Of all the men refpected and admir'd,
Of all the dames, except herfelf, defir'd:
Why not of her? preferr'd above the rest
By him with knightly deeds, and open love profefs'd?
So had another been, where he his vows addrefs'd.
This quell'd her pride, yet other doubts remain'd,
That once difdaining, fhe might be difdain'd.
The fear was juft, but greater fear prevail'd,
Fear of her life by hellish hounds affail'd:
He took a low'ring leave; but who can tell,
What outward hate might inward love conceal?
Her fex's arts fhe knew, and why not, then,
Might deep diffembling have a place in men?
Here hope began to dawn; refolv'd to try,
She fix'd on this her utmost remedy;
Death was behind, but hard it was to die.
'Twas time enough at last on death to call,
The precipice in fight: a fhrub was all,
That kindly stood betwixt to break the fatal fall.
One maid she had belov'd above the reft:
Secure of her, the fecret fhe confefs'd;
And now the chearful light her fears difpell'd,
She with no winding turns the truth conceal'd,
put the woman off, and ftood reveal'd:
With faults confefs'd commiffion'd her to go,
If pity yet had place, and reconcile her foe;
The welcome meffage made, was foon receiv'd;
'Twas to be wish'd, and hop'd, but scarce believ'd;
Fate feem'd a fair occafion to present,
He knew the fex, and fear'd fhe might repent,
Should he delay the moment of confent.
There yet remain❜d to gain her friends (a care
The modesty of maidens well might spare ;)
But fhe with fuch a zeal the cause embrac'd,
(As women, where they will, are all in hafte)
The father, mother, and the kin befide,
Were overborne by fury of the tide;
With full confent of all she chang'd her state;
Refiftless in her love, as in her hate.
By her example warn'd, the reft beware;
More eafy, lefs imperious, were the fair;
And that one hunting, which the devil defign'd
For one fair female, loft him half the kind.
OLD,as I-am, for ladies love unfit,
The pow'r of beauty I remember yet,
Which once inflam'd my foul, and ftill infpires my wit.
If love be folly, the fevere divine
Has felt that folly, tho' he cenfures mine;
Pollutes the pleasures of a chafte embrace,
Acts what I write, and propagates in grace,
With riotous excefs, a priestly race.
Suppofe him free, and that I forge th' offence,
He fhew'd the way, perverting first my fense:
In malice witty, and with venom fraught,
He makes me fpeak the things I never thought.
Compute the gains of his ungovern'd zeal;
Il futes his cloth the praife of railing well.
The world will think that what we loofely write,
Tho' now arraign'd, he read with fome delight;
Because he seems to chew the cud again,
When his broad comment makes the text too plain;
And teaches more in one explaining page,
Than all the double meanings of the stage.
What needs he paraphrase on what we mean ?
We were at worst but wanton; he's obfcene.
I, not my fellows, nor myself excufe;
But love's the fubject of the comic mufe:
Nor can we write without it, nor would you
A tale of only dry inftruction view;
Nor love is always of a vicious kind,
But oft to virtuous acts inflames the mind,
Awakes the fleepy vigour of the foul,
And brushing o'er adds motion to the pool.
Love, ftudious how to please, improves our parts
With polish'd manners, and adorns with arts.
Love first invented verfe, and form'd the rhime,
The motion measur'd, harmoniz'd the chime;
To lib'ral acts enlarg'd the narrow foul'd,
Soften'd the fierce, and made the coward bold :
The world, when wafte, he peopled with increase,
And warring nations reconcil'd in peace.
Ormond, the first, and all the fair may find,
In this one legend, to their fame defign'd,
When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind.
N that fweet ifle where Venus keeps her court,
And ev'ry grace, and all the loves, refort;
Where either sex is form'd of fofter earth,
And takes the bent of pleasure from their birth;
There liv'd a Cyprian lord above the rest
Wife, wealthy, with a num'rous iffue blefs'd.
But as no gift of fortune is fincere,
Was only wanting in a worthy heir:
His eldest born, a goodly youth to view,
Excell'd the reft in fhape and outward fhew,
Fair, tall, his limbs with due proportion join'd,
But of a heavy, dull, degenerate mind.
His foul bely'd the features of his face;
Beauty was there, but beauty in difgrace.
A clownish mein, a voice with ruftic found,
And stupid eyes that ever lov'd the ground.
He look'd like nature's error, as the mind
And body were not of a piece defign'd,
But made for two, and by mistake in one were join'd.
The ruling rod, the father's forming care,
Were exercis'd in vain on wit's defpair;
The more inform'd, the lefs he underflood,
And deeper funk by flound'ring in the mud,
Now fcorn'd of all, and grown the public fhame,
The people from Galefus chang'd his name,
And Cymon call'd, which fignifies a brute;
So well his name did with his nature fute,
His father, when he found his labour loft,
And care employ'd, that answer'd not the cost,
Chofe an ungrateful object to remove,
And loath'd to see what nature made him love;
So to his country farm the fool confin'd;
Rude work well fuited with a rustic mind,
Thus to the wilds the sturdy Cymon went,
A fquire among the fwains, and pleas'd with banishment,
His corn and cattle were his only care,
And his fupreme delight, a country fair.
It happen'd on a fummer's holiday,
That to the green-wood fhade he took his way;
For Cymon fhunn'd the church, and us'd not much
to pray.
His quarter-ftaff, which he could ne'er forfake
Hung half before, and half behind his back.
He trudg'd along, unknowing what he fought,
And whistled as he went, for want of thought.
By chance conducted, or by thirft conftrain'd,
The deep receffes of the grove he gain'd;
Where in a plain defended by the wood,
Crept thro' the matted grafs a crystal flood,
By which an alabafter fountain ftood:
And on the margin of the fount was laid
(Attended by her flaves) a fleeping maid.
Like Dian and her nymphs, when tir'd with sport,
To reft by cool Eurotas they resort :
The dame herself the goddess well exprefs'd,
Not more diftinguifh'd by her purple veft,
Than by the charming features of her face,
And ev'n in flumber a fuperior grace:
|