcorn deceive no future age? Then, fhould dull periods cloud not seeming fact, Will no fine pen th' unanswer'd lie extract?. Well-fet in plan, and polish'd into stile, Fair and more fair may finish'd fraud beguile; 130 By every language fnatch'd, by time receiv'd, In every clime, by every age believ'd: How vain to virtue trust the great their name, When fuch their lot for infamy or fame ?

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Alike the Judge and Advocate would guide:
And thefe would vie each dubious point to clear,
To ftop the widow's and the orphan's tear;
Were all, like Yorke, of delicate addrefs,
Strength to difcern, and sweetness to exprefs,
Learn'd, juft, polite, born every heart to gain,
Like Cummins mild; like Fortefcue humane,
All-eloquent of truth, divinely known,
So deep, fo clear, all Science is his own.

Of heart impure, and impotent of head,
In hiftory, rhetoric, ethics, law, unread;
How far unlike fuch worthies, once a drudge,
From floundering in low cafes, rofe a Judge.

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* The honourable William Fortescue, Efq. one of the Fuftices of His Majefty's Gourt of Common Pleas

thunders,

IS

Form'd to make pleaders laugh, his nonfenfe | Did piteous lazars oft attend her door?
She gave-farewel the parent of the poor.
Youth, age, and want, once cheer'd, now fighing
fwell,

15
And, on low juries, breathes contagious blunders.
His brothers blush, because no blufh he knows,
Nor e'er one uncorrupted finger shows."
See, drunk with power, the circuit-lord exprest!
Full, in his eye, his betters ftand confeft;
Whofe wealth, birth, virtue, from a tongue fo loose,
'Scape not provincial, vile, buffoon abuse.
Still to what circuit is affign'd his name,

20

There, fwift before him, flies the warner-Fame.
Conteft ftops fhort, Confent yields every cause 25
To Coft: Delay, endures them, and withdraws.
But how 'fcape prifoners? To their trial chain'd,

Blefs her lov'd name, and weep a last farewel.

VALENTINE'S DAY.

A POE M.

ADDRESSED

ADIEU, ye rocks that witness'd once my flame

Return'd my fighs, and echo'd Chloc's

name!

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All, all shall ftand condemn'd, who stand arraign'd. TO A YOUNG WIDOW LADY.
Dire guilt, which elfe would deteftation cause,
Prejudg'd with infult, wonderous pity draws. 30
But fcapes e'en Innocence his harsh harangue?
Alas!e'en Innocence itself muft hang;
Muft hang to please him, when of fpleen poffeft;
Muft hang to bring forth an abortive jeft.
Why liv'd he not ere Star-chambers had fail'd, 35
When fine, tax, cenfure, all but law prevail'd;
Or law, fubfervient to fome murderous will,
Became a precedent to murder ftill?
Yet ev'n when patriots did for traitors bleed,
Was e'er the jobb to such a slave decreed,
Whofe favage mind wants fophift-art to draw,
O'er murder'd virtue, fpecious veils of law?
Why, Student, when the bench your youth
admits;

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Where, though the worst, with the best rank'd he fits;

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Where found opinions you attentive write,
As once a Raymond, now a Lee to cite,
Why pause you scornful when he dins the court?
Note well his cruel quirks, and well report.
Let his own words against himself point clear
Satire more sharp than verse when most severe. 50

EPITAPH

ON

MRS. JONES,

Grandmother to Mrs. BRIDGET JONES, of Llanelly in Caermarthenshire.

IN her, whofe relicks mark this facred earth,

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Cambria, farewel!-my Chloe's charms no more
Invite my steps along Llanelly's fhore;
There no wild dens conceal voracious foes,
The beach no fierce, amphibious monster knows;
No crocodile there flesh'd with prey appears,
And o'er that bleeding prey weeps cruel tears;
No falfe hyæna, feigning human grief, [10
There murders him, whofe goodness means relief:
Yet tides, confpiring with unfaithful ground,
Though diftant feen, with treacherous arms, fur-
round.

There quickfands, thick as beauty's fnares, annoy,
Look fair to tempt, and whom they tempt, destroy.
I watch'd the feas, I pac'd the fands with care, 15
Efcap'd, but wildly rufh'd on beauty's fnare.
Ah!-better far, than by that fnare overpow'rd,
Had fands engulf'd me, or had feas devour'd.

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Sure on this day, when hope attains fuccefs,
Bright Venus first did young Adonis bless.
Her charms not brighter, Chloe, fure than thine;
Though flush'd his youth, not more his warmth
than mine.
Sequefter'd far within a myrtle grove,
Whofe blooming bofom courts retiring love;
Where a clear fun, the blue ferene displays,
And fheds, through vernal air, attemper'd rays;
10 Where flowers their aromatic incense bring,
And fragrant flourish in eternal spring;
There mate to mate each dove refponfive coos,
loan-While this affents, as that enamour'd woos,

Shone all domestic and all focial worth:
First, heaven her hope with early offspring crown'd;
And thence a fecond race rofe numerous round.
Heaven to industrious virtue bleffing lent,
And all was competence, and all content.
Though frugal care, in Wisdom's eye admir'd,
Knew to preferve what industry requir'd;
Yet, at her board with decent plenty bleft,
The journeying ftranger fat a welcome gueft.
Preft on all fides, did trading neighbours fear
Ruin, which hung o'er exigence severe ?
Farewel the friend, who fpar'd th' affistant
A neighbour's woe or welfare was her own.

* When Page one uncorrupted finger shows.
D. of WHARTON.'

There rills amufive, fend from rocks around,
A folitary, pleasing, murmuring found;
Then form a limpid lake. The lake ferene
Reflects the wonders of the blissful icene.

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What joys they both receive and both bestow,
Virgins may guefs, but wives experienc'd know:
From joys, like thefe, (ah, why deny'd to me?)

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50 Sprung a fresh, blooming boy, my fair, from thee.
May he, a new Adonis, lift his crest,
In all the florid grace of youth confeft!
First let him learn to lifp your lover's name,
And, when he reads, here annual read my flame.
When beauty firft fhall wake his genial fire,
And the firft tingling fenfe excite defire;
When the dear object, of his peace poffeft,
Gains and ftill gains on his unguarded breast:
Then may he fay, as he this verse reviews,
Somy bright mother charm'd the poet's Mufe. [125
His heart thus flutter'd oft 'twixt doubt and fear,
Lighten'd with hope, and fadden'd with despair,
Say, on fome rival did she smile too kind?
Ah, read-what jealoufy diftracts his mind!
Smil'd the on him? He imag'd rays divine;
And gaz'd and gladden'd'with a love like mine. 130
How dwelt her praise upon his raptur'd tongue!
Ah!-when the frown'd, what plaintive notes he
fung!

[65

To love the birds attune their chirping throats,
And on each breeze immortal music floats.
There feated on a rifing turf is seen,
Graceful, in loose array, the Cyprian queen;
All fresh and fair, all mild, as Ocean gave
The goddess, rifing from the azure wave;
Difhevel'd locks diftil celeftial dews,
And all her limbs, divine perfumes diffuse,
Her voice fo charms, the plumy, warbling throngs,
In liftening wonder loft, fufpend their fangs.
It founds "Why loiters my Adonis ?"-cry,
"Why loiters my Adonis;"-rocks reply.
"Oh, come away!"-they thrice, repeating, fay;
And Echo thrice repeats,-"Oh, come away!"-60
Kind zephyrs waft them to her lover's ears;
Who, inftant at th' inchanting call, appears.
Her placid eye, where sparkling joy refines,
Benignant, with alluring luftre fhines.
His locks, which, in loofe ringlets, charm the view
Float careless, lucid from their amber hue.
A myrtle wreath her rofy fingers frame,
Which, from her hand, his polish'd temples claim;
His temples fair, a ftreaking beauty stains,
As fmooth white marble fhines with azure veins. 70
He kneel'd. Her fnowy hand he trembling feiz'd,
Juft lifted to his lip, and gently fqueez'd;
The meaning fqueeze return'd, love caught its lore
And enter'd, at his palm, through every pore. [75
Then fwell'd her downy breafts, till then enclos'd,
Faft heaving, half-conceal'd and half-expos'd:
Soft the reclines. He, as they fall and rife,
Hangs, hovering o'er them, with enamour'd eyes,
And, warm'd, grows wanton-As he thus admir'd,
He pray'd, he touch'd, and with the touch was
fir'd.
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Half-angry, yet half-pleas'd, her frown beguiles
The boy to fear; but, at his fear, the fmiles.
The youth lefs timorous and the fair lefs coy,
Supinely amorous they reclining toy.
More amorous ftill his fanguine meaning ftole
In wistful glances, to her foftening foul:
In her fair eye her foftening foul he reads:
To freedom, freedom, boon, to boon, fucceeds.

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With confcious blufh, th'impaffion'd charmer burns;

And, blush for blufh, th' impaffion'd youth returns.

And could the frown on him-Ah, wherefore, tell!
On him, whofe only crime was loving well?"

Thus may thy fon his pangs with mine compare,
Then with his mother had been kind as fair. 136
For him may love the myrtle wreath entwine;
Though the fad willow fuits a woe like mine!
Ne'er may the filial hope, like me, complain!
Ah! never figh and bleed, like me in vain !- 140
When death affords that peace which love denies,
Ah, no!-far other feenes my fate fupplies;
When earth to earth my lifelefs corfe is laid,
And o'er it hangs the yew or cyprefs fhade:
When pale I flit along the dreary coaft,
An helpless lover's pining plaintive ghoft;
Here annual on this dear returning day,
While feather'd choirs renew the melting lay;
May you, my fair, when you these strains fhall fee,
Juft fpare one figh, one tear, to love and me, 150
Me, who, in abfence or in death, adore

Those heavenly charms I must behold no more.

145

They look, they languish, figh with pleafing pain, 91 TO JOHN POWELL, Esq.

And with and gaze, and gaze and wish again.
"Twixt her white, parting bofom fteals the boy,
And more than hope preludes tumultuous joy;
Through every vein the vigorous traniport ran, 95
Strung every nerve, and brac'd the boy to man.
Struggling, yet yielding, half o'erpower'd, the

pants,

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Seems to deny, and yet, denying, grants.
Quick, like the tendrils of a curling vine,
Fond limbs with limbs, in amorous folds, entwine.
Lips prefs on hips, careffing and careft,
Now eye darts flame to eye, and breast to breast.
All the refigns, as dear defires incite,
And rapt he reach'd the brink of full delight.
Her waift comprefs'd in his exulting arms,
He storms, explores, and rifles all her charmis,
Clafps in ecftatic blifs th' expiring fair,
And, thrilling, melting, neftling, riots there.
How long the rapture lafts, how foon it fleets,
How oft it paufes, and how oft repeats;

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