Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

To fee her eyes with vary'd pleasure move,

And all the nymph confefs the power of love.
Nature's not thus indulgent to the young,
These joys alone to riper years belong :

Who youth enjoys, drinks crude unready wine,
Let age your girl and sprightly juice refine,

Mellow their sweets, and make the tafte divine. 765
To Helen who'd Hermione prefer,

Or Gorgé think beyond her mother fair :

But he that covets the experienc'd dame,

[ocr errors]

760

Shall crown his joys, and triumph in his flame.sbatov 17 One confcious bed receives the happy pair:

Retire, my Mufe; the door demands thy care.

What charming words, what tender things are faid! A
What language flows without thy useless aid !

There shall the roving hand employment find, ⠀⠀
Infpire new flames, and make ev'n virgins kind."'
Thus Hector did Andromache delight,
Hector in love victorious, as in fight.

775

I'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

A

[ocr errors]

When weary from the field Achilles came,obt die h
Thus with delays he rais'd Brifeïs' flame.
Ah, could thofe arms, thofe fatal hands delight,
Infpire kind thoughts, and raife thy appetite!
Could't thou, fond maid, be charm'd with his enabrace,
Stain'd with the blood of half thy royal race?

[ocr errors]

Nor yet with speed the fleeting pleasures waftey o DIĀ Still moderate your love's impetuous hafteborg 851 The bashful virgin, though appearing coy, anzu Va "T Detains your hand, and hugs the proffer'd joy, vorodeď ared aquor my gosemĄ zhi ba The

Then view her eyes with humid luftre bright,
Sparkling with rage, and trembling with delight:
Her kind complaints, her melting accents hear,
The eye fhe charms, and wounds the listening ear.
Defert not then the clafping nymph's embrace,
But with her love maintain an equal pace :
Raife to her heights the transports of your foul,
And fly united to the happy goal.

799

795

Obferve these precepts when with leisure blest,
No threatening fears your private hours moleft;
When danger's near, your active force employ,
And urge with eager speed the hafty joy:
Then ply your oars, then practise this advice,
And strain with whip and fpur, to gain the prize.
The work's complete: triumphant palms prepare,

With flowery wreaths adorn my flowing hair.

As to the Greeks was Podalirius' art,
To heal with medicines the afflicted part:
Neftor's advice, Achilles' arms in field,
Automedon for chariot-driving fkill'd;

800

$$

As Chalchas could explain the mystic bird,

And Telemon could wield the brandish'd fword:

Such to the town my fam'd instructions prove,

810

So much am I renown'd for arts of love:

Me every youth fhall praise, extol my name,
And o'er the globe diffuse my lasting fame..
Larms provide against the scornful fair;
Thus Vulcan arm'd Achilles for the war,,
Whatever youth fhall with my aid o'ercome,
And lead his Amazon in triumph home;
Ff2

815

Let

Let him that conquers, and enjoys the dame,
In gratitude for his inftructed flame,
Infcribe the spoils with my aufpicious name.
The tender girls my precepts next demand:
Them I commit to a more skilful hand.

}

822

AN ESSAY ON THE CHARACTER OF

SIR WILLOUGHBY ASTON,

LATE OF ASTON IN CHESHIRE, 1704.

ΤΟ THE LADY CREWE OF UTKINTON.

MADAM,

AS when the eagle, with a parent's love,

Prepares her young to visit realms above:
With heaven's full luftre fhe allures him on,
Firft to admire, and then approach the fun;,
Unweary'd he furveys the orb of light,
Charm'd by the object to maintain his flight.

To you th' afpiring Muse her labour brings,
Thus tries its fate, and thus expands her wings:
Tempted to gaze on your auspicious light,
This hafty birth to you directs its flight;
The beauties of your mind tranfported views,
Admiring fings, and pleas'd her flight pursues.
Permit thefe loofe, unfinish'd lines to claim
The kind protection of your parent's name :

[ocr errors][merged small]

Though

Though void of ornaments, and every grace,

"Accept the piece, as facred to your race.

Where you behold

(

your great forefathers fame,

And trace the springs from whence your virtues came:
Survey the triumphs, and the honours view,
That by a long defcent devolve on you.

In vain the Mufe her vanquish'd pencil tries,
Where unexhaufted ftores of beauty rife:
Languid and faint her labours must appear,
Whilft you tranfcend her faireft character.
So bright in you your father's graces shine,
And all the virtues of your ancient line;
That none with pleasure can the copy view,
Whilft the original furvives in you.

WH

[ocr errors]

20

25

HAT man renown'd! what British worthy's praise
Infpires the Mufe! and confecrates her lays!

Record thy Afton's celebrated name,

Difplay his virtues, and tranfmit his fame.

Illuftrious actions to thy care belong,'
And form the beauties of heroic song :
None c'er appear'd with fo immense a store,
Nor ever grac'd harmonious numbers more.

Nor ftain, my Mufe, with thy officious tears,
The bright example for fucceeding years:
Whilft others in dejected notes complain,
Sublime thy fong, attempt a nobler ftrain.
With verfe affuage his pious off-fpring's care,
And calm the forrows of the weeping fair:
rybodT

5

10

Difpel

Difpel the fhades that fate untimely fpread,
And ceafe to mourn for the immortal dead.

Where out-ftretch'd Britain in the ocean's loft,
And Dee and rapid Mercy bound the coaft;
There hills arise with sylvan honours crown'd,
"There fruitful vales and fhady ftreams abound,
Not Median groves, not Tempe's boasted plain,
Nor where Pactolus' fands inrich the main,
Can yield a profpect fairer to the fight,
Nor charm with fcenes of more auguft delight.

Here Lupus and his warlike chiefs obtain'd
Imperial fway, and great in honours reign'd :
Deriving titles from their fwords alone,
Their laws preferv'd, and liberties their own.

15

20

25

As when two fwelling floods their waves oppose, Nor would confound the urns from whence they rofe: 30 But by degrees uniting in a stream,

Forget their fountains, and become the fame.

Thus ftrove the Britains with the Norman race,

Fierce with their wrongs, and confcious of difgrace: 35
But when the fury of their arms was o'er,

Whom thirst of empire had engag'd before,
Now Friendship binds, and Love unites the more.
From whom a long descent of worthies shine,
Juft to the glories of their martial line:
Admiring Fame their matchlefs force records,
Their bounteous minds, and hofpitable boards.
Where Weever haftens to receive the Dane,
Refreshing with united streams the plain;

40

A rifing

« AnteriorContinuar »