Ah! gentle fun !-So will I bless thy beams,
Tho' thy return but grief returning brings-
With cautious reverence fteal, where hovering streams
O'er Delia's pillow wave their bufy wings.

O could I ftand with trembling duty nigh
To guard, and guarding gaze upon the maid,
No ruder ray thould there intrude, no fly
With murmuring error her repofe invade.

And if, while thus I gaz'd, upon her cheek
One fmile of haughty scorn should haply dawn;
And if one amorous figh should haply break,
Deep from th' involuntary bosom drawn:

Now, would I cry, the proudly feigns to smile
While at her feet I feem my fuit to prefs;
Now ill-conceal'd by many a female wile
Her mutual love those amorous fighs confefs.

ear

And can I thus the flattering tale believe,
Which hope, too ready, whispers in my
And can I thus this fimple heart deceive,
That still my Delia holds my memory dear?

?

She now can wander in the conscious grove,
Nor think, how there I wander'd by her fide;

In dreams her fancy now can freely rove,
Nor hear me talk, nor fee my image glide.

Yet be the falfe; her falfhood fhall but fhow,
How fix'd the firm foundation of my truth.
For her alone I nurfe perpetual woe;

For her, in filence drooping, wafte my youth.

For her, where lingering on in many a maze
Their humid train the waves of Ifis wreathe,
The tuneful forrows of thefe tender lays,
With many a hope, and many a fear, I breathe;

And oft the while, my head in grief declin'd
Wiftful I raise to watch the journeying fun;
Sigh as I mark the distance yet behind,
And bid his weftering wheels more swiftly run.

Then fondly kind in vifionary charms
Propitious night my Delia may restore;
Then I again may fold her in these arms;
-O be the vifion true!-I ask no more.

A POR

A POETICAL EPISTLE (MORAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL) FROM AN OFFICER AT OTAHEITE.

ΤΟ LADY GROSVENOR.

CAN I forget the beauteous Emma's charıns,
The foft Elyfium of her circling arms;
The wanton jirk of thofe claftick hips,

Which made the ermin'd fages lick their lips,
When the falfe Countess (a) painted all fhe faw,
And the press'd couch became the sport of law?

My Emma, come, O grace these fmiling plains, Where love unbounded fires the raptur'd fwains; Where thrilling lovers feel, but to be bleft, And extacy entrances them to rest.

Here kifs meets kifs ere from the lips it part,

And love's warm tide flows mutual from the heart. (b)
Lo here, whence frozen Chastity retires,

Love finds an altar for his fiercest fires ;
The throbbing virgin lofes ev'ry fear,.
Venus alone abfolves her frailties here.

(a) Counters. D'ff. Vide Trial.

(b) Eloifa to Abelard.

At

At ten years old, fhe feels th' inftinctive itch,
And the glad mother straight tattows (c) her breech;
Curve above curve (d), the fplendid arches rise,
Like the bright bow that gilds the funny skies:
Doubtless, defign'd on the fame gracious plan,
A Sign of Peace, a Covenant with man!

Then joy illumes her with all-chearing beams,
Unerring instinct prompts her golden dreams;

(c) "Mr. Banks faw the operation of tattowing performed upon the backfide of a girl about thirteen years old. The inftrument ufed upon this occafion had thirty teeth, and every ftroke, of which at leaft a hundred were made in a minute, drew an ichor or ferum, a little tinged with blood. Mr. Banks ftaid in a neighbour ing houfe an hour, and the operation was not over when he went away; yet it was performed but upon one fide, the other having been done fome time before; and the arches upon the loins, in which they moft pride themselves, and which gave more pain than all the reft, were ftill to be done."

Hawke Voyag, vol. ii. p. 190. (d)" The part on which these ornaments are lavished with the greatest profufion, is the breech: this, in both fexes, is covered with a deep black; above which, arches are drawn one over another, as high as the fhort ribs. They are often a quarter of an inch broad, and the edges are not ftrait lines, but indented. Thefe arches are their pride, and are fhewn both by men and women with a mixture of oftentation and pleasure; whether as an ornament, or a proof of their fortitude and refolution in bearing pain, we could not determine."

Hawkef. Voyag. vol. ii. p. 190.

Experienc'd

Experienc'd dames then lead the smiling maid
To the kind covert of the plantain's shade.
Her bed, like Eve's (e), with choicest flowers blooms,
And hov'ring Cupids shed divine perfumes.

With tuckt-up fhifts the fairest damfels fing,
The magick wonders of Hans Carvel's (f) ring (g) ;

(e) So faid he, and forbore not glance nor toy

Of amorous intent, well understood

Of Eve, whofe eye darted contagious fire:

Her hand he feiz'd, and to a fhady bank

He led her nothing loth; flowers were the couch,
Panfies and violets, and asphodel,

And hyacinth, earth's fofteft, fresheft lap.

Prior.

Paradife Loft.

(g) "Friday, May 13, was distinguished by a vifit from fome Ladies. Having laid fome pieces of cloth on the ground, the foremost of the women, who appeared to be the principal, and who was called Oorattoa, ftepped upon them, and taking up her gar ments all round her to the waift, turned about three times with great compofure and deliberation : when this was done, the dropped the veil, and ftepping off the cloth, three pieces more were laid, and the repeated the ceremony. The three laft were laid, and the ceremony was repeated the third time, in the fame manner." Hawkesworth, vol, ii. p. 125.