The Works of Mr. John Oldham :: :: University of Virginia Library

You heedless Maids, whose young, and tender hearts
Unwounded yet, have scap'd the fatal darts;
Let the sad tale of wretched Byblis move,
And learn by her to shun forbidden Love,

120

Not all the plenty, all the bright resort
Of gallant Youth, that grac'd the Carian Court,
Could charm the hauty Nymph's disdainful heart,
Or from a Brother's guilty Love divert;
Caunus she lov'd, not as a Sister ought,
But Honour, Blood, and Shame alike forgot:
Caunus alone takes up her Thoughts, and Eyes,
For him alone she wishes, grieves and sighs.

At first her new-born Passion owns no name,
A glim'ring Spark scarce kindling into flame;
She thinks it no offence, if from his Lip
She snatch an harmless bliss, if her fond clip
With loose embraces oft his Neck surround,
And Love is yet in debts of Nature drown'd.

But Love at length grows naughty by degrees,
And now she likes, and strives her self to please:
Well-drest she comes, & arms her Eyes with darts,
Her Smiles with charms, and all the studied arts
Which practis'd Love can teach to vanquish hearts.

121

Industrious now, she labours to be fair,
And envies all, whoever fairer are.

Yet knows she not, she loves, but still does grow,
Insensibly the thing, she does not know:
Strict honour yet her check'd desires does bind,
And modest thoughts, on this side wish confin'd:
Only within she sooths her pleasing flames,
And now, the hated terms of Blood disclaims:
Brother sounds harsh; she the unpleasing word
Strives to forget, and oftner calls him Lord:
And when the name of Sister grates her ear,
Could wish't unsaid, and rather Byblis hear.

Nor dare she yet with waking thoughts admit
A wanton hope: but when returning night
With Sleep's soft gentle spell her Senses charms,
Kind fancy often brings him to her Arms:
In them she oft does the lov'd Shadow seem
To grasp, and joys, yet blushes too in Dream.
She wakes, and long in wonder silent lies,
And thinks on her late pleasing Extasies:

122

Now likes, and now abhors her guilty flame,
By turns abandon'd to her Love, and Shame:
At length her struggling thoughts an utt'rance find,
And vent the wild disorders of her mind.

“Ah me! (she cries) kind Heaven avert! what means
“This boading form, that nightly rides my dreams?
“Grant 'em untrue! why should lewd hope divine?
“Ah! why was this too charming Vision seen?
“'Tis true, by the most envious wretch, that sees,
“He's own'd all fair, and lovely, own'd a prize,
“Worthy the conquest of the brightest eyes:
“A prize that wou'd my high'st Ambition fill,
“All I could wish;—but he's my brother still!
“That cruel word for ever must disjoyn,
“Nor can I hope, but thus, to have him mine.
“Since then I waking never must possess;
“Let me in sleep at least enjoy the bliss,
“And sure nice Vertue can't forbid me this:

123

“Kind sleep does no malicious spies admit,
“Yet yields a lively semblance of delight:
“Gods! what a scene of joy was that! how fast
“I clasp'd the Vision to my panting breast!
“With what fierce bounds I sprung to meet my bliss,
“While my rapt soul flew out in every kiss!
“Till breathless, faint, and softly sunk away,
“I all dissolv'd in reeking pleasures lay!
“How sweet is the remembrance yet! though night
“Too hasty fled, drove on by envious light.

“O that we might the Laws of Nature break!
“How well would Caunus me an Husband make!
“How well to Wife might he his Byblis take!
“Wou'd God! in all things we had partners bin
“Besides our Parents, and our fatal Kin:
“Wou'd thou wert nobler, I more meanly born,
“Then guiltless I'd despair'd, and suffer'd scorn:
“Happy that Maid unknown, whoe're shall prove
“so blest, so envied to deserve thy love.

124

“Unhappy me! whom the same womb did joyn,
“Which now forbids me ever to be thine:
“Curst fate! that we alone in that agree,
“By which we ever must divided be.
“And must we be? what meant my Vision then?
“Are they, and all their dear presages vain?
“Have Dreams no credit, but with easie love?
“Or do they hit sometimes, and faithful prove?
“The Gods forbid! yet those whom I invoke,
“Have lov'd like me, have their own Sisters took:
“Great Saturn, and his greater Off-spring Jove,
“Both stock'd their Heaven with Incestuous love:
“Gods have their priviledge: why do I strive
“To strain my Hopes to their Prerogative?

“No, let me banish this forbidden fire,
“Or quench it with my Blood, and with't expire:
“Unstain'd in honour, and unhurt in fame,
“Let the Grave bury my Love, and Shame:
“But when at my last hour I gasping lie,
“Let only my kind Murderer be by:

125

“Let him, while I breath out my soul in sighs,
“Or gaz't away, look on with pitying eyes:
“Let him (for sure he can't deny me this)
“Seal my cold Lips with one dear parting Kiss.

“Besides, 'twere vain should I alone agree
“To what anothers Will must ratifie;
“Cou'd I be so abandon'd to consent;
“What I have pass for good and innocent,
“He may perhaps as worst of Crimes resent.
“Yet we amongst our Race examples find
“Of Brothers, who have been to Sisters kind:
“Fam'd Canace cou'd thus successful prove,
“Cou'd Crown her wishes in a Brother's love.
“But whence cou'd I these instances produce?
“How came I witty to my ruin thus?
“Whither will this mad frenzy hurry on?
“Hence, hence, you naughty flames, far hence be gone,
“Nor let me e're the shameful Passion own.

126

“And yet shou'd he address; I shou'd forgive,
“I fear, I fear, I shou'd his suit receive:
“Shall therefore I, who cou'd not love disown
“Offer'd by him, not mine to make him known?
“And canst thou speak? can thy bold tongue declare?
“Yes, Love shall force:—and now methinks I dare.
“But lest fond modesty at length refuse,
“I will some sure, and better method chuse:
“A Letter shall my secret flames disclose,
“And hide my Blushes, but reveal their cause.

This takes, and 'tis resolv'd as soon as said,
With this she rais'd her self upon her bed,
And propping with her hand her leaning head:
“Happen what will (says she) I'll make him know
“What pains, what raging pains I undergo:
“Ah me! I rave! what tempests shake my breast?
“And where? O where will this distraction rest?
Trembling, her Thoughts endite, and oft her Eye
Looks back for fear of conscious spies too nigh:

127

One hand her Paper, t'other holds her Pen,
And Tears supply that Ink her Lines must drain.

Now she begins, now stops, and stopping frames
New doubts, now writes, and now her writing damns.
She writes, defaces, alters, likes, and blames:
Oft throws in hast her Pen, and Paper by,
Then takes 'em up again as hastily:
Unsteddy her resolves, fickle, and vain,
No sooner made, but strait unmade again:
What her desires would have, she does not know,
Displeas'd with all, what e're she goes to do:
At once contending, shame, and hope, and fear,
Wrack her tost mind, and in her looks appear.
Sister was wrote; but soon misguiding doubt
Recalls it, and the guilty word blots out.
Again she pauses, and again begins,
At length her Pen drops out these hasty Lines.

128

“Kind health, which you, and only you can grant.
“Which, if deny'd, she must for ever want;
“To you your Lover sends: ah! blushing Shame
“In silence bids her Paper hide her name:
“Wou'd God the fatal Message might be done
“Without annexing it, nor Byblis known,
“E're blest success her hopes, and wishes crown.

“And had I now my smother'd greif conceal'd,
“It might by tokens past have been reveal'd:
“A thousand proofs were ready to impart
“The inward anguish of my wounded heart:
“Oft, as your sight a sudden blush did raise,
“My blood came up to meet you at my face:
“Oft (if you call to mind) my longing Eyes
“Betray'd in looks my souls too thin disguise:
“Think how their Tears, think how my heaving Breast
“Oft in deep sighs some cause unknown confest:
“Think how these Arms did oft with fierce embrace,

129

“Eager as my desires, about you press:
“These Lips too, when they cou'd so happy prove,
“(Had you but mark'd) with close warm kisses strove
“To whisper something more than Sisters Love.

“And yet, though rankling grief my mind distrest,
“Tho raging flames within burn up my breast,
“Long time I did the mighty pain endure,
“Long strove to bring the fierce disease to cure:
“Witness, ye cruel Pow'rs, who did inspire
“This strange, this fatal, this resistless fire,
“Witness, what pains (for you alone can know)
“This helpless wretch to quench't did undergo:
“A thousand Racks, and Martyrdoms, and more
“Than a weak Virgin can be thought, I bore:
“O'rematch'd in pow'r at last, I'm forc'd to yield,
“And to the conqu'ring God resign the field:
“To you, dear cause of all, I make address,
“From you with humble pray'rs I beg redress:

130

“You rule alone my arbitrary fate,
“And life, and death on your disposal wait:
“Ordain, as you think fit; deny, or grant,
“Yet know no stranger is your suppliant.
“But she, who, tho to you by Blood allied
“In nearest bonds, in nearer wou'd be tied.

“Let doting age debate of Law, and Right,
“And gravely state the bounds of just, and fit;
“Whose Wisdom's but their Envy, to destroy
“And bar those pleasures, which they can't enjoy:
“Our blooming years, more sprightly, and more gay,
“By Nature we're design'd for love and play:
“Youth knows no check, but leaps weak Vertu's fence,
“And briskly hunts the noble chase of Sense:
“Without dull thinking we enjoyment trace,
“And call that lawful, whatsoe're does please.
“Nor will our guilt want instances alone,
“'Tis what the glorious Gods above have done:

131

“Let's follow where those great examples went,
“Nor think that Sin, where Heaven's a precedent.

“Let neither awe of Fathers frowns, nor shame
“For ought that can be told by blabbing fame
“Nor any gastlier fantom, fear can frame,
“Frighten or stop us in our way to bliss,
“But boldly let us rush on happiness:
“Where glorious hazards shall enhanse delight,
“And that, that makes it dangerous, make it great:

“Relation too, which does our fault increase,
“Will serve that fault the better to disguise?
“That lets us now in private often meet
“Bless'd opportunities for stoln delight:
“In publick often we embrace, and kiss,
“And fear no jealous, no suspecting eyes.
“How little more remains for me to crave!
“How little more for you to give! O save
“A wretched Maid undone by Love, and you,
“Who does in tears, and dying accents sue;

132

“Who bleeds that Passion, she had ne're reveal'd,
“If not by Love, Almighty Love compell'd:
“Nor ever let her mournful Tomb complain,
“Here Byblis lies, kill'd by your cold disdain.

Here forc'd to end, for want of room, not will
To add, her lines the crowded Margin fill,
Nor space allow for more: she trembling, folds
The Paper, which her shameful Message holds;
And sealing, as she wept with boading fear,
She wet her Signet with a falling Tear.
This done, a trusty Messenger she call'd,
And in kind words the whisper'd Errand told:
“Go, carry this with faithful care, she said,
“To my dear,—there she paus'd a while, and staid,
And by and by—Brother—was heard to add:
As she deliver'd it with her commands,
The Letter fell from out her trembling hands,
Dismay'd with the ill Omen, she anew
Doubted success, and held, yet bad him go.

133

He goes, and after quick admission got
To Caunus hands the fatal secret brought:
Soon as the doubtful Youth a glance had cast
On the first lines, and guest by them the rest,
Strait horror, and amazement fill'd his breast:
Impatient with his rage, he could not stay
To see the end, but threw't half read away.
Scarce could his hands the trembling wretch forbear,
Nor did his tongue those angry threatnings spare:
“Fly hence, nor longer my chaf'd fury trust,
“Thou cursed Pander of detested Lust;
“Fly quickly hence, and to thy swiftness owe
“Thy life, a forfeit to my vengeance due:
“Which, had not danger of my Honour crost,
“Thou'dst paid by this, and been sent back a Ghost,

He the rough orders strait obeys, and bears
The killing news to wretched Byblis ears;
Like striking Thunder the fierce tidings stun,
And to her heart quicker than lightning run:

134

The frighted blood forsakes her ghastly face,
And a short death doth every Member seize:
But soon as sense returns, her frenzy too
Returns, and in these words breaks forth anew.

“And justly serv'd;—for why did foolish I
“Consent to make this rash discovery?
“Why did I thus in hasty lines reveal
“That dang'rous secret, Honour wou'd conceal?
“I shou'd have first with art disguis'd the hook,
“And seen how well the gawdy bait had took,
“And found him hung at least before I strook:
“From shore I shou'd have first descri'd the wind
“Whether 'twould prove to my adventure kind,
“E're I to untry'd Seas my self resign'd:
“Now dash'd on Rocks, unable to retire,
“I must i'th wreck of all my hopes expire,

“And was not I by tokens plain enough
“Fore-warn'd to quit my inauspicious Love?
“Did not the Fates my ill success foretell,
“When from my hands th' unhappy Letter fell?

135

“So should my hopes have done, and my design,
“That, or the day should then have alter'd been;
“But rather the unlucky day; when Heaven
“Such ominous proofs of its dislike had given:
“And so it had, had not mad Passion sway'd,
“And Reason been by blinder Love misled.

“Besides (alas!) I shou'd my self have gone,
“Nor made my Pen a proxy to my Tongue;
“Much more I cou'd have spoke, much more have told,
“Than a short Letter's narrow room would hold:
“He might have seen my looks, my wishing Eyes
“My melting Tears, and heard my begging Sighs;
“About his Neck I could have flung my Arms,
“And been all over Love, all over Charms;
“Grasp'd, and hung on his Knees, and there have dyed,
“There breath'd my gasping Soul out, if denied:
“This and ten thousand things I might have done
“To make my Passion with advantage known;

136

“Which if they each could not have bent his mind,
“Yet surely all had forc'd him to be kind.

“Perhaps he, whom I sent, was too in fault,
“Nor rightly tim'd his Message, as he ought;
“I fear he went in some ill-chosen hour,
“When cloudy weather made his temper lour.
“Not those calm seasons of the mind, which prove,
“The fittest to receive the seeds of Love;

“These things have ruin'd me; for doubtless he
“Is made of humane flesh, and blood, like me;
“He suck'd no Tygress sure, nor Mountain Bear,
“Nor does his Breast relentless Marble wear.
“He must, he shall consent, again I'll try,
“And try again, if he again deny:
“No scorn, no harsh repulse, or rough defeat
“Shall ever my desire, or hopes rebate.
“My earnest suits shall never give him rest,
“While Life, and Love more durable, shall last:
“Alive I'll press, till breath in pray'rs be lost,
“And after come a kind beseeching Ghost.

137

“For, if I might, what I have done, recall,
“The first point were, not to have don't at all;
“But since 'tis done, the second to be gain'd
“Is now to have, what I have sought, attain'd:
“For he, though I should now my wishes quit,
“Can never my unchast attempts forget:
“Should I desist, 'twill be believ'd that I
“By slightly asking, taught him to deny;
“Or that I tempted him with wily fraud,
“And snares for his unwary honour laid:
“Or, what I sent (and the belief were just)
“Were not th' efforts of Love, but shameful Lust.

“In fine, I now dare any thing that's ill;
“I've writ, I have solicited, my will
“Has been debauch'd; and shou'd I thus give out,
“I cannot chast, and innocent be thought:
“Much there is wanting still to be fulfill'd,
“Much to my wish, but little to my guilt.

138

She spoke; but such is her unsetled mind,
It shifts from thought to thought, like veering wind,
Now to this point, and now to that inclin'd:
What she could wish had unattempted been:
She strait is eager to attempt agen:
What she repents, she acts; and now lets loose
The reins to Love, nor any bounds allows,
Repulse upon repulse umov'd she bears,
And still sues on, while she her suit despairs.