To win me from his tender arms Unnumbered suitors came; Who praised me for imputed charms, And felt, or feigned, a flame. Each hour a mercenary crowd With richest proffers strove; Among the rest young Edwin bowed, But never talked of love. In humble, simplest habit clad, The blossom opening to the day, The dew, the blossoms of the tree, With charms inconstant shine: Their charms were his; but, woe to me! Their constancy was mine. For still I tried each fickle art, Importunate and vain; And while his passion touched my heart, I triumphed in his pain. Till, quite dejected with my scorn, He left me to my pride; And sought a solitude forlorn In secret, where he died. But mine the sorrow, mine the fault! And there forlorn, despairing, hid, Forbid it, Heaven! the Hermit cried, Turn, Angelina, ever dear; My charmer, turn to see Thy own, thy long-lost Edwin here, Thus let me hold thee to my heart, And shall we never, never part, My life-my all that's mine? 87 No, never from this hour to part; The sigh that rends thy constant heart JOHN GAY. This poet was born in 1668, near Barnstable, Devonshire, and is distinguished as "the easy, indolent, good-humored JOHN GAY, who seems to have been the most artless and best-beloved of all the Pope and Swift circle of wits and poets." The sweetness of his manners and the sincerity of his heart gained him friends, wherever he appeared, and he was admitted into the company of the great and powerful. His resources being scanty, he received from the Duchess of Monmouth an appointment of secretary, and his muse was prompted to renewed exertions. The death of Queen Anne, shortly afterward, cast a shadow over his hopes. The succeeding court, however, being unpopular, and he rejecting with indignity an offer to be made gentleman-usher to the young princess Louisa, he listened to a suggestion from Swift, with whom at this time he became acquainted, to write a Newgate pastoral, in which the characters should be thieves and highwaymen, and the result was THE BEGGAR'S OPERA, which was produced, and received with unbounded applause, and had a run of sixty-three nights, and which is occasionally performed at the present day; and his ballad of “Black Eyed Susan" must ever remain popular as long as the language is spoken. His principal works, besides the above, are-Rural Sports, Shepherd's Week; Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London; The Fan; The Wife of Bath, a comedy, and a failure; a play by the title of What D'ye Call It? Three Hours after Marriage, a comedy; The Captives, a drama; and numerous pieces of lesser note. He realized a handsome living from his writings, and died December 4th, 1732, deeply lamented by Swift and Pope, both of whom were sincerely attached to him. RURAL SPORTS. CANTO I. You, who the sweets of rural life have known, To hear the Syrens warble in thy song. But I, who ne'er was blest by fortune's hand, And honesty forsakes them all by turns: And smoothed my harassed mind with sweet repose, Where fields, and shades, and the refreshing clime, Inspire the sylvan song, and prompt my rhyme. My muse shall rove through flowery meads and plains, t And deck with rural sports her native strains; When the fresh spring in all her state is crown'd, |