Shalt mourn, whilst I, with nobler flames, pursue Some nymph as fair, tho' not unjust, as you; Whose wit, and beauty, shall like thine excel, But far furpass in truth, and loving well.

But wretched thou, who-e'er my rival art,
That fondly boasts an empire o'er her heart; 50
Thou that enjoy'ft the fair inconftant prize,
And vainly triumph'ft with my victories;
Unenvy'd now, o'er all her beauties rove,
Enjoy thy ruin, and Neæra's love:

Tho' wealth and honours grace thy nobler birth,
To bribe her love, and fix a wand'ring faith; 56
Tho' ev'ry grace, and ev'ry virtue join,
T'ínrich thy mind, and make thy form divine;
Yet bleft with endless charms, too foon you'll prove
The treacheries of falfe Neæra's love.

Loft, and abandon'd by th' ungrateful fair,
Like me you'll love, be injur'd, and despair.
When left th' unhappy object of her scorn,
Then fhall I fmile to fee the victor mourn,

Laugh at thy fate, and triumph in my turn.

60

}

TO A CANDLE.

ELEGY.

BY WILLIAM CONGREVE, ESQ.*

THOU watchful taper, by whofe filent light
I lonely pass the melancholly night;
Thou faithful witness of my fecret pain,
To whom alone I venture to complain;

O learn with me, my hopeless love to moan;
Commiferate a life fo like thy own.

5

Like thine, my flames to my deftruction turn,
Wafting that heart by which supply'd they burn.
Like thine, my joy and fuffering they display;
At once are figns of life, and symptoms of decay.
And as thy fearful flames the day decline,
And only during night presume to shine;
Their humble rays not daring to afpire
Before the fun, the fountain of their fire:
So mine, with confcious fhame, and equal awe,
To fhades obfcure and folitude withdraw;
Nor dare their light before her eyes disclose,
From whose bright beams their being first arose.

* Barn 1672; dyed 1729.

16

HORACE, BOOK II. ODE IV. IMITATED.

THE LORD GRIFFIN TO THE

EARL OF SCARSDALE.

BY NICHOLAS ROWE, ESQ.

POET LAUREAT.*

I.

Do not, most fragrant earl, disclaim
Thy bright, thy reputable flame,
To Bracegirdle the brown;
But publickly espouse the dame,
And fay Gd the town.

II.

Full many heroes, fierce and keen,
With drabs have deeply fmitten been,
Although right good commanders;

5

Some who with you have Hounslow seen,
And fome who've been in Flanders. 10

*Born 1673; dyed 1718.

III.

Did not base Greber's Pegg inflame
The fober earl of Nottingham,

Of fober fire defcended?

That careless of his foul and fame,

To play-houses he nightly came,

And left church undefended.

IV.

The monarch who of France is hight,
Who rules the roft with matchlefs might,
Since William went to heaven;

15

Loves Maintenon, his lady bright,

20

Who was but Scarron's leaving.

V.

Tho' thy dear's father kept an inn,
At grifly head of Saracen,

For carriers at Northampton;
Yet fhe might come of gentler kin,

Than e'er that father dreamt on.

VI.

Of proffers large her choice had she,
Of jewels, plate, and land in fee,

Which the with fcorn rejected:

And can a nymph fo virtuous be
Of bafe-born blood fufpected?

25

30

* Signiora Francesca Margareta' de l'Epine,' an Italian fongftrefs.

VII.

Her dimple cheek, and roguish eye,
Her flender waste, and taper thigh,

I always thought provoking;
But, faith, tho' I talk waggishly,
I mean no more than joking.

VIII.

Then be not jealous, friend, for why?
My lady marchioness is nigh,

To fee I ne'er shall hurt ye;

Befides, you know full well, that I
Am turn'd of five-and-forty.

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40