With fecret joy I heard her fay,
That she would never mifs one day
A walk fo fine, a sight so-gay.
But, oh the change! the winds grow high;
Impending tempefts charge the sky;
The lightning flies, the thunder roars ;
And big waves lash the frighten'd shores.
Struck with the horror of the fight,
She turns her head, and wings her flight:
And trembling vows, she'll ne'er again
Approach the fhore, or view the main.
Once more at least look back, faid I.
Thyself in that large glass descry:
When thou art in good-humour dreft;
When gentle reafon rules thy breast;
The fun upon the calmest sea
Appears not half so bright as thee:
"Tis then that with delight I rove
Upon the boundlefs depth of love:
I blefs my chain; I hand my oar;
Nor think on all I left on fhore.
But when vain doubt and groundless fear
Do that dear foolish bofom tear;
When the big lip and watery eye
Tell me, the rifing storm is nigh;
"Tis then, thou art yon' angry main,
· Deform'd by winds, and dafh'd by rain; And the poor failor, that must try.
Its fury, labours lefs than I.
Shipwreck'd, in vain to land I make,
While Love and Fate ftill drive me back :
Forc'd to doat on thee thy own way,
I chide thee firft, and then obey.
Wretched when from thee, vex'd when nigh,
I with thee, or without thee, die.
By Mrs. ELIZABETH SINGER, afterwards RowE.
HILE from the skies the ruddy fun descends, And rifing night the evening fhade extends; While pearly dews o'erfpread the fruitful field, And closing flowers reviving odours yield : Let us, beneath thefe fpreading trees, recite What from our hearts our Mufes may indite. Nor need we, in this clofe retirement, fear, Left any fwain our amorous fecrets hear. SYLVIA.
To every fhepherd I would mine proclaim; Since fair Aminta is my fofteft theme :
A ftranger to the loose 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.
Propitious god of love, my breaft infpire
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 opening 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 whispering spring,
In fweeter strains does artful Conon fing;
When loud applaufes fill the crouded groves,
And Phoebus the fuperior fong approves.
Beauteous Aminta is as early light,
Breaking the melancholy fhades of night.
When she is near, all anxious trouble flies,
And our reviving hearts confess her eyes.
Young love, and blooming joy, and gay defires,
In every breaft the beauteous nymph inspires;
And on the plain when the no more appears,
The plain a dark and gloomy prospect wears.
In vain the streams roll on the eastern breeze
Dances in vain among the trembling trees:
In vain the birds begin their evening fong,
And to the filent night their notes prolong :
Nor groves, nor crystal streams, nor verdant field,
Does wonted pleasure in her absence yield.
And, in his abfence, all the penfive day
In fome obfcure retreat I lonely stray;
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 flattering vales resound.
SYLVIA.
On flowery banks, by every murmuring stream, Aminta is my Mufe's fofteft theme:
"Tis fhe that does my artful notes refine :
With fair Aminta's name my noblest verse shall shine. AMARYLLIS.
I'll twine fresh garlands for Alexis' brows,
And confecrate to him eternal vows :
The charming youth fhall my Apollo prové ;
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;
Oh! let me in Aminta's praises join :
Her's my efteem 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 submit to Friendship's laws.
But, if, beneath thy numbers' foft disguise,
Some favour'd swain, fome true Alexis lies;
If Amaryllis breathes thy fecret pains,
And thy fond heart beats measure to thy ftrains;
May'ft thou, howe'er I grieve, for ever find
The flame propitious, and the lover kind!
May Venus long exert her happy power,
And make thy beauty, like thy verse, endure!
May every god his friendly aid afford,
Pan guard thy flock, and Ceres blefs thy board!
But, if by chance the feries of thy joys
Permit one thought less chearful to arise,
Piteous transfer it to the mournful fwain,
Who, loving much, who, not belov'd again,
Feels an ill-fated paffion's laft excess,
And dies in woe, that thou may'ft live in peace.
TO A LADY:
She refusing to continue a DISPUTE with me, and leaving me in the ARGUMENT.
PARE, generous victor, fpare the flave,
Who did unequal war pursue;
That more than triumph he might have,
In being overcome by you.
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