From childhood upwards we decay,
And grow but greater children ev'ry day:
To Reafon how can we be said to rife?
So many cares attend the being wife,
Tis rather falling down a precipice.

From fence to Reason unimprov'd we move;

60

We only then advance when Reason turns to Love.

Thou reigneft o'er our earthly Gods;"

Uncrown'd by thee their other Crowns are loads ;
One Beauty's fmile their meaneft Courtier brings
Rather to pity than to envy Kings;

His fellow flaves he takes them now to be,
Favour'd by Love perhaps much less than he.

For Love, the tim'rous bashfull maid

66

Of nothing but denying is afraid;

For Love the overcomes her fhame,

70

Forfakes her fortune, and forgets her fame;

Yet if but with a conftant Lover bleft,

Thanks heav'n for that, and never minds the rest.

5.

Love is the falt oflife; a higher taste

It gives to pleafure, and then makes it last.

75

Those flighteft favours which cold Nymphs dif

penfe

Mere common counters of the fenfe,
Defective both in mettle and in measure,
A Lover's fancy coins into a treasure.

How vaft the fubject! what a boundless store
Ofbright ideas, fhining all before

80

The Mules fight, forbids me to give o'er !

But

1

But the kind God incites us various ways,
And now I find him all my ardour raise,
His precepts to perform, as well as praise.

ELEGY to the Duchefs of R...

Thou lovely to a rude Husbands w

hou lovely flave to a rude Husbands will

t

85

5

For all that grief we fee your mind endure,
Your glass prefents you with a pleasing cure;
Thofe maids you envy for their happier state,
To have your form, would gladly have your fate;
And oflike flavery each wife complains,
Without fuch beauty's help to bear her chains.
Husbands like him we every where may see,
But where can we behold a Wife like thee?
While to a Tyrant you by fate are ty'd,
By Love you tyrannize o'er all befide:
Those eyes, tho' weeping, can no pity move;
Worthy our grief! more worthy of our love!
You while fo fair (do Fortune what she please) 15
Can be no more in pain, than we at ease:
Unless unfatisfied with all our vows,
Your vain ambition fo unbounded grows,
That you repine a Husband fhould escape

Th' united force of fuch a face and shape.
Iffo, alas, for all thofe charming pow'rs,
Your cafe is just as defperate as ours.
Expect that Birds should only fing to you;
And, as you walk, that every tree should bow;
Expect thofe ftatues as you pafs fhould burn;

And that with wonder men should statues turn;

20

25

Such

Such beauty is enough to give things life,
But not to make a Husband love his Wife:
A Husband, worse than statues, or than trees;
Colder than those, less fenfible than these.
Then from fo dull a care your thoughts remove, .
And waste not fighs you only owe to love.
Tis pity, fighs from fuch a breaft fhould part,
Unless to ease some doubtfull Lover's heart;
Who dies because he must too justly prize
What yet the dull poffeffor does defpife.
Thus precious Jewels among Indians grow,
Who, nor their use, nor wondrous value know;
But we for those bright tre fures tempt the main,
And hazard life for what the fools difdain.

A Letter from SEA.

Fire, ftime and abfence can incline

31

35

Your heart to wand'ring thoughts no more than
mine;

Then fhall my hand, as changeless as my mind,
From your glad eyes a kindly welcome find;
Then, while this note my conftancy affures,
You'll be almoft as pleas'd, as I with yours.
And truft me, when I feel that kind relief,
Abfence it felf a while fufpends its grief:
So may it do with you, but ftraight return;
For, it were cruel not fometimes to mourn
His fate, who this long time he keeps away,
Mourns all the night, and fighs out all the day;
Grieving yet more, when he reflects that you
Muft not be happy, or must not be true.

5

ΙΟ

But

But fince to me it feems a blacker fate
To be inconftant, than unfortunate;
Remember all thofe Vows between us past,
When I from all I value parted laft;
May you alike with kind impatience burn;
And fomething mifs, till I with joy return;
And foon may pitying heav'n that bleffing give,
As in the hopes of that alone I live.

GR

Love's Slavery

Rave fops my envy now beget,
Who did my pity move;

They by the right of wanting wit,
Are free from cares of love.

Turks honour fools, because they are

By that defect secure,
From flavery and toils of war,
Which all the reft endure.

So I, who fuffer cold neglect,
And wounds from Celia's eyes,

Begin extremely to respect

These fools that feem fo wife.

Tis true, they fondly fet their hearts

On things of no delight;

To pass all day for men of parts

They pass alone the night.

But Celia never breaks their reft,

Such fervants she disdains';

And

And fo the fops are dully bleft,

While I endure her chains.

R

Eady to throw me at the feet

Of that fair Nymph whom I adore,

Impatient thofe delights to meet,
Which I enjoy'd the night before;

By her wonted scornful brow,
Soon the fond mistake I find;
Ixion mourn'd his error fo,

When Juno's form the cloud refign'd.

Sleep to make its charms more priz'd
Than waking joys which moft prevail,
Had cunningly itself disguis'd

In a shape that could not fail.

There my Celia's fnowy arms,

Breafts, and other parts more dear,
Expofing new and unknown charms,
To my transported foul appear.

Then you fo much kindness show,
My defpair deluded flies;
And indulgent dreams beftow
What your cruelty denies.

5

15

Blush not that your image, Love

Naked to my fancy brought;