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THE PROGRESS OF LOVE.

IN FOUR ECLOGUE S.

I. UNCERTAINTY.

To Mr. PoP E.

II. HOPE. To the Hon. GEORGE DODDINGTON. III. JEALOUSY. TO EDWARD WALPOLE, Efq; IV. POSSESSION. To the Right Hon. the Lord Viscount COBHAM.

UNCERTAINTY. ECLOCUE I. To Mr. POPE.

OPE, to whofe reed beneath the beachen fhade,'

POPE,

The Nymphs of Thames a pleas'd attention paid; While yet thy Muse, content with humbler praise, Warbled in Windfor's grove her sylvan lays; Though new, fublimely borne on Homer's wing, Of glorious wars and godlike chiefs she fing: Wilt thou with me revifit once again The crystal fountain, and the flowery plain? Wilt thou, indulgent, hear my verse relate The various changes of a lover's state; And, while each turn of paffion I pursue, Afk thy own heart if what I tell be true?

To the green margin of a lonely wood,

Whose pendent fshades o'erlook'd a filver flood,
Young Damon came, unknowing where he ftray'd,
Full of the image of his beauteous maid :
His flock, far off, unfed, untended, lay,
To every favage a defenceless prey.;

No fenfe of intereft could their mafter move,
And every care feem'd trifling now but love.
A while in penfive filence he remain'd,

But, though his voice was mute, his looks complain'd;
At length the thoughts within his bofom pent
Forc'd his unwilling tongue to give them vent.

Ye nymphs, he cried, ye Dryads, who fo long "Have favor'd Damon, and inspir'd his song; "For whom, retir'd, I.fhun the gay reforts "Of Sportful cities, and of pompous courts; In vain I bid the restless world adieu, "To feek tranquillity and peace with you. "Though wild Ambition, and destructive Rage, "No factions here can form, no wars can wage:

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Though Envy frowns not on your humble shades "Nor Calumny your innocence invades :

"Yet cruel Love, that troubler of the breaft, "Too often violates your boafted reft;

"With inbred storms difturbs your calm retreat, "And taints with bitterness each rural fweet.

"Ah luckless day! when firft with fond furprize "On Delia's face I fix'd my eager eyes! "Then.in wild tumults all my foul was toft, "Then reafon, liberty, at once were loft:

"And

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