Then hear me, Caleb, witness what I speak,
This folemn promife death alone can break :
Sooner I would bedeck my brow with lace,
And with immodest favourites shade my face,
Sooner like Babylon's lewd whore be dreft
In flaring diamonds and a scarlet vest,
Or make a curtfie in Cathedral pew,

Than prove inconftant, while my Caleb's true.

CALEB.

When I prove falfe, and Tabitha forfake,
Teachers fhall dance a jig at country-wake;
Brethren unbeaver'd then fhall bow their head,
And with prophane mince pies our babes be fed.

TABITHA.

If that Jofiah were with paffion fir'd,
Warm as the zeal of youth when firft infpir'd;
In steady love though he might perfevere,
Unchanging as the decent garb we wear,
And thou wert fickle as the wind that blows,
Light as the feather on the head of beaux;
Yet I for thee would all thy fex refign:
Sifters, take all the reft-be Caleb mine..

CALEB,

Though I had all that finful love affords,
And all the concubines of all the lords,

Whofe couches creak with whoredom's finful fhame,
Whofe velvet chairs are with adultery lame;

Ev'n in the harlot's hall, I would not fip
The dew of lewdnefs from her lying lip;

I'd fhun her paths, upon thy mouth to dwell,
More fweet than powder which the merchants fell.
O folace me with kisses pure like thine !
Enjoy, ye lords, the wanton concubine.

The fpring now calls us forth; come, fifter, come,
To fee the primrose and the daify bloom.
Let ceremony bind the worldly pair;
Sifters efteem the brethren's words fincere,

TABITHA.

Efpoufals are but forms. O lead me hence,
For fecret love can never give offence.

Then hand in hand the loving mates withdraw.
True love is nature unreftrain'd by law.

This tenet all the holy fect allows;
So Tabitha took earnest of a spouse.

ELEGIES.

ELEGIES.

PAN THE A.

LONG had Panthea felt Love's fecret fmart,

And hope and fear alternate rul'd her heart;;

Confenting glances had her flame confest:
In woman's eyes her very foul's expreft.
Perjur'd Alexis faw the blufhing maid,

He faw, he fwore, he conquer'd, and betray'd..
Another love now calls him from her arms,
His fickle heart another beauty warms;
Those oaths, oft' whisper'd in Panthea's ears,
He now again to Galatea swears.

Beneath a beech th' abandon'd virgin laid,
In grateful folitude enjoys the fhade;

There with faint voice fhe breath'd these moving strains;
While fighing Zephyrs fhar'd her amorous pains.
Pale fettled forrow hangs upon my brow,

Dead are my charms; Alexis breaks his vow!
Think, think, dear fhepherd, on the days you knew,
When I was happy, when my fwain was true;
Think how thy looks and tongue are form'd to move;
And think yet more-that all ·my. fault was love.

Ah, could you view me in this wretched state,

You might not love me, but you could not hate.
Could you behold me in this confcious fhade,
Where first thy vows, where first my love was paid,.
Worn-out with watching, fullen with despair,
And fee each eye fwell with a gufhing tear ?
Could you behold me on this moffy bed,
From my pale cheek the lively crimson fled,
Which in my fofter hours you oft' have fworn,
With rofy beauty far outblush'd the morn?
Could you untouch'd this wretched object bear,
And would not loft Panthea claim a tear?
You could not, fure-tears from your eyes would steal,
And unawares thy tender foul reveal.

Ah, no thy foul with cruelty is fraught,
No tenderness disturbs thy favage thought;
Sooner fhall tigers fpare the trembling lambs,
And wolves with pity hear their bleating dams;
Sooner fhall vultures from their quarry fly;
Than falfe Alexis for Panthea figh.
Thy bofom ne'er a tender thought confest,
Sure ftubborn flint has arm'd thy cruel breaft;
But hardeft flints are worn by frequent rains,
And the foft drops diffolve their folid veins ;.
While thy relentlefs heart more hard appears,
And is not foften'd by a flood of tears.

Ah, what is love! Panthea's joys are gone,
Her liberty, her peace, her reafon, flown!
And when I view me in the watery glass,

d Panthea now, not what he was.

As northern winds the new-blown roses blast,.
And on the ground their fading ruins caft;
As fudden blights corrupt the ripen'd grain,
And of its verdure fpoil the mournful plain;
So hapless love on blooming features preys,
So hapless love deftroys our peaceful days,
Come, gentle fleep, relieve these weary'd eyes,
All forrow in thy foft embraces dies:
There, 'fpite of all thy perjur'd vows, I find
Faithlefs Alexis languishingly kind;
Sometimes he leads me by the mazy stream,
And pleasingly deludes me in my dream;
Sometimes he guides me to the fecret grove,
Where all our looks, and all our talk is love..
Oh, could I thus confume each tedious day,
And in sweet flumbers dream my life away!
But fleep, which now no more relieves these eyes,,
To my fad foul the dear deceit denies.

Why does the fun dart forth its chearful rays? Why do the woods refound with warbling lays? Why does the rofe her grateful fragrance yield, And yellow cowflips paint the fimiling field? Why do the streams with murmuring mufick flow,, And why do groves their friendly shade bestow? Let fable clouds the chearful fun deface, Let mournful filence feize the feather'd race; No more, ye roses, grateful fragrance yield, Droop, droop, ye cowflips, in the blated field; No more, ye ftreams, with murmuring mufick flow, And let not groves a friendly fhade beflow: