With fuch high food he fhall fet forth his feafts,
That cardinals fhall wish to be his guests;
And pamper'd prelates fee
Themfelves outdone in luxury.
BLESS me, 'tis cold! how chill the air!
How naked does the world appear!
But fee (big with the offspring of the north)
The teeming clouds bring forth :
A fhower of foft and fleecy rain
Falls, to new-cloath the earth again.
Behold the mountain-tops around,
As if with fur of ermins crown'd;
And lo! how by degrees
The univerfal mantle hides the trees,
In hoary flakes, which downward fly,
As if it were the Autumn of the sky :
Trembling, the groves fuftain the weight, and bow
Like aged limbs, which feebly go
Beneath a venerable head of snow.
Diffufive cold does the whole earth invade,
Like a difeafe, through all its veins 'tis fpread,
And each late living ftream is numb'd and dead.
Let's melt the frozen hours, make warm the air;
Let chearful fires Sol's feeble beams repair;
Fill the large bowl with sparkling wine;
Let's drink 'till our. own faces fhine,
Till we like funs appear,
To light and warm the hemifphere.
Wine can dispense to all both light and heat,
They are with wine incorporate:
That powerful juice, with which no cold dares mix,
Which ftill is fluid, and no frost can fix;
Let that but in abundance flow,
And let it storm and thunder, hail and fnow,
"Tis heaven's concern; and let it be
The care of heaven ftill for me:
Those winds, which rend the oaks and plough the feas, Great Jove can, if he please,
With one commanding nod appease.
Seek not to know to-morrow's doom;
That is not ours, which is to come.
The prefent moment's all our ftore:
The next, fhould heaven allow,
Then this will be no more :
So all our life is but one inftant now,
Look on each day you 've paft
To be a mighty treasure won :
And lay each moment out in haste;
We're fure to live too fast,
And cannot live too foon.
Youth doth a thousand pleafures bring,
Which from decrepit age will fly;
The flowers that flourish in the spring,
In winter's cold embraces die.
Now Love, that everlasting boy, invites
To revel while you may, in foft delights:
Now the kind nymph yields all her charms,
Nor yields in vain to youthful arms.
'Slowly the promises at night to meet,
But eagerly prevents the hour with fwifter feet.
To gloomy groves and fhades obfcure the flies,
There veils the bright confeffion of her eyes.
Unwillingly fhe ftays,
Would more unwillingly depart,
And in foft fighs conveys
The whispers of her heart.
Still fhe invites and ftill denies,
And vows fhe'll leave you if you 're rude;
Then from her ravisher fhe flies,
But flies to be purfu'd :
If from his fight she does herfelf convey,
With a feign'd laugh she will herself betray,
And cunningly inftruct him in the way.
look'd, and I figh'd, and I wish'd I could speak,
And very fain would have been at her;
But when I ftrove moft my great paffion to break,
Still then I faid leaft of the matter.
I fwore to myself, and refolv'd I would try
Some way my poor heart to recover;
But that was all vain, for I fooner could die,
Than live with forbearing to love her.
Dear Cælia, be kind then; and fince your own eyes
By looks can command adoration.
Give mine leave to talk too, and do not defpife
Those oglings that tell you my paffion.
We'll look, and we 'll love, and though neither should fpeak,
The pleasure we'll still be pursuing;
And fo, without words, I don't doubt we may make A very good end of this wooing.
RECITATIVE.
AIR Cælia love pretended,
And nam'd the myrtle bower,
Where Damon long attended
Beyond the promis'd hour.
At length impatient growing
Of anxious expectation,
His heart with rage o'erflowing,
He vented thus his paffion.
To all the fex deceitful,
A long and laft adieu
Since women prove ungrateful
As oft as men prove true.
The pains they cause are many,
And long and hard to bear,
The joys they give (if any)
Few, fhort, and unfincere.
RECITATIVE.
But Cælia now, repenting
Her breach of affignation,
Arriv'd with eyes confenting,
And sparkling inclination.
Like Citherca fmiling,
She blush'd, and laid his paffion;
The fhepherd ceas'd reviling,
And fung this recantation:
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