X. “ Did not thy owner, when we parted lait,

“ Promise to keep thee safe for me alone ? “ Scarce of our abfence three short months are past,

“ And thou already from thy poft art flown. ,

XI. “ Be not enrag’d, replied th’ Apostle kind

“ 'Since that this maidenhead is thine by right, “ Take it away; and, when thou haft a mind,

“ Carry it thither whence it took its flight."

XII. “ Thanks, Holy Father !” quoth the joyous Knight,

“ The Moon shall be no loser by your grace : “ Let me but have the use on 't for a night,

“ And I 'll restore it to its present place."

TO A YOUNG LADY.

WITH THE

TRAGEDY OF

.

VENICE PRESERVED.

I tender
Otway's moving

scenes we find
What power the gods have to your sex assign'd:
Venice was loft, if on the brink of fate
A woman had not propt her sinking state :
In the dark danger of that dreadful hour,
Vain was her senate's wisdom, vain its power. ; .

But,

But, fav’d by Belvidera's charming tears,
Still o'er the subject main her towers she rears,
And stands a great example to mankind,
With what a boundless sway you rule the mind,
Skilful the worst or noblest ends to serve,
And strong alike to ruin or preserve.

In wretched Jaffier, we with pity view
A mind, to Honour false, to Virtue true,
In the wild storm of struggling passions tost,
Yet saving innocence, though fame was loft ;
Greatly forgetting what he ow'd his friend
His country, which had wrong'd him, to defend.

But the, who urg'd him to that pious deed,
Who knew so well the patriot's cause to plead,
Whose conquering love her country's safety woii,
Was, by that fatal love, herself undone,
* “ Hence may we learn, what passion fain would

66 hide, “ That Hymen's bands by prudence should be tied. “ Venus in vain the wedded pair would crown, “ If angry Fortune on their union frown: “ Soon will the flattering dreams of joys be o'er, “ And cloy'd imagination cheat no more; « Then, waking to the sense of lasting pain, " With mutual tears the bridal couch they stain ;

And * The twelve following lines, with some small variations, have been already printed in “ Advice to a “ 'Lady,” p. 39; but, as Lord Lyttelton chose to introduce them here, it was thought more eligible to repeat these few lines, than to suppress the reft of the poem.

N,

" And that fond love, which should afford relief,
" Does but augment the anguish of their grief :
" While both could easier their own forrows bear,
“ Than the fad knowledge of each other's care."
May all the joys in Love and Fortune's

power
Kindly combine to grace your nuptial hour!
On each glad day may plenty shower delight,
And warmest rapture bless each welcome night!
May Heaven, that gave you Belvidera's charms,
Deftine some happier Jaffier to your arms,
Whose bliss misfortune never may allay,
Whose fondness. never may through care decay ;
Whose wealth may place you in the faireft light,
And force each modest beauty into sight!
So shall no anxious want your peace destroy,
No tempest crush the tender buds of joy;
But all your hours in one gay circle move,
Nor Reafon ever disagree with Love !

TI

ELL me, my heart, fond Nave of hopelefs love,

And doom'd its woes, without its joys, to proves
Canst thou endure thus calmly to erase
The dear, dear iinage of thy Delia’s face?
Canst thou exclude that habitant divine,
To place some meaner idol in her shrine ?

talk, for feeble Reason too severe.!
leffon, nought could teach me but despair!

*Must I forbid my eyes that heavenly fight,
They ’ve view'd so oft with languishing delight?
Must my ears fun that voice, whose charming sound
Seem'd to relieve, while it encreas’d, my wound?

O Waller! Petrarch! you who tun'd the lyre
To the soft notes of elegant desire ;
Though Sidney to a rival gave her charms,
Though Laura dying left her lover's arms,
Yet were your pains less exquisite than mine,
'Tis easier far to lose, than to. resign!

INSCRIPTION for a Bust of Lady SUFFOLKS Designed to be set up in a Wood at Stowe.

1732. HER wit

and beauty for a court were made : But truth and goodness fit her for a shade.

SULPICIA TO CERINTHUS,

IN HER SICKNESS.

FROM

TIBULLU S.

(Sent to a Friend, in a Lady's Name.) SAY, my Cerinthus, does thy tender breast

Feel the same feverish heats that mine moleft:
Alas! I only wish for health again,
Because I think my lover shares my pain:
-For what would health avail to wretched me,
If you could, unconcern'd, my illness see?

SULPICIATO CERINTHUS.

'M

weary Myself I torture, while the world I cheat: Though Prudence bids me strive to guard my fame, Love sees the low hypocrisy with shame; Love bids me all confess, and call chee mine, Worthy my heart, as I am worthy thine : Weakness for thee I will no longer hide; Weakness for thee is woman's noblest pride.

CATO’S SPEECH TO LABIENUS.

In the Ninth Book of LUCAN.

(“.Quid quæri, Labiene, jubes, &c.")

WHAT, Labienus, would thy fond defire,

Of horned Jove's prophetic thrine enquire ?
Whether to seek in arms a glorious doom,
Or basely live, and be a king in Rome?
If life be nothing more than death's delay;
If impious force can honest minds dismay,
Or Probity may Fortune's frown disdain ;
If well to mean is all that Virtue can;
And right, dependant on itself alone,
Gains no addition from success ?- 'Tis known :
Fix'd in my heart these constant truths I bear,
And Ammon cannot write thein deeper there.

Our