Such a liquor as no brain
That is mortal, can sustain.
Scarce can I to heaven excuse
The devotion which I use
Unto that adored dame;
For 'tis not unlike the same,
Which I thither ought to send;
So that if it could take end,
"T would to heaven itself be due
To succeed her, and not you,
Who already have of me
All that's not idolatry ;

Which, though not so fierce a flame,
Is longer like to be the same.
Then smile on me, and I will prove
Wonder is shorter lived than love.

Edmund Waller.

WISHES, TO HIS SUPPOSED MISTRESS.

HOE'ER she be,

That not impossible she,

That shall command my heart and me :

Where'er she lie,

Lock'd up from mortal eye,

In shady leaves of destiny:

Till that ripe birth

Of studied fate stand forth

And teach her fair steps to our earth:

Till that divine

Idea take a shrine

Of crystal flesh, through which to shine :

Meet you her, my wishes,

Bespeak her to my blisses,

And be ye call'd my absent kisses.

I wish her beauty,

That owes not all its duty

To gaudy tire, or glist'ring shoe-tie.

[2 st.

How much themselves more precious are. [2 st.

A well-tamed heart,

For whose more noble smart

Love may be long choosing a dart.

Days, that need borrow

No part of their good morrow,

From a forespent night of sorrow.

[6 st.

Days, that in spite

Of darkness, by the light

Of a clear mind, are day all night.

Life, that dares send

A challenge to his end,

And when it comes, say, Welcome, friend!

Sydneian showers

Of sweet discourse, whose powers

Can crown old winter's head with flowers.

Soft silken hours,

Open suns, shady bowers,

'Bove all-nothing within that lowers.

I wish her store

Of worth leave her poor

may

Of wishes; and I wish

Now, if Time knows

-no more.

[1 st.

[3 st.

MONTROSE'S LOVE.

M

Y dear and only love, I pray That little world,—of THEE,— Be govern'd by no other sway Than purest Monarchy.

For if confusion have a part,

Which virtuous souls abhor,
I'll call a Synod in mine heart,
And never love thee more.

As Alexander I will reign,
And I will reign alone;
My soul did evermore disdain
A rival on my throne.

He either fears his fate too much,

Or his deserts are small,

That dares not put it to the touch
To gain or lose it all.

And in the Empire of thy heart,

Where I should solely be,

If others do pretend a part,

Or dare to vie with me,
Or Committees if thou erect,
And go on such a score,
I'll laugh and sing at thy neglect,
And never love thee more.

[1 st.

But if thou wilt prove faithful then,
And constant of thy word,

I'll make thee glorious by my pen,
And famous by my sword.

G

I'll serve thee in such noble ways
Was never heard before;

I'll crown and deck thee all with bays,
And love thee more and more.

Marquis of Montrose.

A LOVER'S ABSENCE.

O carve our loves in myrtle rinds And tell our secrets to the woods, To send our sighs by faithful winds, And trust our tears unto the floods; To call where no man hears,

And think that rocks have ears;

To walk and rest, to live and die,

And yet not know whence, how or why;
To have our hopes with fears still check'd,
To credit doubts, and truth suspect;
This, this is that we may

A lover's absence say.

Follies without, are cares within ;

Where eyes do fail, there souls begin.

William Cartwright.

THE MESSAGE OF THE ROSE

O, lovely rose,

Tell her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows

When I resemble her to thee

How sweet and fair she seems to be.