Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub
[blocks in formation]

OF MRS. ARDEN.

BEHOLD, and liften, while the Fair

Breaks in sweet sounds the willing air:
And, with her own breath, fans the fire
Which her bright eyes do first inspire.
What reafon can that love control,
Which more than one way courts the foul?
So, when a flash of lightning falls

On our abodes, the danger calls
For human aid; which hopes the flame.
To conquer, though from heaven it came :
But, if the winds with that confpire,
Men strive not, but deplore the fire.

OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE DWARFS.

DESIGN, or chance, make others wive;

But nature did this match contrive:

Eve might as well have Adam fled,
As the deny'd her little bed

To him, for whom Heav'n feem'd to frante,
And measure out, this only dame.

Thrice happy is that humble pair,
Beneath the level of all care!
Over whose heads thofe arrows fly
Of fad distrust and jealoufy:
Secured in as high extreme
As if the world held none but thent.

To him the faireft nymphs do fhow
Like moving mountains topt with snow;
And every man a Polypheme
Does to his Galatea feem:
None may prefume her faith to prove;
He proffers death that proffers love.

Ah! Chloris! that kind nature thus
From all the world had sever'd us :
Creating for ourselves us two,
As love has me for only you!*

TR

LOVE'S FAREWELL.

READING the path to nobler ends
A long farewell to love I gave;
Refolv'd my country and my friends
All that remain'd of me fhould have.
And this refolve no mortal dame

None but thofe eyes, could have o'erthrown :
The nymph I dare not, need not, name,
So high, fo like herself alone.

Thus the tall oak, which now afpires.
Above the fear of private fires;
Grown and defign'a for nobler use,
Not to make warm, but build the house
Though from our meaner flames fecure,
Muft that which falls from heaven endure.

FROM A CHILD.

MADAM, as in fome climes the warmer fun
Makes its full fummit ere the fpring's begun!
And with ripe fruit the bending boughs can load,
Before our violets dare look abroad;
So, measure not by any common use,
The early love your brighter eyes produce.
When lately your fair hand in woman's weed
Wrapt my glad head, I wifh'd me fo indeed,
That hafty time might never make me grow
Out of thofe favours you afford me now:
That I might ever fuch indulgence find,
And you not blush, or think yourself too kind:
Who now, I fear, while I thefe joys exprefs,
Begin to think how you may make them lefs:
The found of love makes your foft heart afraid,
And guard itself, though but a child invade,
And innocently at your white breaft throw
A dart as white, a ball of new-fall'n fnow.

ON A GIRDLE.

HAT which her flender waist confin'd Shall now my joyful temples bind : No monarch but would give his crown, His arms might do what this has done.

It was my heavn's extremeft sphere, The pale which held that lovely deer: My joy, my grief. my hope, my love, Did all within this circle move!

A narrow compafs! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair Give me but what this ribband bound, Take all the reft the fun goes round.

H

TO THE MUTABLE FAIR,

ERE, Cælia, for thy fake I part
With all that grew fo near my heart:
The paffion that I had for thee,
The faith, the love, the conftancy!
And, that I may fuccessful prove,
Transform myself to what you love.

Fool that I was, fo much to prize
Those fimple virtues you despise;
Fool! that with fuch dull arrows ftrove,
Or hop'd to reach a flying dove;
For you, that are motion ftill,
Decline our force, and mock our skill;
Who, like Don Quixote do advance
Against a wind-mill our vain lance.

Now will I wander through the air,
Mount, make a ftoop at every Fair;
And, with a fancy unconfin'd
(As lawless as the fea or wind)
Purfue you wherefo'er you fly,
And with your various thoughts comply.
The formal stars do travel so,
As we their names and courfes know;
And he that on their changes looks,
Would think them govern'd by our books:
But never were the clouds reduc'd
To any art the motion us'd
By thofe free vapours are fo light,
So frequent, that the conquer'd fight
Defpairs to find the rules that guide
Thofe gilded fhadows as they flide.
And therefore of the spacious air
Jove's royal confort had the care :
And by that power did once escape,
Declining bold Ixion's rape;
She with her own resemblance grac'd
A fhining cloud, which he embrac'd.

Such was that image, fo it fmil'd
With feeming kindness, which beguil'd
Your Thyrfis lately, when he thought
He had his fleeting Calia caught.
"Twas fhap'd like her; but for the Fair
He fill'd his arms with yielding air.

A fate for which he grieves the less,
Because the Gods had like fuccess.
VOL. IL

For, in their story, one, we fee,
Purfues a nymph, and takes a tree :
A fecond, with a lover's hafte,
Soon o'ertakes whom he had chac'd;
But she that did a Virgin seem,
Poffeft, appears a wandering Itream:
For his fuppofed Love, a third,
Lays greedy hold upon a bird;
And ftands amaz'd, to find his dear
A wild inhabitant of th'air.

To these old tales fuch nymphs as you
Give credit, and still make them new;
The amorous now like wonders find,
In the swift changes of your mind.

But, Calia, if you apprehend
The Muse of your incenfed friend;
Nor would that he record your blame,
And make it live, repeat the fame;
Again deceive him, and again,
And then he fwears he'll not complain
For ftill to be deluded fo,

Is all the pleasure lovers know;
Who, like good falconers, take delight.
Not in the quarry, but the flight.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Close to the nymph's ftain'd garment ! Here
The coming fpring would first appear;
And all this place with roses ftrow,
If bufy feet would let them grow.

Here Venus fmil'd, to fee blind Chance
Itself, before her Son, advance;
And a fair image to present,

Of what the Boy fo long had meant.
'Twas fuch a chance as this made all
The world into this order fall;
Thus the firft lovers on the clay
Of which they were compofed lay:
So in their prime, with equal grace,
Met the first patterns of our race.

Then blush not, Fair! or on him frown,
Or wonder how you both came down ;
But touch him, and he'll tremble strait :
How could he then fupport your weight?
How could the youth, alas! but bend
When his whole heaven upon him lean'd?
If aught by him amifs were done,
'Twas that he let you rife fo foon.

[blocks in formation]

OUR caves.

UR fighs are heard, juft Heaven declares

She that has fo far the reft outfhin'd,
Sylvia the fair, while fhe was kind,
As if her frowns impair'd her brow,
Seems only not unhandfome now.

So when the fky makes us endure
A ftorm, itself becomes obfcure.
Hence 'tis that I conceal my flame,
Hiding from Flavia's felf her name;
Left fhe, provoking heaven, should prove
How it rewards neglected love.
Better a thousand fuch as I,

Their grief untold, fhould pine and die,
Than her bright morning, overcaft
With fullen clouds, fhould be defac'd.

THE BUD.

LATELY on yonder fwelling bufh,

Big with many a coming rofe, This early bud began to blufh,

And did but half itfelf difclofe: I pluck'd it, though no better grown, And now you fee how full 'tis blown.

Still as I did the leaves infpire,

With fuch a purple light they fhone, As if they had been made of fire,

And fpreading fo, would flame anon: All that was meant by air or fun,

To the young flower, my breath has done.

[blocks in formation]

TO A LADY,

FROM WHOM HE RECEIVED A SILVER PEN,

ADAM! intending to have try'd

MAD

The filver favour which you gave, In ink the fhining point I dy'd,

And drench'd it in the fable wave: When, griev'd to be fo foully ftain'd, On you it thus to me complain'd. Suppose you had deferv'd to take From her fair hand fo fair a boon; Yet how deferved I to make

So ill a change; who ever won Immortal praise for what I wrote, Inftructed by her noble thought? I, that expreffed her commands

To mighty Lords and Princely dames, Always moft welcome to their hands;

Proud that I would record their names; Muft now be taught an humble style, Some meaner beauty to beguile.

So I, the wrong'd pen to please,
Make it my humble thanks exprefs
Unto your Ladyfhip, in these :

And now 'tis forc'd to confefs,
That your great felf did ne'er indite,
Nor that, to one more noble, write.

[blocks in formation]

OF LOVING AT FIRST SIGHT.

гот

NOT caring to obferve the wind,

Or the new fea explore, Snatch'd from myfelf, how far behind Already I behold the shore !

May not a thousand dangers fleep In the smooth bofom of the deep? No: 'tis fo rocklefs and fo clear, That the rich bottom does appear Pav'd all with precious things; not torn From fhip-wreck'd veffels, but there born. Sweetness, truth, and every grace, Which time, and use, are wont to teach, The eye may in a moment reach, And read diftinctly in her face.

Some other nymphs, with colours faint, And pencil flow, may Cupid paint, And a weak heart in time destroy; She has a stamp, and prints the Boy: Can, with a fingle look, inflame The coldest breast, and rudeft tame.

THE SELF-BANISH'D.

T is not that I love you lefs,

I than when before your fect I lay:

But, to prevent the fad increase

Of hopeless love, I keep away. In vain, alas! for every thing,

Which I have known belong to you, Your form does to my fancy bring,

And makes my old wounds bleed anew. Who in the fpring, from the new fun

Already has a fever got,

Too late begins thofe shafts to fhun,
Which Phoebus through his veins has fhot.
Too late he would the pain affwage,

And to thick fhadows does retire:
About with him he bears the rage,

And in his tainted blood the fire.
But vow'd I have, and never muft
Your banifh'd fervant trouble you;
For if I break, you may mistrust
The vow I made to love you too.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

But fince the Sifters did so soon untwine
So fair a thread, I'll ftrive to piece the line.
Vouchsafe, fad nymph! to let me know the dame,
And to the Mufes I'll commend her name:
Make the wide country echo to your moan,
The liftening trees, and favage mountains, groan;
What rock's not mov'd when the death is fung
Of one fo good, fo lovely, and fo young?

GALATEA.

"Twas Hamilton !-whom I had nam'd before, But naming her, grief lets me fay no more..

ON THE HEAD OF A STAG.

we fome antique Hero's ftrength

S Learn by weight length;

As these vaft beams exprefs the beast,
Whose fhady brows alive they dreft.
Such game, while yet the world was new,
The mighty Nimrod did purfue.
What huntsman of our feeble race,

Or dogs, dare fuch a monster chase?
The charge of a whole troop of pikes.
Refembling, with each blow he ftrikes,
O fertile head! which every year
Could fuch a crop of wonder bear!
The teeming earth did never bring,
So foon, fo hard, fo huge a thing:
Which might it never have been caft,
(Each year's growth added to the last)
Thefe lofty branches had fupply'd
The Earth's bold fons' prodigious pride:
Heaven with thefe engines had been fcal'd,

Hear then, and let your fong augment our grief, When moutain's heap'd on mountains fail'd. Which is fo great, as not to wish relief.

She that had all which nature gives, or chance;
Whom fortune join'd with virtue to advance
To all the joys this island could afford,
The greatest Mistress, and the kindest Lord:
Who with the royal, mix'd her noble, blood;
And in high grace with Gloriana stood:

Her bounty, fweetness, beauty, goodness, fuch,
That none e'er thought her happiness too much
So well inclin'd her favours to confer,
And kind to all, as Heaven had been to her!
The virgin's part, the mother, and the wife,
So well the acted in the fpan of life,

That though few years (too few alas!) fhe told,
She feem'd in all things, but in beauty, old.
As unripe fruit, whofe verdant stalks do cleave
Close to the tree, which grieves no lefs to leave
The smiling pendant which adorns her fo,
And until autumn, on the bough should grow:
So feem'd her youthful foul, not eafily forc'd,
Or from fo fair, so sweet, a feat divorc'd.
Her fate at once did hafty feem, and flow;
At once too cruel, and unwilling too.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

TO A LADY IN RETIREMENT.

EES not my Love, how time refumes

SEF

The glory which he lent these flowers?
Though none fhould tafte of their perfumes,
Yet muft they live but fome few hours:
Time, what we forbear, devours!

Had Helen, or th' † Egyptian Queen,
Been fo thrifty of their graces;
Those beauties muft at length have been
The fpoil of age which find out faces
In the most retired places.

Should fome malignant planet bring

A barren drought, or ceaseless shower, Upon the autumn, or the fpring,

And fpare us neither fruit nor flower;
Winter would not stay an hour.
Could the refolve of Love's neglect

Preferve you from the violation
Of coming years, then more refpect
Were due to fo divine a fashion;
Nor would I indulge my paffion.
+ Cleopatra

Parce.

« ПредишнаНапред »