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Too faithful Memory! I give thee leave
Thy wretched Master kindly to deceive;
Oh, make me got Poffeffor of her Charms,
Let me not find her languifh in my Arms;
Paft Joys are now my Fancy's mournful Themes;
Make all my happy Nights appear but Dreams:
Let not fuch Blifs before my Eyes be brought;
O hide thofe Scenes from my tormenting Thought;
And in their place difdainful Beauty show

If thou would'ft not be cruel, make her fo:
And, fomething to abate my deep Defpair,
O let her feem lefs gentle, or less fair.
But I in vain flatter my wounded Mind,
Never was Nymph fo lovely, or fo kind:
No cold Repulfes my Defires fupprefs'd,

I feldom figh'd but on ALMERIA's Breast:
Of all the Paffions which Mankind destroy,

I only felt Excess of Love and Joy:

Unnumber'd Pleasures charm'd my Senfe, and they Were, as my Love, without the least Allay.

BL

As

As pure, alas! but not fo fure to last,

For, like a pleasing Dream, they all are past.
From Heav'n her Beauties like fierce Light'nings came,
Which break throughDarkness with a gloriousFlame;
A while they fhine, a while our Minds amaze,
Our wond'ring Eyes are dazled with the Blaze;
But Thunder follows, whose refiftless Rage
None can withstand, and nothing can affuage;
And all that Light which thofe bright Flashes gave,
Serves only to conduct us to our Grave.

When I had just begun Love's Joys to taste,
(Those full Rewards for Fears and Dangers paft)
A Fever feiz'd her, and to nothing brought
The richest Work that ever Nature wrought.
All things below, alas, uncertain stand;
The firmeft Rocks are fix'd upon the Sand:
Under this Law both Kings and Kingdoms bend,
And no Beginning is without an End.

A Sacrifice to Time, Fate dooms us all,
And at the Tyrant's Feet we daily fall :

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Time, whofe bold Hand will bring alike to Duft

Mankind, and Temples too in which they trust.
Her wafted Spirits now begin to faint,

Yet Patience ties her Tongue from all Complaint,
And in her Heart as in a Fort remains ;

But yields at laft to her refistless Pains.

Thus while the Fever, am'rous of his Prey,
Through all her Veins makes his delightful Way,
Her Fate's like SEMELE'S, the Flames destroy
That Beauty they too eagerly enjoy.

Her charming Face is in its Spring decay'd,
Pale grow the Rofes, and the Lillies fade;
Her Skin has loft that Luftre which furpass'd
The Sun's, and well deferv'd as long to last :
Her Eyes, which us'd to pierce the hardest Hearts,
Are now difarm'd of all their Flames and Darts;

Those Stars now heavily and flowly move;

And Sickness triumphs in the Throne of Love.
The Fever ev'ry Moment more prevails,

Its Rage her Body feels, and Tongue bewails:

She,

She, whofe Difdain so many Lovers prove,

Sighs now for Torment, as they figh for Love,
And with loud Cries, which rend the neighb'ring Air,
Wounds my fad Heart, and wakens my Defpair.
Both Men and Gods I charge now with my Lofs,
And, wild with Grief, my Thoughts each other cross;
My Heart and Tongue labour in both Extremes,
This fends up humble Prayers, while that blafphemes:
I ask their Help, whose Malice I defy,

And mingle Sacrilege with Piety.

But that which must yet more perplex my Mind,
To love her truly, I muft feem unkind :

So unconcern'd a Face my Sorrow wears,

I must restrain unruly Floods of Tears.

My Eyes and Tongue put on diffembling Forms,
Ifhew a Calmness in the midft of Storms;

I feem to hope when all my Hopes are gone,
And almoft dead with Grief, discover none.
But who can long deceive a loving Eye,
Or with dry Eyes behold his Mistress die?

When

When Paffion had with all its Terrors brought

Th' approaching Danger nearer to my Thought,
Off on a fudden fell the forc'd Disguise,
And fhew'd a fighing Heart in weeping Eyes:
My Apprehenfions now no more confin'd,
Expos'd my Sorrows and betray'd my Mind.
The Fair afflicted foon perceives my Tears,
Explains my Sighs, and thence concludes my Fears:
With fad Prefages of her hopeless Cafe,

She reads her Fate in my dejected Face ;

Then feels my Torment, and neglects her own,
While I am fenfible of hers alone;

Each does the other's Burthen kindly bear,
I fear her Death, and fhe bewails my Fear:

Tho' thus we fuffer under Fortune's Darts,
'Tis only thofe of Love which reach our Hearts.
Mean while the Fever mocks at all our Fears,
Grows by our Sighs, and rages at our Tears:
Those vain Effects of our as vain Defire,

Like Wind and Oil increase the fatal Fire.

2

ALMERIA

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