 | The works (1749) |  |
232
To the Lady Lovisa Lenos: With Ovid's Epistles.
In moving lines these few epistles tell
What fate attends the nymph that likes too well:
How faintly the successful lovers burn;
And their neglected charms how ladies mourn.
The fair you'll find, when soft intreaties fail,
Assert their uncontested right, and rail.
Too soon they listen, and resent too late;
'Tis sure they love, whene'er they strive to hate.
Their sex or proudly shuns, or poorly craves;
Commencing tyrants, and concluding slaves.
What fate attends the nymph that likes too well:
How faintly the successful lovers burn;
And their neglected charms how ladies mourn.
The fair you'll find, when soft intreaties fail,
Assert their uncontested right, and rail.
Too soon they listen, and resent too late;
'Tis sure they love, whene'er they strive to hate.
Their sex or proudly shuns, or poorly craves;
Commencing tyrants, and concluding slaves.
In diff'ring breasts what diff'ring passions glow!
Ours kindle quick, but yours extinguish slow.
The fire we boast, with force uncertain burns,
And breaks but out, as appetite returns:
But yours, like incense, mounts by soft degrees,
And in a fragrant flame consumes to please.
Ours kindle quick, but yours extinguish slow.
The fire we boast, with force uncertain burns,
And breaks but out, as appetite returns:
But yours, like incense, mounts by soft degrees,
And in a fragrant flame consumes to please.
Your sex, in all that can engage, excell;
And ours in patience, and persuading well.
Impartial nature equally decrees:
You have your pride, and we our perjuries.
Tho' form'd to conquer, yet too oft you fall
By giving nothing, or by granting all.
And ours in patience, and persuading well.
Impartial nature equally decrees:
You have your pride, and we our perjuries.
Tho' form'd to conquer, yet too oft you fall
By giving nothing, or by granting all.
But, Madam, long will your unpractis'd years
Smile at the tale of lover's hopes, and fears.
Tho' infant graces sooth your gentle hours,
More soft than sighs, more sweet than breathing flow'rs;
Let rash admirers your keen light'ning fear;
'Tis bright at distance, but destroys if near.
Smile at the tale of lover's hopes, and fears.
Tho' infant graces sooth your gentle hours,
More soft than sighs, more sweet than breathing flow'rs;
Let rash admirers your keen light'ning fear;
'Tis bright at distance, but destroys if near.
The time e'er long, if verse presage, will come,
Your charms shall open in full Brudenal bloom.
All eyes shall gaze, all hearts shall homage vow,
And not a lover languish but for you.
The muse shall string her lyre, with garlands crown'd,
And each bright nymph shall sicken at the sound.
Your charms shall open in full Brudenal bloom.
233
And not a lover languish but for you.
The muse shall string her lyre, with garlands crown'd,
And each bright nymph shall sicken at the sound.
So when Aurora first salutes the sight,
Pleas'd we behold the tender dawn of light;
But when with riper red she warms the skies,
In circling throngs the wing'd musicians rise:
And the gay groves rejoice in symphonies.
Each pearly flow'r with painted beauty shines;
And ev'ry star its fading fire resigns.
Pleas'd we behold the tender dawn of light;
But when with riper red she warms the skies,
In circling throngs the wing'd musicians rise:
And the gay groves rejoice in symphonies.
Each pearly flow'r with painted beauty shines;
And ev'ry star its fading fire resigns.
| The works (1749) | |