II.

Treason, theft, murder, and all the rest
Of that foul legion we so detest,

Are in their proper names exprest.

III.

Why is it then thought sin or shame

Those necessary parts to name

From whence we went, and whence we care?

IV.

Nature, whate'er she wants, requires ;

With love inflaming our desires,

Finds engines fit to quench those fires:

V.

Death she abhors; yet when men die
We're present; but no stander-by
Looks on when we that loss supply.

VI.

Forbidden wares sell twice as dear;
Ev'n sack prohibited last year
A most abominable rate did bear.

VII.

'Tis plain our eyes and ears are nice, Only to raise, by that device,

Of those commodities the price.

VIII.

Thus reason's shadows us betray,

By tropes and figures led astray,

From Nature, both her guide and way.

FRIENDSHIP AND SINGLE LIFE

AGAINST

LOVE AND MARRIAGE.

·I. '

Love! in what poison is thy dart
Dipp'd when it makes a bleeding heart?
None know but they who feel the smart.

May not a prison, or a grave,

Like wedlock, honour's title have?

That word makes free-born man a slave.

VI.

How happy he that loves not lives!

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Him neither hope nor fear deceives

To Fortune who no hostage gives.

VII.

How unconcern'd in things to come!
If here uneasy, finds at Rome,
At Paris, or Madrid, his home.

VIII.

Secure from low and private ends,
His life, his zeal, his wealth, attends
His prince, his country, and his friends.

IX.

Danger and honour are his joy;

But a fond wife or wanton boy

May all those gen'rous thoughts destroy.
X.

Then he lays by the public care,

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Thinks of providing for an heir;

Learns how to get, and how to spare,

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XI.

Nor fire, nor foe, nor fate, nor night,

The Trojan hero did affright,
Who bravely twice renew'd the fight:
XII.

Tho' still his foes in number grew,
Thicker their darts and arrows flew,
Yet left alone no fear he knew.

XIII.

But Death in all her forms appears

From ev'ry thing he sees and hears

For whom he leads and whom he bears*.

*His father and son.

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XIV.

Love, making all things else his foes,
Like a fierce torrent overflows
Whatever doth his course oppose.
XV.

This was the cause, the poets sung,
Thy mother from the sea was sprung;
But they were mad to make thee young.

XVI.

Her father, not her son, art thou :
From our desires our actions grow;
And from the cause th' effect must flow.

XVII.

Love is as old as place or time;

'Twas he the fatal tree did climb,

Grandsire of father Adam's crime.

XVIII.

Well may'st thou keep this world in awe ;
Religion, wisdom, honour, law,

The tyrant in his triumph draw.
XIX.

'Tis he commands the powers above;
Phabus resigns his darts, and Jove
His thunder to the god of Love.

XX.

To him doth his feign'd mother yield;
Nor Mars (her champion) his flaming shield
Guards him, when Cupid takes the field.

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XXI.

He clips Hope's wings, whose airy bliss
Much higher than fruition is,

But less than nothing if it miss.

XXII.

When matches Love alone projects,

The cause transcending the effects,

That wildfire's quench'd in cold neglects:
XXIII.

Whilst those conjunctions prove the best
Where Love's of blindness dispossest
By perspectives of interest.

XXIV.

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Tho' Sol'mon with a thousand wives

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To get a wise successor strives,

But one (and he a fool) survives.

XXV.

Old Rome of children took no care;

They with their friends their beds did share,
Secure t' adopt a hopeful heir.

XXVI.

Love drowsy days and stormy nights

Makes, and breaks friendship, whose delights
Feed, but not glut, our appetites.

XXVII.

Well-chosen friendship, the most noble
Of virtues, all our joys makes double,
And into halves divides our trouble.

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