But if a passion without vice,
Without disguise or art,
Ah, CELIA! if true love's your price, “A
Behold it in my heart.
FOREVER, Fortune, wilt thou prove
An unrelenting foe to love;
And, when we meet a mutual heart,
Come in between and bid us part?
Bid us sigh on from day to day,
And wish, and wish the soul away,
Till youth and genial years are flown,
And all the life of life is gone?
But busy, busy still art thou
To bind the loveless joyless vow,
The heart from pleasure to delude,
And join the gentle to the rude.
For once, O Fortune, hear my prayer,
And I absolve thy future care;
All other wishes I resign,
Make but the dear AMANDA mine.
DEAR CHLOE, while thus beyond measure
You treat me with doubts and disdain,
You rob all your youth of its pleasure,
And hoard up an old age of pain :
Your maxim, that love is still founded
On charms that will quickly decay,
You will find to be very ill grounded
When once you its dictates obey.
The passion from beauty first drawn
Your kindness will vastly improve;
Soft looks and gay smiles are the dawn,
Fruition 's the sunshine of love:
And tho' the bright beams of your eyes
Should be clouded, that now are so gay,
And darkness obscure all the skies,
We ne'er can forget it was day.
Old DARBY with JOAN by his side
You oft have regarded with wonder;
He is dropsical, she is sore-eyed,
Yet they're ever uncasy asunder ;
Together they totter about,
And sit in the sun at the door,
And at night when old DARBY's pot 's out
His JOAN will not smoke a whiff more.
No beauty or wit they possess
Their several failings to smother;
Then what are the charms, can you guess,
That make them so fond of each other?
'Tis the pleasing remembrance of youth,
The endearments that love did bestow,
The thoughts of past pleasure and truth,
The best of all blessings below.
These traces for ever will last
Which sickness nor time can remove;
For when youth and beauty are past,
And age brings the winter of love,
A friendship insensibly grows
By reviews of such raptures as these,
And the current of fondness still flows
Which decrepit old age cannot freeze. *
The picture of the faithful old couple in this song, and the beautiful moral drawn from it, have always been justly admired,
My WINIFREDA, move thy fear;
Let nought delay the heavenly blessing,
Nor squeamish pride, nor gloomy care.
What tho' no grants of royal donors
With pompous titles grace our blood,
We'll shine in more substantial honours,
And to be noble we 'll be good.
What tho' from fortune's lavish bounty
No mighty treasures we possess,
We'll find within our pittance plenty,
And be content without excess.
Still shall each kind returning season
Sufficient for our wishes give,
For we will live a life of reason,
And that's the only life to live.
Our name, while virtue thus we tender,
Shall sweetly sound where'er 't is spoke,
And all the great ones much shall wonder
How they admire such little folk.
Thro' youth and age in love excelling
We'll hand in hand together tread,
Sweet smiling peace shall crown our dwelling,
And babes, sweet smiling babes, our bed.
How should I love the pretty creatures
Whilst round my knees they fondly clung,
To see them look their mother's features,
To hear them disp their mother's tongue!
And when with envy time transported
Shall think to rob us of our joys;
You'll in your girls again be courted,
And I'll go wooing in my boys.*
O NANCY, wilt thou go with me,
Nor sigh to leave the flaunting town:
Can silent glens have charms for thee,
The lowly cot and russet gown?
*This pleasing delineation of conjugal and domestic felicity was first given by the author as" from the ancient British." Although this title was manifestly only a poetic fiction, or rather a stroke of satire, Dr. Percy was strangely induced by it to insert the piece among his "Reliques of Ancient Poetry."
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