Miscellanies in Prose and Verse | ||
206
ADVICE to the LADIES,
On reading the Story of Iphis and Anaxarete, in Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Ye matchless fair, who grace the British isle,
Whose frown is destiny, and heav'n your smile,
Oh keep your bosoms free from foul disdain,
Nor let fell cruelty your beauties stain;
So shall your vot'ries bless your lenient power,
Admire with reason, and with joy adore,
While other climates, not so bless'd as we,
With envy shall the Albion lovers see.
Whose frown is destiny, and heav'n your smile,
Oh keep your bosoms free from foul disdain,
Nor let fell cruelty your beauties stain;
So shall your vot'ries bless your lenient power,
Admire with reason, and with joy adore,
While other climates, not so bless'd as we,
With envy shall the Albion lovers see.
But if with scorn this counsel you repay,
Resolved to rule with a despotic sway,
And carelessly behold your vassals die,
Unpitied victims of your cruelty;
Let sad example teach this dreadful truth,
Heav'n still avenges the love-martyr'd youth;
And tho' deferr'd, each scornful fair will know,
Delay but doubly points the awful blow.
Resolved to rule with a despotic sway,
And carelessly behold your vassals die,
Unpitied victims of your cruelty;
Let sad example teach this dreadful truth,
Heav'n still avenges the love-martyr'd youth;
207
Delay but doubly points the awful blow.
This Ovid, master of love's gentle art,
Did, to the Roman fair, of old impart,
When singing Iphis, too untimely slain,
By Anaxarete's severe disdain,
Sang too how equal heav'n his wrongs repaid,
And well aveng'd him on the haughty maid.
Did, to the Roman fair, of old impart,
When singing Iphis, too untimely slain,
By Anaxarete's severe disdain,
Sang too how equal heav'n his wrongs repaid,
And well aveng'd him on the haughty maid.
Let this example then, ye nymphs, persuade,
Nor scorn the suff'rings which yourselves have made,
Lest Anaxarete's your fate should be,
Lest you, unpitied, share her destiny;
But, timely wise, affected pride discard,
Nor rob a constant flame of its reward;
Let mutual love your melting bosoms warm,
And bid good mature heighten ev'ry charm;
Kindly receive the youth whom heav'n decrees,
And native worth, the one best form'd to please;
So, bless'd and blessing, shall each happy hour
Glide gently on, unknown to sorrow's pow'r,
Till time, with pleasing pace, at length shall close
The smiling scene, and give to you repose.
Nor scorn the suff'rings which yourselves have made,
Lest Anaxarete's your fate should be,
Lest you, unpitied, share her destiny;
But, timely wise, affected pride discard,
Nor rob a constant flame of its reward;
Let mutual love your melting bosoms warm,
And bid good mature heighten ev'ry charm;
208
And native worth, the one best form'd to please;
So, bless'd and blessing, shall each happy hour
Glide gently on, unknown to sorrow's pow'r,
Till time, with pleasing pace, at length shall close
The smiling scene, and give to you repose.
Miscellanies in Prose and Verse | ||