.

O F

POEMS

IN SIX VOLUME S.

BY

SEVERAL HANDS.

LONDON: Printed by J. HUGHS,

For J. DODSLEY, in PALL-MAL Le
MDCCLXVI.

THE

PROGRESS of LOVE.

IN

Four E CLOGUE S.

UNCERTAINTY. ECLOGUE I. To Mr. POPE.

OPE, to whofe reed beneath the beechen fhade,

POPE,

The Nymphs of Thames a pleas'd attention paid;
While yet thy Mufe, content with humbler praise,
Warbled in Windfor's grove her fylvan lays;
Though now fublimely borne on Homer's wing,
Of glorious wars, and godlike chiefs fhe fing;
Wilt thou with me re-vifit once again

The cryftal fountain, and the flow'ry plain ?
VOL. II,

A

Wils

Wilt thou, indulgent, hear my verse relate
The various changes of a lover's state;
And while each turn of paffion I pursue,
Afk thy own heart if what I tell be true?

To the green margin of a lonely wood,
Whofe pendent fhades o'erlook'd a filver flood,
Young Damon came, unknowing were he ftray'd,
Full of the image of his beauteous maid :
His flock far off, unfed, untended lay,
To every favage a defenceless prey;

No fenfe of int'reft could their mafter move,
And every care feem'd trifling now but Love.
Awhile in penfive filence he remain'd,

But though his voice was mute, his looks complain'd;
At length the thoughts within his bofom pent,

Forc'd his unwilling tongue to give them vent.

Ye Nymphs, he cry'd, ye Dryads, who fo long Have favour'd Damon, and infpir'd his fong; For whom, retir'd, I fhun the gay reforts Of fportful cities, and of pompous courts; In vain I bid the reflefs world adicu, To feek tranquillity and peace with you. Though wild Ambition and deftructive Rage No Factions here can form, no wars can wage; Though Fnvy frowns not on your humble fhades, Nor Calumny your innocence invades,

Yet cruel Love, that troubler of the breaft,

Too often violates your boasted reût ;