I'AVE often with'd to love; what fhall I do?
Me ftill the cruel Boy does fpare,

And I a double task must bear,

First to woo him, and then a Mistress too.
Come at last, and strike for fhame,

If thou art any thing besides a name;
I'll think thee elfe no god to be,

But poets rather gods, who first created thee.

II.

I ask not one in whom all beauties grow;
Let me but love, whate'er the be,

She cannot feem deform'd to me,

And I would have her feem to others fo.
Defire takes wings, and straight does fly,

It stays not dully to inquire the why.
That happy thing, a lover grown,

I shall not fee with others' eyes, fcarce with mine own.

III.

If the be coy, and fcorn my noble fire,
If her chill heart I cannot move,
Why, I'll enjoy the very love,

And make a Mistress of my own defire.
Flames their most vig'rous heat do hold,
And pureft light, if compass'd round with cold:
So, when sharp Winter means most harm,

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The fpringing plants are by the snow itself kept warm.

IV.

But do not touch my heart, and so begone;

Strike deep thy burning arrows in:

Lukewarmness I account a fin

As great in love as in religion.

Come arm'd with flames, for I will prove

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All the extremities of mighty Love.

Th' excefs of heat is but a fable;

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We know the Torrid Zone is now found habitable.

V.

Among the woods and forefts thou art found,

There boars and lions thou doft tame;

Is not my heart a nobler game?

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Let Venus men, and beafts Diana wound.

Thou doft the birds thy fubjects make;

Thy nimble feathers do their wings o'ertake:
Thou all the spring their fongs doft hear,

Make me love too, I'll fing to thee all th' year.

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Vi..

What fervice can mute fifhes do to thee?
Yet against them thy dart prevails,
Piercing the armour of their scales;

And still thy feaborn mother lives i' th' sea.

Doft thou deny only to me

The no-great priv❜lege of captivity?

I beg or challenge here thy bow;

Either thy pity' to me or else thine anger show.

VII.

Come, or I'll teach the world to scorn that bow:

I'll teach them thousand wholesome arts,

Both to refift and cure thy darts,

More than thy skilful Ovid e'er did know.
Mufick of fighs thou shalt not hear,

Nor drink one wretched lover's tafteful tear:

Nay, unless foon thou woundest me,

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My verses shall not only wound, but murder thee. 56

THE THRALDOM.

I.

I CAME, I faw, and was undone ;

Lightning did thro' my bones and marrow run;
A pointed pain pierc'd deep my heart;
Afwift, cold trembling, feiz'd on ev'ry part;
My head turn'd round, nor could it bear
The poison that was enter'd there.

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II.

So a destroying angel's breath

Blows in the plague, and with it hasty death.

Such was the pain, did so begin

To the poor wretch when Legion enter'd in.
Forgive me, God! I cry'd; for I

Flatter'd myself I was to die.

III.

But quickly to my coft I found

ΤΟ

'Twas cruel Love, not Death, had made the wound: Death a more gen'rous rage does ufe;

Quarter to all he conquers does refuse:
Whilft Love with barb'rous mercy faves
The vanquish'd lives, to make them flaves.

IV.

I am thy flave then; let me know,

Hard Master! the great task I have to do:
Who pride and fcorn do undergo,

In tempefts and rough feas thy gallies row;
They pant, and groan, and figh, but find

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Their fighs increase the

angry wind.

V

Like an Egyptian tyrant, some

Thou wearieft out in building but a tomb :

Others, with fad and tedious art,

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Labour i' th' quarries of a ftony heart.

Of all the works thou doft affign

To all the feveral flaves of thine,

Employ me, mighty Love! to dig the mine.

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I'LL

on;

THE GIVEN LOVE.

I.

for what fhould hinder me

From loving and enjoying thee?
Thou canst not those exceptions make,
Which vulgar fordid mortals take,
That my fate's too mean and low;
'Twere pity I should love thee fo,
If that dull cause could hinder me
In loving and enjoying thee.

II.
It does not me a whit displease,
That the rich all honours feize;
That you all titles make your own,
Are valiant, learned, wife, alone:
But if you claim o'er women too
The pow'r which over men ye do,
If you alone must lovers be,

For that, Sirs! you must pardon me.

Rather than lose what does fo near
Concern my life and being here,
I' fome fuch crooked ways invent,
As you or your forefathers went :
I'll flatter or oppofe the king,
Turn Puritan, or any thing,
I'll force my mind to arts fo new,
Grow rich, and love as well as you.

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ΤΟ

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