Here let me end the story of my cares;
My difmal grief enough the rest declares.
Judge thou by all this mifery difplay'd,
Whether I ought not to implore thy aid:
Thus to furvive, reproaches on me draws;
Never fad wishes had so just a cause.
Come then, my only hope; in ev'ry place
Thou vifiteft, men tremble at thy face,
And fear thy name: once let thy fatal hand
Fall on a fwain that does the blow demand.
Vouchsafe thy dart; I need not one of those,
With which thou doft unwilling Kings depofe:
A welcome death the slightest wound can bring,
And free a foul already on her wing.
Without thy aid, most miserable I
Must ever wish, yet not obtain to die.
ET others fongs or fatires write,
Provok'd by Vanity or Spite;
My mufe a nobler caufe fhall move,
To found aloud the praise of Love:
That gentle, yet refiftless heat,
Which raises man to all things good and great:
While other paffions of the mind
To low brutality debafe mankind,
By love we are above ourselves refin'd.
Oh Love, thou trance Divine! in which the foul, Unclogg'd with worldly cares, may range without controul;
And foaring to her Heav'n, from thence infpir'd can
High mysteries, above poor Reason's feeble reach.
To weak old age prudence fome aid may prove,-
And curb thofe appetites that faintly move;
But wild, impetuous youth is tam'd by nothing
lefs than love.
Of men too rough for peace, too rude for arts,
Love's pow'r can penetrate the hardest hearts;
And through the clofeft pores a paffage find,
Like that of light, to shine all o'er the mind.
The want of love does both extremes produce;
Maids are too nice, and men as much too loose;
While equal good an am'rous couple find,
She makes him constant, and he makes her kind.
New charms in vain a lover's faith would prove;
Hermits or bed-rid men they'll fooner move:
The fair inveigler will but fadly find,
There's no fuch eunuch as a man in love.
But when by his chafte nymph embrac'd,
(For love makes all embraces chaste)
Then the transported creature can
Do wonders, and is more than man.
Both Heav'n and earth would our desires confine;
But yet in vain both Heav'n and earth combine,
Unless where love blesses the great defign.
Hymen makes fast the hand, but love the heart; He the fool's God, thou Nature's Hymen art; Whofe laws once broke, we are not held by force, But the false breach itself is a divorce.
For love the mifer will his gold defpife,
The falfe grow faithful, and the foolish wife;
Cautious the young, and complaisant the old,
The cruel gentle, and the coward bold.
Thou glorious Sun within our fouls,
Whofe influence fo much controuls;
Ev'n dull and heavy lumps of love,
Quicken'd by thee, more lively move;
And if their heads but any fubftance hold,
Love ripens all that drofs into the pureft gold.
In Heav'n's great work thy part is fuch,
That master-like thou giv'ft the last great touch
ET others fongs or fatires write,
Provok'd by Vanity or Spite;
My mufe a nobler caufe fhall move,
To found aloud the praife of Love:
That gentle, yet resistless heat,
Which raises man to all things good and great:
While other passions of the mind
To low brutality debafe mankind,
By love we are above ourselves refin'd.
Oh Love, thou trance Divine! in which the foul, Unclogg'd with worldly cares, may range without controul;
And foaring to her Heav'n, from thence infpir'd can teach
High mysteries, above poor Reason's feeble reach.
To weak old age prudence fome aid may prove,
And curb thofe appetites that faintly move;
But wild, impetuous youth is tam'd by nothing
lefs than love.
Of men too rough for peace, too rude for arts,
Love's pow'r can penetrate the hardest hearts;
And through the clofeft pores a paffage find,
Like that of light, to shine all o'er the mind.
The want of love does both extremes produce;
Maids are too nice, and men as much too loose;
While equal good an am'rous couple find,
She makes him constant, and he makes her kind.
New charms in vain a lover's faith would prove ;
Hermits or bed-rid men they'll fooner move:
The fair inveigler will but fadly find,
There's no fuch eunuch as a man in love.
But when by his chafte nymph embrac❜d,
(For love makes all embraces chaste)
Then the transported creature can
Do wonders, and is more than man.
Both Heav'n and earth would our defires confine;
But yet in vain both Heav'n and earth combine,
Unless where love bleffes the great defign.
Hymen makes falt the hand, but love the heart; He the fool's God, thou Nature's Hymen art; Whofe laws once broke, we are not held by force, But the falfe breach itself is a divorce.
For love the mifer will his gold defpife,
The falfe grow faithful, and the foolish wife;
Cautious the young, and complaifant the old,
The cruel gentle, and the coward bold.
Thou glorious Sun within our fouls,
Whofe influence so much controuls;
Ev'n dull and heavy lumps of love,
Quicken'd by thee, more lively move;
And if their heads but any substance hold,
Love ripens all that drofs into the pureft gold.
In Heav'n's great work thy part is fuch,
That master-like thou giv'st the last great touch
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