And beckons to the willing dame,
Preferr'd to quench his present flame;
Behold as many Gallants here,
With modeft guife, and filent fear,
All to one female idol bend:
While her high pride does fcarce defcend
To mark their follies; he would fwear
That these her guard of eunuchs were:
And that a more majestic Queen,
Or humbler flaves, he had not feen.
All this with indignation fpoke,
In vain I struggled with the yoke
Of mighty Love: that conquering look,
When next beheld, like lightning strook
My blafted foul; and made me bow,
Lower than those I pity'd now.
So the tall ftag, upon the brink
Of fome fmooth ftream, about to drink,
Surveying there his armed head,
With fhame remembers that he fled
The fcorned dogs; refolves to try
The combat next: but, if their cry
Invades again his trembling ear,
He ftrait refumes his wonted care;
Leaves the untafted spring behind,
And, wing'd with fear, out-flies the wind.
TO PHYLLIS.
PHYLLIS! why should we delay
Pleasures shorter than the day?
Could we (which we never can!)
Stretch our lives beyond their span;
Beauty like a fhadow flies,
And our youth before us dies.
Or, would youth and beauty stay,
Love hath wings, and will away.
Love hath swifter wings than Time :
Change in love to heaven does climb;
Gods, that never change their state,
Vary oft their love and hate.
Phyllis to this truth we owe
All the love betwixt us two:
Let not you and I enquire,
What has been our past desire:
On what shepherd you have smil'd,
Or what nymphs I have beguil'd:
Leave it to the planets too,
What we fhall hereafter do:
For the joys we now may prove
Take advice of prefent love.
TO MY LORD OF FALKLAND.
BRAVE Holland leads, and with him Falkland
Who hears this told, and does not strait suppose
We fend the Graces and the Mufes forth,
To civilize and to inftruct the North?
Not that these ornaments make swords less sharp;
Apollo bears as well his bow as harp :
And though he be the patron of that spring,
Where in calm peace the facred virgins sing;
He courage
had to guard th' invaded throne
Of Jove, and caft the ambitious giant down.
Ah, noble friend! with what impatience all
That know thy worth, and know how prodigal
Of thy great foul thou art (longing to twist
Bays with that ivy, which so early kiss'd
Thy youthful temples) with what horror we
Think on the blind events of war and thee!
To fate expofing that all-knowing breaft
Among the throng, as cheaply as the reft:
Where oaks and brambles (if the copse be burn'd)
Confounded lie, to the fame ashes turn'd.
Some happy wind over the ocean blow
This tempeft yet, which frights our island so!
Guarded with fhips, and all the fea our own,
From Heaven this mifchief on our heads is thrown.
In a late dream, the Genius of this land,
Amaz'd, I saw, like the fair Hebrew stand;
When first the felt the twins begin to jar,
And found her womb the feat of civil war.
Inclin'd to whofe relief, and with prefage
Of better fortune for the prefent age,
Heaven fends, quoth I, this difcord for our good;
To warm, perhaps, but not to waste our blood:
To raise our drooping fpirits, grown the scorn
Of our proud neighbours; who ere long fhall mourn
(Though now they joy in our expected harms)
We had occafion to refume our arms.
A lion fo with felf-provoking smart
(His rebel tail fcourging his nobler part)
Calls up his courage; then begins to roar,
And charge his foes, who thought him mad before.
FOR DRINKING OF HEALTHS.
ET brutes and vegetals, that cannot think,
So far as drought and nature urges, drink:
A more indulgent mistress guides our sp'rits,
Reason, that dares beyond our appetites:
She would our care, as well as thirft, redress;
And with Divinity rewards excefs.
Deferted Ariadne, thus fupply'd,
Did perjur'd Thefeus' cruelty deride :
Bacchus embrac'd, from her exalted thought
Banish'd the man, her paffion, and his fault.
Bacchus and Phoebus are by Jove ally'd,
And each by other's timely heat fupply'd:
All that the grapes owe to his ripening fires,
Is paid in Numbers which their juice infpires.
Wine fills the veins, and healths are understood To give our friends a title to our blood:
Who, naming me, doth warm his courage fo, Shews for my fake what his bold hand would do.
HLORIS farewel! I now must go :
For if with thee I longer ftay,
Thy eyes prevail upon me fo,
1 fhall prove blind, and lofe my way.
Fame of thy beauty, and thy youth,
Among the reft, me hither brought: Finding this fame fall fhort of truth, Made me ftay longer than I thought.
For I'm engag'd by word and oath,
A fervant to another's will:
Yet, for thy love, I'd forfeit both,
Could I be fure to keep it ftill.
But what affurance can I take?
When thou, foreknowing this abuse,
For fome more worthy lover's fake,
May't leave me with fo juft excufe,
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