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Since each has in his bofom nurft

A falfe and fawning foe,

'Tis juft and wife, by ftriking first,

To 'scape the fatal blow.

ТО A MOREТТА.

WHEN I held out against your eyes,

You took the fureft course;

A heart unwary to surprize,
You ne'er could take by force.

However, though I ftrive no more,
The fort will now be priz'd,
Which, if furrender'd up before,
Perhaps had been despis'd.

But, gentle Amoretta, though
I cannot love refift,

Think not, when you have caught me fo,
To use me as you lift.

Inconftancy or coldness will

My foolish heart reclaim :
Then I come off with honour still,
But you, alas! with fhame.

A heart by kindness only gain'd,
Will a dear conquest prove;

And, to be kept, muft be maintain'd
At vaft expence of love.

THE

Ο

THE

VENTURE.

H, how I languish! what a strange
Unruly fierce defire !

My fpirits feel fome wondrous change,
My heart is all on fire.

Now, all ye

wifer thoughts, away,

In vain your tale ye tell

Of patient hopes, and dull delay,
Love's foppish part; farewell.

Suppofe one week's delay would give
All that my wishes move;
Oh, who fo long a time can live,
Stretch'd on the rack of love?

Her foul perhaps is too fublime,
To like fuch flavish fear;
Difcretion, prudence, all is crime,
If once condemn'd by her.

When honour does the foldier call
To fome unequal fight,
Refolv'd to conquer, or to fall,
Before his general's fight;

Advanc'd the happy hero lives;
Or if ill Fate denies,

The noble rashness heaven forgives,
And gloriously he dies.

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INCONSTANCY EXCUSED.

I1

O N G.

Muft confefs, I am untrue

To Gloriana's eyes;

But he that's smil'd upon by you,
Muft all the world defpife.

In winter, fires of little worth
Excite our dull defire;

But when the fun breaks kindly forth,
Those fainter flames expire.

Then blame me not for flighting now
What I did once adore;

O, do but this one change allow,
And I can change no more :

Fixt by your never-failing charms,
Till I with age decay,

Till languishing within your arms,
I figh my foul away.

OH,

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H, conceal that charming creature
From my wondering, wishing eyes!

Every motion, every feature

Does fome ravish'd heart furprize;

But

But oh, I fighing, fighing, fee
The happy fwain! fhe ne'er can be
Falfe to him, or kind to me.

Yet, if I could humbly fhow her,
Ah! how wretched I remain;
'Tis not, fure, a thing below her,
Still to pity fo much pain.

The gods fome pleasure, pleasure take,
Happy as themselves to make
Thofe who fuffer for their fake.

Since your hand alone was given

To a wretch not worth your care;
Like fome angel fent from heaven,

Come, and raise me from defpair;
Your heart I cannot, cannot mils,
And I defire no other blifs;
Let all the world befides be his.

D E

SPAI R.

ALL hopeless of relief,

Incapable of reft,

In vain I ftrive to vent a grief
That's not to be expreft.

This rage within my veins

No reafon can remove;

Of all the mind's most cruel pains,

The tharpeft, fure, is love.

D

Yet

Yet while I languish so,

And on thee vainly call ;

Take heed, fair caufe of all my woe,

What fate may thee befall.

Ungrateful, cruel faults

Suit not thy gentle fex;

Hereafter, how will guilty thoughts
Thy tender confcience vex!

When welcome Death fhall bring
Relief to wretched me,

My foul enlarg'd, and once on wing,
In hafte will fly to thee.

When in thy lonely bed

My ghost its moan fhall make,
With faddest signs that I am dead,
And dead for thy dear fake;

Struck with that confcious blow,
Thy very foul will start :

Pale as my fhadow thou wilt grow,
And cold as is thy heart.

Too late remorfe will then

Untimely pity fhow

To him, who of all mortal men
Did moft thy value know.

Yet, with this broken heart,
I wish thou never be

Tormented with the thoufandth part

Of what I feel for thee.

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