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ENEATH the shade of waving beech,
The love-lorn Damon lay;

The warblers hufh'd their tuneful throats,
The flocks forgot to play.

His pipe and crook were laid befide,
The shepherds round him throng;
With languid eyes he look'd around,
And thus began his fong.

Ye fwains, who feed your fnowy flocks • Where mazy Windrush strays; • And ye who love imperial Thames, • Or Ifis crown'd with bays!

With pity hear a fhepherd's tale,
And heave a friendly figh!

So fhall the fod that greens my grave,
• With lighter preffure lie!

• So may you meet a happier fate,

• Nor feel a pang like me ;

• So Venus hear your fond requests, And fet her fuppliants free!

• Once, blefs'd as Æther's painted tribes,

When balmy zephyrs play;

To reft I gave the starry night,

To fong the funny day.

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• The

• The various sweets that Nature shew'd,
The flow'r, the shrub, the tree;
The murm'ring rill, the moffy bank,
• Had sweets enough for me.

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I faw, and lov'd-bear witness, Heav'n!-
With paffion pure and ftrong;

• And Love is eloquent in fpeech,

And fmoothes th' untutor'd tongue.

In fofteft terms I told my flame, • She fmil'd and blush'd to hear; • For Innocence had all her heart,

And that has nought to fear.

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Nor blame, ye prudes, to cenfure prone,
Too foon the own'd her love;

Or ye who flutter round the ring,
And with diffemblers rove.

Unlike her fortune, and her fate, • Unlike her guiltless heart; • She never wore the fpecious look, Or language cloath'd with art!

And now each day came wing'd with joy,
• All Nature fhone more bright:
A gayer profpect form'd each scene,
• For Delia bless'd my fight.

• And when the shades began to fall,
One ev❜ning, from the hills,
And shepherds penn'd their fleecy care,
And ceas'd the tinkling bells;

• On Windruth banks I clafp'd my fair,

And hung on ev'ry charm:

Our plighted faith bright Venus heard,

And vows with rapture warm.

• And

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• And when next moon should fill her horns • With filver's gentle light,

My Delia vow'd to blefs these arms, • In Hymen's holy rite.

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• But, ah! why bleeds my heart afresh!

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• Her dying lips I fondly kife'd,
And caught her parting breath;

• Heard fainting Nature fpeak my name,
• When ev'ry throb was death!

Wrapp'd in an agony of woe,
Long Reafon loft her feat:

* And oft I curs'd my ling'ring fate,
And long'd my fair to meet.

And oft my wav'ring fancy faw
• Her rob'd in fhining white;
And oft I tried to burst thro' life,
• To reach the fields of light.

• Nor can the lapfe of time affuage The current of my grief;

• As loft for ever is my love,

• So loft be all relief.

And now I feel Death's leaden hand

Arreft my vital tide;

Nor half fo bitter is the pang,

• As when my Delia dy'd.

• But

< But live, ye fwains! fee happy days:

For me, this boon I crave;

As Love had twin'd our hearts in one, • So be the fame our grave.

• There let the year's first violets blow, And ev'ry month be spring;

• There let the fhepherds love to rest, • And Delia's beauties fing.

There let the maiden make her moan,
• When press'd with anxious fear!
But O far gentler be their fate,
Who drop for us a tear!'

PLAIN

TRUTH.

BY HENRY FIELDING, ESQ

S Bathian Venus t'other day

A Invited all the gods to tea,

Her maids of honour, the Mifs Graces,
Attending duly in their places,

Their godfhips gave a loose to mirth,

As we at Butt'ring's here on earth.

Minerva, in her ufual way,

Rallied the daughter of the fea.

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Is lately fallen from it's duty,

And triumphs more in wit than beauty;
For here,' fhe cried; ' fee here a poem→→→

'Tis Dalfton's; you, Apollo, know him.

• Little perfuafion fure invites

• Pallas to read what Dalfton writes:

Nay,

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