Twitch'd Damon gently by the cloke, "Damon, 'tis time we should retire: Patron thro' life, and from thy birth my friend, Dorset to thee this fable let me send: With Damon's lightness weigh thy solid worth: The foil is known to set the diamond forth: Let the feign'd tale this real moral give, How many Damons, how few Dorsets, live! THE FEMALE PHAETON. THUS Kitty,1 beautiful and young, Bespoke the fair from whence she sprung, Inflam'd with rage at sad restraint, Which wise mamma ordain'd; And sorely vext to play the saint, Whilst wit and beauty reign'd: "Shall I thumb holy books, confin'd With Abigails, forsaken? 1 Lady Catharine Hyde, late Duchess of Queensberry. Kitty's for other things design'd, "Must Lady Jenny frisk about, At balls must she make all the rout, "What has she better, pray, than I, "Dearest mamma! for once let me, "I'll soon with Jenny's pride quit score, Make all her lovers fall: They'll grieve I was not loos'd before; She, I was loos'd at all." Fondness prevail'd, mamma gave way; Kitty, at heart's desire, Obtain'd the chariot for a day, And set the world on fire. 1 The Earl of Essex married Lady Jane Hyde. THE JUDGMENT OF VENUS. WHEN Kneller's works of various grace The goddess spied in every face Just so! (and pointing with her hand) 1 So shone, says she, my eyes When in the glass, and river too, In colours of this glorious kind 2 My hair thus flowing with the wind, Like this, disorder'd, wild, forlorn, Ev'n beautiful in tears. 1 Lady Ranelagh. 2 Lady Salisbury. 8 Lady Jane, sister to the Duke of Douglas; afterwards married to Sir John Stewart. But, viewing Myra plac'd apart, Or I, a goddess of the skies, And must resign to her the prize, But, soon as she had Myra seen, Majestically fair, The sparkling eye, the look serene, With fiery emulation fill'd, The wondering goddess cried, DAPHNE AND APOLLO: IMITATED, FROM THE FIRST BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHOSES. "Nympha, precor, Penei, mane."— APOLLO. ABATE, fair fugitive, abate thy speed, Dismiss thy fears, and turn thy beauteous head; With kind regard a panting lover view; Less swiftly fly, less swiftly I'll pursue: Pathless, alas! and rugged is the ground, Some stone may hurt thee, or some thorn may wound. DAPHNE. (Aside.) This care is for himself, as sure as death! APOLLO. You fly, alas! not knowing whom you fly; DAPHNE. Thank you: I would not leave my native land. APOLLO. What is to come, by certain arts I know. DAPHNE. Pish! Partridge 1 has as fair pretence as you. APOLLO. Behold the beauties of my locks DAPHNE. -A fig! That may be counterfeit, a Spanish wig. APOLLO. 1 An almanac maker and astrologer at the beginning of the present (eighteenth) century. See Swift's Miscellanies. |