Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

Truth resembling craft, profane
Thirst of empire, and of gain,
Luxury, and idle ease,

Banish all these.

Private parsimony fill

The public purse: arms only steel
Know, and no more: valour fights cold
In plunder'd gold.

War, or peace do you approve,
With united forces move:
Courts which inany columns rear
Their falls less fear.

Safer course those pilots run
Who observe more stars than one.
Ships with double anchors ti'd
Securer ride.

Strength united firm doth stand
Knit in an eternal band:
But proud subjects' private hate
'Ruins a state.

This as good Amphion sings
To his harp's well-tuned strings,
Its swift streams clear Dirce stopp'd,
Cytheron hopp'd.

Stones did leap about the plains,
Rocks did skip to hear his strains,
And the groves the hills did crown

Came dancing down.

When he ceas'd, the rocks and wood
Like a wall about him stood;

Whence fair Thebes which seven gates close

Of brass, arose.

ORIGINALS.

THE SUN-RISE.

THOU youthful goddess of the morn! Whose blush they in the East adore; Daughter of Phoebus' who before Thy all-enlight'ning sire art born!

Haste! and restore the day to me, That my love's beauteous object I may see. Too much of time the night devours

The cock's shrill voice calls thee again; Then quickly mount thy golden wain Drawn by the softly-sliding hours :

And make apparent to all eyes

With what enamel thou dost paint the skies.
Leave thy old husband, let him lie

Snorting upon his downy bed;
And to content thy lovers, spread
Thy flames new lighted, through the sky;'
Hark how thy presence he conjures,

As leading to the woods his hounds, he lures.

Moisten the fallow grounds before

Thou com'st, with a sweet dewy rain; That thirsty Ceres having ta'en Her morning's draught, that day no more May call for drink; and we may see Spangled with pearly drops each bush and tree. VOL. VI.

Ah! now I see the sweetest dawn!

Thrice welcome to my longing sight! Hail divine beauty! heavenly light! I see thee through yon cloud of lawn

Appear; and, as thy star does glide, Blanching with rays the east on every side,

Dull silence, and the drowsy king

Of sad and melancholy dreams,
Now fly before thy cheerful beams,
The darkest shadows vanquishing:

The owl, that all the night did keep
A hooting, now is filed and gone to sleep.
But all those little birds whose notes

Sweetly the list'ning ear enthral,
To the clear water's murmuring fall,
Accord their disagreeing throats,

The lustre of that greater star Praising, to which thou art but harbinger. 'Bove our horizon see him scale

The first point of his brighter round!
Oh how the swarthy Ethiop's bound
With reverence to his light to veil,

And love the colour of his look,
Which from a heat so mild, so pure he took.

A god perceivable is he

By human sense, Nature's bright eye, Without whom all her works would die, Or in their births imperfect be:

He grace and beauty gives alone,

To all the works of her creation.

With holy reverence inspir'd,

When first the day renews its light,
The Earth, at so divine a sight,

Seems as if all on altar fir'd,

Reeking with perfumes to the skies,
Which she presents, her native sacrifice.
The humble shepherd to his rays,

Having his rustic homage paid,
And to some cool retired shade
Driven his bleating flocks to graze;

Sits down, delighted with the sight
Of that great lamp, so mild, so fair, so bright,
The eagle in her ayry sitting

Spreading her wings, with fixed eye
Gazes ou his, t' whose deity
She yields all adoration fitting:

As to the only quick'ning fire,
And object that her eye does most desire.
The salmon, (which at spring forsakes
Thetis' salt waves) to look on him,
Upon the water's top doth swin
And to express the joy he takes,

As sportingly along he sails,

Mocks the poor fisher with his silver scales.
The bee through flowry gardens goes

Buzzing to drink the morning's tears;
And from the early lily bears
A kiss, commended to the rose ;
And, like a wary messenger,
Whispers some amorous story in her ear.
At which, she rousing from her sleep,
Her chaster flames seems to declare
To him again, (whilst dew her fair
And blushing leaves in tears doth steep)
$ &

The sorrow which her heart doth waste, That she's so far from her dear lover plac'd.

And further seems, as if this plaint

In her mute dialect she made:
"Alas! I shall with sorrow fade,
And pine away in this restraint,

Unless my too too rigorous fate, My constant faithful love commiserate. "Love having gain'd the victory

Over my soul, there acts his harms,
Nor thorns so many bear my arms,
As in my heart now prickles be:

The only comfort I can give
Myself, is this; I have not long to live.
"But if some courteous virgin shall,
Pitying my fate, pull my sweet flower,
Ere by a sad and fatal hour
My honours fade away and fall;

[ocr errors]

I nothing more shall then desire,

But gladly without murmuring expire." Peace, sweetest queen of flowers! now see Sylvia, queen of my love, appear: Who for thy comfort brings with her

What will thy wishes satisfy;

For her white hand intends to grace thee,

And in her sweeter breast, sweet flower, to place thee.

THE NIGHT:

OR THE FAIR MOURNER.

THIS fair, and animated Night,
In sables drest; whose curls of light
Are with a shade of cypress veil'd;
Not from the Stygian deeps exhal'd,
But from Heav'n's bright balcony came;
Not dropping dew, but shedding flame.
The blushing East her smiles display,
Her beauteous front the dawn of day;
The stars do sparkle in her eyes,
And in her looks the Sun doth rise.
No mask of clouds and storms she wears,
But still serene and calm appears :
No dismal birds, no hideous fiends,
Nor charming bag on her attends;
The Graces are her maids of honour,
And thousand Cupids wait upon her.

Dear flames still burning, though you are
Supprest: lights, though obscur'd, still fair!
What heart does not adore you? who,
But sigh, or languishes for you?
Heaven wishes, by your shade outvi'd,
Its milky path in ink were dy'd:

The Sen within an ebon case,

Longs to shut up his golden face:

The Moon too, with thy sad dress took,
Would fain put on a mourning look.

Sweet Night! and if thou'rt Night, of peace
The gentle mother! cares release!
My heart, now long opprest, relieve;
And in thy softer bosom give
My weary limbs a short repose;

'Tis but a small request, Heaven knows:
Nor think it shame to condescend,
For Night is styl'd the lover's friend.

But Muse, thou art too loud I fear,
The Night loves silence, Muse forbear.

I SOSPIRI

SIGHS.

SIGHS light, warm spirits! in which, air,
And fire, possess an equal share:
The soul's soft breath! love's gentle gales !
Which from grief's gulf (when all else fails)
Can by a speedy course, and short,
Conduct the heart to its sweet port:
Ye flattering zephyrs! by whose pow'r,
Rais'd on the wings of thought, each hour
From the abyss of miseries

To her lov'd Heav'n the freed soul flies.

True lively sparks of that close fire,
Which hearts conceal, and eyes inspire;
Chaste lamps, that burn at beauty's shrine,
Whose purer flames let none confine :
Nature a warmth unto my heart
Does not so kind as yours impart ;
And if by breath preserv'd alive,
By your breath only I survive.

Love's faithful witnesses! the brief,
But true expresses of our grief!
Embassadors of mute desires!

Dumb rhet'ric which our thoughts attires!
Grief, when it overloads the breast,
Is in no other language drest;
For you the suffering lover's flame,
Sweet, tongueless orators, proclaim.

A numerous descant upon sorrow!

Which sweetness doth from sadness borrow,
When love two differing hearts accords,
And joy, in well-tun'd grief, affords.
The music of whose sweet consent,
In a harmonious languishment,
Does softly fall, and gently rise,
'Till in a broken close it dies.

Nature, and all that call her mother.
In sighs discourse to one another:
Theirs, nightingales, and doves, in tones
Different express; this sings, that groans:
The thrush, bis, whistles to his hen;
The sparrow chirps out his agen;
Snakes breathe their amorous sighs in hisses,
This dialect no creature misscs.

The virgin lily, bashful rose,

In odours their soft sighs disclose ;

Theirs, sportive winds in whispers breath;
Earth hers in vapours doth bequeath
To her celestial lover; he,

Touch'd with an equal sympathy,

To fan the flame with which she burns,

In gentle gales his sighs returns.

Ye glowing sparks of a chaste fire! Now to those radiant lights aspire,

The fairer nests of my fair love,

And the bright spheres where you should move.

THE SURPRISE.

THERE'S no dallying with love,

Though he be a child and blind; Then let none the danger prove,

Who would to himself be kind:

Smile he does when thou dost play,
But his smiles to death betray.
Lately with the boy I sported;

Love I did not, yet love feign'd;
Had not mistress, yet I courted;
Sigh I did, yet was not pain'd;
Till at last this love in jest
Prov'd in earnest my unrest.
When I saw my fair one first,

In a feigned fire I burn'd;

But true names my poor heart pierc'd,
When her eyes on mine she turn'd:
So a real wound I took
For my counterfeited look.

Slighted love, his skill to show,

Struck me with a mortal dart;
Then I learnt, that 'gainst his bow,

Vain are the weak helps of art:
And, thus captiv'd, found that true
Doth dissembled love pursue.
'Cause his fetters I disclaim'd,

Now the tyrant faster bound me;
With more scorching brands inflam'd,
'Cause in love so cold he found me:
And my sighs more scalding made,
'Cause with winds before they play'd.
None who loves not then make shew,
Love's as ill deceiv'd as fate;
Fly the boy, he'll cog and woo;

Mock him, and he wounds thee straight.
Ah! who dally boast in vain ;
False love wants not real pain.

[blocks in formation]

And the stars, which Heaven inspires,
Reckon my consuming fires."

Then the shepherd, in the pride
Of his happy love, reply'd;
"With the choristers of air
Shall our numerous joys compare ;
And our mutual pleasures vie
With the Cupids in thine eye."
Thus the willing shepherdess
Did her ready love express:
"In delights our pains shall cease,
And our war be cur'd by peace;
We will count our griefs with blisses,
Thousand torments, thousand kisses."

CELIA WEEPING.

A DIALOGUE.

LOVER.

SAY gentle god of love, in Celia's breast, Can joy and grief together rest?

LOVE.

No; for those differing passions are, Nor in one heart at once can share.

LOVER.

Why grieves hers then at once, and joys, Whilst it another's heart destroys?

LOVE.

Mistaken man! that grief she shows, Is but what martyr'd hearts disclose Which in her breast tormented lie, And life can neither hope, nor die.

LOVER.

And yet a shower of pearly rain
Does her soft cheeks' fair roses stain.

LOVE.

Alas! those tears you her's surmise, Are the sad tribute of poor lover's eyes.

CHORUS.

LOVER AND LOVE.

What real then in women can be known!

When nor their joys, nor sorrows are their own?

LOVE'S ARITHMETIC.

By a gentle river laid,
Thirsis to his Phillis said;
Equal to these sandy grains,
Is the number of my pains;
And the drops within their bounds
Speak the sum of all my wounds.
Phillis, whom like passion burns,
Thirsis answer thus returns:
"Many, as the Earth hath leaves,
Are the griefs my heart receives;

THE VOW.

Br my life I vow,

That my life, art thou;

By my heart, and by my eyes:
But thy faith denies

To my juster oath t' encline,
For thou say'st I swear by thine.
By this sigh I swear,
.By this falling tear,

By the undeserved pains

My griev'd soul sustains. Now thou may'st believe my moan, These are too too much my own.

ICE AND FIRE.

NAKED Love did to thine eye,
Chloris, once to warm him, fly;
But its subtle flame, and light,

Scorch'd his wings, and spoil'd his sight.

Forc'd from thence he went to rest
In the soft couch of thy breast:
But there met a frost so great,
As his torch extinguish'd straight.
When poor Cupid, thus (constrain'd
His cold bed to leave) complain'd;
"'Las! what lodging's here for me,
If all ice and fire she be."

NOVO INAMORAMENTO.

AND yet anew entangled, see

Him, who escap'd the snare so late! A truce, no league thou mad'st with me, False love! which now is out of date: Fool, to believe the fire quite out, alas! Which only laid asleep in embers was. The sickness, not at first past cure,

By this relapse despiseth art: Now, treacherous boy, thou hast me sure, Playing the wanton with my heart, As foolish children, that a bird have got, Slacken the thread, but not untie the knot.

CELIA'S EYES.

A DIALOGUE.

LOVER.

Love! tell me; may we Celia's eyes esteem Or eyes, or stars? for stars they seem.

LOVE.

Fond, stupid man! know stars they are, Nor can Heaven boast more bright or fair.

LOVER.

Are they or erring lights, or fixed? say.

LOVE.

Fix'd; yet lead many a heart astray.

THE RESEMBLANCE.

MARBLE (Coy Celia !) 'gainst my pray'rs thou art, And at thy frown to marble I convert.

Love thought it fit, and Nature, thus
To manifest their several powers in us.

Love made me marble, Nature thee,
To express constancy and cruelty.
Now both of us shall monuments remain ;
I of firm faith, thou of disdain.

LOVE ONCE, LOVE EVER.

SHALL I hopeless then pursue

A fair shadow that still flies me?

Shall I still adore, and woo

A proud heart, that does despise me?

I a constant love may so,
But, alas! a fruitless show.
Shall I by the erring light

Of two crosser stars still sail?
That do shine, but shine in spite,

Not to guide, but make me fail?
1 a wand'ring course may steer,
But the harbour ne'er come near.
Whilst these thoughts my soul possess,
Reason, passion would o'ersway;
Bidding me my flames suppress,

Or divert some other way:
But what reason would pursue,
That my heart runs counter to.

So a pilot, bent to make

Search for some unfound out land,
Does with him the magnet take,

Sailing to the unknown strand;
But that (steer which way he will)
To the loved north points still.

THE PENDANTS.
THOSE asps of gold with gems that shine,
And in enamel'd curls do twine,
Why Chloris in each ear
Dost thou for pendants wear?
I now the hidden meaning guess :
Those mystic signs express
The stings thine eyes do dart,
Killing as snakes, into my heart :
And show that to my prayers
Thine ears are deaf as theirs.

THE SWEETMEAT.

THOU gav'st me late to eat

A sweet without, but within, bitter meat :
As if thou would'st have said, "Here, taste in this
What Celia is."

But if there ought to be

A likeness (dearest!) 'twixt thy gift and thee, Why first what's sweet in thee should I not taste, The bitter last?

VIOLETS IN THAUMANTIA'S BOSOM. TWICE happy violets! that first had birth In the warm spring, when no frosts nip the earth; Thrice happy now; since you transplanted are Unto the sweeter bosom of my fair.

And yet poor flowers! I pity your hard fate, You have but chang'd, not better'd your estate; What boots it you t' have scap'd cold winter's

breath,

To find, like me, by flames a sudden death?

THE DREAM.

FAIR shadow! faithless as my Sun!

Of peace she robs my mind,

And to my sense, which rest doth shun,
Thou art no less unkind,

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

BEAUTY ENCREASED BY PITY, 'Tis true; thy beauty (which before

Did dazzle each bold gazer's eye,
And forc'd even rebel-hearts t'adore,

Or from its conquering splendour fly)
Now shines with new increase of light,
Like Cynthia at her full, more bright,
Yet though thou glory in th' increase
Of so much beauty, dearest fair!
They err who think this great access,

(Of which all eyes th' admirers are)
Or art, or Nature's gift should be:
Learn then the hidden cause from me,
Pity in thee, in me desire

First bred; (before, I durst but aim At fair respect) now that close fire

Thy love hath fann'd into a flame: Which mounting to its proper place, Shines like a glory 'bout thy face,

[blocks in formation]

"From those tempting lips if I
May not steal a kiss (my dear!)
I shall longing pine and die:
And a kiss if I obtain,

My heart fears (thine eyes so near)
By their light'ning 'twill be slain.
Thus I know not what to try;
This I know yet, that I die.

CHANGE DEFENDED.

| LEAVE, Chloris, leave, prithee no more With want of love, or lightness charge me : 'Cause thy looks captiv'd me before,

May not another's now enlarge me?
He, whose misguided zeal hath long
Paid homage to some star's pale light,
Better inform'd, may without wrong,

Leave that, t'adore the queen of night.
Then if my heart, which long serv'd thee,
Will to Carintha now incline;
Why term'd inconstant should it be,

For bowing 'fore a richer shrine?
Censure that lover's such, whose will
Inferior objects can intice;
Who changes for the better still,
Makes that a virtue, you call vice.

THE MICROCOSM.

MAN of himself's a little world, but join'd With woman, woman for that end design'd, (Hear cruel fair one whilst I this rehearse!) He makes up then a complete universe.

Man, like this sublunary world, is born The sport of two cross planets, love, and scorn: Woman the other world resembles well,

In whose looks Heav'n is, in whose breast is Hell.

THE DEFEAT.

'GAINST Celinda's marble breast
All his arrows having spent,
And in vain each arrow sent,
Impotent, unarmed Love,
In a shady myrtle grove,
Laid him down to rest.

Soon as laid, asleep he fell :

And a snake in (as he slept)

To his empty quiver crept.

When fair Chloris, whose soft heart

Love had wounded (and its smart
Lovers best can tell.)

This advantage having spy'd;
Of his quiver, and his bow
Thought to rob her sleeping foe:
Softly going then about
To have seiz'd upon them; out
Straight the snake did glide;
With whose hisses frighted, she,
(Nimbly starting back again)
Thus did to her self complain :
"Never, cruel archer! never
(Full, or empty) does thy quiver
Want a sting for me,"

« EdellinenJatka »