O learn with me, my hopeless love to moan;
Commiferate a life fo like thy own.
Like thine, my flames to my

destruction turn,

Wafting that heart by which fupply'd they burn.
Like thine, my joy and fuffering they display;
At once are figns of life, and symptoms of decay.
And as thy fearful flames the day decline,
And only during night prefume to shine;
Their humble rays not daring to aspire
Before the fun, the fountain of their fire :
So mine, with confcious fhame, and equal awe,
To fhades obfcure and folitude withdraw;
Nor dare their light before her eyes disclose,
From whofe bright beams their being firft arose.

He recommends the Rules and Inftructions to the FAIR SEX, in the Conduct of their Amours: After having already compofed Two Books for the Ufe of MEN upon the fame Subject.

'HE men are arm'd, and for the fight prepare ;

THE

And now we must inftru&t and arm the fair.
Both fexes, well appointed, take the field,

And mighty Love determine which shall yield.
Man were ignoble, when thus arm'd, to fhow
Unequal force against a naked foe:
No glory from fuch conqueft can be gain'd,
And odds are always by the brave disdain'd.

mind?

But fome exclaim, "What frenzy rules your Would you increase the craft of woman-kind! "Teach them new wiles and arts! As well you may * Inftruct a snake to bite, or wolf to prey." But, fure, too hard a cenfure they pursue, Who charge on all the failings of a few.

Examine

Examine first impartially each fair,

Then, as the merits, or condemn, or spare.
If Menelaus, and the king of men,
With justice of their fifter-wives complain;
If falfe Eriphyle forfook her faith,

And for reward procur'd her husband's death;
Penelope was loyal ftill, and chaste,

Though twenty years her lord in abfence pass'd.
Reflect how Laodama's truth was try'd,

Who, though in bloom of youth, and beauty's pride,
To share her husband's fate, untimely dy'd.
Think how Alcefte's piety was prov'd,

Who loft her life to fave the man he lov'd.
Receive me, Capaneus, Avadne cry'd;
Nor Death itself our nuptials fhall divide:
To join thy ashes, pleas'd I shall expire ;
She faid, and leap'd amid the funeral fire.
Virtue herself a goddefs we confefs,
Both female in her name and in her dress;
No wonder then, if to her fex inclin'd,
She cultivates with care a female mind.
But these exalted fouls exceed the reach
Of that foft art which I pretend to teach.
My tender bark requires a gentle gale,
A little wind will fill a little fail.

Of fportive Loves I fing, and shew what ways
The willing nymph must use her bliss to raise,
And how to captivate the man she'd please.
Woman is foft, and of a tender heart,
Apt to receive, and to retain, love's dart:

}

Man

Man has a breaft robuft, and more fecure,

It wounds him not fo deep, nor hits fofure.

Men oft are falfe; and, if you fearch with care,
You'll find lefs fraud imputed to the fair.

The faithlefs Jafon from Medea fled,
And made Creufa partner of his bed.
Bright Ariadne, on an unknown fhore,
Thy abfence, perjur'd Thefeus, did deplore.
If then, the wild inhabitants of air
Forbore her tender lovely limbs to tear,
It was not owing, Thefeus, to thy care.
Enquire the caufe, and let Demophoon tell,
Why Phyllis by a fate untimely fell.

Nine times, in vain, upon the promis'd day,
She fought th' appointed fhore, and view'd the fea :
Her fall the fading trees confent to mourn,
And shed their leaves round her lamented urn.
The prince fo far for piety renown'd,

To thee, Eliza, was unfaithful found;
To thee forlorn and languishing with grief,
His fword alone he left, thy laft relief.
Ye ruin'd nymphs, fhall I the cause impart
Of all your woes? 'Twas want of needful art,
Love of itself, too quickly will expire;
But powerful Art perpetuates desire. -
Women had yet their ignorance bewail'd,
Had not this art by Venus been reveal'd.

Before my fight the Cyprian goddefs fhone,

And thus fhe faid; "What have poor women done?

Why is that weak, defencelefs fex expos'd, "On every fide, by men well arm'd, inclos'd? "Twice are the men inftructed by the Muse "Nor muft fhe now to teach the fex refufe. "The Bard, who injur'd Helen in his fong, "Recanted after, and redrefs'd the wrong.

"And

you,

if on my

favour

you depend,
"The caufe of women, while you live, defend."

This faid, a myrtle fprig, which berries bore
She gave me (for a myrtle wreath she wore).
"The gift receiv'd, my fenfe enlighten'd grew,
And from her presence inspiration drew.
Attend, ye nymphs, by wedlock unconfin'd,
And hear my precepts, while fhe prompts my mind;
Ev'n now, in bloom of youth, and beauty's prime,
Beware of coming age, nor waste your

time : Now, while you may, and ripening years invite, Enjoy the feasonable, sweet delight:

For rolling years, like ftealing waters, glide,
Nor hope to stop their ever-ebbing tide:
Think, nor hereafter will the lofs repay;
For every morrow will the taste decay,
And leave lefs relish than the former day.
I've feen the time, when, on that wither'd thorn,
The blooming rofe vy'd with the blushing morn.
With fragrant wreaths I thence have deck'd my head,
And fee how leaflefs now, and how decay'd!

And you, who now the love-fick youth reject,
Will prove, in what pains attend neglect.

age,

None,