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SONG.

[From 4 stanzas.]

PRITHEE, why so angry, sweet?

"Tis in vain

To dissemble a disdain;

That frown i' th' infancy I'll meet,
And kiss it to a smile again.

When thy rosy cheek thus checks

My offence,

I could sin with a pretence;

Through that sweet chiding blush there breaks So fair, so bright an innocence.

Thus your very frowns entrap

My desire,

And inflame me to admire

That eyes, dress'd in an angry shape,

Should kindle, as with amorous fire.

LAURA SLEEPING.

ODE.

[From 6 stanzas.]

WINDS, whisper gently whilst she sleeps, And fan her with your cooling wings, Whilst she her drops of beauty weeps, From pure, and yet-unrivall'd springs.

Glide over beauty's field, her face,
To kiss her lip and cheek be bold,
But with a calm and stealing pace,
Neither too rude, nor yet too cold.

Play in her beams, and crisp her hair,
With such a gale as wings soft love;
And with so sweet, so rich an air,

As breathes from the Arabian grove.

A breath as hush'd as lover's sigh,

Or that unfolds the morning's door; Sweet, as the winds that gently fly

To sweep the spring's enamell'd floor.

THE JOYS OF MARRIAGE.

[From 140 lines.]

How uneasy is his life,

Who is troubled with a wife!
Be she ne'er so fair or comely,
Be she ne'er so foul or homely,
Be she ne'er so young and toward,
Be she ne'er so old and froward,
Be she kind, with arms enfolding,
Be she cross, and always scolding,
Be she blithe, or melancholy,
Have she wit, or have she folly,
Be she wary, be she squandering,
Be she staid, or be she wandering,
Be she constant, be she fickle,
Be she fire, or be she ickle;

Be she pious, or ungodly,

Be she chaste, or what sounds oddly:

Lastly, be she good or evil,

Be she saint, or be she devil,--

Yet, uneasy is his life

Who is married to a wife.

LAURA WEEPING.

O DE.

[From 8 stanzas.

CHASTE, lovely Laura, 'gan disclose,
Drooping with sorrow from her bed;
As with ungentle showers the rose,
O'ercharg'd with wet, declines her head.

With a dejected look and pace
Neglectingly she 'gan appear:

When, meeting with her tell-tale glass,
She saw-the face of sorrow there.

Sweet sorrow dress'd in such a look,
As love would trick to catch desire;

A shaded leaf in beauty's book,

Character'd with clandestine fire.

Then a full shower of pearly dew
Upon her snowy breast 'gan fall,

As in due homage to bestrew

Or mourn her beauty's funeral.

So have I seen the springing morn
In dark and humid vapours clad,
Not to eclipse, but to adorn

Her glories by that conquer'd shade.

Spare, Laura, spare those beauty's twins,
Do not our world of beauty drown,
Thy tears are balm for others' sins,
Thou know'st not any of thine own.

Then let them shine forth, to declare
The sweet serenity within.
May each day of thy life be fair,

And to eclipse one hour be sin!

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