LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.

A PASTORAL.

BY MRS. ELIZABETH SINGER.

AMARYLLIS.

WHILE from the skies the ruddy fun defcends,

And rifing night the ev'ning fhade extends; While pearly dews o'erfpread the fruitful field, And clofing flow'rs reviving odours yield, Let us, beneath these spreading trees, recite What from our hearts our Mufes may indite: Nor need we in this clofe retirement fear Left any fwain our am'rous fecrets hear.

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SYLV. To ev'ry fhepherd I would mine proclaim, Since fair Aminta is my fofteft theme: A ftranger to the loofe delights of love, My thoughts the nobler warmth of friendship prove, And, while its pure and facred fire I fing, Chafte goddess of the Groves, thy fuccour bring. AMAR. Propitious god of Love, my breast inspire 15 With all thy charms, with all thy pleafing fire; Propitious god of Love, thy fuccour bring, Whilft I thy darling, thy Alexis fing; Alexis, as the op'ning blossoms fair, Lovely as light, and foft as yielding air: For him each virgin fighs, and on the plains The happy youth above each rival reigns; Nor to the echoing groves and whifp'ring spring In fweeter ftrains does artful Conon fing, When loud applaufes fill the crowded groves, And Phoebus the fuperior fong approves.

SYLV. Beauteous Aminta is as early light Breaking the melancholy fhades of night. When fhe is near all anxious trouble flies, And our reviving hearts confefs her eyes. Young Love, and blooming Joy, and gay Defires, In ev'ry breaft the beauteous nymph inspires;

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And on the plain when the no more appears,
The plain a dark and gloomy profpect wears.
In vain the ftreams roll on; the eastern breeze
Dances in vain among the trembling trees:
In vain the birds begin their ev'ning fong,
And to the filent night their notes prolong;
Nor groves, nor crystal streams, nor verdant field,
Does wonted pleasure in her abfence yield.

AMAR. And in his abfence all the penfive day

In fome obfcure retreat I lonely itray;
All day, to the repeating caves, complain
In mournful accents and a dying strain :
Dear lovely youth I cry to all around;

Dear lovely youth the flatt'ring vales refound.

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SYLV. On flow'ry banks, by ev'ry murm'ring ftream, Aminta is my Mufe's fofteft theme;

'Tis she that does my artful notes refine ;

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With fair Aminta's name my noblest verse shall shine.
AMAR. I'll twine fresh garlands for Alexis' brows,
And confecrate to him eternal vows;

The charming youth fhall my Apollo prove;
He shall adorn my fongs, and tune my voice to love.

TO THE AUTHOR

OF THE FOREGOING PASTORAL.

BY Sylvia if thy charming felf be meant ;
If friendship be thy virgin vows' extent,
O! let me in Aminta's praifes join,
Her's my esteem fhall be, my paffion thine.
When for thy head the garland I prepare,
A fecond wreath fhall bind Aminta's hair;
And when my choiceft fongs thy worth proclaim,
Alternate verfe fhall blefs Aminta's name;
My heart fhall own the juftice of her caufe,
And Love himself fubmit to Friendship's laws.
But if beneath thy numbers' foft disguise
Some favour'd fwain, fome true Alexis, lies;
If Amaryllis breathes thy fecret pains,
And thy fond heart beats measure to thy ftrains

May'st thou, howe'er I grieve, for ever find
The flame propitious and the lover kind;
May Venus long exert her happy pow'r,
And make thy beauty like thy verfe endure;
May ev'ry god his friendly aid afford,

Pan guard thy flock, and Ceres blefs thy board.
But if, by chance, the series of thy joys
Permit one thought lefs cheerful to arife,
Piteous transfer it to the mournful swain,
Who loving much, who not belov'd again,
Feels an ill-fated paffion's laft excefs,

And dies in woe that thou may'st live in peace.

CHARITY:

A PARAPHRASE ON I COR. CHAP. XIII.

ID fweeter founds adorn my flowing tongue

Dhan ever man pronounc'd or angel fung;

Had I all knowledge, human and divine,
That thought can reach or science can define;
And had I pow'r to give that knowledge birth
In all the fpeeches of the babbling earth;
Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breast inspire,
To weary tortures and rejoice in fire;
Or had I faith like that which Ifrael faw
When Mofes gave them miracles and law;
Yet gracious Charity, indulgent guest,
Were not thy pow'r exerted in my breast,
Thofe fpeeches would fend up unheeded pray'r,
That fcorn of life would be but wild defpair;
A cymbal's found were better than my voice;
My faith were form, my eloquence were noise.
Charity decent, modeft, easy, kind,
Softens the high, and rears the abject mind;
Knows with juft reins, and gentle hand, to guide
Betwixt vile fhame and arbitrary pride.
Not foon provck'd, fhe easily forgives,
And much the fuffers, as the much believes.
Scft peace the brings wherever the arrives ;
She builds ou quiet as the forms our lives;

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Lays the rough paths of peevish Nature ev'n,
And opens in each heart a little heav'n.

Each other gift which God on man bestows
Its proper bounds and due reflection knows,
To one fixt purpose dedicates its pow'r,
And finishing its act, exifts no more.

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Thus, in obedience to what heav'n decrees,
Knowledge fhall fail, and prophecy shall cease ;
But lafting Charity's more ample sway,

Nor bound by time, nor fubject to decay,

In happy triumph fhall for ever live,

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And endless good diffufe, and endless praise receive.
As thro' the artist's intervening glafs

Our eye obferves the distant planets pass,

A little we difcover, but allow

That more remains unfeen than art can show;

So whilft cur mind its knowledge would improve,

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(Its feeble eye intent on things above)

High as we may we lift our reafon up,

By faith directed, and confirm'd by hope;

Yet are we able only to furvey

Dawnings of beams, and promifes of day,
Heav'n's fuller effluence mocks our dazzled fight,
Too great is fwiftness, and too ftrong is light.
But foon the mediate clouds fhall be difpell'd,
The fun fhall foon be face to face beheld,
In all his robes, with all his glory on,
Seated fublime on his meridian throne.

Then conftant Faith and holy Hope fhall die,
One loft in certainty and one in joy ;
Whilft thou, more happy pow'r, fair Charity,
Triumphant fifter, greateft of the three,
Thy office and thy nature still the fame,
Lafting thy lamp, and unconfum'd thy flame,
Shalt ftill furvive-

Shalt ftand before the hoft of heav'n confeft,
For ever bleffing, and for ever bleft.

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UPON HONOUR. A FRAGMENT.

HONOUR, I fay, or honeft fame,

I mean the substance, not the name,
(Not that light heap of tawdry wares
Of ermine, coronets, and stars,
Which often is by merit fought,
By gold and flatt'ry oft'ner bought;
The fhade for which ambition looks
In Selden's or in Athmole's books)
But the true glory which proceeds,
Reflected bright, from honeft deeds,
Which we in our own breast perceive,
And kings can neither take nor give.

ADRIANI MORIENTIS

AD ANIMAM SUAM.

ANIMULA, vagulo, blandula,

Hofpes, comefque corporis,

Quæ nunc abibis in loca,
Pallidula, rigida, nudula ?
Nec, ut foles, dabis joca.

BY MONS. FONTENELLE.

M

A petite ame, ma mignonne,

[tu vas :

Tu t'en vas donc, má fille, et Dieu fcache oú

Tu pars feulette, nuë, et tremblotante, helas!
Que deviendra ton humeur folichonne ?

Que deviendront tant de jolis ébats ?

IMITATED.

POOR, little, pretty, flutt'ring thing,
Muft we no longer live together?

And doft thou prune thy trembling wing,
To take thy flight thou know'st not whither ?

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