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.
WHILE from the skies the ruddy fun defcends,
And rifing night the evening fhade extends;
While pearly dews o'erfpread the fruitful field,
And closing flowers 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 amorous fecrets hear.
To every 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..
Propitious god of love, my breast inspire
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 bloffoms 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 ftrains 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 confefs her eyes.
Young love, and blooming joy, and gay defires,
In every breast the beauteous nymph inspires ;
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 evening fong,
And to the filent night their notes prolong :
Nor groves, nor crystal streams, nor verdant field,
Does wonted pleasure in her abfence 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 refound.
On flowery banks, by every murmuring ftream, 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 prove ;
He fhall 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 praifes 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 fwain, fome true Alexis lies;
If Amaryllis breathes thy fecret pains,
And thy fond heart beats meafure to thy ftrains;
May't 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 thý 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 lefs chearful to arife,
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.
In the difpute whate'er I faid,
My heart was by my tongue belied; my looks you might have read How much I argued on your fide.
You, far from danger as from fear,
Might have fuftain'd an open fight:
For feldom your opinions err;
Your eyes are always in the right.
IV.
Why, fair one, would you not rely
On Reason's force with Beauty's join'd?
Could I their prevalence deny,
I muft at once be deaf and blind.
Alas! not hoping to fubdue,
I only to the fight afpir'd :
To keep the beauteous foe in view
Was all the glory I defir'd.
But the, howe'er of victory fure,
Contemns the wreath too long delay'd: And, arm'd with more immediate power, Calls cruel filence to her aid.
Deeper to wound, the fhuns the fight;
She drops her arms, to gain the field;
Secures her conqueft by her flight;
And triumphs, when she seems to yield.
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