Yet when some better-fated youth Shall with his amorous parley move thee; Reflect one moment on his truth Who, dying thus, persists to love thee. A BETTER ANSWER. DEAR Cloe, how blubber'd is that pretty face; Thy cheek all on fire, and thy hair all uncurl'd: Pr'y thee quit this caprice; and (as old Falstaff says) Let us e'en talk a little like folks of this world. How canst thou presume, thou hast leave to destroy The beauties, which Venus but lent to thy keep ing? Those looks were design'd to inspire love and joy: More ord❜nary eyes may serve people for weep ing. To be vex'd at a trifle or two that I writ, [wrong: wit: Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song? What I speak, my fair Cloe, and what I write, shows The difference there is betwixt nature and art: I court others in verse; but I love thee in prose : And they have my whimsies, but thou hast my heart. The god of us verse-men (you know child) the sun, So when I am wearied with wandering all day, To thee, my delight, in the evening I come : No matter what beauties I saw in my way; 1 They were but my visits, but thou art my home. Then finish, dear Cloe, this pastoral war; And let us, like Horace and Lydia, agree: For thou art a girl as much brighter than her, As he was a poet sublimer than me. PALLAS AND VENUS. AN EPIGRAM. THE Trojan swain had judg'd the great dispute, And beauty's power obtain'd the golden fruit; When Venus, loose in all her naked charms, Met Jove's great daughter clad in shining arms. The wanton goddess view'd the warlike maid From head to foot, and tauntingly she said: 1 My heart with her but, as guest-wise, sojourn'd; And now to Helen it is home return'd, There to remain. Midsummer Night's Dream A. iii. S 2. Yield, sister; rival, yield: naked, you see, I vanquish guess how potent I should be, If to the field I came in armour drest; [crest! Dreadful, like thine, my shield, and terrible my The warrior goddess with disdain replied: Thy folly, child, is equal to thy pride: Let a brave enemy for once advise, And Venus (if 'tis possible) be wise. Thou to be strong must put off every dress; Thy only armour is thy nakedness: And more than once, (or thou art much belied) By Mars himself that armour has been tried. TO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN IN LOVE. FROM public noise and factious strife, -and he Take me, my Celia, to thy breast, In golden bondage let them wait, May Heaven around this destin'd head Hope of my age, joy of my youth, Till I believ'd thy passion true : Sufferer and solace of thy woe: Trace me some yet unheard-of way, That I thy ardour may repay; And make my constant passion known, Had I a wish that did not bear The stamp and image of my dear; No; Venus shall my witness be, O happy these of human race! MORAL. While men have these ambitious fancies; And wanton wenches read romances; Our sex will-What? out with it. Lie; And theirs in equal strains reply. |