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18

SONG XVI. The Fruitless Caution.

AMYNTOR.
Take heed, fair Cælia, how you slight
The Youth that Courts you now;
For tho' fresh Charms, like dawning Light,
Still flourish on your Brow,
Yet fairest Days must know a Night,
And so, alas! must thou.
In vain, in vain
You'll then complain;
In vain your Scorn and Cruelty bemoan;
For none can prove
So dull, to Love
When Age approaches, or when Beauty's gone.

CÆLIA.
Cease, fond Amyntor, cease your Suit,
For 'tis but urg'd in vain:
Who sows where he can reap no Fruit
But Anguish and Disdain?
Your whining Passion I despise,
And hearken to't no more
Than the deaf Wind to Seamen's Cries
When all the Billows roar:
For if when Youth and Beauty's gone
I must be scorn'd of Men,
I'll now revenge, e'er Age come on,
My Persecution then.