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PRO. Blessings may be repeated while they cloy;
But shall we starve, 'cause surfeitings destroy?
And if fruition did the taste impair

Of kisses, why should yonder happy pair,
Whose joys just Hymen warrants all the night,
Consume the day, too, in this less delight?

CON. Urge not 'tis necessary; alas! we know
The homeliest thing that mankind does is so.
The world is of a large extent we see,

And must be peopled; children there must be :So must bread too; but since there are enough Born to that drudgery, what need we plough?

PRO. I need not plough, since what the stooping Gets of my pregnant land must all be mine: [hine But in this nobler tillage 'tis not so;

For when Anchises did fair Venus know,
What interest had poor Vulcan in the boy,
Famous Æneas, or the present joy?

[been,

CON. Women enjoy'd, whate'er before they've Are like romances read, or scenes once seen: Fruition dulls or spoils the play much more Than if one read or knew the plot before.

PRO. Plays and romances read and seen, do fall In our opinions; yet not seen at all,

Whom would they please? To an heroic tale
Would you not listen, lest it should grow stale?

CON. 'Tis expectation makes a blessing dear; Heav'n were not heav'n if we knew what it were.

PRO. If'twere not heav'n if we knew what it were, Twould not be heav'n to those that now are there. CON. And as in prospects we are there pleas'd most, Where something keeps the eye from being lost, And leaves us room to guess; so here restraint Holds up delight, that with excess would faint.

PRO. Restraint preserves the pleasure we have got, But he ne'er has it that enjoys it not.

In goodly prospects who contracts the space,
Or takes not all the bounty of the place?
We wish remov'd what standeth in our light,
And Nature blame for limiting our sight;
Where you stand wisely winking, that the view
Of the fair prospect may be always new.

[poor; CON. They who know all the wealth they have are He's only rich that cannot tell his store.

PRO. Not he that knows the wealth he has is poor, But he that dares not touch nor use his store.

AN APOLOGY

FOR HAVING LOVED BEFORE.

THEY that never had the use
Of the grape's surprising juice,
To the first delicious cup
All their reason render up;
Neither do not care to know
Whether it be best or no.

So they that are to love inclin'd,
Sway'd by chance, not choice, or art,
To the first that's fair or kind,
Make a present of their heart:
It is not she that first we love,
But whom dying we approve.

To man, that as in the' evening made,
Stars gave the first delight,

Admiring, in the gloomy shade,
Those little drops of light:

Then at Aurora, whose fair hand
Remov'd them from the skies,
He gazing tow'rd the east did stand,
She entertain❜d his eyes.

But when the bright sun did appear,,
All those he 'gan despise;

His wonder was determin'd there,
And could no higher rise.

He neither might, nor wish'd to know
A more refulgent light :

For that (as mine your beauties now)
Employ'd his utmost sight.

THE NIGHT-PIECE:

OR, A PICTURE DRAWN IN THE DARK..

DARKNESS, which fairest nymphs disarms,
Defends us ill from Mira's charms:

Mira can lay her beauty by,

Take no advantage of the eye,

Quit all that Lely's art can take,
And yet a thousand captives make.

Her speech is grac'd with sweeter sound Than in another's song is found;

And all her well-plac'd words are darts,
Which need no light to reach our hearts.
As the bright stars and milky way,
Show'd by the night, are hid by day;
So we, in that accomplish'd mind,
Help'd by the night, new graces find,
Which by the splendour of her view,
Dazzled before, we never knew.

While we converse with her, we mark No want of day, nor think it dark : Her shining image is a light

Fix'd in our hearts, and conquers night.

Like jewels to advantage set, Her beauty by the shade does get: There blushes, frowns, and cold disdain, All that our passion might restrain, Is hid, and our indulgent mind Presents the fair idea kind.

Yet, friended by the night, we dare Only in whispers tell our care: He that on her his bold hand lays, With Cupid's pointed arrows plays; They with a touch, (they are so keen!) Wound us unshot, and she unseen.

All near approaches threaten death; We may be shipwreck'd by her breath: Love, favour'd once with that sweet gale, Doubles his haste, and fills his sail, Till he arrive where she must prove The haven or the rock of love.

So we the' Arabian coast do know At distance, when the spices blow ; By the rich odour taught to steer, Though neither day nor stars appear.

PART OF THE

FOURTH BOOK OF VIRGIL'S ÆNEIS

TRANSLATED.

Beginning at v. 437.

*** Talesque miserrima fletus Fertque refertque soror. **** And ending with

Adnixi torquent spumas, et cærula verrant. V. 583.

ALL this her weeping sister' does repeat

To the stern man2, whom nothing could entreat;
Lost were her prayers, and fruitless were her tears!
Fate and great Jove had stopp'd his gentle ears.
As when loud winds a well-grown oak would rend
Up by the roots, this way and that they bend
His reeling trunk, and with a boisterous sound
Scatter his leaves, and strew them on the ground,
He fixed stands; as deep his roots doth lie
Down to the centre, as his top is high:
No less on every side the hero prest,
Feels love and pity shake his noble breast,
And down his cheeks though fruitless tears do roll,
Unmov'd remains the purpose of his soul.
Then Dido, urged with approaching fate,
Begins the light of cruel Heav'n to hate.
Her resolution to dispatch and die,
Confirm'd by many a horrid prodigy!

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