SONG. [From 4 stanzas.] PRITHEE, why so angry, sweet? "Tis in vain To dissemble a disdain; That frown i' th' infancy I'll meet, 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, Play in her beams, and crisp her hair, 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 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, With a dejected look and pace When, meeting with her tell-tale glass, Sweet sorrow dress'd in such a look, A shaded leaf in beauty's book, Character'd with clandestine fire. Then a full shower of pearly dew As in due homage to bestrew Or mourn her beauty's funeral. So have I seen the springing morn Her glories by that conquer'd shade. Spare, Laura, spare those beauty's twins, Then let them shine forth, to declare And to eclipse one hour be sin! |