University of Virginia Library


93

Dialogue Between a Lover and his Friend.

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(Irregular Verses.)

Friend.
Value thy self, fond Youth, no more
On Favours Mulus had before;
He had her first, her Virgin Flame;
You like a bold Intruder came
To the cold Relicks of a Feast,
When he at first had seiz'd the best.

Lover.
When he dull Sot had seiz'd the worse,
I came in at the Second Course,
'Tis Chance that first makes People love,
Judgment their riper Fancies move.

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Mulus you say first charm'd her Eyes;
First, she lov'd Babies and Dirt-Pies;
But she grew wiser, and in time
Found out the folly of those Toys, and him.

Friend.
If Wisdom change in Love begets,
Women, no doubt, are wondrous Wits.
But Wisdom that now makes her change to you,
In time will make her change to others too,

Lover.
I grant you no Man can forsee his Doom;
But shall I grieve because an ill may come?
Yet I'll allow her Change, when she can see
A Man deserves her more than me,
As much as I deserve her more than he.

Friend.
Did they with our own Eyes see our Desert,
No Woman e'er cou'd from her Lover part.

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But oh! they see not with their own,
All things to them are through false Opticks shown.
Love at the first does all your Charms encrease,
When the Tube's turn'd, Hate represents 'em less.

Lover.
Whate'er may come, I will not grieve,
For Dangers that I can't believe.
She'll ne'er cease loving me; or if she do,
'Tis ten to one I cease to love her too.