페이지 이미지
PDF
ePub

There, whilst immortal hymns thou dost rehearse,
Thou doft with holy pity fee

Our dull and earthly poefy,

Where grief and misery can be join'd with verse.

[blocks in formation]

то

To what heart-ravifh'd lover

Doft thou thy golden locks unbind,
Thy hidden fweets discover,.

And with large bounty open fet

All the bright stores of thy rich cabinet ?

Ah, fimple youth! how oft will he

Of thy chang'd faith.complain!

And his own fortunes find to be
So airy and fo vain,

Of fo cameleon-like an hue,

That still their colour changes with it too

How oft, alas! will he admire

The blacknefs of the. fkies !

Trembling to hear the winds found higher
And fee the billows rife !

Poor unexperienc'd he,

Who ne'er, alas ! before had been at fea!.

Me

He' enjoys thy calmy fun-fhine now,
And no breath stirring hears;

In the clear heaven of thy brow

[ocr errors]

No fmalleft cloud appears.

He fees thee gentle, fair, and gay,
And trufts the faithless April of thy May.

Unhappy, thrice unhappy, he,

T'whom thou untry'd doft fhine!
But there's no danger now for me,
Since o'er Loretto's fhrine,

In witness of the shipwreck paft,
My confecrated veffel hangs at laft.

I

IN IMITATION OF

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAM.

Si tecum mihi, chare Martialis," &c. L.5. Ep. 21.

F, dearest friend, it my good fate might be

T' enjoy at once a quiet life and thee;

If we for happiness could leisure find,

And wandering time into a method bind;
We should not fure the great-men's favour need,
Nor on long hopes, the court's thin diet, feed;
We should not patience find daily to hear
The calumnies and flatteries fpoken there;
We should not the lords' tables humbly use,
Or talk in ladies' chambers love and news';

But

But books, and wise discourse, gardens and fields,
And all the joys that unmixt Nature yields ;.
Thick fummer fhades, where winter ftill does lie,
Bright winter fires, that fummer's part supply;
Sleep, not control'd by cares, confin'd to night,,
Or bound in any rule but appetite ;

Free, but not favage or ungracious mirth,
Rich wines, to give it quick and easy birth;
A few companions, which ourselves should chufe,
A gentle mistress, and a gentler Muse.

Such, dearest friend! fuch, without doubt, fhould be
Our place, our business, and our company.
Now to himself, alas! does neither live,.
But fees good funs, of which we are to give
A ftrict account, fet and march thick away :
Knows a man how to live, and does he stay?

M

THE CHRONICLE..

A BALL A D.

ARGARITA first possest,

If I remember well, my breast.
Margarita first of all;

But when awhile the wanton maid
With my reftless heart had play'd,
Martha took the flying ball..

Martha foon did it refign

To the beauteous Catharine.

Beauteous

Beauteous Catharine gave place

(Though loth and angry she to part
With the poffeffion of my heart)
To Eliza's conquering face.

Eliza till this hour might reign,

Had the not evil counfels ta'en.
Fundamental laws the broke,

And still new favourites the chofe,
Till up in arms my paffions rofe,
And caft away her yoke.

[ocr errors]

Mary then, and gentle Anne,

Both to reign at once began,;
Alternately they sway'd;

And fometimes Mary was the fair,

And fometimes Anne the crown did wear,
And fometimes both I' obey'd.

Another Mary then arose,

And did rigorous laws impofe;
A mighty tyrant she !

Long, alas! fhould I have been
Under that iron-scepter'd queen,

Had not Rebecca fet me free.

When fair Rebecca fet me free,

'Twas then a golden time with me:
But foon thofe pleasures fled;

For the gracious princefs dy'd,
In her youth and beauty's pride,

And Judith reigned in her ftead.

*One

One month, three days, and half an hour,
Judith held the fovereign power:

Wondrous beautiful her face!

But fo weak and fmall her wit,
That the to govern was unfit,

And fo Sufanna took her place.

But when Ifabella came,

Arm'd with a refiftlefs flame,
And th' artillery of her eye;

Whilft fhe proudly march'd about,
Greater conquests to find out,

She beat out Susan by the bye.

But in her place I then obey'd

Black-ey'd Befs, her viceroy-maid
To whom enfued a vacancy :
Thousand worse paffions then poffeft
The interregnum of my 'breast;

Blefs me from fuch an anarchy!

Gentle Henrietta then,

[ocr errors]

And a third Mary, next began;
Then Joan, and Jane, and Audria

And then a pretty Thomafine,

-And then another Katharine,

And then a long et cætera.

But fhould I now to you relate,

The strength and riches of their Rate
The powder, patches, and the pins,

The ribbons, jewels, and the rings,

The

« 이전계속 »