If Cupid throws a fingle dart,

We make him wound the lover's heart:
But, if he takes his bow and quiver;
'Tis fure, he muft transfix the liver:
For rhyme with reafon may difpenfe,

430

And found has right to govern fenfe.
But let your friends in verfe suppose,
What ne'er fhall be allow'd in profe;
Anatomifts can make it clear,

435

And all be burft with pure good-nature.

Now gall is bitter with a witness,

445

And love is all delight and fweetness.
My logic then has loft its aim,
If sweet and bitter be the fame :

And he, methinks, is no great scholar,
Who can mistake defire for choler.

The like may of the heart be said ;

Courage and terror there are bred.

All thofe, whofe hearts are loofe and low,

Start, if they hear but the tattoo :

And mighty physical their fear is;

For, foon as noife of combat near is,
Their heart, defcending to their breeches,
Muft give their ftomach cruel twitches.

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455

But

Those hours, when they are tir'd of fighting?

And has no man, but who has kill'd

A father, right to get a child?

Thefe notions then I think but idle

475

And Love shall still poffefs the middle.

This truth more plainly to discover, Suppose your Hero were a Lover. Though he before had gall and rage, Which death or conqueft muft affuage, He grows difpirited and low;

480

He hates the fight, and shuns the foe.
In fcornful floth Achilles flept,

And for his wench, like Tall-boy, wept :

Nor would return to war and flaughter,

485

Till they brought back the Parfon's daughter.
Antonius fled from Actium's coast,

Auguftus preffing, Asia lost :

His fails by Cupid's hands unfurl'd,

To keep the fair, he gave the world.
Edward our Fourth, rever'd and crown'd,
Vigorous in youth, in arms renown'd;

While England's voice, and Warwick's care,
Defign'd him Gallia's beauteous heir;

Chang'd peace

for rage and wars,

and power, Only to dry one widow's tears.

France's fourth Henry we may fee

A fervant to the fair d'Eftree;

When, quitting Coutras' profperous field,

And Fortune taught at length to yield,
He from his guards and midnight tent
Difguis'd o'er hills and vallies went,
To wanton with the sprightly dame;
And in his pleasure loft his fame.

490

495

500

Bold is the critic who dares prove

505

Thefe heroes were no friends to love;

And bolder he, who dares aver

That they were enemies to war.

Yet, when their thought should, now or never,

Have rais'd their heart, or fir'd their liver,

510

Fond Alma to those parts was gone,

Which Love more justly calls his own.

Examples I could cite you more ;

But be contented with these four:

For, when one's proofs are aptly chofen,

515

Four are as valid as four dozen.

One came from Greece, and one from Rome;

The other two grew nearer home.

For

For fome in ancient books delight;
Others prefer what moderns write :
Now I fhould be extremely loth,
Not to be thought expert in both.

CANT TO II.

BUT fhall we take the Mufe abroad,

To drop her idly on the road?

And leave our fubject in the middle,
As Butler did his Bear and Fiddle?
Yet he, confummate mafter, knew
When to recede, and where pursue:
His noble negligences teach
What others toils defpair to reach.
He, perfect dancer, climbs the rope,
And balances your fear and hope :
If, after fome diftinguish'd leap,
He drops his pole, and seems to slip,
Straight gathering all his active ftrength,
He rifes higher half his length.
With wonder you approve his flight,
And owe your pleafure to your fright.

520

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15

But like poor Andrew I advance,

Falfe mimic of my master's dance;

Around the cord awhile I sprawl,
And thence, though low, in earnest fall.
My preface tells you, I digrefs'd:
He's half abfolv'd who has confefs'd.

20

I like,

I like, quoth Dick, your fimile,
And, in return, take two from me.
As masters in the clare obfcure

With various light your eyes allure,
A flaming yellow here they spread,
Draw off in blue, or charge in red;
Yet, from these colours oddly mix'd,
Your fight upon the whole is fix'd:

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30

Or as, again, your courtly dames

(Whose clothes returning birth-day claims)

By arts improve the stuffs they vary,

And things are beft as most contrary;
The gown, with ftiff embroidery fhining,
Looks charming with a flighter lining;
The out-, if Indian figure ftain,
The in-fide must be rich and plain.
So you great authors have thought fit
To make digreffion temper wit:
When arguments too fiercely glare,
You calm them with a milder air:

To break their points, you turn their force,
And furbelow the plain difcourfe.

Richard, quoth Mat, these words of thine
Speak fomething fly, and fomething fine:
But I fhall e'en refume my theme,
However thou may't praise or blame.

As people marry now, and fettle,
Fierce Love abates his ufual mettle :
Worldly defires, and household cares,
Disturb the Godhead's foft affairs:

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