THE

DESPAIRING SHEPHERD.

ALEXIS fhun'd his Fellow Swains,

Their rural Sports, and jocund Strains :
(Heav'n guard us all from CUPID'S BOW!)
He loft his Crook, He left his Flocks;
And wand'ring thro' the lonely Rocks,
He nourish'd endless Woe.

The Nymphs and Shepherds round Him came:
His Grief Some pity, Others blame;

The fatal Cause All kindly feek:
He mingled his Concern with Theirs;
He gave 'em back their friendly Tears;
He figh'd, but wou'd not speak.

CLORINDA came among the rest;
And She too kind Concern expreft,

And ask'd the Reason of his Woe:
She ask'd, but with an Air and Mein,
That made it easily foreseen,

She fear'd too much to know.

The Shepherd rais'd his mournful Head;
And will You pardon Me, He said,

While I the cruel Truth reveal?

Which nothing from my Breaft fhou'd tear;
Which never fhou'd offend Your Ear,

But that You bid Me tell.

"Tis thus I rove, 'tis thus complain, Since You appear'd upon the Plain;

You are the Cause of all my Care: Your Eyes ten thousand Dangers dart: Ten thousand Torments vex My Heart: I love, and I despair.

Too much, ALEXIS, I have heard:
'Tis what I thought; 'tis what I fear'd:
And yet I pardon You, She cry'd:

But You fhall promise ne'er again
To breath your Vows, or speak your Pain:
He bow'd, obey'd, and dy’d.

To the Honourable

CHARLES MONTAGUE, Efq;

I.

TOWE'ER, 'tis well, that while Mankind

H°

Thro' Fate's perverse Maander errs,

He can Imagin'd Pleasures find,

To combat against Real Cares.

II.

Fancies and Notions He pursues,

Which ne'er had Being but in Thought:
Each, like the GRÆCIAN Artist, woo's
The Image He himself has wrought.

III.

Against Experience He believes;

He argues against Demonstration;

Pleas'd,

Pleas'd, when his Reason He deceives;
And fets his Judgment by his Paffion.
IV.

The hoary Fool, who many Days.

Has ftruggl'd with continu'd Sorrow,
Renews his Hope, and blindly lays

The defp'rate Bett upon to Morrow.
V.

To Morrow comes: 'tis Noon, 'tis Night;
This Day like all the former flies:

Yet on He runs, to seek Delight

To Morrow, 'till to Night He dies.
VI.

Our Hopes, like tow'ring Falcons, aim
At Objects in an airy height:

The little Pleasure of the Game

Is from afar to view the Flight.
VII.

Our anxious Pains We, all the Day,

In fearch of what We like, employ:
Scerning at Night the worthless Prey,
We find the Labour gave
the Joy.

VIII.

At Distance thro' an artful Glafs

To the Mind's Eye Things well appear:
They lose their Forms, and make a Mass
Confus'd and black, if brought too near,
IX.

If We fee right, We fee our Woes:
Then what avails it to have Eyes?
From Ignorance our Comfort flows:
The only Wretched are the Wife.

C 2

X. We

X.

We weary'd fhould lye down in Death :

This Cheat of Life would take no more;
If Yon thought Fame but empty Breath;
-I, PHILLIS but a perjur'd Whore.

HYMN to the SUN.

Set by Dr. PURCEL,

And Sung before their MAJESTIES On New-Years-Days, 1694.

I.

LIGHT of the World, and Ruler of the Year,
With happy Speed begin Thy great Career;
And, as Thou doft thy radiant Journies run,
Through every diftant Climate own,

That in fair ALBION Thou haft feen

The greatest Prince, the brighteft Queen, That ever fav'd a Land, or bleft a Throne,

[known.

Since first Thy Beams were spread, or Genial Power was

II.

So may Thy Godhead be confeft,

So the returning Year be bleft,

As his Infant Months bestow

Springing Wreaths for WILLIAM's Brow;

As His Summer's Youth fhall shed

Eternal Sweets around MARIA's Head.

From

From the Bleffings They beftow,

Our Times are dated, and our Era's move:
They govern, and enlighten all Below,

As thou doft all Above.

III.

Let our Hero in the War

Active and fierce, like Thee, appear:

Like Thee, great Son of Jo v E, like Thee,
When clad in rifing Majefty,

Thou marcheft down o'er DELOS' Hills confest,
With all Thy Arrows arm'd, in all Thy Glory drest.
Like Thee, the Hero does his Arms imploy,

The raging PYTHON to deftroy,

And give the injur❜d Nations Peace and Joy.

IV.

From fairest Years, and Time's more happy Stores,
Gather all the fmiling Hours;
Such as with friendly Care have guarded
Patriots and Kings in rightful Wars;
Such as with Conquest have rewarded
Triumphant Victors happy Cares;
Such as Story has recorded

Sacred to NASSAU long Renown,
For Countries fav'd, and Battels won.

V.

March Them again in fair Array,

And bid Them form the happy Day,

The happy Day defign'd to wait

On WILLIAM's Fame, and EUROPE'S Fate.

Let the happy Day be crown'd

With great Event, and fair Succefs;

No brighter in the Year be found,

But That which brings the Victor home in Peace.