University of Virginia Library


30

TO MRS. ------.

------ amore
In canuti pensier si disconvene.
Guarini.

Yes, I think I once heard of an amorous youth
Who was caught in his grandmother's bed;
But I own I had ne'er such a liquorish tooth
As to wish to be there in his stead.
'Tis for you, my dear madam, such conquests to make:
Antiquarians may value you high:
But I swear I can't love for antiquity's sake,
Such a poor virtuoso am I.
I have seen many ruins all gilded with care,
But the cracks were still plain to the eye:
And I ne'er felt a passion to venture in there,
But turn'd up my nose, and pass'd by!

32

I perhaps might have sigh'd in your magical chain
When your lip had more freshness to deck it;
But I'd hate even Dian herself in the wane,—
She might then go to hell for a Hecate!
No, no! when my heart's in these amorous faints,
Which is seldom, thank Heaven! the case;
For by reading the Fathers, and Lives of the Saints,
I keep up a stock of good grace:
But then 'tis the creature luxuriant and fresh
That my passion with ecstasy owns;
For indeed, my dear madam, though fond of the flesh,
I never was partial to bones!