ROB'D like Diana, ready for the chace,

Her mind as fpotlefs, and as fair her face,
Young Sylvia ftray'd beneath the dewy dawn
To courfe th' imperial stag o'er Windfor lawn.
There Cupid view'd her spreading o'er the plain,
The first and fairest of the rural train;

And, by a fmall mistake, the power of love,
Thought her the virgin-goddess of the grove:
Soon aw'd with innocence, t' evade her fight
He fled, and drop'd his quiver in the flight:
Though pleas'd, she blush'd; and, with a glowing finile.
Purfued the god, and feiz'd the golden fpoil.
The nymph, refiftlefs in her native charms,
Now reigns, poffefs'd of Cupid's dreaded arms;
And, wing'd with lightning from her radiant eyes,
Unerring in its speed each arrow flies.

No more his deity is held divine,

No more we kneel at Cytherea's fhrine;

Their various pewers, complete in Sylvia, prove
Her title to command the realms of love.

KISSES.

K IS SE S.

TRANSLATED FROM SECUNDUS

BASIU M I.

WHEN Venus, in the sweet Idalian fhade,

A violet couch for young Afcanius made,

Their opening gems th' obedient rofes bow'd, And veil'd his beauties with a damask cloud: While the bright goddess, with a gentle shower ́Of nectar'd dews, perfum'd the blissful bower.

Of fight infatiate, the devours his charms,
Till her soft breast rekindling ardour warms;
New joys tumultuous in her bosom roll,
And all Adonis rufheth on her foul:
Transported with each dear resembling grace,
She cries, Adonis !---fure I fee thy face!
Then stoops to clasp the beauteous form, but fears
He'd wake too soon, and with a figh forbears;
Yet, fix'd in filent rapture, ftands to gaze,
Kiffing each flowering bud that round her plays :
Swell'd with her touch, each animated rofe
Expands, and strait with warmer purple glows;
Where infant kiffes bloom, a balmy store!
Redoubling all the blifs fhe felt before.
Sudden her fwans career along the skies,
And o'er the globe the fair celestial flies;

Then,

Then, as where Ceres pafs'd, the teeming plain
Yellow'd with wavy crops of golden grain,
So fruitful kiffes fell where Venus flew,
And by the power of genial magic grew;
A plenteous harvest! which she deign'd t' impart
To footh an agonizing love-fick heart,

All hail, ye roseate kiffes! who remove
Our cares, and cool the calentures of love.
Lo! I your poet, in melodious lays

Blefs your kind power, enamour'd of your praise
Lays! form'd to laft till barbarous time invades
The Mufest hill, and withers all their shades.
Sprung from the guardian of the Roman name,
In Roman numbers live, fecure of fame.

As

S the young enamour'd vine
Round her elm delights to twine,

As the clafping ivy, throws

G

Round her oak her wanton boughs,
So clofe, expanding all thy charms,
Fold me, my Chloris, in thy arms!
Clofer, my, Chloris, could it be,
Would my fond arms incircle thee.

The jovial friend fhall tempt in vain
With humour, wit, and brifk champaigne ;

* Venus.

In vain shall Nature call for fleep,
We'll Love's eternal vigils keep :
Thus, thus for ever let us lie,
Diffolving in excefs of joy,
Till fate fhall with a fingle dart
Transfix the pair it cannot part.

Thus join'd, we 'll fleet like Venus' doves,
And feek the bleft Elyfian groves;

Where Spring in rofy triumph reigns
Perpetual o'er the joyous plains :
There, lovers of heroic name,
Revive their long-extinguifh'd flame,
And o'er the fragrant vale advance
In fhining' pomp to form the dance,
Or fing of Love and gay Defire,
Refponfive to the warbling lyre;
Reclining foft in blissful bowers,
Purpled fweet with fpringing flowers;
And cover'd with a filken fhade,
Of laurel mix'd with myrtle made:
Where, flaunting in immortal bloom,
The mufk-rofe fcents the verdant gloom;
Through which the whispering Zephyrs fly
Softer than a virgin's figh.

When we approach those blest retreats,
Th' affembly ftrait will leave their feats,
Admiring much the matchlefs pair,
So fond the youth, the nymph fo fair!
Daughters and mistreffes to Jove,

By Homer fam'd of old for love;

In homage to the British Grace,
Will give pre-eminence of place.
Helen herself will foon agree

To rife, and yield her rank to thee.

AN

EPISTLE

то

THOMAS LAM BARD, ESQ.

"Omnia me tua delectant; fed maximè, maxima cùm "fides in amicitiâ, confilium, gravitas, conftantia;

46

tum lepos, humanitas, literæ."

CICERO, Ep. xxvii. Lib. xi.

LOW though I am to wake the fleeping lyre,

SLOW

Yet should the Muse some happy song inspire,
Fit for a friend to give, and worthy thee,

That favourite verfe to Lambard I decree :
Such may the Muse inspire, and make it prove
A pledge and monument of lafting love!
Meantime intent the faireft plan to find,
To form the manners, and improve the mind;
Me the fam'd wits of Rome and Athens please,
By Orrery's indulgence wrapt in ease;

Whom all the rival Mufes ftrive to grace
With wreaths familiar to his letter'd race.

Now Truth's bright charms employ my ferious thought,

In, flowing cloquence by Tully taught:

Then