The poems of John Wilmot: Earl of Rochester Edited by Keith Walker |
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The Earl of ROCHESTER's Answer, to a Paper of Verses, sent him by L. B. Felton, and taken out of the Translation of Ovid's Epistles, 1680.
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 | The poems of John Wilmot: Earl of Rochester |  |
The Earl of ROCHESTER's Answer, to a Paper of Verses, sent him by L. B. Felton, and taken out of the Translation of Ovid's Epistles, 1680.
What strange Surprise to meet such Words as these?
Such Terms of Horrour were ne'er chose to please:
To meet, midst Pleasures of a Jovial Night,
Words that can only give amaze and fright,
No gentle thought that does to Love invite.
Were it not better far your Arms t'employ,
Grasping a Lover in pursuit of Joy,
Than handling Sword, and Pen, Weapons unfit:
Your Sex gains Conquest, by their Charms and Wit.
Of Writers slain I could with pleasure hear,
Approve of Fights, o'er-joy'd to cause a Tear;
So slain, I mean, that she should soon revive,
Pleas'd in my Arms to find her self Alive.
Such Terms of Horrour were ne'er chose to please:
To meet, midst Pleasures of a Jovial Night,
Words that can only give amaze and fright,
No gentle thought that does to Love invite.
124
Grasping a Lover in pursuit of Joy,
Than handling Sword, and Pen, Weapons unfit:
Your Sex gains Conquest, by their Charms and Wit.
Of Writers slain I could with pleasure hear,
Approve of Fights, o'er-joy'd to cause a Tear;
So slain, I mean, that she should soon revive,
Pleas'd in my Arms to find her self Alive.
| The poems of John Wilmot: Earl of Rochester | |