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KISS E S.

TRANSLATED FROM SECUNDUS.

BASIUM

I.

WHEN Venus, in the sweet Idalian fhade,

A violet couch for young Afcanius made,
Their opening gems th' obedient roses bow'd,
And veil'd his beauties with a damafk cloud :
While the bright goddefs, with a gentle shower
Of nectar'd dews, perfum'd the blissful bower.

Of fight infatiate, fhe devours his charms,
Till her foft breaft rekindling ardour warms;
New joys tumultuous in her bofom roll,
And all Adonis rufheth on her foul :
Transported with each dear resembling grace,
She cries, Adonis !---fure I fee thy face!
Then ftoops to clafp the beauteous form, but fears
He'd wake too foon, and with a figh forbears;
Yet, fix'd in filent rapture, ftands to gaze,
Kiffing each flowering bud that round her plays :
Swell'd with her touch, each animated rofe
Expands, and ftrait with warmer purple glows;
Where infant kisses bloom, a balmy store!
Redoubling all the bliss she felt before.

Sudden her fwans career along the skies,
And o'er the globe the fair celestial flies;

Then,

Then, as where Ceres pafs'd, the teeming plain
Yellow'd with wavy crops of golden grain,
So fruitful kiffes fell where Venus flew,
And by the power of genial magic grew ;
A plenteous harvest! which she deign'd ť impart
To footh an agonizing love-fick heart.

All hail, ye roseate kiffes! who remove
Our cares, and cool the calentures of love.
Lo! I your poet, in melodious lays

Blefs your kind power, enamour'd of your praise ; Lays! form'd to last till barbarous time invades The Mufes' hill, and withers all their fhades. Sprung from the guardian of the Roman name, In Roman numbers live, fecure of fame.

As

BASI UM

S the young enamour'd vine
Round her elm delights to twine,

As the clafping ivy throws
Round her oak her wanton boughs,
So clofe, expanding all thy charms,
Fold me, my Chloris, in thy arms!
Clofer, my Chloris, could it be,
Would my fond arms incircle thee.

II.

The jovial friend shall tempt in vain With humour, wit, and brifk champaigne ;

* Venus.

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In vain fhall Nature call for fleep,
We'll Love's eternal vigils keep :
Thus, thus for ever let us lie,
Diffolving in excefs of joy,
Till fate fhall with a fingle dart

Transfix the pair it cannot part.

Thus join'd, 'we 'll fleet like Venus' doves,
And feek the bleft Elyfian groves ;
Where Spring in rofy triumph reigns
Perpetual o'er the joyous plains:
There, lovers of heroic name,
Revive their long-extinguish'd flame,
And o'er the fragrant vale advance
In fhining pomp to form the dance,
Or fing of Love and gay Defire,
Refponfive to the warbling lyre;
Reclining foft in blissful bowers,
Purpled sweet with fpringing flowers ;
And cover'd with a filken fhade,
Of laurel mix'd with myrtle made :
Where, flaunting in immortal bloom,
The musk-rofe fcents the verdant gloom ;
Through which the whispering Zephyrs fly
Softer than a virgin's figh.

When we approach thofe bleft retreats,
Th' affembly ftrait will leave their feats,
Admiring much the matchlefs pair,
So fond the youth, the nymph fo fair!
Daughters and mistresses to Jove,
By Homer fam'd of old for love;

In homage to the British Grace,
Will give pre-eminence of place.
Helen herself will foon agree

To rife, and yield her rank to thee.

AN EPISTLE

то

THOMAS

LAM BARD, ESQ

"Omnia me tua delectant; fed maximè, maxima cùm "fides in amicitiâ, confilium, gravitas, conftantia ; "tum lepos, humanitas, literæ.”

CICERO, Ep. xxvii. Lib. xi.

LOW though I am to wake the fleeping lyre,

SLOW

Yet fhould the Muse some happy fong inspire,
Fit for a friend to give, and worthy thee,
That favourite verse to Lambard I decree :
Such may the Mufe infpire, and make it
A pledge and monument of lafting love!

prove

Meantime intent the fairest plan to find,
To form the manners, and improve the mind;
Me the fam'd wits of Rome and Athens please,
By Orrery's indulgence wrapt in eafe;

Whom all the rival Mufes ftrive to grace
With wreaths familiar to his letter'd race.

Now Truth's bright charms employ my ferious thought,
In flowing eloquence by Tully taught:

The

Then from the fhades of Tufculum I rove,
And ftudious wander in the Grecian grove;
While wonder and delight the foul engage
To found the depths of Plato's facred page;
Where Science in attractive fable lies,

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And, veil'd, the more invites her lover's eyes.
Transported thence, the flowery heights I gain
Of Pindus, and admire the warbling train,
Whofe wings the Mufe in better ages prun'd,
And their fweet harps to moral airs attun'd.
As night is tedious while, in love betray'd,
The wakeful youth expects the faithless maid
As weary'd hinds accuse the lingering fun,
And heirs impatient with for twenty-one :
So dull to Horace did the moments glide,
Till his free Mufe her fprightly force employ'd
To combat vice, and follies to expose,
In cafy numbers near ally'd to prose :

Guilt blush'd and trembled when the heard him fing,
He fmil'd reproof, and tickled with his sting.
With fuch a graceful negligence exprest,
Wit, thus apply'd, will ever ftand the test:
But he, who blindly led by whimsy strays,
And from grofs images would merit praise,
When Nature fets the nobleft ftores in view,
Affects to polish copper in Peru:

So while the feas on barren fands are caft,
The falmefs of their waves offends the taste :

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